Showcase Voigtlander 15mm f4.5 Super Wide Heliar

[Travisennis]

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[storyteller]

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Lovely pictures all of them! I noticed you also have the 16mm f2.8. How do you think the two compare stopped down? What do you think of Voigtlander in general? While I'm intrigued by the 15mm I think I'm more interested in the 35mm MC 1.4.

 

[Travisennis]

I've never made direct comparisons between the 16mm and the CV 15mm. I guess such a comparison might be useful or at least interesting and informative. I hardly ever use the 16mm as I much prefer shooting with the manual lens. I like setting my aperture on the lens and the depth of field scale on the lens comes in very handy with a lens this wide. The CV 15mm is a very good lens, IMO. It seems quite sharp and has good contrast. Of course, it vignettes and suffers from color casts and as you can see from the photo you quoted, it can flare, but all in all, I really like the results that I get with it very much.

I haven't much considered the 35mm 1.4 as I already have the 28mm and the difference between the two in terms of field of view is not much. The 35mm is obviously faster, so that is a plus for it. The 35mm would be a good, everyday lens.

 

[Bimjo]

Got mine yesterday afternoon. It's been brutally hot lately so any meaningful outdor shots will have to wait. This was a quicky in my home office. Focus distance aobut 18" or so. Heavy vignette added in post, coverted & toned in CS 5.

NEX-5N    ----    15mm    f/4.5    1/5s    ISO 100

This thing is absolutely tiny. It is longer than the SEL 16, but it's much smaller in diameter. I think we're going to get along just fine.

 

[Luiz Curcino]

Hi, Travisennis. Great pics!

I also have a CV 15mm. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of this lens. The feature I liked best is that do not need to adjust the focus on the lens all the time! Simply put the lens aperture at f5.6 or f8 and out by clicking my pictures. At distances from 1.5 m to infinity everything is in focus! Do not waste time to focus on shooting. It's a beauty! This is a characteristic lens ultra wide! worth the investment. The problem is some color shift on the corners but is perfectly edited. Below two pics CV15 no editing color shift:

Nex5N + Voigtlander 15mm f4.5 Heliar Ultra Wide:

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Rodoviária de Uberlândia por Luiz Curcino, no Flickr

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Coreto e Museu por Luiz Curcino, no Flickr

 

[Bimjo]

Ok, I've been meaning ot do this for some time now and keep getting distracted, so here's an image update from the last 6 months from my 5N/CV15 combo. These from Riverfront Park in downtown Spokane, WA. I ran these through CornerFix to get rid of the color shift/vignette.

NEX-5N    CV15    15mm    f/8.0    1/640s    ISO 100

NEX-5N    CV15    15mm    f/8.0    1/500s    ISO 100

NEX-5N    CV15    15mm    f/8.0    1/500s    ISO 100

NEX-5N    CV15    15mm    f/8.0    1/500s    ISO 100

NEX-5N    CV15    15mm    f/8.0    1/400s    ISO 100

NEX-5N    CV15    15mm    f/8.0    1/500s    ISO 100

 

[Bimjo]

And this set is from the local Veteran's Memorial in Columbia Park, Kennewick, WA. Again with the 5N/CV15. This was the first set I actually went out to shoot with this lens, the pics were run through CornerFix to remove color shift/vignette.

NEX-5N    CV15    15mm    f/8.0    1/15s    ISO 100

NEX-5N    ----       f/1.0    1/60s    ISO 100

NEX-5N    ----       f/1.0    1/30s    ISO 100

NEX-5N    ----       f/1.0    1/320s    ISO 100

NEX-5N    ----       f/1.0    1/320s    ISO 100

NEX-5N    ----       f/1.0    1/250s    ISO 100

 

[Bimjo]

And these looking down the street where I live. 5N/CV15. I did not bother running CornerFix on these as the dark corners fit the scene.

NEX-5N    CV15    15mm    f/8.0    1/4s    ISO 100

NEX-5N    CV15    15mm    f/8.0    1/4s    ISO 100

NEX-5N    CV15    15mm    f/8.0    1/2s    ISO 100

 

[serhan]

Nice use of wide angle lens and lovely sunset shots.

