Pentacon 50/1.8 and Nikon Z5 – An Empirical Field Test

This field-test is, as the others I have published here, absolutely subjective, empirical and lacking any scientific basis.

Since I couldn’t find anything interesting to photograph I decided to take pictures more focused on showing the lens features rather than creative or interesting subjects.This is why each photo was taken wide open and at F8. Moreover, to make a comparison possible, I also shot some of the mannequins featured in the Zeiss Biogon and Minolta 35mm lenses posts. Finally, as far as post-production is concerned, I used the RGB curves to set the black and grey tones, and tweaked micro-contrast.

Let’s start with a portrait, shot wide-open, beyond the glass of a display

and then at F8

Then, here is a head-and-shoulder shot of The Joker. This time, the photo was taken in daylight so compared to those taken in the previous photos, there are more reflections showing out which affect the overall quality.

It looks like the F8 has more contrast and sharpness.

Let’s move ahead, and go for a full body shot. Once again, wide open and at F8.
The photos taken through the display’s glass provide a fair representation of colour rendering, with those shot at F8 being —or looking— warmer then those wide open. However, because of the shooting conditions, they cannot be used to judge the lens’s overall performance.

Finally, here are two shots of a small river boat, which, by contrast, provide some additional food for thought.

Overall, I am fairly satisfied by the results, but with a few caveats.

The lens is properly collimated, as can be seen at both apertures. Softness and sharpness are evenly distributed across the entire frame without any alterations. In terms of softness, this is most noticeable in the corners and becomes less apparent when stepping down. At F8, the softness is significantly reduced. A pretty normal behaviour for —pun intended— a normal focal length. Finally, as said, the colour rendition is pleasing.