Hello and question: Legacy lenses that are sharper than the 18-55 kit lens?

stjarvis · Sep 20, 2013

So let me start off by saying hi, first post, but I've been lurking for a bit.

I recently bought a NEX 5R with the 18-55 kit lens, and I'm hunting for some additional lenses that are sharper than the kit lens, and don't cost $1000.

I had a Yashica Yashinon DX 50 F1.7 in M42 laying around, and it got decent reviews on pentax forums, so I grabbed the rainbow image adapter off amazon and gave it a try, and was pretty disappointed. It looks softer than the kit lens, and has tons of CA issues, it's bokeh is kind of goofy looking too.

I was also looking into the Pentax SMC 50 F1.4 that people seem to love, but it's dxomark scores make it look like it'll be worse than the Sony 50 F1.8.

Anyway to try and get to the point, here are some lenses I've been looking at, if anyone has tried them on the Nex, and / or has direct comparison shots against the kit lens that would be great.

Zeiss Jena Flektogon MC 35 2.4 in M42

Zeiss Jena Sonnar MC 135 3.5 in M42

Zeiss Contax Distagon 35 2.8

Voightlander Heliar 15 4.5

Voightlander Color-Skopar 35 2.5

Or if anyone has any recommendations, I'm primarily interested in landscape photography, and will most likely pickup the e-mount sigma 60mm.

Here's a photo with the yashinon, I messed with this in GIMP a bunch to try to correct CA, and give it a bit of character:

And here's one from the kit lens that I didn't correct, shot as a jpeg in intelligent auto:

zink · Sep 20, 2013

RonFrank said:
RonFrank wrote:

IMO MF legacy glass is over rated especially when you can purchase Sigma lenses new that are made for the Nex. If you decide to change mounts sell your used equipment and move on.

Most modern lenses are capable of producing large prints. How much wall space you got!?

RustierOne · Sep 20, 2013

Chris 1 said:
Chris 1 wrote:

Why limit yourself to legacy? I'd recommend the Sigma 30 2.8 or the Sony 35 1.8, either are excellent.

And the Sigma 19mm and 60mm lenses are not that far off when compared to the 18-55. Both are excellent primes. Auto-focus is a plus for all 3 Sigmas versus the legacy primes as is AF & OSS on the Sony 35 1.8. The Sigmas are very economical, while the 35 1.8 is more pricey, but fast and sharp.

captura · Sep 21, 2013

zink said:
zink wrote:

zink said:

RonFrank wrote:

IMO MF legacy glass is over rated especially when you can purchase Sigma lenses new that are made for the Nex. If you decide to change mounts sell your used equipment and move on.

Most modern lenses are capable of producing large prints. How much wall space you got!?

Click to expand...

ChuckTa · Sep 21, 2013

Most of the legacy lens I have tried are sharper than the kit at the same aperture. I have tried the Yashinon prime and they are fairly high quality. If you are comparing f1.7 to the kit f5.6, then the kit will be sharper.

I think there are two possibilities: there is a problem with the lens or you have missed focus. Note that you'll need to use both peaking and 5x/8x enlarge to really nail the focus.

Amamba · Sep 21, 2013

I use Minolta MD 35-70/3.5 Macro, and it's sharper throughout the range. Also it's pretty portable for a zoom that was designed for an SLR.

Kiron MC 28/2 is another wickedly sharp lens.

Minolta MD50/1.7 is cheap and razor sharp stopped down a bit. Even wide open, I think it's better than kit.

Sigma 19/2.8 and 30/2.8 are relatively cheap and very sharp. Most people seem to prefer the 30 but I use 19 much more often.

Basicaslly, I think any legacy prime from a well known brand would have better IQ.

ChuckTa · Sep 21, 2013

RonFrank said:
RonFrank wrote:

IMO MF legacy glass is over rated especially when you can purchase Sigma lenses new that are made for the Nex. If you decide to change mounts sell your used equipment and move on.

Most modern lenses are capable of producing large prints. How much wall space you got!?

Brian Zhou · Sep 21, 2013

stjarvis said:
stjarvis wrote:

My focus on legacy / FF lenses is to try and have lenses that are still useful in the future. So I'm trying to avoid investing to heavily into the e-mount APS-C lenses until Sony release a FF Nex and we see how / which lenses still work with it.

With the sigma's it's not that bad cause they're cheap, but most of the Sony lenses aren't so much.

In that case, you need to be aware the Olympus Pen F lenses do not cover FF.

captura · Sep 21, 2013

Amamba said:
Amamba wrote:

I use Minolta MD 35-70/3.5 Macro, and it's sharper throughout the range. Also it's pretty portable for a zoom that was designed for an SLR.

Kiron MC 28/2 is another wickedly sharp lens.

Minolta MD50/1.7 is cheap and razor sharp stopped down a bit. Even wide open, I think it's better than kit.

Sigma 19/2.8 and 30/2.8 are relatively cheap and very sharp. Most people seem to prefer the 30 but I use 19 much more often.

Basicaslly, I think any legacy prime from a well known brand would have better IQ.

The kit lens is pretty good in the range between 24 and 35mm and at f5.6 to f8.

ttan98 · Sep 22, 2013

Hi,

Not many people use this lens on the NEX, I bought an adapter which I can then attach this lens to the NEX via this adapter. There is a ring on the adapter which I can adjust the aperture opening, but there is no making on the ring you have to mark the aperture opening size yourself, you can get only an approx. size.

I assure you that this lens is very sharp even wide open, a very good lens and cheap too, you can buy it second hand, even cheaper. Thiis lens was introduced about 2-3 years ago by Nikon for the D3000, D5000, D7000 series.

stjarvis · Sep 22, 2013

I was playing with the Yashinon-DX a little more yesterday. It might not be quite as bad as I initially thought. I found if I rely on the focus zoom, more than the focus peaking I tend to get better results. I think with the focus peaking I was mis-focusing a little / not actually focusing on what I wanted to focus on.

Also noticed that you can focus zoom, or change settings while in the smart remote app, that's a little annoying.

Here's my pics from playing around with it yesterday:

http://eitherbraveorstupid.com/cat-and-candles-sony-nex-5r-with-yashica-yashinon-dx-50-f1-7/

None of the pics are anything special. One of the cat pics is mis-focused, and most of the others the depth of field is a little off.

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Hello and question: Legacy lenses that are sharper than the 18-55 kit lens?

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