Although I think the comparison between lenses of different brands is quite useless, I'm curious to know if any of you ever was so fortunate to compare the Pentax 45mm with the Mamiya 43mm for the 7, and/or the Hasselblad X-pan with 45mm. The reason I'm interested in this comparison, is that these are quite different approaches of the same angle of view in 7cm wide film format. The results of each lens should be excellent, but is there (should there be) a noticable difference in the result (the photo)? Ofcourse apart from (or because of??) the different filmsize with the Hasselblad.

-- Peter Gooijer (rockrose@freeler.nl), July 14, 2001

Answers

Peter, I have not used the 43mm but have seen shots from it and it is indeed sharp with almost zero distortion. In years past, it was a definite advantage to have a lens that was nearly symmetrical(like the 43mm) so that the designer could have an easier time in correcting coma, lateral color and distortion. These lenses were used on cameras that didn't have mirrors and to some extent on cameras that used mirrors, in the normal and a bit longer than normal focal lengths. But, with the advance in computer aided design, the advantage that rangefinder optics once had over SLR optics, has been diminished to the point that it is not really a consideration. The 43mm is based on the Biogon design except that it has been made slightly asymmetrical, probably to correct field curvature. The P67 45mm is similar to the Leitz Super Angulon-R 21mm f/4 design(mid 1970s Reverse Telephoto) although the Pentax design is sharper wide open. A highly asymmetrical design, the 45mm still has low distortion, no visible lateral color and is fairly sharp at the marginal areas of the optic. There could be a slight difference in lp/mm between the 43 and 45 but either lens is easily capable of pro work.

-- Steve Rasmussen (srasmuss@flash.net), July 14, 2001.

From my point of view as a nature photographer, the biggest problem with the Mamiya 43mm is that you must use it on the Mamiya rangefinder, which of course has no depth of field preview function and which is not practical for shooting anything like flowers, etc., due to its inability to close focus and the resulting parallax problems.

-- George Rhodes (betsy@colormewell.com), July 17, 2001.