God, it was cold today.
Beside my little review of the Kiron lens, I am happy to report, that both NEX cameras did well at minus 15 Celsius, that can’t be said about myself. I am still trying to warm-up…I got Kiron FD 28 f2.8 from eBay recently, as I am still looking for some wider fast MF lense for NEX, that won’t cost the fortune.
I have Samyang 14 f2.8 in EF mount, which is great, but pretty big and sometimes too wide. Unfortunately, my great Zeiss Distagon 21 f2.8 ZE is for the EOS mount, and adjusting the aperture using EOS body is just too big PITA. There are some nice Voigtlander lenses for rangefinder cameras (12 and 15), but as many users reports, they have a problem with NEX 7.
There are also some other nice FD lenses – FD 17 f4, FD 20 f2.8 and FD 24 f1.4 L and f2, but they are all quite pricey.
Willing not to spend much, and heaving already Zeiss Distagon 28 f2.8 for the landscape,
I decided to give a Kiron a try.
I got it for 72 USD which is not great, but fair price.
My findings…
If my sample is representative to all Kirons 28 f2, I have to say, that I am disappointed. Lens is very soft wide open at longer distances, and the main problem is its behavior in the back-light. Huge flaring and significant loss of contrast is rarely to be seen elsewhere.
First shot is unprocessed Kiron with NEX 7 with a sun just at the right of the frame.
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| Sony NEX 7 and Kiron FD 28 f2.8 at f5.6 |
Just for comparison here is almost same composition taken with NEX 5n and Zeiss Distagon 28 f2.8.
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| Sony NEX 5n and Zeiss Distagon (C/Y) 28 f2.8 at f5.6 |
As you can see, back-light is a huge problem with this lens.
Sharpness wide open at infinity is another issue. In the middle is 100% crop of the image taken at f2 and unprocessed. Shutter speed is 1/3200s, so I guess, no motion blur is involved. (I did many tries, so it surely is not an issue)
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| Sony NEX 7 and Kiron FD 28 f2.8 at f2 |
Similar composition with Zeiss at f2.8.
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| Sony NEX 5n and Zeiss Distagon (C/Y) 28 f2.8 at f2.8 |
No comments needed I guess.
However, the things gets much better when the focus subject is closer, and to my surprise, bokeh is very pleasant for such a wide lens. Also LoCa is not an issue here.
Sony NEX 7 and Kiron FD 28 f2 at f2.
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| Sony NEX 7 and Kiron FD 28 f2.8 at f2 |
Stopped down to f5.6 center sharpness is much improved, but corners stays rather soft. This is not good news for a landscape photographers. NEX 7 is really demanding camera for a good optics, so Kiron might do slightly better with NEX 5n.
As with any lens, with some post production, solid results could be achieved. Here are some better samples from today. All pictures were processed in LR4 and Photoshop CS 5.5.
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| Sony NEX 7 and Kiron FD 28 f2.8 at f5.6 |
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| Sony NEX 7 and Kiron FD 28 f2.8 at f5.6 |
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| Sony NEX 7 and Kiron FD 28 f2.8 at f2.8 |
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| Sony NEX 7 and Kiron FD 28 f2.8 at f2 |
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| Sony NEX 7 and Kiron FD 28 f2.8 at 5.6 |
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| Sony NEX 7 and Kiron FD 28 f2.8 at 5.6 |
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| Sony NEX 7 and Kiron FD 28 f2.8 f8 |
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| Sony NEX 7 and Kiron FD 28 f2.8 at f5.6 |
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| Sony NEX 7 and Kiron FD 28 f2.8 at f8 |
Conclusion… I can made some additional ISO 12333 Chart tests, but to be honest, I don’t see a reason. Kiron FD 28 f2.8 is not a great lens, and chart test will not help it.
It is definitely not a landscape lens, as it have also quite pronounced distortion and corners remains soft at all apertures.
There are probably some good alternatives from Olympus, Pentax and others, that I am not familiar with. So before choosing Kiron, try to search couple of forums first.
When used for appropriate situations it can however deliver some nice pictures, as the bokeh and sharpness at close distances are pretty good. If you have some subjects for isolation with the wide angle lens, it will deliver well.
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| Sony NEX 7 and Kiron FD 28 f2 |
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For comparison here are some other shots with Zeiss Distagon 28 f2.8
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| Sony NEX 5n and Zeiss Distagon (C/Y) 28 f2.8 at f5.6 |
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| Sony NEX 5n and Zeiss Distagon (C/Y) 28 f2.8 at f5.6 |
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In one of my posts to come, I will try another interesting legacy lens – Panagor MPC 90mm f2.8 Macro for FD mount. I tried this lens some times ago with my Canon EOS for Macro and it was very sharp. Here is one shot from today at the normal distance with NEX 7. Level of detail is really good.
I am planning to compare it with Canon FDn 50 f3.5 Macro. Meanwhile I have to make some money 🙁 but will try to get back as soon as possible… Thanks for looking, it helps with motivation 🙂
I have this same lens (in a Konica AR mount) that I’ve used on my NEX-3 and NEX-6. My own results seem consistent with your findings. The low contrast in strong lighting is especially bothersome. However, sometimes you want that vintage look, and this lens provides that. I’d rather obtain the “vintage” look with the proper lens instead of Instagram!
Hi, thanks for the comment. I agree, that it gives that “instagram” kind of look. Nice description.