Questions about ZM 35/1.4 on SL

[robgo2]

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I am a new owner of a Leica SL, and I plan to use it primarily (and perhaps exclusively) with various MF lenses. One of those lenses is the Zeiss 35/1.4 ZM, which heretofore, I have used on a Sony A7ii. I was expecting the ZM to play better with the Leica sensor, but I am seeing some of the same behavior that I saw on the Sony, namely severe vignetting wide open and a bluish color shift at the edges all the way up to f11. I think that the vignetting, which is tolerable by f2.8, is simply a trait of the lens, but the color shift is an interaction between the lens and the sensor. I have searched the Leica Forum and have not found any mention of this behavior.

 

So, my questions have to do with how I might deal with the problem. The ZM does not have 6 bit coding, but is there a code that I can set manually that would be helpful? Or should I resign myself to fixing it all in PP with CornerFix? That would be extra work, and it seems that it should not be necessary for a lens and camera of such high quality. I would appreciate any suggestions. BTW, I also have a CV 35/1.7 Ultron, which is a fine lens, but I would prefer to use the Zeiss.

 

Thanks,

Rob

[thighslapper]

Fantastic lens on both the M and SL ..... comparable with the summilux 35/1.4. I used it extensively on the M with no colour shift and it performs just as well on the SL. The usual cast with dodgy lenses on Leicas is greenish and magenta at the edges (Italian Flag), not blue. This is obvious with some of the wider older Voigtlanders, but pretty well absent with most other good w/a lenses on the SL.

 

I self coded mine as a summilux 35/1.4. As you say the vignetting is a lens characteristic when wide open but not a big issue and easily fixed. Are you using LR .... or a different processor ....?

 

Apart from coding ..... which may be a small part of the problem,  I am at a loss as to why yours performs so badly .....

[robgo2]

Fantastic lens on both the M and SL ..... comparable with the summilux 35/1.4. I used it extensively on the M with no colour shift and it performs just as well on the SL. The usual cast with dodgy lenses on Leicas is greenish and magenta at the edges (Italian Flag), not blue. This is obvious with some of the wider older Voigtlanders, but pretty well absent with most other good w/a lenses on the SL.

 

I self coded mine as a summilux 35/1.4. As you say the vignetting is a lens characteristic when wide open but not a big issue and easily fixed. Are you using LR .... or a different processor ....?

 

Apart from coding ..... which may be a small part of the problem,  I am at a loss as to why yours performs so badly .....

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I did a quick test in the fading light and found that setting the code to the first of two 35/1.4 ASPH makes a substantial difference both in vignetting and color shift. Tomorrow, in better light, I will test all three of the 35/1.4 coding options. 

 

Rob

[thighslapper]

Thanks for the suggestions. I did a quick test in the fading light and found that setting the code to the first of two 35/1.4 ASPH makes a substantial difference both in vignetting and color shift. Tomorrow, in better light, I will test all three of the 35/1.4 coding options. 

 

Rob

 

Good .... glad to hear it as it is too good a lens to abandon. Best to get it permanently coded ..... if you search the threads you will find several independent Leica folk that do it in the US ...... and as it is not a Leica lens, Leica US themselves may not want to do it as they usually just replace the flange with the appropriately coded one. Self coding is not difficult if you are handy and have a Dremel or similar to hand. 

[Steve McGarrett]

If this can help, Zeiss suggest to code it as a Summicron 28 11604 or a Elmarit 28 Asph 11606 (to reduce vignetting wide open, I assume, because apart from that the lens seems to work fine at every aperture even without coding, on M-cameras)

[robgo2]

If this can help, Zeiss suggest to code it as a Summicron 28 11604 or a Elmarit 28 Asph 11606 (to reduce vignetting wide open, I assume, because apart from that the lens seems to work fine at every aperture even without coding, on M-cameras)

 

That's very interesting. I just ran a comparison test of codes for 35/1.4 ASPH, 28/2 Summicron and 28/2.8 Elmarit. Overall, the Summicron (11604) won out, mainly because it controls the pink color shift best. That will be my choice whenever I mount the ZM 35.Thanks for suggesting it.

 

Rob

 

Edit: One problem, of course, is that the EXIF shows the wrong focal length.

[Steve McGarrett]

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You're welcome.

 

If you are a Lightroom user, you can try LensTagger plugin for that. It allows to fix EXIFs in almost no time, it's really useful for not coded (or wrongly coded) lenses.

[robgo2]

You're welcome.

 

If you are a Lightroom user, you can try LensTagger plugin for that. It allows to fix EXIFs in almost no time, it's really useful for not coded (or wrongly coded) lenses.

 

I do not use Lightroom. However, I do use Photo Mechanic as my file manager. I wonder if it has a way to alter EXIFs.

 

Rob

[robgo2]

Well, Photo Mechanic does not have the capacity to change EXIF. However, I discovered another program that does--Exif Editor for Mac. I purchased it from the App Store for $10.99. It is easy to use, although I have yet to figure out how to create presets. At any rate, I can now use my ZM 35 with the 6-bit code for the Summicron-M 28/2 and have the EXIF show Zeiss ZM 35/1.4 at a focal length of 35mm.

 

Rob