mpmendenhall
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 p.55 #19 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase? | |
wayne seltzer wrote:
Congrats Michael on the 250SA!
How do you like it so far?
I've only had one medium-length outing with it so far, plus a few test shots. At some point, when I have more experience myself, I hope to post a more thorough review. However, here are a scattering of initial impressions:
- Color correction is indeed impressive. Where my Leica, Voigtlander, and Mamiya APO glass only shows barely detectable chromatic aberrations (lateral and/or longitudinal) under the most difficult conditions, I have not been able to see any color issues at all from the 250SA -- truly in a class by its own there.
- Resolution and contrast are also excessively high across the frame, at least for my Canon 5D. According to MTFs, a few of my best 35mm-format lenses are technically a bit sharper, but this lens has no sharpness disadvantage in actual use from any other glass I own.
- Thanks to the intended medium format coverage, vignetting and geometric distortion are especially low (what I consider entirely negligible).
- Bokeh can be somewhat unruly, with bright circle points and hard-edged lines. However, related to the low vignetting, the bokeh is pleasingly uniform in character across the frame (no increasingly bizarre shapes towards the corners), so it can form a distinct "impressionist brushstrokes" background plane. I think so long as I am careful to arrange compositions to play this up as a strength rather than a weakness, the lens can produce excellent images.
- The lens needs a hood, or at least a well-placed shading hand (since I don't yet have a hood); out-of-frame direct sunlight on the front element causes veiling. Apparently, Zeiss chose to not T* coat this lens, but only use single coatings to allow uniform transmission into the IR.
- The 3m MFD sometimes feels constraining (I prefer lenses that can at least focus down towards my feet, so I can capture ground-level details). On the plus side, the 3m to infinity range is allotted 270 degrees of focus ring turn --- the most generous of any lens I have for very fine focus adjustment.
- Ergonomics are a bit poor. I don't like the pointy metal focus rings, or the fact that I still have trouble quickly telling the focus ring from the aperture ring and "ornamental" mounting ring by feel alone --- they all feel the same. Stopping down is fiddly, with an additional lever to push; fortunately, I suspect I will mainly be using the lens wide open. Focus movement is very smooth, but a bit stiff (probably fixable with a CLA and lighter helicoid grease). Also, no rotating collar/foot; fortunately, the lens is light enough that I am fine with dangling it straight off the camera mount. The long, skinny, with prickly bulge shape of the lens may be difficult to find a good carrying case for.
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