 

[Bimjo]

Nice use of wide angle lens and lovely sunset shots.

Thank you.

 

[RalllyFan]

I ran these through CornerFix to get rid of the color shift/vignette.

Great shots, Jim. Do you find you have to use cornerfix much? I've read too many mixed reviews of the CV15 on the 5N, some saying the problem only exists with the 7, some saying it shows all the time on the 5N as well.

 

[Bimjo]

Great shots, Jim. Do you find you have to use cornerfix much? I've read too many mixed reviews of the CV15 on the 5N, some saying the problem only exists with the 7, some saying it shows all the time on the 5N as well.

Thank you and yeah, I'm one of the fortunate few that need to use CornerFix with the 15. And the 21. And the 28. Someone else here does also, I can't remember who- Luiz maybe? I have a hard time imagining why this is so. Seems like they would all react the same way, but they don't.

On another board we wondered if it was the difference between adapters, but that didn't seem to matter as both the inexpensive Chinese and the expensive Japanese and German adapters were affected as well.

I guess it's just something you live with. I understand that the Adobe Flat Field plug-in does the same thing as CornerFix, but right in Lightroom. It's an extra processing step, but not that onerous as it can be batched and I'm already doing ExifChange to add lens info anyway.

 

[serhan]

I read similarly mixed results on 5n, also. It might be due to sample variation of the lens & the adapter combination. Is it ltm or m mount?

I have CV 12mm and don't need the corner fix with 5n, though there is some vignetting darkness. I used the corner fix with nex 5 as corner color shift was there.

 

[Bimjo]

I read similarly mixed results on 5n, also. It might be due to sample variation of the lens & the adapter combination. Is it ltm or m mount?

I have CV 12mm and don't need the corner fix with 5n, though there is some vignetting darkness. I used the corner fix with nex 5 as corner color shift was there.

Doesn't make any difference on my 5N- LTM or adapted to M, I need Cornerfix for both color shift and vignette correction.

 

[pfbz]

New to the NEX-6, but had a Voigtlander super wide heliar for my Leica M6.

First real shots with the lens and I am super happy.... It is easy enough to just preset a zone-focus with the ample depth of field, but the NEX 6 focus aids will also allow you to confirm focus. I have the older screw-mount version, with a Leica screw to M mount converter, then an inexpensive ($17 on Amazon) Leica M to NEX adapter. Worked perfectly..

A few shots from Machu Picchu and Ollantaytambo last week. So far, very pleased with the lens on the NEX. *GREAT* travel setup. Sharp, compact, perfectly sized for the NEX6. Shooting in Aperture priority mode with auto ISO and zone focusing was awesome.

Click on the images for full resolution...

NEX-6    ---    0mm       1/60s    ISO 160

NEX-6    ---    0mm       1/100s    ISO 100

iPhone 4    ---    4mm    f/2.8    1/15s    ISO 1000

 

[Bimjo]

Absolutely awesome shots!

 

[Bimjo]

Time to update this thread with a photo dump. Most of these are cross posted from other threads, but it's nice to have them in one place for reference.

NEX-5N    CV15    15mm    f/8.0    1/60s    ISO 100

NEX-5N    CV15    15mm    f/8.0    1/500s    ISO 100

NEX-5N    CV15    15mm    f/8.0    1/1s    ISO 100

NEX-5N    CV15    15mm    f/8.0    1/50s    ISO 100

NEX-5N    CV15    15mm    f/8.0    1/80s    ISO 100

NEX-5N    CV15    15mm    f/8.0    1/10s    ISO 100

 

[Mellow]

Bimjo,
Those are great. My 15mm is soft on the left side wide open, and only improves marginally when stopped down. I think this means the lens is 'decentered', which is a bummer. You don't have any of that do you? (It looks like yours are pretty sharp from side to side, from what I can tell.)

 

[Bimjo]

Thanks, and yeah I have a really good copy. It is a bummer that yours is decentered. Are you using the same adapter as on your Canon? If not, that might be the problem. Or, it you have a LTM lens it could be the LTM-M adapter that's causing the problem.

Otherwise you're probably looking at picking up another copy, assuming you like the lns otherwise.

 

[TonyTurley]

Nice work, Jim.

Tony