Hartblei 2.8/120mm - The Vega 28 Revised

[themoleman342]

I admit, I may have had an ulterior motive when asking about Hartblei lenses several days ago. I purchased the "Auto MC Hartblei 2.8/120mm" off of ebay for around the average price the Vega usually comes at. Today I received the lens and it's certainly a bit of a surprise. The optics are the same without a doubt. The reflection pattern is a little different but nothing that normal production line revisions wouldn't account for. The body is totally new parts. Hartblei must have milled an entirely new optical block tube, focus ring, aperture ring, and helicoids. The thing is incredibly hefty. The focus ring is ~6mm thick! My Vega weighs in at 440.0g. The Hartblei weighs 520.6g. The Hartblei's front element is recessed into the barrel more. It has a shorter focus throw much like the difference between the early 80mm Volnas and the later Arsats.

Initially when I looked at it I was shocked and believed that the aperture blades were different. Actually they're just flipped around. I can't really explain this...both lenses function perfectly. Maybe it was a way to make the Hartblei look different with minimal effort?

I asked Stefan Steib, of Hartblei, about production figures. He said he would get back to me. I can't imagine it was a large number considering mine is #10 and I've never seen or heard mention of another of these, not even on the Kiev Report.

As far as optical performance: my quick quick shootout with them attached to the Sony a850 puts a slight sharpness edge to the Hartblei. The Vega 120mm, by the way, I considered to be my sharpest Kiev lens to date. I didn't do any true clinical trials though. The real test is on my Kiev 6c anyways. In the end, they'll probably level out to be about the same but the Hartblei is so much more elegant to handle so it'll be used more often.

Pics:




Hartblei Back:

Vega Back:


~Marc

[hoanpham]

Congrats. Looks awesome nice piece of glass.