mcbroomf wrote:
A few from the snow in Boston today;
,,,
Mike
Mike, the last couple of tree shots with the CV 15 are nice.
@Phillip and Soundfanz, you guys are doing a good job of tempting me to snag a Rok 50/1.4... I can throw it on my 5D also... hmm....
Phillip Reeve wrote:
@Jacob D: nice 3D, would you mind to give us a short comment on the 40 Nokton?
Mine is the MC version. I'm conflicted about it. The rendering is nice classic style with medium-low contrast and saturation, and below f2.8 there is a noticeable amount of glow. The bokeh can get pretty wild too. It just has a lot of character, which I like it for. As a portrait lens, is probably where it works best.
It's doesn't control CA very well though and has both laCA and loCA.
I've been wanting to give the Pen F 40/1.4 a try to find which I prefer best. I'm hoping the Pen will have some of the same character minus all of the CA.
I don't really consider the Nokton 40 a lens that can produce the Zeiss-like 3D pop, but it has hints of some 4D potential.
BeaverMan wrote:
I have a noob question and it seems like this is the best place to ask. Maybe I am not the only one wondering?
I have a chance to grab a voigtlander Color-Skopar 35mm f/2.5 for $300. seems like a good deal. new its $409.
the one thing I am unsure about is that it is LTM mount with an M adapter. other then getting an M to NEX is there anything wrong with that or anything i should look out for?
Nothing to worry about with the LTM. There were 2 LTM versions, which might be of interest depending on which you prefer. The original pancake, and the compact. I don't know if $300 is a good deal, it seems like LTM mount tend to sell a little lower (maybe because they're a little older and require an additional adapter). I picked up an excellent condition M mount 35/2.5 (pancake II) for about that price and it included the $50 hood, just for reference. I thought I saw one of these (M mount) on GetDPI recently for about the same price.
It is a nice little lens. Very sharp in the center wide open and nice bokeh. But it has to be stopped down to F11 to get the corners sharp. It does not focus very close by it self, but you can get some cheap extension tubes for the LTM version. Higher contrast than my older Leica lenses.
BeaverMan wrote:
I have a noob question and it seems like this is the best place to ask. Maybe I am not the only one wondering?
I have a chance to grab a voigtlander Color-Skopar 35mm f/2.5 for $300. seems like a good deal. new its $409.
the one thing I am unsure about is that it is LTM mount with an M adapter. other then getting an M to NEX is there anything wrong with that or anything i should look out for?
The Tele Elmarit is a great liitle lens. Very small. Sharp and very good colors. It has a long focus throw. Nice bokeh. Never used the Contax. Would be interesting to see some shots side by side between the TE and Contax 90.
slungu wrote:
Ok, don't know where to ask in order not to offend other alt forum members that are not that interested in the NEX, but did anybody try the old Contax Sonnar 85/2 on the NEX ? Thinking about getting this over a Tele-Elmarit since I could get them at about the same price.
glacierpete wrote:
The Tele Elmarit is a great liitle lens. Very small. Sharp and very good colors. It has a long focus throw. Nice bokeh. Never used the Contax. Would be interesting to see some shots side by side between the TE and Contax 90.
Sebboh's suggestion about the nikkor 8.5cm is a good one--if you can get the zeiss sonnar at a good price, I would get it because it is a valuable lens.
The tele-elmarit comes in two smal versions, the later slightly better. 225 grams, and as noted, sharp, this is the most practical 90 you can put on the nex--however the lens is notorious for unrepairable hazing, so you need to be careful buying one.
A TE vs Contax G 90 test is long overdue. The g 90 is the best value, that's for sure. I suspect the TE is better at long infinity, but this may be totally wrong.
Phillip Reeve wrote:
@Jacob D: nice 3D, would you mind to give us a short comment on the 40 Nokton?
Jacob D wrote:
Mine is the MC version. I'm conflicted about it. The rendering is nice classic style with medium-low contrast and saturation, and below f2.8 there is a noticeable amount of glow. The bokeh can get pretty wild too. It just has a lot of character, which I like it for. As a portrait lens, is probably where it works best.
It's doesn't control CA very well though and has both laCA and loCA.
I've been wanting to give the Pen F 40/1.4 a try to find which I prefer best. I'm hoping the Pen will have some of the same character minus all of the CA.
I don't really consider the Nokton 40 a lens that can produce the Zeiss-like 3D pop, but it has hints of some 4D potential.
It also has a huge amount of field curvature, which can be used for interesting effect, or as a pseudo tilt lens in certain applications. And it has focus shift, which means it's best to use focus assist at the actual shooting aperture, or if you change the aperture for whatever reason, you'll need to confirm the focus. I kind of like it's stronger bokeh and agree it's better for portraits or people photos rather than landscapes if you want corner to corner sharpness (get the Sony 50 or a Zeiss ZM50 Planar instead for that).
I just realized I said "4D" potential... That's the Voigtlander version of Zeiss 3D I guess
Ron, I have never noticed any focus shift with the 40, and definitely not enough field curvature to use it as a makeshift tilt lens. Do you have any samples illustrating this?
I had the 35 Nokton for a short time, and it DID have focus shift, field curvature, more, distortion, lots of CA, and relatively less-sharp performance. That lens was pretty much a mess IMO!
I was able to do a quick comparison of the CV 35/2.5 Color Skopar against the CV 35/1.7 Ultron today. Here is the result for anyone interested. These are processed with the same setting in LR, which includes sharpening. I wanted to see something that would better represent the finished product, vs. straight ooc.
sholt wrote:
I've enjoyed this thread quite a bit since acquiring a nex 5n. It's become a daily habit.
