Pergear 60mm f/2.8 Mark II Evaluate: A Primary Macro Lens at an Engaging Value

Some time in the past, after I reviewed an inexpensive shift lens, Pergear contacted me to evaluate a lens accessible solely in Sony and Nikon mounts. I advised them I didn’t have cameras that will take the lens. Later, I realized that they reissued their 60mm f/2.8 macro lens, Mark II.

I then wrote and inquired in the event that they had been thinking about my evaluate. Right here we’re! They despatched me the Pergear 60mm f/2.8 Macro Mark 2, Canon RF mount to evaluate. I wish to level out on the outset that this isn’t a technical optical high quality evaluate, I’m merely not geared up to try this. It’s a hands-on person evaluate.

Full disclosure: A pattern lens was offered free of charge for the aim of this evaluate.

The lens arrived in a well-padded bundle. Eradicating the delivery bag and the inside foam padding revealed a well-made field containing the lens, a microfiber cleansing material, and in a small plastic bag what they known as the Focus Wrench.

I eliminated the lens from the field, feeling its heft and stable construct. The entrance and rear caps had been tightly in place. The main target and f-stop scales had been straightforward to see in white in opposition to the black physique. I attempted the focusing ring and realized why they included the main focus wrench to assist rotate the ring. Each the focusing and f-stop rings are stiff and exhausting to show. Listed here are some images of the outside of the lens and the bundle.

There have been no directions or some other paperwork within the field. The specs are on their website, so I can’t repeat them right here once more except I’ve one thing so as to add, appropriate, or make clear. I additionally couldn’t discover any serial quantity on the lens or lens mount. It might be there and escaped my consideration, however I attempted exhausting to seek out it. No luck!

It’s available from Amazon at a 15% low cost when you use this link. The low cost might be utilized at checkout robotically. Or go to the Pergear website, the place you need to use the code 99K1V3BFDJYJ at checkout for a similar 15% low cost. It’s accessible in Sony, Fuji, M43, L, and Canon RF mounts.

First Time on the Digicam

I mounted the lens on my digicam to see the way it felt, and the additional weight of the steel development was noticeable. Not too heavy however heavier than my 18-150mm Canon RF lens. I additionally realized guide focusing with the stiff focusing ring can be tough when hand-holding the digicam. For my wants, this lens will go on a tripod-mounted digicam. The aperture ring doesn’t have click on stops however rotates easily with out clicking and with the identical stiffness because the focusing ring.

I got here near a flower, centered by transferring forwards and backwards, and clicked the shutter. Nothing! The shutter wouldn’t launch. I used to be puzzled and wrote to my contact at Pergear for clarification. After that, I searched on the Web and located the reply: I needed to change the setting to permit the shutter launch to work with no lens mounted.

Please make an observation of this. For the reason that lens has no electronics, the digicam doesn’t acknowledge it. Then I remembered having the identical drawback with one other lens I reviewed. Forgetfulness goes with the age!

Document Protecting

A managed workflow turns into essential since this lens doesn’t transmit data just like the aperture, distance, or lens used. For every body, I must file the lens-to-subject distance, focus ring place, the f-stop setting, and the body quantity. My protocol might be:

1. Take the image, preview it to indicate the body quantity, and file the body within the digicam viewer utilizing my telephone; this can file the body quantity.
2. Observe that by taking an image of the lens displaying the main focus and aperture ring positions.
3. I’ll add the lens and f-stop data utilizing a Lightroom plugin, LensTagger. (This plugin works!) The main target distance data might be lacking in EXIF information, however I can most likely enter that into the label area.

Analysis Setting

For evaluating the macro images efficiency, I’ll use the next:

• A Canon R7 32.5 MP APS-C CMOS sensor digicam.
• A sturdy tripod.
• Macro focusing rail.
• Cable or distant launch.
• A pair of LED mild panels as wanted.
• My good friend Dennis will take part in taking check photos and writing his impressions; he’s very experienced in macro photography.

Handheld Take a look at

I went out to the yard with the Pergear 60mm Macro lens mounted on the digicam. Many of the flowers pale, however there have been nonetheless a number of. I took a sequence of pictures of the spirea flowers. Guide focusing with no focusing support, stiff focusing ring, and the mild breeze resulted in a sequence of pictures I’ll chorus from sharing. Manually passing the f/cease data to every body with the LensTagger plugin labored.

The stiff focusing ring made rapidly adjusting the main focus a giant problem. My foremost checks might be carried out on a tripod and primarily indoors. I’ll consider close-up and macro images for testing, though the lens and its focal size are additionally appropriate for portraits.

On the Tripod, however Nonetheless Arduous

Taking pictures macro images is tough, particularly at life-size or twice the life-size. Any tiny motion, a bit of shake, begins transferring the picture within the rear viewer, making judging focus tough. Along with the magnified picture motion, the very shallow depth of area at shut focus distance provides to the problem. The stiff focus ring doesn’t assist in any respect.

