Comparing 35mm Lenses: Would you be interested?

raid said:
Solution for the puzzle:

#1 is the 35/1.5
#2 is the 35/3.5
#3 is the 35/1.8
#4 is the 35/2.0
#5 is the 35/2.8

It seems that the vintage Canon lenses are resistant to flare.
At least at 4.0 it is difficult to figure out which lens was used here.



Raid
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Raid, the test surprises me- there is not a great amount of difference between the Canon lenses at f4. I was surprised that the flare was not more pronounced on the Canon 35/1.5. When I have used this lens outside, flare has always been an issue, and I always tried to remember to bring a hood. Did you use a hood on these shots? I am guessing that you didn't, but would be interested in finding out anyway.
 
dexdog said:
Raid, the test surprises me- there is not a great amount of difference between the Canon lenses at f4. I was surprised that the flare was not more pronounced on the Canon 35/1.5. When I have used this lens outside, flare has always been an issue, and I always tried to remember to bring a hood. Did you use a hood on these shots? I am guessing that you didn't, but would be interested in finding out anyway.
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Hello Mark,

I left out lens hoods on purpose so that we can capture the worst case scenario in the flare test. All Canon lenses did very well. This is another evidence that Canon lenses are better than people give them credit for.

Your 35mm/1.5 did very well indeed in my flare test. The lens was about 1.5m away from the light source.


Raid
 
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I will soon have with Roland's help about 85 images ready to show here via a link. The labeled images already have been uploaded, and Roland will next (I think) add some improvements.

I encourage you to compare the shots taken with 35mm to the shots taken with 50mm lenses in the previous lens test. With the 35mm lenses I don't see any bokeh in my set-up but with the 50mm lenses we could clearly see the bokeh characteristics with a slightly different set-up. Why?

Raid
 
raid said:
I will soon have with Roland's help about 85 images ready to show here via a link. The labeled images already have been uploaded, and Roland will next (I think) add some improvements.

I encourage you to compare the shots taken with 35mm to the shots taken with 50mm lenses in the previous lens test. With the 35mm lenses I don't see any bokeh in my set-up but with the 50mm lenses we could clearly see the bokeh characteristics with a slightly different set-up. Why?

Raid
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My guess is that it's because the 50 mm focal length has shallower depth of field & therefore more OOF area to show bokeh characteristics. In addition, the slower 35 mm lenses, of which there are a number in this test, have even further reduced opportunity for much OOF area. So far, only shots at f/4 have been posted, which is not the best opportunity to see OOF area at 35 mm focal length.
 
Huck Finn said:
My guess is that it's because the 50 mm focal length has shallower depth of field & therefore more OOF area to show bokeh characteristics. In addition, the slower 35 mm lenses, of which there are a number in this test, have even further reduced opportunity for much OOF area. So far, only shots at f/4 have been posted, which is not the best opportunity to see OOF area at 35 mm focal length.
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Huck Finn:
You have a point there regarding the 50mm lenses having shallower DOF, but I did not see any special highlights at wider apertures.


Take a look at comment # 142. It shows an image taken at 1.4.
Raid
 
A good way to look at a lens's performance is to move from the largest aperture setting to the smallest. You can see a dramatic improvement for most lenses. Another approach is to fix the aperture, say at 2.0, and the look at the images from several lenses.

Raid
 
the skopar pii and biogon come out looking very good. both have nice bokeh at f2.8, with no sawteeth on oof circles. at that aperture, they also have higher microcontrast than the summilux asph!
 
wait a minute! I thought leica lenses were famous for their glow? Maybe this particular lens has anti-glow properties.
 
ferider said:
That is because the left light bulb in the Summilux pic is switched off (on the ferider site). ;)

Raid, do we have pictures of the Summilux with the left light bulb switched
on, and at f2 and higher ? Just noticed this. Or are we missing some in the gallery ?

Thanks,

Roland.
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Roland,

There was only one light bulb on, except the ceiling lights. I have to take another look at what you are referring to.

Raid
 
The images labeled Summilux are special images taken at candle light. The "real" test images for the Summilux are under the label Leitz 35mm 1.4.

Raid
 
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Roland,

Look at comment #142 above. It has the light bulb on for the Lux at 1.4.
I sweated through the design of the experiment and the execution in the thinking process for many hours and for 3 days in order to minimze errors.
Nobody is perfect, but the set-up is a good one. I had the order of each image typed up on paper sheets, and followed each sheet religiously. I even changed the order of the lenses so that nobody [like last time] claims that images taken at the start and at the end of a roll have different film flatness than those taken in the middle. Well, I will not waste many dozens of rolls just to take care of this "problem" so that all images are taken at frame # x. This is a test done without many claims. It reflects the obvious characteristics which you usually will not find side by side for 27 lenses.

Please continue your commenting. This is what the testing is about.



Raid
 
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Seems like as flare goes, newer lenses generally perform better. Modern coatings seem like a likely candidate.
The Biogon's flare wide open looks pretty impressive at a glance. But then I noticed- the image shows less overall exposure than the others, as though the lens doesn't operate at an honest F/ 2.
In the let down category, the Rollei lens sure doesn't seem to handle flare well at all!
Is this the extent of the testing, Raid, or are there more images under different circumstances coming up? Seems like a scene that demonstrates sharpness and bokeh at center and corners of the frame would be nice.
Thanks for your considerable efforts, and thanks to the people who've offered their lenses for these tests.
 
Hi Bryce,
This is the flare test, which will be followed this weekend by an outdoors test. I have a feeling that all lenses here are sharp. I will try to find a setting that allows for wide open use of all lenses. I am thinking of a stuffed animal sitting on a stool, close to a window or open door from where we can look outdoors.
What do you think?

Raid
 
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