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Another great series, Travis. Nice rendering by the Ultron, too. I think you made a mistake in the thread title and that the lens is f/2, not f/2.8, right?
Thanks for your comments, Amin. Also, thanks for catching my mistake; it is a f2.0 lens. I've updated the post to reflect that. I make that mistake often. I think 28 f2.8 is more poetic or something. I just rolls off the tongue with such ease.
It's a very sharp lens, especially in the center. Any softness you see in these images is likely my fault. For example, I missed the focus a bit in the first image and second image seems like I might have reduced the sharpness in my post-processing while converting it for the web; it does seem sharper when I looked at it in Lightroom just now. I'm still learning this lens and I'm certainly still learning how to get the most from the RAW files in Lightroom, but that's what I enjoy most - the learning process.
I'm intrigued by these lenses although I think I will exercise patience and use my adapted Yashica and Zeiss Contax glass first. I would however really like to have in the kit a compact moderate wide solution; I liked the field of view provided by the Fujifilm X100 and in 35mm film days a moderate wide was my "normal" lens too. Thus my interest in the V lens family as a possible solution, or maybe Contax ZM or something like that. But I read some reports of problems with certain combinations (wider ZMs) including magenta cast, vignetting, and even mounting issues. Travis, are these issues of concern when using various Voightlander M mount lenses on the NEX? Are there any issues of concern?
There are roughly seven lenses that I would consider if you were looking for a 30mm to 40mm equivalent lens in a rangefinder mount. Three of these lenses are made by Cosina Voigtlander (CV) and four are made by Zeiss (ZM). CV 21mm f4 CV 25mm f4 CV 28mm f2 ZM 21mm f4.5 ZM 21mm f2.8 ZM 25mm f2.8 ZM 28mm f2.8 The Zeiss lenses are going to cost around a thousand dollars or a bit more new. The CV 28mm is around six hundred new and the other two CV's are around four hundred new. I chose my Voigtlander because it was moderately wide and relatively fast at f2.0. The Zeiss lenses are excellent lenses and give that characteristic Zeiss look if that is something you are wanting. Do these lenses have issues? The answer is yes. Magenta cast is possible on all of them, although I've only seen it once with my 28mm. I see it much more frequently with my 15mm lens. Is it correctable? Again, the answer is yes, if you are willing to put in the work. Programs such as Cornerfix can help out in this regard. Also, if you shoot in black and white it is less of an issue. Vignetting can also occur and you will notice it more frequently the wider you go. I rarely notice vignetting with my 28mm, but it happens with my 15mm more often. Mounting issues can happen with some M-mount and LTM lenses, but not with any of the lenses I've mentioned. Mostly these mounting issues are a concern with some older wide-angle lenses or collapsible lenses. The only other issue you should probably be aware of is the minimum focusing distance which is much longer on rangefinder lenses than on SLR lenses. This issue can be mitigated with certain adapters. There is a Hawk's Helicoid Adapter that uses a helicoid to shorten the minimum focusing distance. To be honest, none of these issues are show-stoppers for me. They can be dealt with or worked-around if needed and sometimes you just don't notice them or decide to use them to your advantage. My CV 15mm has plenty of issues with magenta casts and vignetting, but with the way I use it most of the time, neither bother me. Sometimes I actually quite like the look.
Thanks once again Travis for sharing your experiences - the information is really helpful. I do think I'll hang back for a little while and first use my C/Y mount glass and go from there. Image quality is my main concern - I don't want to be in a position where I'm fighting colour cast issues if they appear on a regular basis, or even vignetting (within reason). There's a certain appeal to using the old SLR FF lenses as they more or less do away with these concerns. That all said, my purpose in buying into these small systems is compactness and portability too so I just can't ignore that dimension. For my purposes I'd rather tolerate a loss in compactness if the impact to the image making tends to be frequent. As you say some are less troubled by these issues. Hmnn... I see on Craigslist locally someone just this morning has a bunch of L mount Voightlander lenses up for sale (15mm through 90, all L mount with M mount adapters, shades and such) including some I'd be interested in. Bad timing... maybe this fellow will come back in the back half of November... I'd be willing to purchase a Leica screw mount adaptor just to evaluate something like that if I can do it face to face.
You'll get good results with your C/Y lenses. I did in the short time that I owned some. However, don't pass up the Voigtlander 28mm, if you are interested, because of color casts or vignetting, because it really won't be a problem. Rangefinder lenses wider than 28mm will present more of an issue as they get wider.
I am a weak, weak, person. Put a price in front of me and I start to think about buying a lens. Ugh. The local fellow has the following: $420 CAD - no signs of wear, only occasionally used - 28 mm f1.9 L mount lens with M-mount adapter, with rotating round lens shade, black crinkle finish. Edit: I know this is an earlier version of the lens and that I should be able to find a screw mount to NEX adaptor and save the L to M mount adapter for some other purpose or if I sell the lens down the road. Any thoughts?
I've never used the older thread mount version of the lens but I've always read good things about it. If it is in really good shape then that doesn't sound like a bad price for that lens.
Thanks for the feedback Travis. I'm trying to force myself to behave and sell off another lens first, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions, I've heard.