I’ve a sturdy tripod and a great ball head. However the focusing rail helped lower than I anticipated. Though it permits setting the main focus to 1:1 after which transferring the digicam forwards and backwards, it sounds simpler than carried out!

Dennis commented on the unlucky design choice to not embody aperture management from the digicam. He mentioned utilizing a macro lens hand-held incessantly requires the usage of a flash to cease each the movement of the topic in addition to the movement of the digicam. An digital connection to the digicam permits the person to seek out the topic with the lens aperture huge open, and transfer the digicam/lens to realize focus. The lens aperture closes to the specified f-stop to extend the depth of area when the shutter launch is pressed.

Getting Actual Shut

Taking pictures primarily at half the life-size to twice the life-size to check the shut focusing skill of the lens made it essential to seek out appropriate topics. The distances marked on the lens confused me a bit of. When working with Dennis, we measured the space from the topic level in focus to match the indicated quantity, 0.62″, and determined that it mirrored the space from the topic to the sensor aircraft. It isn’t the lens-to-subject distance, which is far nearer.

Among the many images is a penny on the desk that sat at a slight angle to the digicam. I photographed it at totally different f-stops to indicate the change within the depth of area, albeit a tiny quantity. That’s much more seen within the watch mechanism Dennis photographed at totally different apertures. The main target was set on the brass gear within the center, and the remainder of the innards got here into focus at smaller apertures.

Flowers are typically enjoyable to {photograph}, and I take pleasure in doing that. However at such shut vary, one rapidly realizes that the petal edges usually are not as sharp as they seem. After many makes an attempt, Dennis photographed a sequence of flowers at totally different f-stops. The problem continues!

I continued the flower images experiments the following day however from a bit of higher distance. Nonetheless close-up however not life-size. That was a tad simpler. I even tried a rudimentary focus stacking and macro panoramic stitching.

Impressions

• The lens appears to be well-built, with easy-to-read markings.
• The focusing and aperture rings are far too stiff and tough to make use of.
• A disconnected lens jogged my memory of the photographers of the previous taking guide notes of their settings and exhausting to get used to at present.
• The Pergear 60mm Macro Mark II can get very near yield twice the life-size photos.
• That comes at a slight price of decrease picture high quality if the aperture is stopped down to achieve additional depth of area.
• The value is enticing on the $199 record worth.

Potentialities

I’ll current many full-frame images within the gallery on the finish of the article. None of these photos are edited or cropped.

Right here, I’ll current a number of that I chosen to edit to some extent. They’ll present how a lot authentic captures could be improved. And these may even be additional edited. So, all just isn’t misplaced on the lens.

Earlier than Modifying, the Watch Faces

After Modifying, the Watch Faces

Focus Stacking or Stitching

I experimented with rudimentary focus-staking by manually (in fact) altering the main focus between pictures. After positioning the digicam for a selected framing, I took a sequence of 5 images, all at f/5.6, whereas shifting the main focus barely backward by eyeballing the centered level. I loaded them into Photoshop, auto-aligned the photographs, after which auto-blended them for the ultimate end result. It was not too unhealthy! Listed here are the originals and the main focus stacked end result.

I additionally took 4 images, barely transferring the digicam on the rail to 1 aspect in between pictures. Then, I sewed the photographs right into a macro panorama and edited them in Lightroom with numerous instruments. Right here is the end result, about 65 megapixels authentic, down-sampled for this text:

Suggestions

• Ease up on the ring rotations; with no autofocus, fast focusing might be an asset.
• The main target wrench didn’t appear to be it might assist a lot, so I didn’t stick it on the lens focus ring.
• Instead, a 2-3 inch screw-in rod could, simply could, assist with the focusing.
• That is an experimental lens for a lot of. If the value is lowered to round $150-$175, it could turn out to be an impulse buy for some customers.

Pattern Photographs

The pictures under represent a variety from among the many samples we’ve photographed. They aren’t edited or cropped however introduced of their authentic import situations. There are minimal changes related to the digicam however to not the extent that they might change the picture high quality. Use them for reference; they aren’t aesthetically pleasing or icons of picture high quality.

I thank Pergear for offering the evaluate copy of the lens. I additionally thank my good friend Dennis for making a visit to take part within the testing course of. Like all instrument, a lens can produce totally different leads to totally different arms. You might get a lot sharper outcomes. Who is aware of.

Who is aware of.

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Concerning the creator: A. Cemal Ekin is a photographer primarily based in Warwick, Rhode Island who has been taking pictures for roughly 60 years. The opinions expressed on this article are solely these of the creator. Ekin retired as a professor of selling emeritus from Windfall Faculty in 2012 after 36 years of service there. Go to his web site here. This text was additionally printed here.