SLR Magic 25mm T0.95 VS Voigtlander 25mm f/0.95 : The Exclusive Fight !

[Sebastien Farges]

SLR Magic 25mm T0.95 VS Voigtlander 25mm f/0.95 : The Exclusive Fight !

 

https://vimeo.com/60901587

 

 

GH3 AVCHD 1080P 50
SLR Magic 25mm always @ T0.95 
Voigtlander 25mm always @ f/0.95
Natural mode
No color correction

I've just received from SLR Magic their new 25mm T0.95 lens, the production copy. It has been improved with sharpness and purple fringing from EOSHD and 3D-Kraft Pre production lens.

The result is astonishing to my opinion, very sharp image at full aperture. Here is a non scientific quick test between those two lenses. More tests to come.

[Caleb Genheimer]

Which is your favorite so far?

[Ernesto Mantaras]

I had to download the original file at 1080p to notice most differences (perhaps you could upgrade the stream video?), but it is clear the purple fringe is almost non-existant in the SLR Magic, and it is sharp! I love it!

Do you know what's the price tag on it now? Or when it'll be available in the USA on sites like Amazon or Adorama?

Thanks for sharing the test.

[sanveer]

Things I noticed:

 

1. The SLR Magic seems to be sharper. 

2. The Voigtlander seems to have a flatter colour profile.

 

 

Btw, I was just trying to check the SLR Magic site, and it appears to be down ...  :(

[jgharding]

Wow, quite a difference! I find the SLR Magic bokeh character to be a disgusting eysore! Urgh! :/ In every bokeh filled shot the juddery out of focus lines were really distracting. Bokeh is pretty important on an f0.95, who cares about sharpness when you're not even looking at the face because of the rest of the frame duistracting you.

 

It stopped me looking at the subject's face. It almost made me angry, it reminds of really nasty lenses  :E

 

Maybe they should go back to CCTV lenses (though you can't make enormous profit from simple components that way)... or develop a version 2...

 

The Voigtlander wasn't amazing but it wasn't that ugly. Should I ever go small sensor I know to avoid the SLR "Magic".

[jgharding]

I just checked out another 25mm f0.95 video too, and that's got "gibber-bokeh". Not quite as bad when it's not wide open, but still enough that eyes keep getting drawn to background objects that are way out of focus, as contrasty lines that jump out.

 

Now this a £10,000 Leica f0.95, and no I can't afford it either, but this is what Bokeh is supposed to do:

 

 

In fact it's what Bokeh really means, not just out of focus, but the painterly or emotional quality of such areas.

 

Silly example? Probably. Here's a Contax Zeiss 50mm f1.7:

 

 

You can get these for a hundred quid. Not perfect, but pretty good.

 

Yes, I know these aren't fast 25mm lenses,  but the point is, if "SLR Magic" are going to market this as a 50mm low DOF solution for small sensors, the bokeh should actually have a pleasing character, like that which is cheaply available for larger sensor, not just high speed at all costs, including image quality.

 

Each to his own of course though, if you like how it looks, it will make you happy!

[jgharding]

Oh man. Reading back I was uncharacteristically angry there! I think that bokeh just caught me at a bad moment ;) sorry if I seemed a little too harsh

[Ernesto Mantaras]

hahaha You sure are categorical in your bokeh tastes! It's alright. I see what you mean. I for one noticed that, but it's not something I find distracting. Of course creamy bokeh is much nicer (that's one of the reasons I love my Minolta lenses) but what I look for in these is a fast aperture and of course I wish the results were better, but knowing what to expect from such fast lenses I'm pretty amazed at how sharp and more luminous the SLR Magic is, specially considering the price (I asked about it 'cause I've had no more news for a while but I understand it's around the $700 mark).

I suppose the imperfect bokeh is part of the balance they had to deal with to put up such a product. I don't know, but I'd rather think that's it, and not the result of cheap engineering.

[jgharding]

I'm wondering if (notwithstanding the hugely expensive Leica) there is a tradeoff between sharpness and Bokeh quality at such wide apertures...

 

Hahah it's true I'm quite fussy about bokeh quality. For narrative pieces I often use shallow DOF for putting a focus on one part of the image and surroundings, usually, so if the background is full of things jumping out it bugs me. Some people don't care though...

[Ernesto Mantaras]

Well isn't this funny... Take a look at this test: http://3d-kraft.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=137&catid=40&Itemid=2

 

It looks as though the SLR Magic has the advantage here, and interesting enough is that the Schneider Kreuznach has horrible bokeh! That kind of bokeh you don't like but taken to the maximum. "Circles of confusion" the mentioned around there. I didn't expect that from that lens... Could it be that lenses going as fast as 0.95 will tend to have this artifact?

[Axel]

Once my older brother told me to look out for old lenses, because modern coating enhanced contrasts and made the bokeh unattractive. I found this to be as wrong as the common belief that an older wine must be a better wine (the french word bouquet sounds as esoteric as the japan word bokeh). In any way, IF a lens is overly sharp, you will have no smooth gradient into the blurred background, and the brighter objects will look sharper or have an outline. Another rule of thumb is that a tele will have nicer bokeh than a wideangle wide open. Because the DoF of the latter is a sphere, which looks unnatural. That's why I don't buy the 17,5 mm f.95, though it would otherwise be the perfect reporter lens.