| Darin McQuoid | Blog | Reviews | Tutorials | River Directory |
The Pentax "K" SMC 28mm
f/3.5 vs Nikon's
classic
28mm f/2.8 Ai-S and the Sony FE 28mm f/2
| Pentax SMC 28mm f/3.5 | Nikon 28mm f/2.8 Ai-S | Sony FE 28mm f/2 |
| 9.6oz w/o caps | 9.2 oz w/o caps | 7.2oz w/o caps |
| $90-120 | $200-250 | $450 |
| 5 Aperture Blades | 7 Aperture Blades | 9 Aperture Blades |
| 52mm Filter Thread | 52mm Filter Thread | 49mm Filter Thread |
| Minimum Focusing Distance: 11.8" | Minimum Focusing Distance: 7.8" | Minimum Focusing Distance: 11.52" |
Briefly made from 1976-1977
with 8 elements in 7 groups I wandered upon a nice
review showing the Pentax SMC 28mm f/3.5 to be an impressive
lens. With a value in the ~$100 range it was easy to purchase one. One
of my favorite things about shooting legacy Nikon lenses is that there
are
incredible databases, that other legacy brands just don't
have. If you look at that list you may have noted that Nikon
made not one, but three lenses, with a field of view wider than 180mm
but that's a whole different story (that I'll never be able to afford
looking at).
It's worth taking a look at a fifth copy of the Nikon 28mm f/2 Ai
It's worth taking a look at a fifth copy of the Nikon 28mm f/2 Ai
Although a touch longer than the Nikon, the Pentax is considerably slimmer than either lens.
Visibility on this day is well
over twenty
miles. Shot on a tripod, shutter speeds fast enough to eliminate any
kind of shake. Manually focused on the barn just off center. Lenses
focused off center on the barn, at maximum aperture and focus left
there, no adjustments made for
focus shift or field curvature. Lens correction turned off when
applicable. White balance set to daylight. As the previous reviews
showed that at wider apertures the Nikon is sharper in the center, and
the Sony in the corners, a true test would be putting the Pentax
against the Nikon off center and Sony corners. As the aperture
gets around f/8, I switched to the Nikon as it exceeds the Sony at that
point.
Nikon and Pentax at 1/2000 and f/4, vignetting of the old Pentax is not too surprising it's almost wide open.
Off center I'd say it's a toss up between the Nikon and the Pentax. Resolution perhaps Nikon and contrast Pentax.
In the corners at f/4 the 38 year old lens shows superior detail.
Let us move on to f/5.6, exposure and color balance are identical, the vignetting is gone so we'll ignore the whole scene image and go to the crops.
Extreme Corner Crops at f/5.6
Off center crops at f/8.
Corners at f/8, the Pentax is just further ahead in the far corners.
Off center at f/11, because of better contrast the Pentax appears superior.
Extreme corners at f/11, the Pentax is the first 28mm lens I've seen hold resolution all the way into the extreme corner at any commonly used aperture.
The resolution of fine detail and contrast show the superiority of the Pentax over the Sony FE 28mm f/2, and that's before distortion correction lowers resolution on the Sony.
Now let's get into the real deal, photographs this lens can produce. You could say it's very resistance to ghosting, or not at all, I've never seen a lens so sensitive to the angle towards light.
Sony A7, Pentax SMC 28mm f/3.5 @ f/8 with slightly different angles.
Minimum focus distance wide open.
The Pentax SMC 28mm f/3.5 has a well deserved reputation for great color.
Ok ok but how does it do kayaking? Quite well, even in difficult light, which is the sign of a good lens.
Sony A7, Pentax SMC 28mm f/3.5 @ 1/1000 f/5.6 ISO 640
As
a landscape lens this $100 gem far outclasses the $450 Sony FE 28mm
f/2. For versatility the Nikon 28mm f/2.8 AiS might beat it due to
close focusing distance. For full frame sharpness this is the best 28mm
lens I've yet seen. Too bad it's pretty much only usable on old film
cameras or
something of the Sony A7 series. What's important with this lens is
getting the correct version, as there are a
lot of inferior ones out there. It needs to be in the Pentax "K"
bayonet mount, yet not the Takumar, "M" or "A" version. Look
for more info here. For what it's worth, this lens tends
to have more depth of field than you expect. Apparently this is a copy
to copy variation, but others have reported on it and I can say for
sure that it has the most depth of field on full frame of any 28mm lens
I've used.
Other Resources.
Northcoast Photographer
Tim on FM Forums
Other Resources.
Northcoast Photographer
Tim on FM Forums
HTML
Comment Box is loading
comments...