Comparing bokeh on my 50's manual focus lenses.

[voe]

Hi all,

I decided to compare how each of my 50's render bokeh and setup a not really well thought scene.

I used a tripod and custom white balance.
Shots are in JPG. No post processing of any kind.
Contrast, Sharpness, Saturation are set to "0" on my K10D.


SMC Pentax-A 50mm f1.7 @f1.7


Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm f2.8 @f.2.8 (I borrowed it from a colleague)


Industar-50-2 @f3.5


Volna 50mm f2.8 @2.8


Helios-77M @1.8


Mamiya Sekor 50mm f2 @f2


MC Pentacon 50mm f1.8 @f1.8


Helios-44-2 @f2


Mamiya Sekor 55mm f1.8 @1.8


Vivitar 55mm f2.8 Macro @f2.8


I personally prefer the Volna-9. The OOF highlight rings are not that harsh, although they are not fully rings which I like even better.

Also noticed that the Industar-50-2 and the Carl Zeiss Jenna Tessar bokeh looks very similar. AFAIK these lenses share the same Tessar optical formula.

[Orio]

Hello, nice setup actually, love the colours! - but - I don't like to play the nasty one here, but comparing bokehs at different apertures is not really meaningful I am afraid. The type of bokeh you get from a lens at f/1.7 can not be really compared with the bokeh at f/2.8, let alone at f/3.5

I would suggest that either you compare only lenses that have the same maximum aperture, or, that you set up the comparison at the minimum common aperture - which, in your case, is the Industar's f/3.5

[voe]

Hi Orio,

I agree with you and I know the bokeh is not comparable at different apertures but I wanted to do a comparison of all my 50s lenses wide open regardless of the maximum possible aperture similar to what LucisPictor showed in his thread:
http://forum.mflenses.com/50s-wide-open-now-with-part-ii-t6804.html

I have too many 50s that I rarely use and will probably sell some of them. But the thing is that I like each one of them and it is hard for me to choose the lenses that will go. So I decided to see how they stack up, cause I mostly use these lenses wide open. Stopped down they are very similar.


Cheers.

Voe

[Laurence]

Voe worte: Stopped down they are very similar.

Yes, I'm certain they are very similar. And really, I can see why the hard choice, because frankly they ALL look good to me.

[voe]

The Pentacon and the CZJ Tessar allow close focus up to 0.33m and 0.35m respectively.
So in this comparsion all the lenses are at around 35cm distance from the test object.

MC Pentacon 50mm f1.8 @f1.8


Vivitar 55mm f2.8 Macro @f2.8


Volna 50mm f2.8 @2.8


Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm f2.8 @f.2.8


Again I prefer the look of the Volna-9. It's bokeh is smoother than the rest and the highlight circles are not that harsh.

I know one lens that I am definitely not selling. It is the Volna-9.
It is one of a kind lens.

[peterqd]

[Laurence]

[estudleon]

All seem to be similar rendition, but a plus for volna, for me.

[voe]

For those who are interested in f/2.8 shots, I already took them but did not post them earlier, so here they are now:

MC Pentacon 50mm f1.8 @f2.8


Pentax 50mm f1.7 @f2.8


MC Pentacon 50mm f1.8 @f2.8


Mamiya Sekor 55mm f1.8 @2.8



Mamiya Sekor 50mm f2 @f2.8



Helios-77M @2.8



Helios-44-2 @f2.8



I notice that at f/2.8 the Helios-44-2 has the roundest bokeh among the rest of the faster (f/2 and faster) lenses and that's because of the 8 blades aperture. But other than that I don't see much difference, except for the Volna-9 which more and more is becoming my favorite lens for bokeh shots.

[Richard_D]

Yes the volna has the edge, but there's not a bad performer amongst them...

[voe]

I posted some photos from today's outing with Volna-9 in the Gallery.

http://forum.mflenses.com/viewtopic,p,72732.html