Notice: People have wrote me that some of the lenses might be bad copies, take that into account when you look at the lens test and try to compare it to other lens tests online.
I bought a lot of older medium format cameras and lenses through the years, to shoot film and to use with my Fotodiox Rhinocam adapter with the Fujifilm X cameras (will write more about the Rhinocam soon). But how do they all compare and how do they compare with modern lenses? I made this comparison test to figure out.
The test
I don’t have any experience comparing lenses like this, so I’m sorry if I oversee something. The test was done indoor shooting a bunch of object with the same lighting and with the same camera settings (iso200, fixed white balance) on a tripod. Since the focal lengths are so different (from very long to very wide angle) it was hard to get the exact same framing, but I think it’s still possible to make a conclusion based on the test photos.
Does it matter that it was tested on aps-c and not medium format? I don’t think so, it’s just a crop. Dropping digital or cropping with a smaller sensor is the same. But I know some people are gonna disagree.
|
Lens name |
Sharpness wide open |
Sharpness closed f/11 |
Image rendition |
Bokeh |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Mamiya 645 Sekor C 300mm f5.6 |
6 |
9 |
8 |
3 |
|
Mamiya 645 Sekor C 210mm f4 |
7 |
9 |
7 |
5 |
|
Mamiya 645 Sekor C 110mm f2.8 |
7 |
8 |
7 |
7 |
|
Mamiya 645 Sekor C 80mm f2.8 |
8 |
9 |
8 |
6 |
|
Mamiya 645 Sekor C 80mm f1.9 |
7 |
9 |
8 |
7 |
|
Mamiya 645 Sekor C 80mm f4 macro |
7 |
8 |
4 |
3 |
|
Carl Zeiss Jena Biometar MC 80mm f2.8 |
1 |
5 |
3 |
1 |
|
Mir 26b 45mm f3.5 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
|
Mamiya 645 45mm f2.8 |
7 |
8 |
7 |
3 |
|
Pentax 6×7 SMC 55mm f4 |
7 |
7 |
6 |
2 |
|
Pentax 6×7 SMC Takumar 105mm f2.4 |
5 |
6 |
6 |
5 |
|
Pentax-A 645 SMC 150mm f3.5 |
8 |
7 |
5 |
3 |
|
Fujifilm XF 56mm f1.2 (not medium format, only for comparison) |
10 |
8 |
10 |
10 |
Here are a small cropped area of each test photo, aperture is f11, raw files are unprocessed. Full size version here.
Conclusion
- The Both Pentacon Six lenses (Carl Zeiss Jena Biometar 80mm f2.8 and the Mir 26b 45mm f3.5) was disappointing. I actually heard good things about the Biometar as a good portrait lens and that the Mir was supposed to be very sharp. Shooting them wide open both was unusable, stepping them down the Biotar got better but the Mir was still unusable. These lenses are a lot older than the other ones so I guess that’s why.
- All the Pentax lenses disappointed me especially the 6×7 lenses. Not only where they a bit more unsharp than the Mamiya lenses but also did they have a lot of chromatic aberration giving this purple fringing around all objects.
- Mamiya lenses are great. This test proves it but it was also my experience using the lenses. They are pretty sharp and has a pretty nice image rendition. Images has this nice magenta tint and good micro contrast. A lot of lenses from the 80’s or older has this uncharming look, the Mamiya lenses don’t, not that they look like modern lenses but something in between.
- High quality modern lenses are better than these older medium format lenses. So only get them if you think it’s fun to use them on modern cameras or if you shoot some medium format film.
Related links
- Mamiya 645 and Phase One Lens Test
- The Mother of All Lens Tests (big medium format lens test)
- Old scanned review of Pentax 645 camera and lenses including lens sharpness test.
- Pentacon six lens test
Thank you so much for this! As a new Mamiya shooter, this was really useful to help me work out what lens to get for my new body.
I have all the listed Pentax lenses and use with my 645z
All razor sharp.
Chromatic aberration I see only on photos from Pentax SMC 105mm 2.4 when the aparture is F2.4 (also is a bit soft) but from F4 the lens produce magic.
I have all SMC Pentax lenses not the Takumar version.
Also I use oryginal Pentax 67->645z extension.
I have the Zeiss Jena Biometer and just got the Mir 26b. comparing with my Mamiya lenses they look sharper than either of the mamiya lenses I have. is it possible you got a bad copy? Soviet manufacturing processes make it a bit of a craps shoot getting a good copy.
Yes it’s very possible
You have a bad copy of Biometar and Mir 26. That’s a common problem for old eastern europe lenses, especially USSR. Biometar is a very lens usually, nothing like your test showed. Pentax 67 Takumar 105mm is not as good as later SMC version. The second one is exceptionally sharp, even wide open. Btw they are not as sharp on DSLR as premium modern lenses, but on medium format there are not many options.
Working-from-home fiddling around made me attach (Fotodiox adapter) my Mamiya 80/1.9 and 45/2.8 to my Nikon D800 again. I’m so pleasantly surprised by handling, sharpness (wide open!) and unsharpness/bokeh ..that I started looking around for similar experiences. Thanks for your comparison/test.
Would i get sharp results if i put a 35mm, M645 lens on fotodiox tilt shift adapter to a sony A7IV full frame camera?
Hey, thanks for doing this. Super helpful!
Btw, you have the numbers switched on the sharpness listed for the Fuji 56mm wide open vs f/11.
Cheers