Jesper Lassen
Testing the MP35
This is just a quick and dirty comparison between two popular lenses: The Canon MP 35mm f/2.8 I mentioned in my last post and the Schneider Kreutznach Apo-Componon HM 2.8/40. The main picture is two 100% crops of the two originals shown below.
When it comes to using reversed enlarger lenses, the lenses in the Apo-Componon series rank high among macro photographers along with the Apo Rodagons from Rodenstock. Now, the MP35 is a dedicated macro lens made for the bellows, so naturally I was keen to find out how these two compared. As I mentioned in the last post, there has been some really thorough testing done by other, more skilled, people, so I was quite convinced about the virtues of the Canon but I had a little "fear", that the Apo might be just as good and thus rendering the Canon superfluous.
Anyway, the test was done on my dining table, in a horizontal setup with two IKEA Jansjös and a piece of copying paper as diffuser. 12 frames were shot with each lens at f/4 and 1/1.3 seconds with a step size of ca. 7/100 mm, and the pics stacked in Zerene Stacker using PMAX with no retouching. There has been no post processing done, other than the cropping. The subject is a buttefly wing - a Monarch maybe.
I didn't spend much time setting the light as this is merely a simple comparison and not a beauty contest. Nevertheless the results serve their purpose and I think the winner is the MP35 albeit not by a huge margin.
The test was done at 4:1 since I plan to use the MP35 between 2:1 and 5:1 and the Apo will take care of the 1:1 to 2:1 range, of course with some overlapping.
Below are the two stacked PMAX results in their original size.
Testing the MP35
This is just a quick and dirty comparison between two popular lenses: The Canon MP 35mm f/2.8 I mentioned in my last post and the Schneider Kreutznach Apo-Componon HM 2.8/40. The main picture is two 100% crops of the two originals shown below.
When it comes to using reversed enlarger lenses, the lenses in the Apo-Componon series rank high among macro photographers along with the Apo Rodagons from Rodenstock. Now, the MP35 is a dedicated macro lens made for the bellows, so naturally I was keen to find out how these two compared. As I mentioned in the last post, there has been some really thorough testing done by other, more skilled, people, so I was quite convinced about the virtues of the Canon but I had a little "fear", that the Apo might be just as good and thus rendering the Canon superfluous.
Anyway, the test was done on my dining table, in a horizontal setup with two IKEA Jansjös and a piece of copying paper as diffuser. 12 frames were shot with each lens at f/4 and 1/1.3 seconds with a step size of ca. 7/100 mm, and the pics stacked in Zerene Stacker using PMAX with no retouching. There has been no post processing done, other than the cropping. The subject is a buttefly wing - a Monarch maybe.
I didn't spend much time setting the light as this is merely a simple comparison and not a beauty contest. Nevertheless the results serve their purpose and I think the winner is the MP35 albeit not by a huge margin.
The test was done at 4:1 since I plan to use the MP35 between 2:1 and 5:1 and the Apo will take care of the 1:1 to 2:1 range, of course with some overlapping.
Below are the two stacked PMAX results in their original size.