Alberti
Well-known
I have been struggling the past weeks about what to buy, an Elmarit 28mm ASPH, or a Biogon 28 mm. I have looked at the MTF graphs, and of course the Leica lens is the pure winner.
But it puzzled me that technical excellence probably isn't everything. How come that Zeiss even claims about the 28mm: ‘Its features include high image quality without color fringes, haze or reflection.’ Were they pure lying? Looking at the MTF, this would be slick marketing gibberish, or not? For my work, I have tested sensors and lenses for an enforcement purpose, and also found some counter-intuitive results. So I was ready to see that modern designs have gone beyond the optimum. Maybe there is a right element in those who say “it’s not Leica but Leitz” (alluding: those Canadians were better than the new Germans).
I agreed with the dealer I could make some test shots with the lens, and hence came back, armed with my M8.
Biogon 28 mm F2.8
MTF: The Zeiss lens is expected to drop in resolution immediately outside a 6mm circle (where the RF distance meter is). The Biogon 28 does not have a good MTF chart, lets face it. But the pictures are outstanding. The talk is correct. Good rendering of the distant and slightly out of focus areas. One might say: it has a nice old fashioned bokeh. What I like is the gradual slope of the area of focus, being very natural. It does not break in aggressively. Not turning on sharpening gives no problem either in C1. And the lens is very resistant to flare: you can have the sun in the middle and no artefacts appear (rings). Practically, it is a real charmer.
A face is rendered with the character, skin is depicted beautifully, with good detail. As an example of the quality, look at this book and note how the 'small print' is shown with grace. And the title is clear and contrasty as anything. Now, please tell me why the MTF charts are lying.
See my Flickr site with the full picture: picture of the book.
See this picture at F4, slightly stopped down. Zeiss now ships this lens with M8-prepared frame-line (=28). (But alas, no 6-bit recesses).
Biogon 25 mm F2.8
I also took some pictures with the 25mm Biogon. It provides an extremely good object resolution and a good souplesse in the change from in focus to out of focus. Look at the screws in his glasses. And that at 1/30th of a second. See this picture 25 at F2.8 showing the shopkeeper , mr A Schippers of Foka, who was so friendly to be a subject for a few shots. This lens can be used as a wider version of an 28mm, as it brings up those framelines. Pondering the 25mm, the fact it now has the 28mm frame-line now (default factory shipment) makes it different to the 24 mm Elmar – but better maybe in this respect, because as soon as the new FF M9 appears, the 24mm might need a new flange as of course the 24 mm frame-line will disappear again. The 28 mm frame-line is a stayer of course. Another thing I took into account is the flange coding. There is some confusion around, where people think a new flange is needed. But Well, I’ll have it coded (in due time).
So at the end, I have bought the Zeiss 28 f2.8 Biogon, its a really great lens and typically the one that I expect will be on my camera a lot. Sadly, the 46 mm UV/IR filter and the lightshade cost 32% of the lens price (a shame on the working of the market). (The filter from Leica and the hood were standard prices, so you can calculate what I paid for the slow-moving Biogon!!) Nevertheless I’m happy with the whole deal.
alberti.
But it puzzled me that technical excellence probably isn't everything. How come that Zeiss even claims about the 28mm: ‘Its features include high image quality without color fringes, haze or reflection.’ Were they pure lying? Looking at the MTF, this would be slick marketing gibberish, or not? For my work, I have tested sensors and lenses for an enforcement purpose, and also found some counter-intuitive results. So I was ready to see that modern designs have gone beyond the optimum. Maybe there is a right element in those who say “it’s not Leica but Leitz” (alluding: those Canadians were better than the new Germans).
I agreed with the dealer I could make some test shots with the lens, and hence came back, armed with my M8.
Biogon 28 mm F2.8
MTF: The Zeiss lens is expected to drop in resolution immediately outside a 6mm circle (where the RF distance meter is). The Biogon 28 does not have a good MTF chart, lets face it. But the pictures are outstanding. The talk is correct. Good rendering of the distant and slightly out of focus areas. One might say: it has a nice old fashioned bokeh. What I like is the gradual slope of the area of focus, being very natural. It does not break in aggressively. Not turning on sharpening gives no problem either in C1. And the lens is very resistant to flare: you can have the sun in the middle and no artefacts appear (rings). Practically, it is a real charmer.
A face is rendered with the character, skin is depicted beautifully, with good detail. As an example of the quality, look at this book and note how the 'small print' is shown with grace. And the title is clear and contrasty as anything. Now, please tell me why the MTF charts are lying.
See my Flickr site with the full picture: picture of the book.
See this picture at F4, slightly stopped down. Zeiss now ships this lens with M8-prepared frame-line (=28). (But alas, no 6-bit recesses).
Biogon 25 mm F2.8
I also took some pictures with the 25mm Biogon. It provides an extremely good object resolution and a good souplesse in the change from in focus to out of focus. Look at the screws in his glasses. And that at 1/30th of a second. See this picture 25 at F2.8 showing the shopkeeper , mr A Schippers of Foka, who was so friendly to be a subject for a few shots. This lens can be used as a wider version of an 28mm, as it brings up those framelines. Pondering the 25mm, the fact it now has the 28mm frame-line now (default factory shipment) makes it different to the 24 mm Elmar – but better maybe in this respect, because as soon as the new FF M9 appears, the 24mm might need a new flange as of course the 24 mm frame-line will disappear again. The 28 mm frame-line is a stayer of course. Another thing I took into account is the flange coding. There is some confusion around, where people think a new flange is needed. But Well, I’ll have it coded (in due time).
So at the end, I have bought the Zeiss 28 f2.8 Biogon, its a really great lens and typically the one that I expect will be on my camera a lot. Sadly, the 46 mm UV/IR filter and the lightshade cost 32% of the lens price (a shame on the working of the market). (The filter from Leica and the hood were standard prices, so you can calculate what I paid for the slow-moving Biogon!!) Nevertheless I’m happy with the whole deal.
alberti.
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