20 standard lenses full aperture test

[MaZo]

Note that AWB was used so the camera may be adjusting color shot-to-shot. I would think that color rendering of different lenses might be more apparent if the same fixed white balance was used for all shots.

I should've set fixed WB, that would be optimal. But on the other hand, the lighting did not change during the shoot.

 

[Pioneer]

Interesting.

I think I discovered all I need is a lowly Elmar. 😀

I have to agree. I am also pleasantly surprised by the Canon LTM 50/1.4.

Thanks again Mark, lots of fun.

 

[Erik van Straten]

Thanks. I wish I had all of them 🙂
And yeah, for me in this group Summarit is unbeatable bokeh-wise, Biotar 1.4/50 being second.

It is clear that the Summarit is - bokeh-wise - a close member of the Xenon/Summilux-V1 family.


Erik.

 

[xayraa33]

The Primoplan lens is kind of neat, would have liked to see the lowly and common Pentacon 50mm f1.8 lens in the mix.

 

[narsuitus]

A few years ago, I performed a similar test on six different 50mm lenses (two Nikon, two Pentax, and two Fuji). I shot jpeg images with the camera mounted on a tripod, same subject to camera distance, fixed daylight daylight white balance, fixed shutter speed, fixed ISO, and aperture set wide open and at f/8.


50mm Lenses by Narsuitus, on Flickr

 

[Rob-F]

If you are into bokeh, I guess it matters...

And the good old 50/3.5 Elmar looks to be among the best in that regard!

 

[Pioneer]

And the good old 50/3.5 Elmar looks to be among the best in that regard!

While that is certainly true, and the Elmar is really a very good lens, most of these lenses will have much improved out of focus effects if you stop them down to f3.5.

 

[rulnacco]

Hmmm, I dunno, but that Topcor looks pretty sweet to me.

 

[bluesun267]

Thanks for this test!

The shots that look most pleasing to my eye, overall:
Summilux-R
Angenieux (@50mm)
Canon LTM
Zeiss Planar QBM
Summitar

 

[brusby]

I'm very surprised at how similar the coated Summitar and coated Summar are. If the differences in color balance were corrected, they would be hard to tell apart.

 

[raid]

I am glad that your test included the QBM planar 50/1.4. I love this lens.
Thanks.

I did a similar test 15 years ago. I had to use film.
The Rigid Summicron did well.

 

[Pál_K]

I looked at all the photos first, picked what I thought best mostly on bokeh. For me: Meyer-Optik Gorlitz Primoplan 58/1.9