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Explore the world of vintage lenses through repair notes, real test shots, and detailed archive threads packed with images.

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The Great Cheapo Lens Challenge - 3 (Focal 2.8/28)
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Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 2:42 am
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Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 2:42 am
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I really like my copy of this lens and I think it's a highly underrated 28mm.


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Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 8:05 am
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Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 8:05 am
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@David: When you get the lens later in the competition you could compare it to your example. But I doubt it would have a different character.


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Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 1:11 pm
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Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 1:11 pm
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The lens is on its way to Portugal.


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Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 1:36 am
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Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 1:36 am
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I absolutely plan to run side-by-side tests!


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Posted: Wed May 02, 2012 7:43 am
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Posted: Wed May 02, 2012 7:43 am
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pst wrote:
The lens is on its way to Portugal.

Thanks Patrick, brilliant work.

This lens definitely looks the best of the three to me. The 5D gives it a strenuous test of corner to corner performance, which I think it handles very well compared to the others. I really like the church entrance picture very much, and the landscape is fantastic.


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Posted: Wed May 02, 2012 3:02 pm
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Posted: Wed May 02, 2012 3:02 pm
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Well, the corner performance is good stopped down. Wide open is a different story....


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Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 9:55 am
Post subject: Arrived in Porto, Portugal
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Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 9:55 am
Post subject: Arrived in Porto, Portugal
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Hi,

Just to let you know that I received today the lens. Will start using it tomorrow.


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Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2012 11:47 pm
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Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2012 11:47 pm
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How are this and the other lenses progressing? I've been working stupid hours the last month and haven't been able to keep up on all of the lens' progression and images.


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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 10:36 am
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 10:36 am
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Hi David, this is the current situation:



The Optomax is currently with Patrick in Austria. It has almost caught up with the Focal, which is currently with Luis in Portugal. He has had an unavoudable delay but he's posting it on to hoanpham tomorrow I hope. Jes is missing his turn while he's on holiday. I have brought the Travenar home with me from Australia. I need to take a portrait pic and then I'll be sending it on to Graham (ManualFocus-G) this week.


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Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 4:31 pm
Post subject: Finally my pictures
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Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 4:31 pm
Post subject: Finally my pictures
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Hi guys,

Sorry for the delay, but finally here are my pictures, all taken in Porto, Portugal:

A building




A close up




A landscape





A portrait type picture




A street shot



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Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 11:30 am
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Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 11:30 am
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Got the lens but too busy today to try it, maybe later at home.

Cosmetically, it looks much better than some of my lenses
Laughing

Edit: This lens is NOT sharp at all. There is almost no focus peaking in my nex with it.

Last edited by hoanpham on Thu Aug 16, 2012 7:19 am; edited 1 time in total


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Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 6:30 am
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Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 6:30 am
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My contribution. Using on Nex5n.
No resize, sharpness very good when it is in focus.

A building:


A landscape:


A close-up:


A portrait:


A street shoot:


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Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 1:51 pm
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Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 1:51 pm
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This lens had been the most difficult for me to use, so far. It can be sharp, in spite of the focus plan is not flat, but we can always turn the weak spots to advantage. I may re-take the photo of a building as it is difficult to have even sharpness across the frame.

I use it at first with regular adapter, but difficult to focus sharp. When mounted on the Nex, focus peaking indicates that the focus plan is not flat, more like a 45 degrees/diagonal tilt, and cannot focus sharp longer than 6-10 meters, at least not as sharp as any crap lenses I have.

Next is to mount the lens with a tilt adapter and try to compensate for the focus plan. After a few minutes, I found the correct tilt and rotate angles, and the lens can function as a regular lens. It can be sharp, in fact very sharp when I viewed at 100% crop.

Another interesting thing I notice is that the lens behaves differently from regular lenses when I use as tilt lens. Since the focus plan had been screwed up, tilt does not flip the focus plan, but have an interesting focus plan angle: I can now use the focus grip to adjust the focus plan *side way using focus and not the tilt angle* - never had this experience before. adjust the focus to MFD the sharpness is about the center, and moving outward as I turn the focus to infinity.

