Lens Testing, Round 1
The Images
Part 2. Wide Open, Center Target
30mm Arsat Fisheye. Sharp, clear, and highly resolved. But because of the fisheye distortion, the image is bigger than with the other lenses. Close inspection of the negative shows that group four is clearly resolved (over 40 lines/mm)
Coming soon: Hartblei 45mm PCS.
45mm Mir 26b. Low contrast, but resolving group 3.
50mm Zeiss Flektogon. Much better than the Mir all the way around.
80mm Arsat. Sharp and clear as you'd expect with a normal lens.
80mm Volna. Different than the Arsat but the same.
120mm Vega, a good performer with good contrast, but not quite as sharp.
180mm Zeiss Sonnar, an outstanding performer in resolution, but a bit low in contrast. This might be better in a newer, multicoated version.
240mm doubled Vega. The teleconverter steals contrast, but the resolution is quite good.
360mm doubled Sonnar. The low contrast of the Sonnar with the low contrast of the converter means REALLY low contrast.
Here is how I rank the lenses based on these images, and on seeing the actual negatives under a microscope:
30 Arsat (!)
Tie: 80 Volna, 80 Arsat,
Tie: 50 Flektogon (good in the center), 180 Sonnar, 120 Vega
45 Hartblei Shift
Tie: 45 Mir, 240 2X Vega
360 2x Sonnar
The next section will present the results for the edge target wide open.