Your best 28..and how you got there :)

woodrim · Joined: 14 Jan 2010 Posts: 4060 Location: Charleston

eawhead: FYI, when I crop my image 100% I get an area about 25% the size that you did.

uhoh7 · Joined: 24 Nov 2010 Posts: 1300 Location: Idaho, USA

Superb discussion

Since we have experienced shooters weighing in, maybe we should add: what's the OLDEST 28 you have shot?

I love this:

"When the first 28mm lenses came out for the Leica and Contax in the 1930s, they were regarded as ultra-wide and were condemned by traditionalists for their 'violent perspective'. Another common comment was, "Very few people need a lens this wide, and even fewer can use it successfully."

from
http://www.rogerandfrances.com/photoschool/reviews%2018%20zeiss.html

Who has a pre war leitz hektor?
here is a what they look like
http://www.flickr.com/photos/17916504@N06/4033901637/
any samples?

And zeiss counterpart:
http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/nikkoresources/RF-Nikkor/Contax_RF/ContaxRF28f8_tessar.htm

Jeez they were so small!

The wonderfull FF samples with very shallow DOF posted early in the thread bring home the fact we are are talking about 2 lenses in every case: FF 28 and APS-C 28

For us shooting aps-c like the nex the best way to imagine the difference: shoot some with a zeiss 18----it is the aps-c "28"

imagine a distortion free f/2 18mm for your nex Smile

That's what those guys get with their 5Ds and 28/2s

all this said 28 on APS-C presents an FOV that is basically the definition of "normal"

So for a APS-C shooter you could easily argue: nothing is more important than my 28 !! Smile

Ahhh, but there's the rub. At 35mm f2 is common, 1.4 is no problem, and today 850USD will get you the very very sweet CV 35/1.2 But an f2 28 is very fast indeed. At 2.8 there is a wide selection of really nice lenses, both SLR and RF. At f2 its not such easy pickins. But we are talking about TWICE the light. For indoors 2.8 is not so great. Truly low light it is unusable unless you like "impressionistic" results.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

That's why I love my Tokina RMC 3.5/17 - it's actually pretty wide on the NEX.

For me, the big reason I would love a FF camera is the wide angles, I mostly shoot with wide angle lenses and it's frustrating that the 1.5x crop factor of the NEX makes them not so wide, hence I often have to stitch images together to get the views I want.

Oldest 28 I have shot, hmm, not very old, 1970s. Wide angles were not so common before the days of the 35mm SLR in the 60s, we had to wait for the introduction of the retrofocus type. Only common non-retrofocus design that springs to mind is the Jupiter-12 which is a copy of the Biogon. I see very few lenses shorter than 40mm for sale on ebay that are older than the 60s.

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

I did split this topic you can continue read and comment sensor discussion here

http://forum.mflenses.com/sensor-size-crop-etc-t45344.html

uhoh7 · Joined: 24 Nov 2010 Posts: 1300 Location: Idaho, USA

OK at any rate, not long after I found a nikon 28/2 AI, which bjorn raves about I also found:

nikkor 28/3.5 PC
Shown here mounted on a kipon tilt adapter, which gives you a tilt/shift setup for not much, and the ability to tilt all your nikon mounts.

this is a nice, fairly sharp shooter.

However it's not exactly small, and niether is the nikon 28/2

The primary and unassailable advanage of the nex over a 5D is that it's small and more importantly you can shoot RF glass. I frankly had the idea somehow bigger was better, and how could a tiny RF lens perform as good as a big SLR one?

The whole 35mm tradition was born out of the desire to carry a small camera into mountains. The 5D is more akin to a crown graphic than a leica 1, but this

is not far off. This CV 28/3.5 was not easy to find. They are not made anymore. In the end I googled all mentions of the lens in the last 2 years and found an expired ad. The lens had not sold and i was able to steal it for 300USD--they bring easily 450 today. It looks like the other skopars, the 21, the 25, or the 35, but is much heavier. To my shock in testing it outperformed all my SLRs.

But to my dismay I learned of it's achilles heel:

like all the skopars on the original nex-5 it shifted colors, and landscapes could only be fixed with a multi step pain in the arse process involving software called cornerfix.

However, wonder of wonders, sony actually addressed this issue with the c3 and nex-5n, so just this fall the lens became very usable with little pp

again in testing this fall the nikkor 28s could not match the sharpness of this lens. However edge performance is not optimal untill f8 and the lens cannot be used indoors.

