Which 28mm RF Lens?

[VinceC]

My 28 is a Nikkor 2.8cm f/3.5
Lovely lens -- sharp corner to corner even wide open; a bit of vignetting; great tonal range.

I also own and have used an Orion f/6. As said above, nice old school lens that has the advantage of weighing next to nothing.

 

[teddy]

Thanks for the helpful comparison, I prefer the low contrast and high resolution of the Golden Era Leica lenses. I love my DR Summicron a lot. Would you have any more shots with the 28/1.9 Ultron to show either in Flickr or here? I follow your photostream.

Jose

 

[raid]

I like my Kobalux 28/3.5. I sold my Canon 28/3.5, which was a fine lens. I also like the Rokkor M 28/2.8.

 

[maitani]

my overall favourite was the V4 pre asph elmarit, so i voted for this. a masterpiece in ergonomics and signature imo, I didn t have all lenses on the list, if you can swing the summicron there s probably nothing better purely technically, i also loved the hex 28 with very modern rendering. from built and size I ve adored the ricoh 28 gr in ltm.

that said i d like to try the srl distagon 28/2 hollywood one day

 

[Gary Sandhu]

I voted for the summicron asph but I really like the minolta g-rokkor 28

 

[Emile de Leon]

I have a Nikon manual F2.8 28mm..stunning lens resolution..
You could put it on an M240..
Its the only 28 I own..bought it new years ago..in constant use today..
But if I were going to get a new M lens..it would be the new Elmarit 28mm..tiny w/low distortion..
Maybe a little too contrasty..but I could work with that..

 

[Monochrom]

Grazie tante...mia famiglia è italiana...dunque parlo un pocchino 😀

I´ll read it....

Most of my shots 28mm are at f8 f11 so i guess can live with a slow WA...ony if it´s capable of coming close to the biogon...also can save a few lire to get me another lens...

I find the j12 a superb glass perhaps some distrotion at the edges but for 65 usd...there´s nothing out there like it.

thanks!

No, but I'm planning to take some pics, it's just arrived....sometimes I think it would be better to spend my money on the Russar Mr-2 but probably the Orion being coupled is easier to use.

If you speak Italian or you have a good online translator you can read this page on the history of Soviet wide lenses, their use and the comparison with Leica's, it's pretty informative:

http://www.marcocavina.com/articoli_fotografici/Soviet_and_wide_lenses_on_Leica_M/00_p.htm

In short the Soviets developed indigenous designs like the Russar and the Orion for pure military reasons ( air recon, later spy satellites etc...) and they adapted those designs to the civilian market...BTW the Orion-15 was used in that interesting KGB device that you can see in the pictures: I mean the suitcase with inside the camera that was "left" on the documents the Soviets needed to copy.

Compared to the the Leitz wide angles the opinion of the author (excellent photographer, BTW) is that the Jupiter 12 is excellent, the Orion-15 is handicapped by the 5.6 aperture (it would perform better if it was faster) and the Russar is softer at the center than the Leitz 21 mm but sharper on the edge so the photo quality is "comparable".

 

[maddoc]

M-Rokkor 28/2.8 ... (without white spots and micro bubbles ...)

 

[lawrence]

Seems I missed some important lenses but my excuse is that the poll's restricted to twelve items. The thing I didn't expect was the overwhelming popularity of the two Leica ASPH lenses with over 40% between them! Thanks to everyone who's taken part so far.

 

[lawrence]

Thanks for the helpful comparison, I prefer the low contrast and high resolution of the Golden Era Leica lenses. I love my DR Summicron a lot. Would you have any more shots with the 28/1.9 Ultron to show either in Flickr or here? I follow your photostream.

Jose

This year I've been shooting only with the M-Hexanon, however, I'm off for three weeks over Christmas and intend to switch back to the Ultron, so if I get some decent shots I'll certainly post them.

 

[pieter]

I haven't even tried the other 28's. I just figured I wanted a lens that would never have me doubt if I didn't really want something else instead. So I gave a rib and bought a 28mm summicron, and I have loved every minute with it.
Is it worth the price? Don't think so, but in five years I will have forgotten how much I paid for it.

If I had less money I would have gone with the Ultron which I believe to be just as capable a performer.

 

[seakayaker1]

Ulton 1.9 ASPH LTM lens is outstanding!

 

[Wulfthari]

Grazie tante...mia famiglia è italiana...dunque parlo un pocchino 😀

I´ll read it....

Most of my shots 28mm are at f8 f11 so i guess can live with a slow WA...ony if it´s capable of coming close to the biogon...also can save a few lire to get me another lens...

