Dreamy and compact 28mm

[IanH]

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Hello forum fans.

I’ve lusted over the 28mm Summaron reissue for my film m. The sharp centre, vignette, colour rendition and small form are the main pull.  The 1m MFD is a shame; but I could live with it. The price is just out of my range..

Does anyone have experience of alternative compact 28mm for film which offer sharp centres and some “character”? I’m less interested about corner to corner perfection.  Or, is the Summaron-M heads and shoulders in front of other options?
 

Orion-15, the LTM Summaron 28/5.6 and Hektor 6.3 seem to be good options but I haven’t used these. TT artisans 28/5.6 and Voigtlander CS 28/3.5 look good, but are judged to render in a clinical / modern manner.

My main lens on my M2 is a Summicron 35mm V2. I shoot both colour and B&W.
 

Would love to see some romantic / enigmatic people shots using these lenses. 
 

Thanks! 

 

[Ouroboros]

The original ltm CV 28mm f3.5 color skopar is a good option if you can find one.  No idea what you mean by it rendering in a 'clinical/modern manner', that just sounds like regurgitated internet nonsense to me.   It's simply a brilliant little lens on film and digital. 

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[shirubadanieru]

Nikkor 28mm f3.5 ltm is amazing & better than the summaron from my PoV (while also being 1.5stops brighther)

Edited October 30, 2022 by shirubadanieru

[jaapv]

Pushing the "Dehaze" slider to the left will do wonders at removing modern lens performance.  Add a little Gaussian blur and you are there... 🤩 Otherwise invest 300$ in a nice Canon LTM 28/2.8.  (seriously)

[IanH]

Thanks @Ouroboros,

The sample pics from a VC 28mm looked good from a 35mmc article. They were all landscape shots though, so not my type of photography. The TT artisans rendering, to me, is really boring and that’s after browsing through many internet photo examples. I really hoped the rendering would have been a copy of the Summaron like the physical body. 

[IanH]

1 minute ago, shirubadanieru said:

Nikkor 28mm f3.5 ltm is amazing & better than the summaron from my PoV (while also being 1.5stops brighther)

Thanks @shirubadanieruThe Reid reviews for this little lens was great and they still seem good value. Could be a worry-free trial. My main 28mm is attached to my digital Ricoh GR! 

[justru49]

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I bought a used  MS Optics 2.0 28mm. It is really small and MFD is 0,4 M!

Wide open it has a lot of character and becomes quite "normal" stopped down. I love it

[justru49]

vor 13 Minuten schrieb justru49:

I bought a used  MS Optics 2.0 28mm. It is really small and MFD is 0,4 M!

Wide open it has a lot of character and becomes quite "normal" stopped down. I love it

look at this:

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[pedaes]

1 hour ago, IanH said:

Does anyone have experience of alternative compact 28mm

Members speak well of TT Artisans 28/5.6 for fraction on Leica cost if this is important consideration

 

[oldwino]

I had a Hektor 2.8cm f6.3 for a while. Low contrast, never really quite sharp into the corners, fairly low resolving - sounds like what you are looking for. 
The Hektor was able to do “mood” really well. 

[IanH]

17 hours ago, oldwino said:

I had a Hektor 2.8cm f6.3 for a while. Low contrast, never really quite sharp into the corners, fairly low resolving - sounds like what you are looking for

Yes, that’s the mood I like @oldwino. It’s a little against the grain of the APO crowd, but not as “funky” as the lomography brand cameras. The size of the lenses mentioned above is exactly what I’m looking for.

[IanH]

21 hours ago, justru49 said:

look at this:

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Lovely! That’s the sort of centre sharpness I’m looking for. MGA @justru49? 

Edited October 31, 2022 by IanH

[IanH]

21 hours ago, pedaes said:

Members speak well of TT Artisans 28/5.6 for fraction on Leica cost if this is important consideration

Thanks for sharing @pedaes. I’ve been watching this thread for a while. The shots using Nikkor, Hektor and MS Optics seem more interesting to me visually, TT Artisans seems like an average 28 with vignette and flare issues. On looks alone and price it’s amazing. Appreciate everyone has their own opinions of what good looks like. 

[IanH]

22 hours ago, shirubadanieru said:

Nikkor 28mm f3.5 ltm is amazing & better than the summaron from my PoV (while also being 1.5stops brighther)

I spent a few hours flicking through old webpages and forum posts to find out more about the Nikkor. This lens is really well regarded. Thank you for your insights @shirubadanieru

[Huss]

On 10/30/2022 at 9:00 AM, oldwino said:

I had a Hektor 2.8cm f6.3 for a while. Low contrast, never really quite sharp into the corners, fairly low resolving - sounds like what you are looking for. 
The Hektor was able to do “mood” really well. 

Yup, it is the Hektor that the you should be looking at Ian.  I have the TTA 28 56, the CV 28 3.5 and they are very good, sharp lenses.  Even the Orion 15 that I had is sharper than the Hektor and excellent optically, but with more vignetting than the other two.  The Hektor is the answer.

[adan]

The "Voigtlander Ultron 28mm f/2 Leica M-Mount," found about a third of the way down this page, has a lot of curvature of field wide-open, leading to a sharp center and soft corners.

https://www.cameraquest.com/voigtlen.htm

Easy to ID - It has no chrome front ring, and a wasp-waisted barrel. Replaced by the current Voigtlander Ultron 28mm f/2 VERSION II with chrome front ring. But it appears the earlier version is still available.

[Aryel]

I like the Hektor 28mm f6.3. Mine is crystal clear and lot of fun to use with a beautiful rendering. I think it is well worth a try.

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IIIf, Hektor 28 with ektar

IIIf, Hektor 28 and rollei 400s

[IanH]

4 hours ago, Aryel said:

I like the Hektor 28mm f6.3. Mine is crystal clear and lot of fun to use with a beautiful rendering. I think it is well worth a try.

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IIIf, Hektor 28 with ektar

IIIf, Hektor 28 and rollei 400s

Thanks for sharing @Aryel, lovely rendering from the lens here. Both the colours and the transition from out of focus to in focus is lovely in B&W.

[IanH]

Thank you everyone for your comments and wisdom responding to this forum topic. It’s great to see that there’s a part of the community that still value compactness, character and imperfections in the older more funky lens options. 

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[Casey Jefferson]

The MS Optic 28/2 seems to be a lot of fun and character wide open, very sharp but lots of glow on highlight. And it's super compact! Gotta hunt for one somewhere in the future.