A good Chinese lens? Yes, a good Chinese lens

More than halfway into 2016, so let's start it with a good post. By accident, I read a post about the Zonlai 25mm f/1.8 lens being available in the Fuji X-mount. It's a Chinese designed and made lens. In photos it looked small, sample images were pretty good, and the price was reasonable. Off to eBay, where I made an offer that was immediately accepted by the seller. You know the price you named was too high when that happens.

The lens arrived in a week or so. First impression is that it really is tiny, just what I want for my X-E1. The aperture ring is in the front, leading to many fumbles as muscle memory made me reach for it when attempting to focus. It's a clickless ring, which I hate as it prevents setting aperture without looking at the ring. The focus ring is to the back, and it's on the tight side. Cosmetics look good, and the lens mounted without any problems.

Image quality matched what I'd seen on the web: sharp in the center wide open, with the edges being on the iffy side until about f/5.6. OOF can be a bit nervous when your subject is several feet away. Light fall off in the corners is an issue, but can be corrected easily in post. You can also leave it in to give your images that old lens look. I am amazed at how close the lens can focus. It's definitely a plus given the wide aperture of the lens. OOF is smooth when your subject is up close.

Flare is an issue. This lens produces even weirder flare than the Zeiss Ultron. A lens hood will solve this problem, but will make the lens bigger; there's no such thing as a free lunch when you're dealing with cheap lenses. I will probably go in that direction though as this lens likes to be used wide open, and the X-E1 will overexpose in daylight at f/1.8 (anyone selling an X-E2 or X-T1 cheap?).

I splurged for a Taab focus tab ring to help with that tight focus ring. Sadly, the Taab covers the focus scale. I need to grab a label machine and make a distance scale.

So far I've been happy with the lens. I'm still struggling with manual focus and have missed quite a few shots. But when everything lines up right, the Zonlai 25mm can give some pretty impressive shots. Some have a touch of that 3D look.

On to the samples.

More images can be found here and here.

Year end musings

As 2015 draws to a close, it's time for a short review of my state of the photo nation.

1. I'm down to three camera systems: Nikon FX, Nikon CX, and Fuji X. M43 has gone away, and hasn't been missed.
2. The D3 is now on its eighth year, and still going strong. The batteries are due for a replacement though, as they are at the end of life per the indicator, and don't hold as much of a charge.
3. The D5200 gets the occasional use when I need the extra resolution. I'm still not as impressed with the high ISO IQ though.
4. The V1 is gone, replaced by the V2. I haven't had much time to use this camera, and plan to save it mostly for surfing and video. There is already a flaw in the plan though as the Sigma 500mm won't work with the FT1. I don't know if this is a problem with the V2 or with the FT1 as  I upgraded the firmware on the latter. The firmware upgrade allowed the FT1 to do continuous AF with the V2, but it seems at a cost. I'm waiting for a response from Sigma to find out if there is a fix. If not, I'm stuck with the 70-200mm + TC-14E for surfing (756mm 35mm-equivalent). Still not a bad combination, but not quite the 1350mm 35mm-equivalent I'd get with the Sigma.
5. The V2 also has some weird restrictions when shooting at 15fps. There's an aperture limitation (no greater than f/5.6) in this mode. Nikon wants me to call them to discuss this, but I haven't had the opportunity over the hectic holidays.
6. The V2 IQ is a bit grittier than the V1. Looks like I need to work on my sharpening settings.
7. The Fuji X-E1 has been a great walkaround camera over the last five months. Yes, the AF is dog slow, but I've been mostly using it with adapted lenses, so that hasn't been an issue. The IQ from the camera has been very good though, and it's a good balance between the IQ of FX and the portability of CX. Nikon, where is your mirrorless DX body?

So overall things are looking good for 2016. No new hardware is in the cards, for now at least.

From the V1 to the V2

Earlier this year I was looking at getting a used Nikon V2. As much as I enjoy using the V1 for surfing photos, the damned image review that can't be turned off has cost me quite a few shots. I've been waiting for Nikon to make that oh so small change to the firmware, but that's been a waste of time.

In the meanwhile, I got distracted by the Fujifilm X-E1. The IQ is so much better than the V1, although AF speed can't compare. Despite that drawback, the X-E1 has replaced the V1 as my small, carry anywhere body.

So where does that leave the V1? Well, it was going to remain my surfing camera (which means selling the 10mm, 18.5mm and SB-N5), but then I found a V2 body with the 10-30mm PD lens going for a decent price (thanks again, Craigslist).

A few observations:

1. The V2 body is smaller and lighter. It's not that much smaller than the V1, but being thin with that big grip gives the impression that it's much smaller. Being lighter also helps, but that is at the expense of battery life.

2. The PD lens is very convenient. Turn on the camera and the lens opens and extends, no need to remove a lens cap and then push a button to extend the lens. Hopefully the mechanism doesn't break down.

3. The grip makes it easy to hold the camera, but it gets uncomfortable after several minutes. The corners are not as rounded as on a Nikon DSLR body, which is probably one reason my fingers start hurting after using the V2.