Attention please! The Orion-15 is a Topogon-like lens developed by the Russkies during the last years of the Weimar Repubblic when Germans and Soviets had a lot of commercial (and military) collaborations, it' s not a Biogon!

 

[sevo]

Attention please! The Orion-15 is a Topogon-like lens developed by the Russkies during the last years of the Weimar Repubblic when Germans and Soviets had a lot of commercial (and military) collaborations, it' s not a Biogon!

Given that the earliest Topogon version was not patented until mid 1933, a few months after the Weimar Republic ended, there obviously is something wrong with the above statement. Zeiss themselves did indeed make some less attractive Contax mount wide angles in export versions for the USSR, but not until some years later, during the period of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, and the lenses in question were the 3.5cm Herar and Orthometar.

As far as I can make out, the earliest prototypes of the Orion-15 (which was not even released until the early fifties) might be from 1945, in Contax mount, which seems to make them direct spoils of the war, along with the rest of the Contax production. If the Russian sources claiming that the earliest prototypes date back to 43/44 are right, it could also be a B&L Metrogon license copy (the US supplied some strategic key technologies to the allied USSR), or the USSR followed the B&L example and copied the Topogon themselves.

 

[Wulfthari]

Given that the earliest Topogon version was not patented until mid 1933, a few months after the Weimar Republic ended, there obviously is something wrong with the above statement. Zeiss themselves did indeed make some less attractive Contax mount wide angles in export versions for the USSR, but not until some years later, during the period of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, and the lenses in question were the 3.5cm Herar and Orthometar.

As far as I can make out, the earliest prototypes of the Orion-15 (which was not even released until the early fifties) might be from 1945, in Contax mount, which seems to make them direct spoils of the war, along with the rest of the Contax production. If the Russian sources claiming that the earliest prototypes date back to 43/44 are right, it could also be a B&L Metrogon license copy (the US supplied some strategic key technologies to the allied USSR), or the USSR followed the B&L example and copied the Topogon themselves.

I copy & paste from that excellent page:

'Orion-15 28mm f/6 ci racconta una storia analoga: nel massimo periodo collaborazionista (a metà anni '30) i tecnici
sovietici e tedeschi si scambiavano di comune accordo i relativi progetti, ed i piani del Topogon di Richter del 1933
passarono rapidamente nelle mani dei colleghi sovietici; questi ultimi sfruttarono il Topogon in maniera molto più estensiva
di quanto non avvenne a Jena (dove si limitarono a 32 esemplari da 100mm f/6,3 e a 5 esemplari da 200mm f/6,3 per le
RMK aerial cameras della Luftwaffen): con la denominazione Orion i tecnici del GOI progettarono una nutrita famiglia
di Topogon-cloni ad uso aero-fotogrammetrico, a partire dall'Orion-2 150mm f/6 dell'Ottobre 1937, un'ottica da 80°
che copriva su una diagonale da 255mm il classico formato aero-fotografico sovietico da 18x18cm; sul finire della guerra,
nel Marzo 1944, al GOI realizzarono l'olotipo di una versione analoga (stessa luminosità ed analogo angolo di campo)
destinata ad apparecchi a telemetro 24x36mm; l'obiettivo, che costituiva il 244° progetto industrializzato al GOI, fu
denominato Orion-15 ed era caratterizzato da una focale di 28mm con luminosità f/6; contrariamente al Russar da 20mm,
l'Orion-15 è regolarmente accoppiato al telemetro ed è perfettamente idoneo anche alle Leica attuali.

The first Orion was the Orion-2 from October 1937, long before the Molotv/Ribbentrop pact, and was used for aerial recon...the camera Orion-15 came much later, but as Cavina explains all these indigenous designs (Orion and Russar) were military equipment that were later made available for the general public.

 

[FrankS]

No doubt, the Leica 28 summicron aspherical is technically the best of the bunch - it is reputed to be one of Leica's best after all, but it is also a lot of money, new or used. For $250-300, the canon f3.5 is a great value considering a cost/performance ratio.

 

[JeffNYC]

Every time I put the Leica 28mm f2 Summicron-M on the camera, something magical happens.... The CV Color Skopar f/3.5 would be next...... I hear great things about the Ultron 1.9

 

[Phil_F_NM]

35mm Orion variants:
http://www.sovietcams.com/index.php?398258553

Phil Forrest

 

[Paul Jenkin]

Leica Pre-ASPH Elmarit Ver 1-4

.....was my choice. I can only vote for that one as it's the only one I ever owned and never saw fit to try another. I'm not a gambling man but I have serious doubts that many, if any, could tell the difference between photos shot with a lot of these lenses.

 

[Red Robin]

My unlisted and only 28cm 1:3.5 is an older lenb. Much used this W-Nikkor.C has been kept it on my Canon P.