Lens User Reviews (424)

This lens is the sharpest lens I own. I know not everyone agrees with that. I use this lens for light table photography to import my negatives into raw format. And is hands down the sharpest, edge to edge of every lens I could use for that purpose. And as far as normal photography, this lens shines.Mine has 12 blades.

Weaknesses:

None.

Comments:

This is a keeper lens.

This is to my opinion the sharpes lens that mamiya has ever made, I use it  in my Mamiya 645AFn with a Phase one 50mp digital back. I have enlarged prints to 96 inches (244 cm) wide and the quality is excellent.

Weaknesses:

None

Comments:

Small and light, very unusual for medium format lenses.

This lens have a high IQ, it is very sharp and I used it at weddings for many years with excellent results.

Weaknesses:

It is big and heavy!

Comments:

It is build like a tank!

This is a very sharp lens and the images are saturated with beautiful colors. Small and lightweight. I use it for Landscape photography on my Sony a7Rii.

Weaknesses:

It is dificult to focus because the focus ring is big and in my copy not very smoth. I don't think is a good walk around lens but excellent for landscape photography.

Comments:

I got my at a very low price, it was mounted in an Exakta camera. The camera was damage, but I opened the lens and fixed,  (it was missing the rubber that goes on top of the focusing ring, I bought a generic one and was able to use it with good results) I manage to salvage the lens and I have used it with excellent results.

I use to be a portrait photographer for 40 years and still today I do some portraits. This is the lens I use for outdoor portraits, I love the skin tones and the bokeh of this lens.

Weaknesses:

Some times it may have a little chromatic aberration, but it can be fix in LR.

Comments:

I have sold most of my Canon EF lenses, but I don't think I can depart from these one.

This is an exellent lens if you like the fisheye effect. 

Weaknesses:

none

Comments:

I have the Canon EF version and in more tham 20 years it has never been for repair.

This is one of the sharpest lens I own. It is also build like a tank.

PERIOD OF USE IS 5 YEARS, (For some reason i pick 5 years and it shows 5 months).

Weaknesses:

None

Comments:

I will never leave home without it, it is always in my bag.

This lens has good contrast, small and light, and overall decent IQ, I compare it and it is lighter and a little sharper than my manual focusing Nikkor 28mm 2.8. Especially on the edges.

Weaknesses:

Has Plastic in it, but it makes it lighter. Actually it may be and avantage.

Comments:

Good quality at low price (about $60). If you want a better performer you can buy an Art lens 28mm for about $600

This is a beautiful lens and it is a great performer, it is very sharp and the colors are amazing.

Weaknesses:

None

Comments:

I also have the 58mm 1.4 that has a nice Boke but I like the colors of the 1.8 better. For Landscape and Nature photography the 1.8 is better. I do mainly Landscape.

This Lens is amazing, It is so sharp and it has some magic in it that makes an average picture look like art. I never use it at f3.5 becouse I do landscaping and I need the deep of field, but at f8 or f11 it will beat all my new canon lenses. I have also compared it to my Topcon 35mm 2.8 and it performs a lot better. This is the only wide angle lens I have that is sharp in the corners. 

Weaknesses:

To me it has no weakness, but if you photograph people or moving objects it may be slow.

Comments:

My copy is the Exakta mount and I use it with an adapter on my Sony a7Rii. If you can find one, buy it you will never regret it. I bought my in Europe and had to wait 3 weeks for it.

Weaknesses:

For some people the weaknes could be that is a f5.5, but for me it doesn't matter because I always use f8 or f11.

Comments:

• Sharp
• pleasing colour rendering
• good flare control
• bokeh

Weaknesses:

• Singapore made lenses are prone to mechanical defects
• bokeh on photos taken from close distance on cloudy day with no light points may be ugly.

Comments:

Optically, it is the same lens as Carl Zeiss Planar 50mm f1.8 and Rollei Planar 50mm f1.8 in QBM mount. That means very nice rendering, sharpness, centre sharpness even wide open. Bokeh is a very subjective affair. I personally like planar bokeh, but a lot of reviewers are not pleased with it. To get good results, one needs to know the lens and use it according to its strengths. That means that in some situations Ultron (planar) will create ugly background, but it is easy to avoid it.

Optical quality!!!

Bokeh!!!! The best of 2 dozens of 135s that I've tried on Sony A7ii/iii

Build

Weaknesses:

Heavy and bulky

Comments:

I've tried many highly praised manual Nikkors on FF Sony A7ii/iii, didn't like the images they produced and swore to stay away from NIkon. That is until I found a clean copy of this lens at local shop with 2 weeks return policy. Well, this one stayed in my stable. Color rendering/transitions and BOKEH!!!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127536411@N03/50858619447/in/dateposted-public/

sharp

10+ blades

MFD 1.35m

Weaknesses:

Filter diameter 54mm. it has a rather uncommon 54mm filter thread I used the hood of a Steinheil tele-quinar 135mm f/2.8.

Comments:

http://forum.mflenses.com/isco-gttingen-tele-iscaron-135mm-f-2-8-test-t78622.html

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Weaknesses:

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Comments:

In searching for a lenscollar  for the Samyang AF 135mm F1.8 FE I found this one: the iShoot IS-S24240FE. It fits perfect. This lenscollar has the 61.5mm diameter like the Samyang at the lensmount.

Excellent build
Very smooth focus
Ultra long focus trow - about 600° degrees!
Useful integrated lens hood

Nice clean colors, good sharpness, strong 3D-pop.

Weaknesses:

Weight a lot
Some fringing in extreme contrast situation 

Comments:

Still learning how to get best of this lens.

KMZ 5cm F1.5 with German glass can match a Wartime Sonnar for performance, and the LTM focus mount is q better/more relable design than the Zeiss Original Typically performance improves if adjusted for the camera to be used on.

Weaknesses:

Far edge performance is soft, some of this due to field curvature.

Comments:

KMZ produced two main versions of this lens: the original using Schott glass, the second using a reformulated design with Russian glass. Production of the two versions ran concurrently through 1956. The easiest way to identify the different version is the fixture for the rear triplet. The V2 lens has a guide ring machined into the fixture, the original version has threads as the back of the fixture. The Schott glass is superior in perfomance, my lens from 1956 matches the Wartime Zeiss Sonnar that it is based on.

• a beauty
• great build, fully metal
• sharp, neven in the corners and fro f/3.5 on
• very less aberrations
• little crazy but nevertheless smooth bokeh
• paints very smooth in the background
• surprisingly good against bright light
• less weight

Weaknesses:

• only f/3.5

Comments:

This is a fantastic lens, esp. regarding its age and its simplicity of construction. Optically much better than the over-hyped Trioplan, bokeh imho even better, but, okay, a little less crazy.

Additionally it works fantastic in the close-up range in addition with a helicoid.

Been in Eastern Europe for a long time I just read about this lens been one surprise, and I found one in one vintage store stupidly cheap, when you take it in hand it's light and plastic nothing good promising build quality but because I read about this lens I bought it. And it is a great lens :))

Weaknesses:

Build quality and not so fast focus like a modern lens.

Comments:

I am hunting night street moments and for this, I need the first sharp lens, for a while, I shoot night with this lens and the results for me are satisfying.

Compact for f1.2
Very nice mechanical build - pleasure to use.
Very special rendering and bokeh

Weaknesses:

Mine has haze (lens separation), that can't be removed, so i have very low contrast. 

Comments:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/adisx/albums/72157709069559042