Ludwig Meritar 2.9/50 on NEX-3

[iangreenhalgh1]

I'm surprised by this lens, a simple little triplet that cost 6ukp:


#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

[fermy]

Congrats on new toy! Is #2 a crop? The borders look very decent.

These are cute lenses, I was eying them a number of times, but managed to convince myself that I don't need them as they don't have anything special except the cute look.

[iangreenhalgh1]

No, they are all uncropped. I too am surprised by the corner performance, I would have expected it to be sharp in the centre with weak corners. Of course, this is on an APS-C sensor so we aren't really seeing the corners and at f5.6 of f8 as these were (apart from the post, which is wide open) most lenses are good.

I need to play with this one more, it's clearly a capable little thing and I suspect it has some nice character wide open to explore.

[martinsmith99]

I use on full frame - It's good from 5.6 onwards. It's not ever pin sharp but it's acceptably sharp at all apertures and crazy bokeh wide open.

[Neil Purling]

I would really like to see someone else's work with one of these lenses on a full-frame sensor or negative scans.
They were slagged off as being such a stinker of a lens in old issues of A.P. I just had to have one.
What I want to know if the problems were down to poor assembly or if the optics were just plain bad even when properly assembled.

Here are some wide-open shots:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29909805@N04/7197268742/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29909805@N04/7197344640/in/photostream


It can behave itself when stopped down:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29909805@N04/7197383918/in/photostream

[iangreenhalgh1]

I'll have to stick my copy on my Exakta RTL1000 and shoot some film with it. If it can do quite well on the NX then it should be fine on film too. I did have a Domiplan to which to compare it but it fell apart, typical for the Domiplan. I have a Trioplan 50 but it's in Altix mount and I don't have an Altix.

[Hexaddict]

Under a not so easy light condition you did very interesting pictures. I would say something like "coloured black & white pictures".
there is an automnal ton with rich details and textures.

[iangreenhalgh1]

Thankyou, the conditions were quite unfavourable but the lens did not bad with them.

[martinsmith99]

I found the lens to be quite vibrant. It seemed to work better on closer subjects and not at infinity. I've used it on film and found it lacking lacking in contrast which may account for the rep, but DSLR is great, just use a hood and give a bit extra contrast in PP.