Hi guys,
I've found lens comparison threads useful in the past, so I thought I'd throw this out there for anyone that's interested.
Yesterday I tested my three 50'ish primes with a simple scene of knickknacks for both sharpness and bokeh. The test subjects are:
Voigtlander Nokton 58mm f1.4 Pentax-A 50mm 1.7 Pentax-A 50mm 2.8 macro
All shots were taken on Manual mode with the exact same exposure settings (ISO 100 fixed, +.7EV, and varying aperture/shutter speed).
On to the test images:
First the bokeh tests! Here follow resizes of the full images, click the link to view the original:
Voigtlander 58/1.4 @ 1.4:
A50/1.7 @ 1.7:
Voigtlander 58/1.4 @ 2:
A50/1.7 @ 2:
Voigtlander 58/1.4 @ 2.8:
A50/1.7 @ 2.8:
A50/2.8 @ 2.8:
Voigtlander 58/1.4 @ 4:
A50/1.7 @ 4:
A50/2.8 @ 4:
Now to the 100% crops for sharpness:
Voigtlander 58/1.4 @ 1.4 ||| A50/1.7 @ 1.7
Voigtlander 58/1.4 @ 2 ||| A50/1.7 @ 2
Voigtlander 58/1.4 @ 2.8 ||| A50/1.7 @ 2.8 ||| A50/2.8 @ 2.8
Voigtlander 58/1.4 @ 4 ||| A50/1.7 @ 4 ||| A50/2.8 @ 4
Voigtlander 58/1.4 @ 5.6 ||| A50/1.7 @ 5.6 ||| A50/2.8 @ 5.6
Voigtlander 58/1.4 @ 8 ||| A50/1.7 @ 8 ||| A50/2.8 @ 8
My personal conclusions:
For bokeh, I think the Voigtlander easily takes the cake. At all apertures the Voigtlander rendered excellent circular bokeh. In contrast, the Pentax lenses showed hexagonal bokeh at apertures past f/2. This is expected since the Voigtlander has nine aperture blades versus six on the Pentax lenses.
For sharpness, it's tough to say. Sadly it appears that the tripod got bumped in the Voigtlander shots from f/2.8 onward, so the focus moved from the eye to the ear. Even that being said, I think the A50/2.8 macro is the sharpest of the three for f/2.8 and beyond. Below that it's hard to say, but I'd be tempted to give the A50/1.7 the prize...the Voigtlander seems a bit more dreamy than the Pentax at large apertures.
Final thougts:
The A50/1.7 fared considerably well considering it's at least 1/3 of the cost of the Voigtlander. For the price and the size, the A50/1.7 is an incredible value. That said, my favorite rendering would have to be the Voigtlander at f/2...what can I say, I'm a sucker for that bokeh! Anyway, hope you enjoyed my rough series of test shots!
Last edited by jeffshaddix; 03-05-2011 at 11:51 PM.