CV 50 Color Skopar on M8

[ChrisC]

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If anyone is using this lens on their M8 I would be grateful for your experience.

 

I am very familiar with Sean's CV reviews and I understand he is likely to review the Color Skopar in the near future, but I need to make my purchasing decision soon. Your feedback on this lens will be welcomed.

 

.................Chris

[argomazov]

I have it and use it regularly on the M8, after having used it for a few years on a film rangefinder.

 

It's just a wonderful, compact, albeit somewhat heavy, little lens.

 

For when you don't need extremely fast lenses, it's just beautiful to use, and it draws excellent files.

 

Sean will write a much more professional review of the lens (I think we are all waiting for his review of this and the other CV lenses he hasn't reviewed yet!), but IMHO if you need a compact 50, I think the CV 50/2.5 is the best value for money around, by far. It's just an excellent lens.

 

Cheers,

Luca

 

PS: I don't have any kind of connections with CV. I just happen to appreciate very much their company and products for having introduced me to the world of rangefinder photography...

[Olsen]

The Voigtländer Color Scopar is an excellent lense on a M8. It produces crisp looking images even at full aparture. Not only that; my crome Color Scopar looks very elegant on my black M8. - To be the part is not as important as to look the part. I have no picture of it on my M8, but on my Zeiss Ikon. It gives you an impression of how it looks.

 

I will try to post a picture taken with the Color Scopar and post it here.

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[ChrisC]

Luca and Tom - Thank you both. I guess this lens is not so appealing to M8 users as I expected; I thought more users would have responded to the thread.

 

...........Chris

[sean_reid]

Hi Chris,

 

I haven't even held one yet but, given the track record of the CVs, it should be very good. Making a good 50/2.5 shouldn't have been tough for CV at all. Don't forget that the 50/1.5 Nokton is an exceptional lens as well.

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

[argomazov]

Luca and Tom - Thank you both. I guess this lens is not so appealing to M8 users as I expected; I thought more users would have responded to the thread.

 

...........Chris

 

Chris, I definitely wouldn't take the low response rate to this thread as an indication of the quality of the lens.

 

I believe this lens is just as good, maximum aperture aside of course, as the highly regarded CV 50/1.5 Nokton, which I also have had for several years.

 

I am not making this statement based on any scientific test, but on how I like the pictures it produces. You'll have to wait for Sean for the scientific test.

 

With CV lenses, I don't think one should judge their quality only by their popularity with M8 users...

 

At any rate, drop me a PM if you want a couple of DNGs of pictures taken with the M8 and the CV 50/2.5 to judge for yourself.

 

Cheers,

Luca

[Olsen]

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Here's picture taken hastely and hand held in mixed light Saturday at about 17.30 with the 50 mm Color Scopar on my M8. I could have taken a comparable picture with my 50 mm Noctilux, but that gives the possibility to use a faster exposure time, but the result would have been less crispy and more dull, - and with a narrower DOF.

 

Picture preparation is just as hastely done. Just the jpg file re-sized 'right out of the box' with a cick on 'sharpen' in PS - I havn't time to sit and wonder how this is done throu the Capture One RAW converter and all that.

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[Olsen]

- I forgot to mention that it is taken at apparture 2,8 and at 1/22 sec.

[wlaidlaw]

If anyone is using this lens on their M8 I would be grateful for your experience.

 

I am very familiar with Sean's CV reviews and I understand he is likely to review the Color Skopar in the near future, but I need to make my purchasing decision soon. Your feedback on this lens will be welcomed.

 

.................Chris

 

Chris,

 

This lens was on my list of three, when I decided I wanted a 50mm. I was lucky enough to borrow one and also a 50mm CZ ZM Planar. I thought the Planar was noticeably sharper and more contrasty at f2.8 - I think too contrasty - a bit like the CZ 35mm Planar G which I had on my Contax G2, that I did not like. On another thread people have been discussing focus "Pop". I don't like it and the CZ50 has very noticeable focus pop, whereas the Skopar is much smoother from in to out of focus.

 

In the end I decided on a coded collapsible Elmar 50, due to the coding difficulties on the LTM to LM CV mount. I know the advantages of coding are marginal on a 50mm lens but at least the option is there if you want it. I also like the size of the M8 with the Elmar collapsed. I did not test them side by side but my feeling is that the sharpness of the Elmar is about the same as the Skopar and of course, you save quite a bit of money on the Skopar.

