Focal Lenght: 35mm
Apeture: 2.5 – 16
Lens Mount: OM, interchangeable also found in M42, PK, MD
Filter Size: 52mm
Weight: 240 g Coated: Yes, MC
Min focus: 0.3
5 aperture blades
LENS STORY
This was a flea-market find. The 2.5 aperture and wide angle caught my eye. How did you decide to go for 2.5 and not 2.8? Is there that much of a difference?
The front element was very dusty, but before buying it I checked and cleaned a small bit, so I was sure there wasn’t any damage. I ended up giving it a good clean, taking out the front and back element.
It’s now good as new, apart from a loose rubber focus ring, which is again – an easy fix.
HANDLING
It’s a small lens, that feels well balanced on the Sony A7.
The minimum focus distance of 0.3 combined with the 2.5 aperture is a nice treat.
The 52 mm filter thread is a bit of a downside for me – I’m used to 49mm ones and have most of my hoods and filters in that size.
In field use, it’s an okay-to-use-lens, with nothing too annoying or too pleasant to mention.
OPTICAL PERFORMANCE
This is a weird lens. You go around, snapping away, close, far, details, landscapes and while you’re taking your pictures and checking them on your camera you think “That’s pretty good!”
Then you see your photos in Lightroom you’re faced with a different story – even stopped down, this lens isn’t that sharp. While the centre does look decent, corners don’t ever improve enough for my taste. This isn’t a lens for pixel-peepers or full-size images. An occasional Instagram post – sure, it works wonders.
I found out I liked the close up photos a lot more when editing, with good detail and okay sharpness. The bokeh, albeit busy, is pleasing to my eyes.
Chromatic aberrations are a problem and that’s something you’ll rarely see me complain about.
Vignetting is well controlled, as is distortion. I can live with both and think they actually add up to a cool look. If you decide to correct distortion, keep in mind, my copy had something similar to moustache distortion.
This lens easily flares, and you can see ghosting quite often when shooting without a hood.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This lens was a fun try, I wouldn’t use it for landscapes or anything requiring too much detail.
I would use it to snap away at details, making use of the 0.3 minimum focus distance and 2.5 aperture.
If you’re looking for a good wide-angle lens, I would skip this one as there are other, often times, better budget options.
