35mm Shift Lens Group Test

Nikon 35mm f2.8 PC v Olympus 35mm f2.8 Shift v Contax Zeiss 35mm f2.8 PC

 

Resolution & Drawing Style: Zones A/B (centre frame) at f11

Nikon 35mm PC Nikkor at f11centre)	Olympus 35mm Shift at f11 (centre)	Contax PC Distagon at f11 (centre)
4.5 points	4.75 points	4.75 points

Could this be the Oly's sweet spot? Those tiny Zuiko lenses seem to thrive on small aperture work and here, just when diffraction is beginning to blunt the keenness of the best, the playing field levels out, enabling the far cheaper lens to match the Distagon almost pixel for pixel. I think we can fairly conclusive write off the Nikon as a serious competitor to these two at about this point. Actually, perhaps an aperture or two ago . . . .

Resolution & Drawing Style: Zone C (single frame corner, 17-23mm from frame centre) at f11

Nikon 35mm PC Nikkor at f11 (Zone C)	Olympus 35mm Shift at f11 (Zone C)	Contax PC Distagon at f11 (Zone C)
4.5 points	4.75 points	4.75 points

Loveliness abounds across the frame at f11: there's very little to choose between them in Zone C. It is much to the credit of the Nikon and Olympus that they have faithfully extracted the full vibrancy of these colours in much the same way as the Zeiss.

Resolution & Drawing Style: Zone D (fully shifted corner: 29mm from frame centre) at f11

Nikon 35mm PC Nikkor at f11 (Zone D)	Olympus 35mm Shift at f11 (Zone D)	Contax PC Distagon at f11 (Zone D)
4.5 points	4.75 points	4.75 points

But look at the difference in the corners: the Olympus is so much on song at f11, it's not even funny when you consider how little it costs in comparison to the PC Distagon. There's a marvellous cohesion and very attractive tonal rendition evident in the Olympus capture now, and on balance, it really is fully the equal of the Zeiss-rendered image: the Distagon excels at high-frequency centre frame detail, but the Olympus gives us a high contrast better detailed D Zone at full shift – it really is just like comparing an Olympus and Zeiss 18mm!