 

Wilson

[ChrisC]

......, it should be very good. Making a good 50/2.5 shouldn't have been tough for CV............

 

Sean - That was my thinking too, but I was looking for some user experience before opting for the Skopar. I read your Nokton evaluation with great interest, but a smaller, slower lens is more to my liking. I'm also thinking that it would benefit me to add the final lens tweak with a code-able JM lens mount.

 

Thank you all for adding to the thread, the feedback is very helpful.

 

................Chris

[sean_reid]

Hi Chris,

 

In that case, I'd say just grab it. Its inexpensive and its likely to be quite good, as the owners here have pointed out. If CV can nail a 50/1.5 as well as they have, a 50/2.5 should be a walk in the park. Wilson mentioned that the 2.5 has lower contrast than the Zeiss which is exactly how I would expect a Zeiss/CV comparison to shake out. The CV lenses, as a group, tend to be of more moderate contrast whereas the Zeiss lenses tend to have very high contrast.

 

I mentioned this in another thread but of all the CV lenses I've tested so far (which is most of them), the only two I have mixed feelings about are the 21/4 and the 40/1.4. And even those two certainly have their strengths.

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

[ChrisC]

Sean - Thanks, I'm pretty much convinced, My lens performance requirements run fairly similar to yours and a lens with lower macro contrast [for digital] is preferable to one with high macro contrast. When Zeiss giveth [for example], they also taketh away.

 

...............Chris

[Guest Lotw]

Given the fact that it was all in a hurry with no fuss about RAW-quality-etc, the dinner-picture intrigues by the tonal scale in the lady's clothes left e.g.

I can see by their faces that you are very enthousiastic about tour new toy and also by the fact that your plate is rather empty, I take it that you you didn't eat yet at that moment.

Colors are nice, more Zeiss-like than Leica-like.

But the reason I respond is your philosophical statement:

"to be the part is not as important as to look the part"; Wow!! I would say it would be vice versa. (Is that your own or did you borrow it from Hegel?) (;-))

[Olsen]

Given the fact that it was all in a hurry with no fuss about RAW-quality-etc, the dinner-picture intrigues by the tonal scale in the lady's clothes left e.g.

I can see by their faces that you are very enthousiastic about tour new toy and also by the fact that your plate is rather empty, I take it that you you didn't eat yet at that moment.

Colors are nice, more Zeiss-like than Leica-like.

But the reason I respond is your philosophical statement:

"to be the part is not as important as to look the part"; Wow!! I would say it would be vice versa. (Is that your own or did you borrow it from Hegel?) (;-))

 

- I have borrowed it from Hollywood!

 

I usually take a picture or two of the table setting like this whenever we have guests for dinner. Most often with my 1Ds II and a wide angle zoom, with several flashes at 200ASA and a much deaper DOF. But I had promised Chris to make a test shot with the Color Scopar,- so I used that. And, certainly, my M8 is new and now I use it 'all the time' to get accustomed to it.

 

Enthusiastic? Well, I was skeptical in the beginning, but the camera has functioned flawlessly, - so far, and although it does not make so large files as my Canon the M8 certainly has it's qualities.

 

First of all in the range of excellent optics. In between a lot of rather ordinary shots with quite a bit of purple fringe (I don't really mind that. I am not a pro), and a few shots that are far off color temperature-wise, I take some amazingly good shots now and then under mixed light settings that the M8 interprets much better than the 1Ds II. Then add optics that generally conveys better 'micro contrast' and makes the scenes look almost 3-dimensional. Promising!

[Joe Mondello]

the only two I have mixed feelings about are the 21/4 and the 40/1.4.

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

 

Sean, I just looked again at your 21mm test on Reid Reviews and have to wonder if you have ever had another sample of the CV 21 Skopar to try out?

 

I have NO expertise in this but in looking at your results there seems to be an asymmetrical cyan drift on the Skopar with more cyan on the left than on the right side.

 

Similarly your left corner shots are blurred in a way that makes me wonder if the lens was somehow out of alignment (???)

 

Am I way off base here?

 

The corners look as bad on your 21 Skopar as they did on my Sigma 10-20 until I returned it for a replacement -- which is why I am wondering.