Hi,
If you compare MTF data for say a Hasselblad 50/3.5 HCII (as measured by Hasselblad) and the Schneider Super-Angulon 2.8/50 HFT PQS data published by DHW, there is little doubt that the Hasselblad is quite a bit better, at least assuming that 10/20/40 lp results are shown. That would be in line with Lloyd's findings. The Super Angulon was used for two of Lloyds test shots.
The reason I looked at Hasselblad MTF data is that they publish MTF data measured on actual samples of all their lenses.
The lens he found best was the Apo Symmar 4/90 PQS.
The other two lenses were Apogon 80/2.8 and the Zeiss 110/2 Planar.
Lloyd tests all apertures, the lenses improve when stopped down to medium apertures.
Normally he does a lot of testing. Normally he shoots a mural mosaic for sharpness. This time he has a 3D object where he locates different points that are in focus and analyses rendition. I guess he just had stuff a short time.
Lloyd tests at all apertures, most of the lenses have some axial chromatic aberration at large apertures, that goes away at f/5.6 - f/8, Lloyd complains but not a big deal.
I would also add that most of us do to much pixel peeping. There is lots of research indicating that low to medium frequency details dominate human vision, like 20 lp/mm on 135 frame, but we look a lot of what is visible only on screen like 96 lp/mm detail.
On the other hand, we have a few really excellent lenses coming from Zeiss in the Otus line and we are going to see some 54 MP sensors in a year or so. Todays 24MP APS-C sized sensors would deliver 54 MP if scaled up to full frame, so the technology is already here. Sony seems to push CMOS sensor prices down, else they could couldn't produce full frame cameras around 2kUSD.
Now, an Otus 50/1.4 with a camera body for say 3k$ would total at around 8k$. A truly excellent lens on a 50+ MP sensor. It seems that the new Sigma 50 is a good match for the Otus stopped down to f/5.6. It would possible to buy a Pentax 645Z for eight grand, with no lens. The European/Israeli competition is much more expensive. So I guess competition will heat up a bit.
This review by Lloyd Chambers is quite a lot shorter than usual. Different samples would give better information. His findings are not very clear. The major findings are that the lenses are not on par with the 80 MP sensor except in the central part of the image and that the sensor gives significantly less DR than later generation Sony sensors. He also feels that Sony colour reproduction is better, but that may have a lot to do Capture One (that he is not used to) and finding colour balance. Another factor is that colour is highly subjective. Accuracy can be measured but measuring perception is very hard.
A small observation is that if the lenses are not on par with sensor, a 60 MP sensor may be a better and more economical alternative. The IQ-250 has similar DR to other Sony sensors and would avoid the corners of the lenses, but for some reason Phase backs seem not to be available for Hy6 and Leaf doesn't have a CMOS sensor yet. Anyway a 1.3X crop back is only an alternative if no "real wide" wide angles are needed. Pentax and Hasselblad have 24 mm lenses.
Personally I shoot P45+ on Hasselblad V, and the widest lens I have is 40 mm, I would like to have wider, but often I stitch instead. Doing a lot of stitching on the Hassy.
Best regards
Erik
This is awkward. A third party tests the Hy6 and finds issues. So you'd think OK…there are issues.
Then Eric is now saying the testing wasn't so good. Not ideal for Lloyd or Eric, not to mention the rest of us.
Without having subscribed to Digilloyd, I haven't read the test and so don't know what he said. But if the critique is focus accuracy - that's an odd one: once the lenses on the Hy6 are dialed in (focus offset setup correctly), they are pretty much sharp and on the money. If the issue is edge to edge sharpness, that's true enough on the 40mm, but not IMO on the other lenses. But maybe he saw something in his testing that some of us have missed.
If the critique is more broad, and that the lenses are not sharp, well… time for a new test. That just doesn't pass muster.
I've seen some of Eric's work with the 80 mp back, and its pretty amazing. More local use of a Leaf 7 II (33mp) isn't as extreme as the 80 mp, but a 60, 90 and 150 Rollei Schneider were tested against a 55 Apo Sironar, 90 Rodie HRW (older one) and a 150 Apo Sironar with the same back… and the Rollei/Schneiders sure didn't give anything up. Not at all.
Attached is a screen save of a test of three 150mm lenses on the leaf back, the first two Rollei/Schneiders, the last one a Schneider 150 on a tech camera. It was done some time ago, but is (I think) ISO 50, f11, 100% crops, center of the image.
