NOVAR VS SKOPAR

[anthonym3]

I have a choice of two folders,ZEISS/IKON 105mm 6.3 NOVAR and VOIGTLANDER 105mm 4.5 SKOPAR the ZEISS is in almost mint unused condition, the VOIGTLANDER in very good condition,which to choose?

 

[kingbuzzie]

The novar is a triplet and the skopar is tessar lens copy, if that helps.

 

[Grim Tuesday]

The distribution for Novars and Skopars surely have some overlap...You are undoubtedly going to have someone come into this thread and say that their Novar outperformed their Skopar. But, in general, the Skopar is a better lens design than the Novar and if you pick one each out of a hat of lenses, you are more likely to get sharper pictures from the Skopar.

 

[Ian Grant]

I'd go for the Skopar, for the same reason I'd go for a Tessar rather than a Novar.

Ian

 

[guangong]

Price being about the same, l would go for the Zeiss, if only because their system of erecting the lens on opened camera is far superior to Voigtlander. On the other hand the Novar was Zeiss’ budget lens, so Voigtlander lens better.
Or, another suggestion, resume your search and look for a Zeiss folder with a Tessar lens. Zeiss always over engineered and their folders are quite rugged.

 

[Ian Grant]

The Skopar lens is over a stop faster and will be significantly sharper at wider apertures than the Novar. The lens is far more important than the folding mechanism

Ian

 

[jim10219]

What are you shooting with it? The Skopar is a fairly sharp lens, but has a very modern look to it. I personally, am not a huge fan of Tessar style lenses, though I do own a bunch. There's nothing wrong with them, per se. But they're not all that interesting to me, visually speaking. They are, however, one of the most popular lens designs ever made and for good reason. They're cheap to make and produce sharp images. So if you're looking for sharp photos, like maybe landscapes, architecture, or just general use that will compete with a modern camera, this is probably your best bet.

If you're looking for something with a bit more character, that will produce images that look like they were taken with an old camera, then the Novar is a better choice. They have a more pleasing out of focus character, in my opinion. Where the Tessar tends to be a bit busy and harsh, these can be quite smooth. So while they lack the sharpness, they make up for it in smoothness. It's probably a better lens for portraits as well for this reason (unless you're trying to highlight wrinkles under hard light or something).

So it depends on what you want from this camera. They're different enough that it wouldn't be a crime to own both.

 

[macfred]

I would go for the Skopar lens for the reasons Ian listed above (though I love my Novar lenses for some reasons but not for sharpness or maximum aperture).

 

[Pioneer]

If you intend to use the camera wide open then pick the Tessar, it will perform somewhat better at the wider apertures. With that said however I really like how the triplets perform when taking portraits as the center is usually nicely defined but not to sharp, while the outer edges of your photo will fade beautifully into the out of focus regions.

If you shoot a lot of landscapes or architectural images then the Novar triplet will produce excellent images as well. With both lenses stopped down it will not immediately be obvious which lens you are using from the image quality. Triplets do very well when they are closed down.

There is no doubt that the Tessar is the sharper lens and has a very large following but I don't notice that Ansel Adams felt out gunned while using a triplet lens. It is really all in the type of photography you intend to do and the image you are looking for. There is far more to photography than just a sharp image.

Therefore I think you need one of each.

 

[macfred]

... Therefore I think you need one of each.

This!