Era-4T 85mm/1.5 on Sony A7

[BurstMox]

Hello!

This Era-4T 85mm/1.5 is a soviet TV lens.
I made some test shots today on my A7.
A lot of chromatic aberrations wide open!
Sharpness is not really great if we compare with a good Helios-40 in the center (I said "a good" Helios 40). But here again, big difference : The Helios 40 is not bad in the center, but the more you go far from center, the more sharpness become something unundestable (it's even not sharpness anymore), whereas the Era-4T is still ok more far from center.

Bokeh is OK, quite smooth, but not as Sonnar/Jupiter type.

So, I liked it, despite its minus. It's good to have a 85mm/1.5 that do not swirl wide open!

You can find more infos and photos of the lens here : http://pierretizien-photos.blogspot.fr/p/era-4t.html























Regards,

[iangreenhalgh1]

I like the way this lens renders, much nicer to my eyes than a swirly one.

[visualopsins]

Ooh! I like this lens!

A question, how are the gradiated shadows on 1st photo maniquin neck created?

[BurstMox]

Ian, I agree with you, nice rendering. But I don't know which one I prefer (H-40 or Era-4). I guess I simply like both.
But about handling/weight/size, Helios-40 has the advantage (yes, it sounds unbelievable)



visualopsins, I think it's because of multiple strong little lights on the roof/ceiling (it's a mannequin in vitrine, at galerie lafayette).

[calvin83]

Look it is a capable lens, despite it size/weight. Most of the weight seems to come from the housing.

[BurstMox]

Yes, it's typical of this serie of lenses. Housing is very big whereas lenses themselves are not that big. I have also the Tair-45T 180/2.8 (way bigger than Jupiter-6) and Tair-48T 210mm/3.5 which is as big as a MTO 1000.

[wolan]

Nice results.

[Sjak]

Pierre, thank you for sharing this!

I really like your results with the lens. In your hands, it seems to have a consistent performance and bokeh across the frame. And this type of smoother/consistent bokeh is more useful than the swirly-style, which sometimes is very distracting.

Too bad of the size and weight. Otherwise, this might be a very interesting lens for myself too

[BurstMox]

Thanks Wolan!

Sjak, you're welcome!
About it's flaw, I did not mention one, which is important : it's quite a rare lens, so when it pops on ebay, it's expensive! The only time I saw one on ebay was not long time ago, it was BIN price $749, and it was sold some hours after it appeared.
Click here to see on Ebay

I know 2 other exemplars in FSU, but Klaus (kds315*) told me he knows a third exemplar.

[kds315*]

rare find indeed!! That one on ebay was to steep for me

[Sjak]

[Negens]

Sympa cet objo. Belles couleurs !

[BurstMox]

Sjak, you're welcome!

Negens, oui, sympa

[vlousada]

Nice series for such rare lens.
Thanks for posting.

Long time in my wishlist, but never found one realy affordable

[padam]

Thanks for the samples, looks a lot like the Canon 85/1.5 LTM, without the swirl.