Comparison of 2 budget lenses

[minibokeh]

Nocticron 42.5mm and Otus 55mm/Metabones Speedbooster on OM-D E-M1:

Full picture:
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/101667287@N08/15218907662" title="on1 by Moritz Berger, on Flickr"> View attachment 384619 "800" height="309" alt="on1"></a>

Details:
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/101667287@N08/15196262836" title="on2 by Moritz Berger, on Flickr"> View attachment 384620 "800" height="478" alt="on2"></a>

Some blur:
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/101667287@N08/15032718807" title="on4 by Moritz Berger, on Flickr"> View attachment 384621 "800" height="477" alt="on4"></a>

Bokeh torture test:
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/101667287@N08/15218907282" title="on3 by Moritz Berger, on Flickr"> View attachment 384622 "800" height="477" alt="on3"></a>

Apart from losing miserably in this comparison, the PL is an OK lens which I'm going to keep for family snapshots

 

[walter_j]

Sorry, I can't see a whole lot of difference. Can you explain what you like about each? Both are dream lenses for me, and I cannot justify them for my cat pictures ;-)

 

[minibokeh]

big differences include
- transition between sharp and out of focus areas
- rendering of Bokeh
- depth of field
- resolution
- micro contrast, including rendering of details in high contrast areas
- color reproduction (both images are set to fixed "daylight" color temparature, not AWB)

Nocticron is definitely good for cat pictures. Also, it catches up with the Otus somewhat for black and white pictures (... please take that as a totally subjective comment).

 

[spatulaboy]

I enjoy sarcasm, but I'm not sure which part of this post I should take seriously.

 

[EarthQuake]

Which is which?

 

[silver92b]

Pretty disappointing images IMHO, I'd stay away from those cheap lenses.

(the images are pretty sorry)

 

[pdk42]

Pretty disappointing images IMHO, I'd stay away from those cheap lenses.

(the images are pretty sorry)

Well, I guess they're just test shots, but I certainly can't conclude anything from them at all. I bet you'd see little difference with similar shots taken with the 45/1.8 and probably (apart from DOF differences) any of the kit zooms.

 

[flamingfish]

I'm assuming that the person whose "budget" this is -- is Bill Gates. (Does he even own a camera?) (To answer my own question -- yes, but he never uploads anything because his computer keeps crashing.)

 

[minibokeh]

OK, challenge accepted. I'll shoot some "real world" comparisons next couple of days and post.
@pdk42 - you're right that the PL 42.5 is closer to the OLY45 than it wants to be (for the money). You're mistaken if you're saying (?) that the PL 42.5 and the Otus are similarly close. The difference is quite significant. Again: I accept that the burden of proof is on me. Stay tuned.

 

[Paul80]

The trouble with this sort of thing is that the difference between lenses can be very subjective, what stands out for one photographer is completely pointless to another.

For me its Bokeh, I never have understood the verging on paranoia discussions that go on between Nikon & Canon owners over this. But then as a long term Nikon user I suppose I wouldn't.

Both lenses are well beyond my price range so its nice to see images that show I am not missing much by being a skint Photographer.

Paul

 

[manzoid]

Based on DOF, I'd guess the Otus is on the right. I actually prefer the ones on the left, not sure if it's because of DOF or something else though.

 

[Ulfric M Douglas]

I enjoyed this tongue-in-cheek posting of budget lens results.
I assume they're both wide open, which shows a clear difference between 43mm and 55mm focal lengths for blur/separation, and the good quality of the Metabones focal reducer.

Someone once posted me the 4/3rds Zuiko 50mmF2 by mistake so I did a couple of tests against my M.Zuiko 45mmF1.8 : this too showed more blur/separation from the longer focal length over the slight (declared) aperture difference.

Post more stuff miniBokeh!

 

[orfeo]

cat's eye bokeh on the left of the first shot, it's the PL!
That kind of sample means very few.

 

[silver92b]

OK, challenge accepted. I'll shoot some "real world" comparisons next couple of days and post.
@pdk42 - you're right that the PL 42.5 is closer to the OLY45 than it wants to be (for the money). You're mistaken if you're saying (?) that the PL 42.5 and the Otus are similarly close. The difference is quite significant. Again: I accept that the burden of proof is on me. Stay tuned.

I love good glass and great cameras as well as the next gear addict, but really, based on those images, neither lens would beat any number of old legacy glass I've tried and have laying around. Please don't take this as a criticism or a challenge, but have a look at what a Sigma 30mm f2.8 can do...https://www.mu-43.com/showthread.php?t=47113&page=239&p=690500#post690500
That's just a quick shot of a simple flower in the back deck...

 

[minibokeh]

OK, here we go with some more specific examples: Round 1 - Bokeh.
This illustrates why I said that the PL was good for cat pictures ...

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/101667287@N08/15246386962" title="round-1-PL42.5-ZO55 by Moritz Berger, on Flickr"> View attachment 385013 "1024" height="663" alt="round-1-PL42.5-ZO55"></a>

 

[silver92b]

Pretty indistinguishable, but the Otus has it (on the right?)... However, the image below the letters clearly goes to the PL.

 

[rklepper]

Are these cropped quite a bit? Because if they are not I would not be happy with either one.

OK, here we go with some more specific examples: Round 1 - Bokeh.
This illustrates why I said that the PL was good for cat pictures ...

View attachment 385243

 

[minibokeh]

answer to Doc - yes, cropped, 100% pixel peeping.

Round 2 - out-of-focus depth transition
Note: due to the shallow DOF, both images have a slightly different plane of focus. Since we have several rows of bottles, this image still illustrates IMHO the "roll off" from sharp to OOF - something one lens does better than the other. You could call this "3d effect".

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/101667287@N08/15077386799" title="composite-round2 by Moritz Berger, on Flickr"> View attachment 385282 "1130" height="1524" alt="composite-round2"></a>