A few images from a SMC Pentax-M 50mm f1.7
Looking forward to getting some more manual focus lenses.
Welcome, Sholt. This thread sucked me into NEX Land also, been having lots of fun ever since.
Nice job on the truck image, I like that it's slightly behind the plane of focus as it comes over the bridge.
Jeff Kott wrote:
Thanks Jacob - very informative!
No probs Jeff. I also tested the Nokton 40 with those two, and it comes out similar to the Ultron 35, so I didn't post the result.
I'm thinking about selling them all and picking up one of the pre-asph 35mm 'crons, but of course I need to have the cron in hand first to do some more head to head battle. It's a fun sickness
Jacob D wrote:
I'm thinking about selling them all and picking up one of the pre-asph 35mm 'crons, but of course I need to have the cron in hand first to do some more head to head battle. It's a fun sickness
You know, funny you should say that. There are lots of great lenses that are not made by Leica, but sometimes it seems like we buy and test and buy and test to find the closest (and most affordable) substitute to a Leica that we know performs at least as well if not better. I'm starting to think if you can find a good deal on a used Leica or can afford a new one, in many instances it's the way to go. That's why I got my 28 Cron. In my mind it's game over for that focal length range and you may come to the same conclusion if you get a 35 Cron (of course after appropriate testing).
Jeff Kott wrote:
You know, funny you should say that. There are lots of great lenses that are not made by Leica, but sometimes it seems like we buy and test and buy and test to find the closest (and most affordable) substitute to a Leica that we know performs at least as well if not better. I'm starting to think if you can find a good deal on a used Leica or can afford a new one, in many instances it's the way to go. That's why I got my 28 Cron. In my mind it's game over for that focal length range and you may come to the same conclusion if you get a 35 Cron (of course after appropriate testing). ...Show more →
the trouble is the 28 cron is the bargin of the super lenses
OK, there is the 50 cron which has not been updated and can be found as low as 1100USD, or even less.
But to get into the league of the 28--fast and very very sweet, you really are talking about the ASPH summiluxes, with some exceptions--the 24 elmar, the 18, and maybe some of the longer glass.
Us mortals have to go slow in these deep waters--and I have to ask myself what IS the next great one I need most?
Since I'm most dissatisfed at 135--I naturally look to the APO telyt--whiich actually is cheaper than the 28 cron; then I drool a bit over the 90s--and the 75/2 is VERY tempting. The 50 lux ASPH makes me sweat, but I do have some decent 50s--even if I sold them all....uhoh, just looked them up--3500 is realistic.
At 35 I can live with the nokton for now.
Somebody was saying the leicas were a bad investment because production was about to be ramped up----no eveidence of that yet. The are out of stock everywhere, nearly.
Jeff Kott wrote:
You know, funny you should say that. There are lots of great lenses that are not made by Leica, but sometimes it seems like we buy and test and buy and test to find the closest (and most affordable) substitute to a Leica that we know performs at least as well if not better. I'm starting to think if you can find a good deal on a used Leica or can afford a new one, in many instances it's the way to go. That's why I got my 28 Cron. In my mind it's game over for that focal length range and you may come to the same conclusion if you get a 35 Cron (of course after appropriate testing). ...Show more →
i agree in general, but i've not been impressed by what i see from the pre asph cron either in images or data. it seems just like the contax g 35/2 (which really wasn't my cup of tea) but with leica colors. i'm also totally biased against the lens because it has the bokeh king price bump even though it's bokeh sucks the way most people think of bokeh. the 35 cron asph or summarit look tempting though...
I thought about the Summarit, then I started feeling like I could dump a lens if I have something workable at f2.0.
It's fun to think about new acquisitions and the unknown promise they might hold.. in the back of my mind though I hear the little voice reminding me of my own mantra... keep the low light and general use lenses separate.
In reality, I'll probably stick with the 35 Skopar. If I found a deal on a Cron or Summarit I might be tempted to give it a try. Once upon a time I did some reading on the usual Leica hang outs and it seems like the Skopar is actually in the ballpark as the Summarit, at least for b&w, according to some the the usuals... IIRC.
Even though I set out to keep my low light lenses on the SLR, I'm still trying to find that right one for the NEX. I think (one of) my next mission(s) will be to see how the Nokton 40 vs. the Pen F 40 looks.
After that I'll be chasing the 90's around again trying to find something like my Lanthar but better, faster, or smaller... like a Tele Elmarit
honestly, the skopar looks like a winner to me for everything other than low light performance. i think i would choose the contax g 28 and contax g 45 for general use though. looking at the mtfs there's nothing for under $2k that can touch them for resolution (even the modern zeiss zm lenses), and my own use of the 45 certainly bears that out. i think you already ditched the 28mm though because you didn't like the adapter?
as far as the pen vs nokton goes, i suspect you'll find lower CA on the pen but lower contrast and different colors.
Phillip, you make me wanna extend my Rokkor terrotory into the 50 for sure. Do you happen to know if there are variants of this lens as it is with the 58/1.2?
daleaherman: amazing bird and like that you post big. For me it takes an extra effort to hard to handle the G90 so I'm impressed.
sholt: I think the Pentax's are underrepresented given what I hear about there performance. Like the truck shot!
Philippe: fun or not, I like the square gear a lot. What lens is that (I assume it's something reasonably wide)?
it is an awesome lens though, one of my favorites.
