Lens test - Voigtländer 50mm Color-Ultron vs Olympus 45mm

During a rather inebriated eBay session a few weeks ago, I found that I'd happily bid on a legacy manual lens, the Voigtländer 50mm Color-Ultron f/1.8, and won. Not wanting this fortuitous accident to go to waste, I immediately ordered a mount adaptor to stick it on my m43 cameras.

Alas, I'd assumed it was an M42 screw thread mount, but this was not the case. On further inspection, I discovered it was in fact a QBM mount. Another week of waiting for a different type of Fotodiox adaptor followed... which is now here...

I decided to setup a small, thoroughly non-scientific test, to see what the difference in sharpness and rendering was between an older manual prime versus a new designed-for-the-sensor-and-mount autofocus lens (though I manual focused this too):

First up, the Voigtländer and Olympus at f/1.8, wide-open on both lenses. You can clearly see the disparity in focal lengths. 5mm doesn't seem like much, but is actually 10mm when accounting for crop-factor.

The out of focus areas from the Olympus are rendered more smoothly, though the Voigtländer has a bit more character I think. The Oly is also sharper wide-open, with the old manual lens being a bit soft (though only if you really pixel-peep).

Olympus 45mm @ f/1.8

Voigtländer 50mm Color-Ultron @ f/1.8

Next up, the Voigtländer and Olympus at f/4. f/2.8 shows a gradual transition of the "bokeh balls" though f/4 does give a better indication of the aperture blades - the Oly's are pretty round, while the Color-Ultron is showing nice hexagonal balls. Sharpness-wise, they are both very similar.

Olympus 45mm @ f/4

Voigtländer 50mm Color-Ultron @ f/4

Finally, a test of three lenses - Voigtländer, Olympus, and Panasonic 14-140mm at f/5.6. I setup the superzoom to a similar focal length as the Voigtländer, and discovered it is more like a 55mm than a 50mm. At this aperture, the Olympus is really starting to pick up some background details, while the other two still provide some smooth background blur.

Amazingly, there's very little to tell the difference between the Color-Ultron and Panasonic 14-140mm. Really highlights how far zoom lenses have come in the last few years.

Olympus 45mm @ f/5.6

Panasonic 14-140mm, 55mm @ f/5.6

Voigtländer 50mm Color-Ultron @ f/5.6

Hope some of you have found this useful. All shots taken with a Panasonic Lumix GH3, manual shutter and remote-shutter. I did want to test with my GM5, but the manual lens strangely forces you to use the electronic-shutter only, and I didn't want to end up with a load of banding from the lighting.

Cheers,
Paul

JFL wrote:

Thank you for showing this test. Maybe the difference between panasonic at 55 mm instead of 45 mm is the reason of the smoother bokeh.

I think it more likely that it's smoother because of the seven rounded aperture blades and lens coating. If anything, a shorter focal length will mean more in focus at the same aperture.

Cheers,
Paul

have a look at the red on white numbers. The Color-Ultron is not bad @f1,8 - the Zuiko is sharper.

Have a look at the hour-deviders @f4

Bokeh is taste. I think the Ultron has "too much".

Still amazing what Olympus Zuiko made for such small money for a 45mm lens.

Anyway: I like old glass. And a every lens ending on -on or -ar is welcome.