25+ "normal lenses" test, comparison

kuuan · Expire: 2014-12-26

Aanything · Expire: 2014-05-30

There's a lot of info there - and some unexpected (for me) results.
Thanks for the great effort you put into this, now I have to spend my day comparing the results Wink

inombrable · Joined: 20 Mar 2012 Posts: 545 Location: Salamanca, Mexico

Very nice, thanks a lot.

kuuan · Expire: 2014-12-26

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

Huge amount of work here !
Thank you !

Looking at the f/1.4's and the Sonnar f/1.5, it seems to me that the only significant distinguishing characteristic as far as sharpness is the edge performance. The center performance wide open seems identical or nearly so.

Am I mistaken in that the best lens for edge performance wide open is the SMC Takumar ?
And the worst is the Sonnar f/1.5 ?

Nikon and Minolta seem to come second place to several Takumar and Pentax models.

Also interesting is that the V1 Super Takumar (8-element) is worse on the edge than the V2 Super Takumar. I thought from some other tests I've seen that the 8-element was better on the edge.

Lloydy · Expire: 2022-01-01

This should keep us quiet for days, or we could start arguing? Wink

I haven't looked at the posts yet, but I certainly will. It looks like a lot of effort, thank you. Cool

Mos6502 · Joined: 20 Jun 2011 Posts: 961 Location: Austin

Nice comparisons. I'll be clicking through for a while. I think this set really does demonstrate how little difference there is in sharpness between any decent lenses at "normal" apertures. Even wide open only a few of the lenses are really better than the rest in the center. Most are about the same. In the corners you see the most difference, but even here most lenses only show a minimal difference by f5.6. The only one that surprised me so far was the Pancolar which I expected to be much sharper in the corners.

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

Crazy indeed , lot of work!

sonyrokkor · Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2013 10:42 pm Post subject:

Woooooooooowwwwwwwwww.

Titanic!!!!!

F.Zuiko Auto-S f1.8 38mm. Sourprised to me. Very good.

The corners of the 8 elements ST are consistent with my experience with it.

peterqd · Expire: 2014-01-04

tromboads · Expire: 2015-10-01

Yeah but which one smelt the best Laughing

Monster effort tho dude Razz

RAART · Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2013 5:13 am Post subject:

Lots of work there... Impressive but I wish you had Canon FD 50mm 1.4 also included... This lens impress me.

Jesito · Expire: 2015-01-07

Wow, what a lot of work!
Thanks for sharing, for sure it will be watched and analysed but... Which conclusion did you draw?. Is there a clear "winner"?. Wink

Pontus · Expire: 2016-08-25

I'm would also be interested in your conclusion. Did you conduct this test in order to decide which ones to keep or for some other reason? Which one's are your personal favourites, and why?

Keysersoze27 · Expire: 2012-12-24

Superb test !!!
I was looking for bokeh comparisons like that ... Cool

hoanpham · Expire: 2015-01-18

Impressive work.

Wish I could have some time for myself Very Happy

kuuan · Expire: 2014-12-26

thank you guys, I am very happy that some find this useful.

Now I feel embarrassed, specially because in the end it amounted to quite some work, that I did not set up the whole thing more carefully. It kind of 'happened'. Taking the photos and editing didn't take all that much time, well, taking the pics took about 2 and a half hours, editing and naming the files about the same or a bit more. Uploading, organizing, tagging was most time consuming but I didn't stop until the whole thing was done at about 5 o'clock in the morning. I had started 1:30 noon, so I worked, with few short breaks, some 16 hours in a stretch.

It's set in a 'winter garden', a small terrace like room with glass covering the 2 walls behind which makes for good, even lighting. This day was extremely dull though.
My mind was set to a sharpness test but not with 'a brick wall' but mostly 3 dimensional objects. The set up leaves a lot of space for background but the interior of the room is not good for background. Nevertheless now I think that I should have done more than just covering the radiator with some cloth but e.g. put a plant and lamps or something reflective there to incl. bokeh information. Keysersoze27 you would like to have a bokeh test. If time permits I may do that. Hopefully I'll find a more effective way to do the uploading / organizing / tagging but to save time most likely would include less lenses. So please tell me, anybody, which lenses you are most interested in and please give me ideas how to best make a set up.

Some asked me for my opinion of performances. After uploading I took a good day "off" the computer and I have not yet compared results.
While working on the files my impression seemed to confirm ideas I had of the lenses already, that is I like my Takumars / Pentax lenses not only for their handling Wink

Quite new for me are the Yashinon, the Mamiya, the Helios 103 which looks very nice but I really should check the results more carefully before I forward more observations. Specially looking at the Nikkor and Rokkor, two lenses which I had bought very cheaply, the Nikkor from a 'junk' basket, I would say that sample variation will play a big role.
The Pentax M 1.4/50 came from a box in a flea market, it was very dirty, even the outside covered with mud. Cleaning it felt like a rescue mission with uncertain outcome, the more satisfying that it turns out to be such a great performer.
I am also very happy with the "hybrid" Super Takumar f14/50 I presented in another thread. A lucky find, possibly it outperforms both the V1 and V2. That also points to sample variation, on the other hand the various f1.4 Pentax / Takumars do perform very consistently.
The OM again proves a very strong performer. The only other OM I have experience with is a f2.8/24 which also has, out of a handful of 'famous' 24mm, the best corners. The edges of the OM 1.8/50 shine too which makes me wonder if corner performance is a characteristic strengths of OM lenses.

For sure, because of the very amateurish setting or other shortcomings, some will scoff at me and my efforts. But I don't care and I am not afraid to share these files. Therefore I humbly ask anybody who looks through some files, please don't be shy and please share your observations!

for better comparison there are new sets now with the samples of each less at a certain f stop, also for each crop, e.g. "the wide open center crop" set:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuuan/sets/72157632464617142/
viewing as a slideshow:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuuan/sets/72157632464617142/show/
to see the lens used click: "show info" on the right top corner

as mentioned organizing, tagging asf. proved to be most work and I am sure that there still will be some mistakes. Please tell me if you find a certain sample missing in a certain set or any other mistake.

btw.:
of course tripod used
no remote but 2 sec. self timer, only one take each
distance to subject about pretty exactly 125 cm, or 1.25 m only
focusing with enlarged live view on the LCD on the crown on the forehead of the bronze statue:

cheers,
andreas

Keysersoze27 · Expire: 2012-12-24

TrueLoveOne · Expire: 2013-12-24

Thank you very much!! I have bookmarked the lenses that i have myself, great work!!

FotoPete · Joined: 20 Nov 2012 Posts: 126

Great resource, thanks for the comprehensive test! That is alot of 50s!

visualopsins · Expire: 2025-04-11

kuuan, thank you so much!

simbon4o · Joined: 19 Dec 2011 Posts: 390 Location: Bulgaria

Nicely done job!!!

Mos6502 · Joined: 20 Jun 2011 Posts: 961 Location: Austin

Keysersoze27 · Expire: 2012-12-24

kuuan · Expire: 2014-12-26

thank's again guys for your words of appreciation Very Happy