Tevidon 10/2 was a great pick! Later I've found Carl Zeiss Jena DDR Tevidon 16/1.8. A bit narrower lens from magnificent Tevidon family. This time it's so called "zebra" housing, because of polished stripes on focusing and aperture rings.
Carl Zeiss Jena DDR Tevidon 16/1.8 with Yeenon Tevidon-C adapter (on the right).
Tevidon 16/1.8 C-mount conversion
The lens was delivered with original C-mount adapter. Unfortunately it is too wide to fit any C>MFT adapter to achieve infinity focus. Many users machine those a bit and lens successfully fits modern adapters. I didn't want to wait until it would be done. I had one more Yeenon converter I described
previously. After attaching, the lens still needed some minor infinity adjustment. Finally it works just right.
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 |
Ergonomics
Lens is made of brass, what you can see on the rants, where paint has be scraped off. Because of that it's quite heavy for its size - 232 g with Yeenon mount!
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 on Lumix G2 (M4/3 camera) |
Tevidon 16 mm is a small lens, yet there are no problems accessing any of the rings - aperture is closer to the body and focusing ring is further to front. This solution makes it easy to change aperture value, but prevent it from being changed by mistake.
MFT Sensor coverage
Tevidon 16/1.8 unfortunately doesn't cover micro four thirds sensor, however it should be fine for BMPCC sensor and GH4 UltraHD (4K) crop, what's important for motion picture enthusiasts.
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 @1.8 - MFT, BMPCC, GH4 UltraHD sensor coverage. |
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 @8 - MFT, BMPCC, GH4 UltraHD sensor coverage. |
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 @16 - MFT, BMPCC, GH4 UltraHD sensor coverage. |
Bokeh and depth of field
Here comes the interesting part. Although lens is very fast, depth of field isn't that shallow. By close examination you might even realise, there are objects close to edge that are in focus although they shouldn't. That's a specific feature of
C-mount lenses.
Pay attention to yellow flowers on the right or sand on the road on the left, which are in focus:
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 - @1.8 |
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 - @2.8 |
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 - @4.0 |
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 - @5.6 |
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 - @8.0 |
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 - @11 |
Aperture is also very interesting part of the lens. When decreasing it's becoming triangular, what results in an unusual bokeh at low values. Very clear to observe at f11:
[
photos have been edited in Adobe Camera Raw to adjust exposure and contrast - my Lumix decided to underexpose it 1.5 EV step - no sharpening or clarity correction whatsoever]
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 - @1.8 |
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 - @2.8 |
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 - @4.0 |
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 - @5.6 |
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 - @8.0 |
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 - @11 |
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 - f1.4-16 animation |
Image quality and samples
Although samples above show good quality, it's kind of old lens, so there are obvious disadvantages or at least features you need to remember about, when using it.
Shooting against the sun might result in low contrast all over the picture. Especially when you get yourself in such a direct situation as shown below. Even increasing aperture doesn't help that much. All you could do is post processing.
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 - @1.8 - against the sun. |
Also there might be some slight glowing and fringing on high contrast elements @1.8. There is also visible vignetting. Stepped down to 2.8 reduces the problem significantly. Although it's not a big deal, it's worth mentioning.
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 - @1.8 - slight fringing and glowing visible on steel elements on the right. |
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 - @2.8 - problem reduced and exposure is more even along the image. |
And finally some more samples at different aperture values in various conditions.
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 - @1.8 |
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 - @2.8 |
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 - @1.8 |
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 - @2.8 |
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 - @1.8 |
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 - @4.0 |
Conclusion
Tevidons are always a great tool to have. Tevidon 16/1.8 is a wide angle (or standard depending on what sensor are you going to use it on) lens with all that well known Tevidon features. It might not be as tempting as 10/2, but definitely there would be application, where it would fit just right. Definitely a keeper!
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 - @1.8 |
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 - @2.8 |
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 - @4.0 |
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 - @5.6 |
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 - @8.0 |
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| Tevidon 16/1.8 - @11 |
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