The Snub Nose

Canon EOS 350D with Carl Zeiss Tessar T* 2.8/45mm

Veijo Vilva

(Page under Construction)

FOV corresponds to a 72mm lens on a 35mm camera a very flat "pancake" (18mm), very light (90g) lens a quite sharp and contrasty lens, quite reasonable even at full aperture the lens is mounted with an Contax/Yashica Bayonet-to-EOS adapter manual focus AV (aperture priority) or M (manual)

A NOTE CONCERNING THE BOOKSHELF TEST PHOTOS my test procedure isn't very rigorous bad results may be caused by bad focusing as manual focusing in dim lighting isn't any too easy when the DOF for this level of expected sharpness is just a few millimeters in either direction the backs of the books aren't at exactly the same depth, the maximum difference is about one inch. Only a few books at the center and at the upper right-hand corner have been aligned - roughly. the test only shows that the specific tested lens is at least as good as my results -- even that individual lens might be better, and others of the same make and model may be better or worse anyhow, the equivalent magnification of the 100% crops is just plain sick, i.e. about 48x on a typical 17", 1024x768 CRT. Normally, 8x has been considered a reasonable maximum for critical sharpness from film. At 48x magnification, a 35mm film frame would be about 172cm (68") wide, and even a 1.6x crop factor dSLR frame would be 107cm (42") wide!

At f/5.6: At f/5.6 everything is quite sharp, even at the edges. A crop from the center at f/5.6: According to the Zeiss specs, at f/5.6 the 40 cycles/mm MTF is much lower at the center than at about 9-12mm from the center, i.e. near the corner of the 350D frame. A crop from the corner at f/5.6: Extremely sharp, negligible vignetting

A center crop at full aperture (f/2.8): At f/2.8 the result is sharp in the center, slightly softer at the edges. The 40 cycles/mm center MTF is specified to be about the same as at f/5.6, and the minimal differences between these f/2.8 and f/5.6 center crops could be attributed to a quite possible slight misfocusing, which at f/2.8 has a more discernible effect. A crop from the corner at f/2.8: Still recommendably sharp, some vignetting 4x magnification from the corner, left at f/5.6, right at f/2.8 (resolution limited by the camera sensor and the EOS normal quality jpeg artifacts) On a 20" (50.8cm) wide print, the f/5.6 corner crop would be roughly like the picture below - only with a somewhat better resolution: This is an almost 23x magnification relative to the sensor size! It's like making a 20"x30" print from a 35mm film frame.

In practise, the Tessar fares quite well even at f/2.8:

Hand-held shots on an overcast, slightly misty day, in lowish contrast light

Not bad, not bad at all (Full size) The 100% crops are very slightly soft: A crop from the center Note: here all of the foreground softness is due to the very limited DOF at this resolution level. For a sub-pixel CoC, the clock and the platform numbers are at about the hyperfocal distance. A crop from the edge Note: here most of the softness is due to the very limited DOF at this resolution level.

A quite reasonable bokeh

... and a couple of examples of not so reasonable!

A crop from the corner

A crop from the corner

A crop from the edge Sharpness again limited by DOF (and the sensor resolution, of course)

Links

Zeiss / Contax SLR Lenses (by Tom Shea at photo.net) Test MTF di obiettivi Zeiss per sistema CONTAX 35 mm EOS 350D with Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 2.8/135mm EOS 350D with Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 2.8/85mm EOS 350D with Carl Zeiss Planar T* 1.4/50mm EOS 350D with Carl Zeiss Planar T* 1.7/50mm EOS 350D with Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 2.8/28mm EOS 350D + Tessar 2.8/45mm: Tallinn Photos

My Street Cameras I usually prefer slightly longer lenses, but the snub nose 350D + T45 combination is quite handy on the street as the non-protruding lens doesn't so easily get stuck in the bag. The wide-angle FED-2 + O15 combination is even flatter with a total depth of 52mm vs. 82mm, but needs an external viewfinder (not shown) for accurate framing. The FED has a much more solid feel and more positive focusing. EOS 350D with Tessar 2.8/45 vs. FED-2 with Orion-15 6/28 a short tele dSLR vs. a wide-angle 35mm rangefinder. Industar-50-2 3.5/50 vs. Tessar 2.8/45 An even lighter and very much cheaper alternative, Industar-50-2 is the Poor Man's Pancake Tessar, rather sharp already wide open, very sharp at f/8. Schneider-Kreuznach Radionar 2.9/50mm is my lightest street lens, not as sharp and contrasty as the Tessar, but the bokeh is better. I paid only 3.50 Euros for the camera from which I extracted it. My preferred walkaround lens, however, is a soft-focus meniscus, a magical lens, which doesn't produce so stolidly conventional pics. EOS 350D with VPK Meniscus Achromat a soft-focus medium tele

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