4. There are some surprising missing features compared to the V1, such as no battery status (really, Nikon?), no interval timer, and no option to independently turn the AF confirmation and shutter sounds on or off.

5. Auto ISO is still not correctly implemented with a minimum shutter speed setting as on Nikon's DSLR bodies. I thought the algorithm was favoring lower shutter speeds in aperture priority, but a quick test with the V1 shows similar exposures.
6. There's no way to manually select between the electronic and mechanical shutters (aside from picking silent mode). With the V1, I tend to shoot using the electronic shutter, even at slower speeds.
7. I found out my FT-1 was one firmware upgrade behind when I was unable to focus continuously at 15fps. I did a rough test using the same lens on both the V1 and V2, and the V1 feels like it's focusing faster (or refocusing more often) than the V2. 

Not having image review is a relief though. I'm looking forward to the next trip to Hawaii so I can test the V2.

The V1 is off to another Nikon fan. It will get some good use and will still be loved, but by a new owner.

Ultron on the D3

I've been itching to see how well the 50mm Ultron does on an FX sensor, but unfortunately the flange focal distance of the M42 mount is a little over 1mm longer than that of the Nikon F-mount. Add the extra mm or so from a converter, and the Ultron turns into a macro lens. 

The adapter I bought did have a glass element to compensate for this, and it did give me infinity focus, but the IQ was really, really bad. So off came the glass element (well, more like hammered away). You would think that 2mm or so wouldn't make much of a difference, but the Ultron was barely able to focus to four feet.

I took a few photos, and that was that. Maybe one day I'll find a Canon FX body at a bargain price and give it another go.

 

The 52mm filter adapter for the Ultron from eBay finally arrived after a false start (wrong item shipped, had to get a refund and re-order). It's a nicely machined piece, and fits well into the B50 mount. The tabs are a bit on the thin side, something to keep in mind. I'm now able to mount 52mm screw-in hoods and filters.

I tried several hoods, and unfortunately it takes a pretty deep one to minimize the appearance of the rainbow flare. Note that it isn't totally eliminated; I don't have a 52mm screw mount hood that's deep enough for that. Adding the adapter and a hood on the lens makes it pretty big, and doesn't quite look right on the X-E1. I've also covered that nice chrome finish on the nose of the lens. Function over form.

Going German

Craigslist is a dangerous place. While reading a post in the Fuji forum about the Zeiss 50mm Ultron, I ran across a craigslist posting selling a copy of this lens with an Icarex body. Met up with the seller, and after a little negotiation, I welcomed another lens to the stable.

From what I can gather from the web, this lens is a Voigtlander design that was given the Zeiss label when Voigtlander was purchased by Zeiss. It has a concave front element (again, German engineering answering a question that was never asked). My copy has an M42 mount, but it was also available in the native Icarex bayonet mount.

This is my first piece of German glass. I don't count the Voigtlander 58mm Nokton I owned several years ago as it was a Japanese built and designed lens. It's a hefty piece of glass, but it's also the smallest 50mm I've owned (that makes it the most dense) short of the Nikon 50mm f/1.8E pancake lens. The aperture ring is clickless, which makes it difficult to set the aperture on the fly. Filter mount is an Icarex B50 bayonet (don't confuse this with the Hasselblad B50), which makes filters and hoods expensive. There is a B50 to threaded 52mm adapter available.

The lens is wickedly sharp, especially in the center. Contrast is strong (is this the micro contrast that every talks about when they discuss German glass?), especially in bright sunlight. Focusing is relatively easy, although I usually find myself reaching for the wider aperture ring instead of the focus ring. Both rings are about the same width and because of the small size of the lens, are close to each other. Nothing that more use won't be able to correct. There isn't that much CA, which is a pleasant surprise for such an old lens.

Bokeh is nervous though, and can get a bit swirly under the right conditions. It's a look that I find a little disturbing (does it make me nervous?). Flare is also very weird, with a rainbow curve (possibly due to the concave front element) and reduced contrast. It's prone to this if the light source is outside of the viewfinder, but not when it's visible in the photo. Veiling flare is a problem, with even blue shirts showing quite a bit of glow. There are only five aperture blades (that overlap in the most complicated pattern I've seen), leading to pentagonal highlights. The pentagons have rounded corners and fuzzy edges, so they're not very distracting. 

Rainbow flare, light source up and to the right. Contrast adjusted in post

Despite all the drawbacks, there are moments when this lens sings and the subject pops out of the frame. It's a combination of the contrast, sharpness and color. Just don't examine the bokeh too closely as the dizziness will start. You do have to identify the situations when this lens will give you an image that sings versus one that croaks.

How does the lens compare to my other "normal" primes? On the plus side it has the most contrast and is the sharpest wide open across the frame. On the minus side it has the worst bokeh and flare characteristics.

Back to the Voigtlander 58mm; the IQ of the Ultron reminds me of that lens, although the Zeiss is sharper wide open. I wonder how that lens performs on the Fuji? I sold mine because normal isn't really a range that I like on an FX body, not because of the IQ. I've ordered an M42 to Nikon F adapter as I'm curious to see how the Ultron performs on an FX sensor.

So now I have a surfeit of ~50mm lenses. Which one to sell?