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35 mm: Topcor vs Fuji vs Mitakon
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 3:06 am    Post subject: 35 mm: Topcor vs Fuji vs Mitakon Reply with quote

I decided to compare the Topcor 35mm f/2.8 against my modern Fuji 35 mm f/2 and Mitakon 35mm f/0.95. I have more pictures and better controlled tests. However, the results fall into a known pattern.

The colors and contrast on all lenses are fantastic.
Handling on the Topcor and Mitakon is excellent especially the focus ring.
All are very sharp lenses and snap into focus.

Topcor at f/4.



Full Resolution:
https://flic.kr/p/2gW12Cd

Fuji at f/4



Full Resolution:
https://flic.kr/p/2gW13xK

Mitakon at f/4



Full Resolution:
https://flic.kr/p/2gVZekY

Sharpness:
Topcor is sharp, but in last place here. Fuji is next. Mitakon here is playing on a different level when it comes to sharpness.

Corners:
Here is where the Topcor falls apart and is showing its age. When you look at the leg of the candle stand you see that even when mounted to a APS-C sensor and using mostly the center the corners start to go soft. The Fuji is sharper in that area. The Mitakon is the sharpest with the best corner performance.

This trend basically continues to any sample shot I tried. When it comes to landscapes the Topcor corners are soft wide open and don't become sharp until f/5.6 or f/8. The Fuji and Mitakon do much better here. The Topcor is not a landscape lens. It's a great lens, but I would keep it for artistic pictures and rendering.

The most interesting result was taking pictures of a pineapple palm tree trunk the Fuji 35mm f/2 showed more chromatic aberrations than the Topcor 35mm f/2.8. Both stopped down to f/4 and both out of camera jpegs. Since this is a native Fuji lens Fuji has the advantage of in camera correction but did worse.


PostPosted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 1:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Last edited by Blazer0ne on Tue Feb 22, 2022 6:24 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 4:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I can try a test like that. I did do a test of taking a picture of a laptop screen with print and the text in the corners was softer than in the middle.


PostPosted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 5:03 pm    Post subject: Re: 35 mm: Topcor vs Fuji vs Mitakon Reply with quote

cbass wrote:
I decided to compare the Topcor 35mm f/2.8 against my modern Fuji 35 mm f/2 and Mitakon 35mm f/0.95. I have more pictures and better controlled tests. However, the results fall into a known pattern.

The colors and contrast on all lenses are fantastic.
Handling on the Topcor and Mitakon is excellent especially the focus ring.
All are very sharp lenses and snap into focus.

Full Resolution:
https://flic.kr/p/2gVZekY

Sharpness:
Topcor is sharp, but in last place here. Fuji is next. Mitakon here is playing on a different level when it comes to sharpness.

Corners:
Here is where the Topcor falls apart and is showing its age. When you look at the leg of the candle stand you see that even when mounted to a APS-C sensor and using mostly the center the corners start to go soft. The Fuji is sharper in that area. The Mitakon is the sharpest with the best corner performance.

This trend basically continues to any sample shot I tried. When it comes to landscapes the Topcor corners are soft wide open and don't become sharp until f/5.6 or f/8. The Fuji and Mitakon do much better here. The Topcor is not a landscape lens. It's a great lens, but I would keep it for artistic pictures and rendering.

The most interesting result was taking pictures of a pineapple palm tree trunk the Fuji 35mm f/2 showed more chromatic aberrations than the Topcor 35mm f/2.8. Both stopped down to f/4 and both out of camera jpegs. Since this is a native Fuji lens Fuji has the advantage of in camera correction but did worse.


Interesting comparison. I have a question, not a challenging one but a plain one Smile

The Fuji and the Mitakon are designed for APS-C, while Topcor is designed for full frame 35mm. The image circle would be different in terms of lens design. So would this be an apple-to-apple comparison, even if all of them are put on an APS-C camera (I am assuming so)?


PostPosted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 5:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ask and challenge. I do the best I can. There are many things I don't know and it's useful to point out stuff.
From my understanding since it's a FF lens on APS-C it should be using more of the center of the larger image circle
and increase performance as center sharpness is usually better than in the corners.

There are some lenses designed for systems that appear to have large image circles than the sensor needs.
Fuji's 56 1.2 has been mounted to a Sony full frame with minimal vignetting. The same has been done with certain
Minolta FF lenses that have been adapted to Fuji's medium format cameras.


PostPosted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 11:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here is the Topcor at f/8 against my Fuji 18-55mm set at 35mm and f/8.

SOOC jpegs. Not sure if the yellow cast is due to the Fuji's Auto WB or if the lens just renders warmer. Either way it beats the zoom at f/8.



Full Resolution:
https://flic.kr/p/2gWCk9o



Full Resolution:
https://flic.kr/p/2gWBy2J


PostPosted: Wed Aug 14, 2019 1:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

No matter the pixel peeping the Topcor is still a very good lens. I wouldn't pay exorbitant amounts for it, but it's a worthy acquisition. The focus ring is excellent making manual focus easy; much better than most of my other manual focus lenses. The lenses are very light. I can't get this lens to flare unless I do something very stupid. I don't see contrast loss even when used without a lens hood and it renders blues very nice.

Here is a picture shot mid day in terrible light. This one is processed with Capture One.





Full Resolution:
https://flic.kr/p/2gWF2iM