Voigtlander Color Skopar 28 mm f/2.8 SL II review - Image resolution

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Voigtlander Color Skopar 28 mm f/2.8 SL II

6 April 2013

Arkadiusz Olech

4. Image resolution

The resolution test of the Voigtlander Color Skopar 28 mm f/2.8 SL II was based on RAW files from the Canon EOS 1Ds MkIII camera. In its case the decency level is situated at 30-32 lpmm and the best fixed focus lenses can get as high as 44-46 lpmm.

Let’s glance at a graph, presented below, to assess how the tested lens fares in the frame centre, on the edge of the APS-C sensor and on the edge of full frame.

Voigtlander Color Skopar 28 mm f/2.8 SL II - Image resolution

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The performance in the frame centre is really splendid. Already at the maximum relative aperture the MTFs get to a very good level of 40 lpmm. By f/4.0 and f/5.6 the results are sensational – a bit over 45 lpmm.

In this category the lens performs exactly as it should because a “pancake” is bound to have excellent results in the frame centre; still the edge of the frame is quite another matter, especially when you deal with such a demanding sensor as full frame. There are no miracles in physics – small dimensions of the whole instrument mean less elements and/or elements with smaller diameters. As a result the tested lens’s performance on the edge of the frame doesn’t impress us much.

On the edge of the APS-C/DX the results are still sensible – only at the maximum relative aperture you find yourself below the decency level but by f/4.0 you are above it. On further stopping down the images are of good quality. Unfortunately on the edge of full frame the situation is much worse. By f/2.8 and f/4.0 the image is blurred and only by employing f/5.6 you can make its quality more or less decent. However, with the right reference point employed, you might find out that this is not the worst performance possible – the Color Skopar 20 mm f/3.5 SL II Aspherical model fared on the edge of the frame even worse.

At the end we present crops taken from photos of our testing chart, saved in the camera as JPEG files along with RAW files.