Which 135mm lens to get?

Oldhand · Posted: Mon Jun 24, 2019 4:40 am Post subject:

Yes, the Super Dynarex is an excellent lens.
I think that it was originally made as a lightweight compact travel lens, particularly suited to landscape photography.
To get closer than 4m I have used extension tube(s)
Very sharp lens
Tom

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 3754 Location: Switzerland

My first suggestion may be slightly heretical -
I just compared the Minolta MD 4/70-210mm with the Zeiss CY 2.8/135mm (certainly one of the best vintage 135mm lenses i know).

The Minolta 4/70-210mm, wide open at 135mm/f4, was as sharp - even in the extreme corners - as the Zeiss CY 2.8/135mm stopped down to f4. And both lenses had about the same (small) amount of lateral CAs.

Back to the 135mm primes now ...

Some cheap vintage 135mm triplet lenses (e. g. the Zeiss Triotar 4/135mm, the Schacht Ulm Travenon 4.5/135 R, and the Minolta Rokkor TC 4/135mm) have an excellent detail resolution and no lateral CAs at all (!) when stopped down to f11. The two german lenses have a rather low contrast, though.

The pre-war Zeiss Sonnar 4/13.5cm has an excellent center resolution, but corners suffer from field curvature. Otherwise the lens is nearly perfect (focusing on the corners wide open results in near-perfect corner resolution with very little CAs).

Stephan