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Comparing some 135mm lenses, one being a Jupiter
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 3:01 pm    Post subject: Comparing some 135mm lenses, one being a Jupiter Reply with quote
As I mentioned in another post, I got curious after seeing resulution data on the Jupiter 135mm lenses. The one I have,a Jupiter 11 in M42 mount (not 11-A), rated the lowest resolution, so I wondered how it might compare with a couple others of my favorites. I've done two series of shots and I'll start by posting one of them here. I'll identify the lenses as only A,B, and C as I would like to receive comments based on only what you see. I sense that much of the time people are influenced by their current bias when lenses are identified and their judgments are predetermined. Then again, some people don't like to play these games for fear of betraying their beliefs. We'll see.

I have an opinion after taking these pictures, but will hold until later. Since my Jupiter is f/4, I have taken all pictures at f/4 to even the field. I don't believe in making comparisons at fully open apertures when they are different. I used a tripod and took three pictures with each lens, refocusing each time, then selected the best from each lens. There was some breeze, so the framing will appear a little different. No sharpening, color adjustments, or CA corrections.

Lens A


Lens B


Lens C


Lens A 100% Crop


Lens B 100% Crop


Lens C 100% Crop


PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 3:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I'm guessing A. is the Jup. 11

However, as I've never owned that particular version of Jupiter 11 before, and so, I'm going purely by color characteristics.

Also, you never mentioned what the other lenses were, which sort of makes the point of the game futile imo.

Last edited by JohnBee on Mon Mar 28, 2011 3:20 pm; edited 2 times in total


PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 3:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
i dont know which is which but im loving lens 2's performance!


PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 3:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I've no clue on which is each, but B is my favourite. A is in the middle (good too, but less than B), C behind (I don't like it, at all: I mean, I'm even wondering if it's in focus).


PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 3:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I too wonder about the focus on lens c. I believe it can perform better, and it was a windy day, so is possible I didn't nail it in the three tries, but something should be in focus. How about the bokeh?


PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 3:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
From those shots..."B" looks the best on my monitor.


PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 3:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Without any clue I would say as John, that A is from the J11.

What are the 2 other lenses ?


PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 4:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have no idea what the lenses are but "A" looks nice until I look at "B". "B" really is a cut above to me. "C" isn't in the same league.

There isn't a great difference in bokeh, but again I prefer "B".


PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 4:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Orio is the best I've ever seen at guessing lenses. I wonder if he could figure this out?


PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 4:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I don't know if this might help give some clues but I shot this earlier today with my M42 J11A.



EOS 10D, 100/sec, think it was f/8, might have been f/5.6.


PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 5:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I like A the best...guess I'm the only one Laughing

Don't know...it just does it for me. Looking at the crops, especially, there's no green "halo" around the white flower in the out of focus area. It also seems a little "warmer" with color rendering.

C is an average 135/2.8 or 3.5 I'd guess (Sears, JCP, et al). Watch, it ends up being the one with the best reputation Embarassed Razz


PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 5:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I see the green halo in all of them, just slightly different color tones.


PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 7:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I also like A slightly better than B. The bokeh is somewhat more pleasing and the contrast seems higher on my monitor.

C has really rotten contrast and leaves me wondering if it is perhaps wide open? Then, I guess, C is the Jupiter by default...

Bjorn


PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 7:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
woodrim wrote:
I see the green halo in all of them, just slightly different color tones.


I agree, it seems brighter/more pronounced in B however.

B is the sharpest, A not far behind, C isn't very sharp.

B's colours are slightly less warm so I like A's colours best, C I don't like the colours of so much.

I'm thinking C is the Jupiter 11 and the lack of contrast is because it's the the 11 rather than the 11A so is older with less good coatings, the lack of sharpness and contrast make me think like rodinal - that it's wide open.

Really good test though, you did a very good job with the images which allows us to make these judgments on such details, thanks for doing this.

I'm going to have to try to do something similar with my two 135 lenses and my 80-200 at the 135mm setting.


PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 7:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I'm a little bit surprised by the result as I thought C would have shown better. I'll give others a chance to chime in before I reveal the identities. I will also add some shots from each of the lenses so you can see them as I have put them to use. The later shots will not have been taken with comparisons in mind and they will have been post processed, which equalizes some lenses. I like my general usage results from C much more than this test would suggest.


PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 9:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
woodrim wrote:
I'm a little bit surprised by the result as I thought C would have shown better. I'll give others a chance to chime in before I reveal the identities. I will also add some shots from each of the lenses so you can see them as I have put them to use. The later shots will not have been taken with comparisons in mind and they will have been post processed, which equalizes some lenses. I like my general usage results from C much more than this test would suggest.


Technical precision is overrated imho, some lenses that aren't technically superb take very nice pics. After all, why are so many of us obsessed with various varieties of decades-old long obsolete glass? Sharpness and contrast aren't the be-all and end-all and sometimes the overall effect a lens gives can overcome any shortcomings it may have.

Look forward to seeing the pics as you're clearly a very skilled photographer and I'm following your threads as I feel you have a lot you could teach!

P.S. Sorry if that sounded ass-kissy at all! lol


PostPosted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 1:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
This little exercise may show us how little difference there is between lenses. It didn't seem anyone could say with great confidence which lens was the Jupiter, despite the lens' qualities being fairly well known. And just one picture at one distance displaying one setting makes it even harder. Still, some people were right. But I'm going to post three pictures from each of the lenses taken during walk-abouts. These pictures have gone through my standard post processing routine, which brings the lenses a little closer together. First, here are my impressions from the test...

Lens A is the Jupiter 11. Although I don't consider it a big deal to perform well at fully open when f/4 is max aperture, I am impressed with the sharpness the lens has. I think the colors are accurate and the lens is surprisingly absent of CA in all but the most challenging of situations.

Lens B is the Vivitar Series 1 f.2.3. I am not surprised to see this lens win the sharpness competition. This is my very favorite 135mm of the dozen or so that I have. I like using it and I like the quality of the results. Although it does have CA issues like other Series 1 lenses, that is usually easily corrected in post processing. This is also the most expensive of my 135mm lenses with M42 copies commanding maybe in the $200 range.

Lens C is the Komura f/2.8. I am surprised that this lens did not show as well, and I have to wonder if I blew the focusing. It does have a more yellowish coloring, less contrast, but controls CA very well and has wonderful bokeh. This lens I suspect will show better in my three images to follow.

All three of these lenses will likely please the most discriminating of us photographers except for when we do side by side comparisons and closely examine pixels and pick at other details. I still prefer the Vivitar and the Komura over the Jupiter based on my earlier experiences, if not just because they are faster and will both provide better bokeh due to the wider apertures. Okay, here are the three real life examples from each lens:

Jupiter




Series 1




Komura




PostPosted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 2:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Ooh, some truly lovely shots there! Love the squirrel one! Smile

I finally won a jupiter 37A, I hope I will like as everyone else does Smile


PostPosted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 4:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I got part of it right Laughing

Komura made some decent lenses (my longest is currently a 90-250mm while my Pentax AF 80-320mm is getting repaired), so that result is kind of surprising. It definitely resembles my Sears 135mm at f/4 Confused

The Vivitar 135/2.3 is huge, though, so I know which I would take if I didn't hate the 135mm focal length...preferably in silver Wink
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