Pentacon 29 2.8 lens review
The Pentacon 29 2.8 was one of the most widely produced wide-angle lenses of the former GDR. It is compact and light and offers decent image quality at a very low price. It is certainly not the best wide-angle lens around, but if you are using a camera with a cropped sensor this lens might still be very interesting for you. You will be able to shoot wider images. At the same time you will not have to worry about the softness of the corners that you will obtain when shooting this lens on a full frame body.
lens made in Germany (the former GDR).
Focal length : 29 mm
Max. aperture : f2.8
Min. aperture : f22
Iris : 6 blades
Half click-stops available
Auto/Manual sliding switch
Multicoated glass
Min. focus : 0,25 m
Filter diameter : 55 mm
Weight : 204 g
It's got barrel distorsion.
My copy is not sharp at f2.8 but ok above that.
Flares enormously in brigh light with both ghosting and veiling (pic 1)
Positives
"Made in the GDR" spelled out in large writing on the bezel adds to the hipster factor
Because of the abberations your pics get a certain retro look that's not as clinical/neutral as modern glass.
Nicely saturated colors except in bright light.
Neutral:
Bokeh seems to differ depending on lightning and motive, it's not uniformly creamy but can be pleasant at f2.8 (pic 2). But it doesn't calm down too busy pf a background ie foilage, city street.
Handling is ok, not Pentax manual lens quality but certainly robust. My focus ring offers a lot of resistance but I think that is due to years gone by.
Conclusion:
It's fun to play around with the flares sometimes but for any other use I'd pick any other 28-30 mm lens over this one.
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