Recently I purchased a nice second hand Hasselblad Sonnar F 150f2.8 lens. This is the less common f2.8 Sonnar of that focal length which was available for the 200 series Hasselblad, therefore it does not contain a central shutter which gives some weight advantage compared to the normal C/CF lenses for the 500 series HB.
My main concern was if it would perform better than the Contax 645 Sonnar 140f2.8 regarding center sharpness, contrast and color fringing at open aperture and at f4 and how it would perform in comparison to apochromatic corrected lenses of roughly comparable focal lengths (actually from 120 to 200mm).
I ended up spending some time this weekend doing a comparison series with the following lenses (all with IQ180):
First a set of comparison shots with four f2.8 to f3.4 non-Apo and Apo lenses at open aperture:
- Contax 645 140f2.8 Sonnar
- Hasselblad F 150f2.8 Sonnar
- Leica R 180f3.4 Apo
- Mamiya 645 200f2.8 Apo
The Contax 140 obviously is mounted directly to the Contax camera with the IQ back, the Hasselblad 150 via a Hasselblad V to Contax 645 adapter (the original one from Contax which is the only one fitting really tight to the Hasselblad lenses which is very important in order to avoid a slight lens tilt due to the lens weight). The Leica R 180f3.4 Aop is in the list because I found out that the image circle of this lens astonishingly covers the 54x40mm sensor. It is mounted via a Leica R to Canon EF adapter on the Alpa FPS. And last not least the Mamiya 645 200 lens is converted to Contax mount by a customized adapter.
Motive is a cropped mountain bike ;-) at autumn sunshine on my balcony. I tried to match the bike crop by moving the tripod accordingly. The distance from camera to bike is about 2,5 to 3m which is a slight disadvantage for the Leica R because that lens is considered to be sharper at longer distances/infinity.
I opened the files in PS CS6 ACR 8.7, did only slight adjustments (I tried to match color temperature and exposure; clarity +5%, sharpness 80% x 0,5 pixel, automatic reduction of chromatic aberation, slight reduction of color fringing: purple amount 4, slight reduction of vignetting of Leica R lens).
I uploaded the full resolution jpgs (quailty 10, ProPhotoRGB), here are the links for your own examination:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/18437364/pictures/140mm-Contax-645-140f2.8%40f2.8.jpghttps://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/18437364/pictures/150mm-Hasselblad-F-150f2.8%402.8.jpghttps://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/18437364/pictures/180mm-Leica-R-180f3.4-Apo%40f3.4.jpghttps://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/18437364/pictures/200mm-Mamiya-645-200f2.8-Apo%40f2.8.jpgEnclosed the center crops at f2.8/f3.4.
Result:
The Contax 140 is least sharp, has lowest contrast and strongest color fringing of the four.
The Hasselblad 150 is sharper, more snappy contrast and less but still well visible color fringing.
The Leica 180 Apo is at f3.4 probably as sharp as the Hasselblad at f2.8, a bit difficult to see because the foucs point is slightly in front of the others. Color fringing is nearly absent.
The Mamiya 200 Apo is very impressive with very good sharpness, good contrast and very little color fringing.
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