M9 red edge and vignetting tests (lots of lenses)

[Alnitak]

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OK, lots of discussion on this topic around here. I have collected a bunch of my shots into one set on Flickr. I also went out and took a whole set of images of a white card, in diffuse shade, and set all the WB to the same Kelvin. I wouldn't take the exact color of these images to mean much except that different lenses at the same Kelvin will yield slightly warmer or cooler images. Plus, with outdoor light, its possible that there was a slight variation in the few minutes it took to take a bunch of these images. The images I am referring to are all in the following set:

 

Leica M9 "red edge" tests - a set on Flickr

 

Note that there are images taken on other dates of blue skies and cloudy skies. The images referred to above were all taken on February 19 and start with this image:

 

Voigtlander 12mm f/5.6 Ultra Wide-Heliar @ f/5.6 Uncoded on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

All I did was open the DNG in Photoshop, normalize the Kelvin WB setting and all other settings, then reduce in size and export to jpeg for uploading.

 

The following lenses were tested:

 

Voigtlander 12mm f/5.6 Ultra Wide-Heliar

Voigtlander 35mm f/2.5 Color-Skopar

Voigtlander 40mm f/1.4 Nokton

Leica Tri-Elmar-M 16-18-21mm f/4 ASPH "WATE"

Leica Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 ASPH

Leica Summilux-M 24mm f/1.4 ASPH

Leica Summicron-M 28mm f/2 ASPH

Leica Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50mm f/4 ASPH Ver. 2 @ 28mm and 35mm

Leica Summilux-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH

Leica Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 ASPH

 

The Voigtlander lenses were shot uncoded, and I also shot the 12mm coded as the Leica 21mm f/2.8 11134, which has been shown to yield the best correction for cyan drift and vignetting.

 

I also have some images in that set taken with the Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 Super Wide-Heliar, but they were taken on a different day under slightly different light conditions (although with the card and diffuse light configuration).

 

I should have some images taken with the Voigtlander 21mm f/4 Color-Skopar and when I can locate them, I will upload them to that set as well.

 

My observations are only slightly different than what I have represented in the past, which is that only my Leica Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 ASPH shows any red edge, and then its slight. In this case, I believe I can see the very faintest of red on the bottom edge of the Leica Summicron-M 28mm f/2 ASPH images. The 12mm and 15mm Voigtlander lenses both show the problem.

 

Enjoy. Hopefully others will find this useful.

 

Jeff

[chris_tribble]

Jeff - thanks! My experience with the Leica 21 non-asph is similar, and I've posted elsewhere my experience with the Zeiss 18 (where there's red edge, but it's easily correctable using a graduated filter in Lightroom. Thanks again for your work on this - it sheds a bit of additional real-world light on the discussion.

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[Jerry_R]

There were many posts in related thread(s) - with question if LEICA was aware or not of red corners... Let me qute M9 manual, page 162:

 

"LEICA UV/IR filters specially developed for use on the LEICA M8 and M8.2 should not be used on the LEICA M9, as this can result in color shifts at the edge of pictures, particularly when using wide-angle lenses."

 

Does anyone still think they missed color shift during tests?

[innerimager]

There were many posts in related thread(s) - with question if LEICA was aware or not of red corners... Let me qute M9 manual, page 162:

 

"LEICA UV/IR filters specially developed for use on the LEICA M8 and M8.2 should not be used on the LEICA M9, as this can result in color shifts at the edge of pictures, particularly when using wide-angle lenses."

 

Does anyone still think they missed color shift during tests?

 

This quote really doesn't speak to the issue as you think. It refers to the corner cyan correction that the M8 had to do when using IR filters which is not performed by the M9 which does not have code for this. The red edge problem of the M9 is another matter....Peter

[Jerry_R]

This quote really doesn't speak to the issue as you think. It refers to the corner cyan correction that the M8 had to do when using IR filters which is not performed by the M9 which does not have code for this. The red edge problem of the M9 is another matter....Peter

Peter,

for me it really doesn't mattter. Leica since releasing digital, had and has issues with edges at wide.

 

Company, that is aware of such issue in previous model, and releases new model - checks that TEN TIMES MORE.

Nothing new. Standard in any professional business. And we treat LEICA as professional producer, don't we?

 

* * *

"on the LEICA M9 [...] UV/IR filters [...] can result in color shifts at the edge of pictures, particularly when using wide-angle lenses"

 

Above sentence indicates, that someone took photos at wide without filters and was happy with results.

NO COMMENTS....

[Alnitak]

I've added a few shots I took with the Voigtlander 21mm f/4 Color-Skopar. There are two shots of the sky taken about two months ago when I still had that lens, wide open and stopped down.

[alcyst]

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Alnitak, thanks for all those images. Pretty mild effect in my opinion.

 

Jerry R, why should Leica test their products with every possible product out there. Plenty of companies would void warranties if you dared use a non-pre-approved product with their precious. Anybody using Apple out there...

[Jerry_R]

why should Leica test their products with every possible product out there. Plenty of companies would void warranties if you dared use a non-pre-approved product with their precious

Let M9 work with its own (published as supported) lenses and no-one will complain, eventually share experiences.