Old Lenses v New Lenses on a Digital SLR.

[Yecora99]

Hello,

I have a collection of Wide Angle Lenses or should I say lenses which cover the 28mm wide angle view point and thought I would perform some tests to see which performs the best on my Pentax K10D

The lenses under test were:

An old Hoya HMC Wide-Auto f=28mm 1:2.8 Manual Focus Lens
A Tamron SP 17-35mm Di LD 1:2.8-4
A Tamron XR 28-200 1:3.8-5.6

All tests were performed using the lenses without any filter or lens hood attached.

Since the maximum aperture avilable across the range of lenses was f5.6, I decided to take test shots at f5.6, f8, f11 & f16. I set the camera to Manual Focus and used through the lens metering with each lens.

My subjects included a row of old houses, a pond view pointing towards the sun whilst standing in the shade behind a tree and another view of the same pond with my back to the sun.

I was amazed at the differences between the lenses.

The old Hoya retained the most detail throughout all test shots including the reflections in the bright water and the colour was acceptable.

The Two Tamrons were very similar to each other, the detail was acceptable in most shots except the reflections where the detail was totally lost (resulting in a quarter of the shot having little or no detial). Where the two tamrons stand out from the Hoya is in the colour saturation.

The Tamron lenses produced supurb colour saturation compared to the Hoya, but they lost detail easpecially in the highlight areas.

Has anyone else done similar test and been amazed at how old lenses can produce better image detail comapred to new lenses?

I suppose the detial within the highlighted reflections from the water would be retained if a polariser filter was attached. However since each lens has a different screw thread mount, I am unable to perfrom this type of test until I obtain the required filters.

Best Regards,

Yecora99

[Wheelu]

Look no further than the Pentax 28mm f3.5 K lens - the oldest incarnation of the K fit, prior to the M series. It is the finest 28mm in my collection. I only wish that I could use it on my Canon 5D, but the aperture lever would foul the mirror.

[Manofolympus]

Could you not simply be seeing the difference between prime and zoom lenses? The much lower element count and lower level of design compromise frequently gives primes the edge optically.

[Done_rundleCams]

Look no further than the Pentax 28mm f3.5 K lens - the oldest incarnation of the K fit, prior to the M series. It is the finest 28mm in my collection. I only wish that I could use it on my Canon 5D, but the aperture lever would foul the mirror.

Hi Bryan,

Easy answer .... trade your 5D towards the new Pentax K7 DSLR body or
pick up a used Pentax DSLR to use with your Pentax lenses

Cheers,

Jack