Testing various ‘legacy’ 50mm lenses on the Panasonic GF1
I just saw a very good review on Pbase about various ‘legacy’ 50mm lenses on the Panasonic GF1.
Following lenses have been tested (click on the link to see the lens on eBay):
1. Canon 50mm f1.2 LTM
2. Canon 50mm f1.4 LTM
3. Leica 50mm Summilux f1.4 (first version) – M fit
4. Jupiter 3 50mm f1.5 (copy of the Zeiss 50/1.5)
5. Leica Summicron 50mm f2 (pre-asph new version, 1980s-1990s) – M fit
6. Leica Summicron 50mm f2 (pre-asph, chrome older version) – M fit
7. Voigtlander Heliar 50mm f2
8. Leica Elmar 50mm f2.8 (old M fit collapsable version)
It has been a huge surprise for me to read from the test that the Coigtländer Heliar showed the post performance! Do you agree?
He also tested the Black&White performance.
One more test is available here: http://www.pbase.com/nickdemarco/test_3_final
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Comment from Grammar Nazi: "... Coigtländer Heliar showed the post...
Comment from Ranger 9: It seems like a real stretch to use the ...
Ranger 9
3 years ago |It seems like a real stretch to use the word “test” to describe these vague subjective comments (apparently based on photos of a single scene!)
But his lineup does provide an interesting example of the “leveling” effect that digital use does seem to have on a lot of film-era lenses! In the past this has been masked somewhat by the fact that it was difficult to compare lenses in different mounts while keeping the sensor, post-processing, etc. constant… but Micro Four Thirds, with its “adapter-for-anything” capability, makes that much easier now!
It’s surprising how much some old lenses (such as the 50/1.2) Canon “clean up” when subjected to unsharp masking, edge enhancement, etc… I still don’t think that makes them as “sharp” as the competition, but it does make them a lot more usable! For example, I have an 85/1.5 Canon RF lens in LTM mount that I always regarded as a last resort for film photography… but I can use it on my Pana G1 without having to make any excuses at all for its sharpness and contrast, after a bit of post-production “breathing”…
Grammar Nazi
3 years ago |“… Coigtländer Heliar showed the post performance!”
Coigtländer??? Post performance???
Who writes this?