I'd become addicted to small 28s. My coat pocket normal prime. Indoor capablity is a must. Even 2.8 is not there for lowlight. Too bad, because the zeiss 28/2.8s in contax G or M are about as sharp as gets at 28mm, from what I can see. OOF rendering is not optimal, but less in your face than the 35s or 45 G.

now what?

Ymmot · Joined: 24 Sep 2011 Posts: 168

Even though the shots are resized, they look very sharp to me, that Skopar looks very nice and very well built as well.

ManualFocus-G · Expire: 2014-11-24

It's not 28mm, but the Voigtlander Ultron 35/1.7 was extrememly sharp for me on the Nex-5. But, there's always a compromise! With the Ultron it was the long minimum focus distance Sad

berraneck · Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 1:07 pm Post subject:

since the discussion tends to RF lenses, which affordable 28mm on RF is good? what about Voigtl�nder 28/1.9??

koji · Expire: 2012-12-27

LucisPictor · Expire: 2013-12-03

uhoh7 · Joined: 24 Nov 2010 Posts: 1300 Location: Idaho, USA

berraneck · Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 10:39 pm Post subject:

thanks for links!

woodrim · Joined: 14 Jan 2010 Posts: 4060 Location: Charleston

Kathmandu · Expire: 2012-04-08

Some samples from the right honorable -

Sankyo Kohki W-Komura 28mm f3.5

Excalibur · Expire: 2014-04-21

****Maybe next we can do the oldest forum member to shoot a 28. ****

Well if you twist my arm and insist, now you may think these shots are ordinary (that I took this week) using a CZJ 28mm f2.8 but just think they are unique and you will not see them anywhere else in the world Laughing

ManualFocus-G · Expire: 2014-11-24

Are they from the PB mount lens? Or is this the re-badged Sigma? They look sharp either way Smile

Excalibur · Expire: 2014-04-21

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

It's a very good lens with a vintage look, I have three copies. Sharp even wide open with lovely bokeh and colours.

It's not a CZJ lens though, it's a Pentacon, all three of mine are labelled Pentacon, although ones labelled 'Carl Zeiss Jena P' are common, those are from the end of the production run.

andrew_tihi · Joined: 15 Dec 2011 Posts: 2 Location: Spain , Almeria

what about yashikor 28mm f2.8 ?

kuuan · Expire: 2014-12-26

I think that my best 28mm is..a 30mm, Pentax K f2.8/30mm

uhoh7 · Joined: 24 Nov 2010 Posts: 1300 Location: Idaho, USA

uhoh7 · Joined: 24 Nov 2010 Posts: 1300 Location: Idaho, USA

when i walk out of the house, i no longer wonder which lens should be on the camera Smile

timo832000 · Joined: 09 Jun 2008 Posts: 544 Location: Germany / Cologne

Here are a few more shots from my SMC Pentax - M 2/28.
Unfortunately we had very bad weather during the last days so I was`nt able to produce some good daylight shots.

Indoors wide open (with some PP):

Small town at night, F8, using K-r`s internal HDR feature.

Timo

RioRico · Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2011 5:50 pm Post subject: I'm late here

I have a pile of 28s and they still surprise me. I started with the Pentax M28/2.8. Then a Takumar Bayonet 28/2.8, but that will sell in about an hour. So will an M42 Makinon 28/2.8, which is exactly the same as my Focal 28/2.8 (but is worth more). My only PK-A-type is a TOU / 5-Star 28/2.8 (by Sun?) which is surprisingly sharp. I have an Access AMC (Tokina?) 28/2.8 'macro', also quite sharp, as is the Soligor-Tokina 28/2.8. Miscellaneous other 28/2.8's include Accura, Chinon, a couple different Hanimex, Rokinon, and Sears (Tomioka?).

But those aren't my best. I was very lucky one week. First, the Vivitar-Kiron 28/2.5 for US$20, then the Tamron BBAR 28/2.5 (with Adaptall2-PK mount) for US$4, and then the Vivitar-Komine 28/2 CF for US$18. A trifecta! I haven't done test runs to see which is 'best' but the Komine 28/2 CF is my most-used 28.

woodrim · Joined: 14 Jan 2010 Posts: 4060 Location: Charleston