Tilt adapter, 'accidentally tilt element', make it possible to shot a close-up that is sharp near and far, and some what closer than MFD which is 30cm. Based on this test, the focus is set to MFD when I shot the portrait photo - that to maximize the bokeh effect.

Other photos taken with this lens are submitted here:
http://forum.mflenses.com/focal-28mm-f2-8-from-cheapo-challenges-t52046.html

Next, if time allows, I will try to use with tube/bellow and reserve for macro, perhaps stacking another lens.

PM me with name and addr next person to receive this lens.

Last edited by hoanpham on Fri Aug 17, 2012 7:41 am; edited 1 time in total


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Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 7:25 am
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Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 7:25 am
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hoanpham wrote:
PM me with name and addr next person to receive this lens.

Hi, the next person on the list is Jesito. I have PMd him to ask if he's ready for it now, and I'll let you know his details when I hear from him. Otherwise it goes across the Atlantic, but I don't want Jes to miss out.


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Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 7:29 am
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Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 7:29 am
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Hello! Any chance of putting my name on the list? Smile


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Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 1:12 pm
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Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 1:12 pm
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miran wrote:
Hello! Any chance of putting my name on the list? Smile

Hi miran, yes of course! Smile

Please send me a PM with this info:

your real name
street address
email address
international phone number

If you let me have this quickly I can ask Patrick to send you the Optomax. Otherwise you will have to wait a few weeks for the Focal.

Peter


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Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 12:52 pm
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Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 12:52 pm
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Posted the lens today.


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Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 2:28 pm
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Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 2:28 pm
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hoanpham wrote:
Posted the lens today.

Thanks Hoan. Your town looks to be a very nice place, I like the photos very much.


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Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 3:15 pm
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Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 3:15 pm
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peterqd wrote:
hoanpham wrote:
PM me with name and addr next person to receive this lens.

Hi, the next person on the list is Jesito. I have PMd him to ask if he's ready for it now, and I'll let you know his details when I hear from him. Otherwise it goes across the Atlantic, but I don't want Jes to miss out.


No, I wouldn't want it either Wink
Yes, I'm ready now, back to work Sad

I look forward to receive it.

Cheers,
Jes.


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Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2012 4:42 pm
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Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2012 4:42 pm
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I'm new here, but would love to see if it works on either my Minolta XE-7 or my Canon EOS 30D, as we have a photographers paradise here in NW Montana (USA)

Thanks
Jon


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Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2012 1:18 am
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Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2012 1:18 am
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Welcome to two new members who've joined the list - Miran in Slovenia and Jon in Montana USA. Looking forward to seeing your pics!


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Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 7:30 am
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Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 7:30 am
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The lens landed safely in Spain... Smile

Ready to take the challenge. The cam I'll be using will be the Samsung NX5.
I expect to finish my series until this weekend, so next monday it would be free to continue the trip Smile

Regards.
Jes.


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Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2012 7:16 am
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Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2012 7:16 am
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Almost done with the Focal.
At the end I decided to use the Lumix GF1 for a couple of reasons: No one else tried yet the highly cropped sensors, and to get the most of the lens, the cropped sensors would use only the central part of the lens.



I still miss the "portrait" and I'm not happy with the "macro" and the "street shot".
What I have so far:

#1 Building, ( f8 ), the office where I work:


#2 Closeup (f2.8 with a bellows), wedding ring:


#3 Landscape (f5.6, my daily commuting trip):


#4 Portrait (f2.Cool:


#5 Street shot (f8, but I don't like it too much):


Really little processing on them. (If anyone wants the RAWs for pixel peeping, just ask).

I plan to send the lens tomorrow to the next challenger.

My feeling: not a great lens, but useable Smile

Regards.
Jes.


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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 3:18 pm
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 3:18 pm
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The lens is in its way to the US, to Jon E Smile

Regards.
Jes.


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Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2012 2:42 am
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Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2012 2:42 am
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Okay shot with this lens, works pretty good as I headed up to local lake. Smoke from fires in another state as well as our own, gave some pretty bad sky results... but sometimes you just have to shoot when you can.






Let me know who I need to ship this off to now.
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