The ingredients for this photography article are:
- A legendary classic Zeiss Biotar 58mm f2 full-frame lens made in 1953
- The much hyped modern Tamron 17-70mm f2.8 APS-C lens made in 2023
- The beautiful classic car Opel GT, also named “Mini-Corvette“
- A table spoon of panoramic bavarian Alps view including the official Catholic Basilica of Tuntenhausen in the background
- Rainy weather and the Amaran 60d light
FYI: This is only a draft article that will be edited and expanded over the next few weeks.
The title “Zeiss Biotar 58mm f2 lens vs. Tamron 17-70mm f2.8 at 58mm” should be more precise: The legendary Zeiss Biotar 58mm f2 lens on a Sony a7ii full-frame camera vs. the Tamron 17-70mm f2.8 lens at 38mm on a Sony a6400 APS-C camera (the field of view of a 38mm lens on a APS-C camera is roughly equivalent to the field of view of a 58mm lens on a full-frame camera).
To further illustrate the beautiful Opel GT classic car, some Viltrox 13mm f1.4 wide angle lens photos have been added.
Read more about the artist Sophie Ramirez here
https://elkebackes-artdialog.com
Rundown
The Tamron 17-70mm f2.8 lens is a suprisingly good zoom lens for Sony APS-C cameras!
Nevertheless, the Biotar 58mm f2 lens has an aperture advantage of about 2.5 stops over the Tamron lens (1.5 stops due to the crop factor of 1.5 when used on a full-fraame camera and 1 extra stop due to the open aperture of 2 instead of 2.8).
Hence, the object separation of the Biotar lens is much better than with the Tamron lens and the good bokeh quality of the Biotar easily beats the busy and onion ring bokeh of the Tamron lens.
If you are look for an inexpensive bokeh beast with “swirly bokeh potential”, try to get a good MINT copy of the Helios-44M4 lens (a Russian copy of the Biotar 58mm f2 lens) with M42-mount plus e-mount adapter for probably less than EUR 150 for your Sony a7 full-frame camera.
I’m happy to have both lenses, using the Biotar 58mm f2 lens on a Sony a7 full-frame camera and the Tamron 17-70mm f2.8 zoom lens on a Sony a6400 camera.
More to read
Swirly Bokeh? The legendary Zeiss Biotar 58mm f2 vs. the Russian copy Helios 44M-4 58mm f2 lens
Bad bokeh? Tamron 17-70mm f2.8 lens bokeh review shooting classic cars