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Any experience with the second version (pic) of this lens on APS-C Leica cameras (T, TL, TL2, CL)? Just curious as i'm after a small lens wider than 21mm for my digital CL. BTW the current version 3 is certainly very good but i prefer a smaller size as far as possible.

 

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I've just gotten one of these and have yet to give it a serious day on my TL2. Perhaps this weekend. Initial feeling is that it is sharp, and I do like the idea of "f8 and no focus" for street and reportage use. I love the effective FOV (I still miss my Hassy SWC...)

 

Out of curiosity - which 21mm are you using? 

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Interesting thank you. Did you notice some color shifts or smearings in the corners? My favorite 21 is the CV 21/4 on the CL but i use also the excellent Leica 21/3.4 asph which is a bit bulkier though. I have also a Leica 21/2.8 asph but i find it too big for a compact body. 

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So far I have noticed no color shift issues. It is very sharp in the center, but I haven’t shot enough different subjects to make a determination about the corners.

 

I tried the CV 21 and didn’t like it. I thought it lacked resolving power at distance. But given the variable quality control of Cosina, I might have gotten a not-so-good copy. The size is right, though.

 

I may end up with the TL 18 as a wide angle lens, just for the convenience of autofocus.

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My impressions from a day out shooting the CV 15 v2 on my TL2...no color issues, other than a tendency to show CA at the edges of the frame. Even stopped down.

Good overall sharpness, but the lens is definitely better at closer distances than at infinity.

No smearing in the corners.

Overall a nice lens on the TL2 and probably would do great as a street lens. Set it to f8 and 1.2 m and just start shooting.

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I used the v.1 (same optics) on the slightly larger M8 sensor the whole time I had the M8. It worked very well as my "20mm." (Except the speed, of course). It "made" the M8 for me.

 

Cropped sensors remove the part of the image where red stains (Italian Flag) occur with M9 etc. On the M8 - with external IR filter, it needed coding (I got a Milich SM-M adapter and coded as a 16-18-21 eventually).

 

This is a very early M8 image. 15mm C/V au naturel - before IR filters, coding, etc. were available, Pretty clean. As oldwino says, a touch of CA that ACR cures with a button-click.

 

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Would one expect red-edging from a full-frame lens used on a cropped sensor?

 

The sensor stack of the CL is not as thin as that of digital Ms so it has less moiré and IR problems but corners tend to be soft at full aperture on my M wides so i prefer asking good people in the know.

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The sensor stack of the CL is not as thin as that of digital Ms so it has less moiré and IR problems but corners tend to be soft at full aperture on my M wides so i prefer asking good people in the know.

I replied in original thread. Summary is that I see this as FF lens. For crop sensors, native lens may be better. My experience is with Sony APS-C.

 

Edit: I always use it with flat field correction which is very painless (workflow perspective). So far I had never felt the need for VIII. I should mentioned that I don't like the quality though. Mine has gone bad (something's shifted inside and doesn't focus well at wider aperture) and needs to be repaired after two years of occasional use. Still I can shoot at f16 with printable results on FF.

Edited by jmahto
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Just ordered one thank you folks.

Let us know how it goes on CL. You need to be careful in focusing though. The center is always sharp with huge DOF but the edges/corners will require careful focusing (due to curvature maybe). At least that has been my experience with FF (and RF focusing helps). Not a problem if you are shooting at f/11-16. You need to experiment a little. I hope image zoom can be moved around in CL.

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Impossible to move the focus point with M lenses on the CL, or at least i don't know how to do that. Problem with well designed (for me) cameras like the CL i tend to shoot w/o reading the instructions manual so i may miss some important features this way. In case of field curvature, only available choice is focus peaking IINW provided contrast is high enough in the corners. Will see that when i receive the lens, thanks for sharing.

Edited by lct
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Impossible to move the focus point with M lenses on the CL, or at least i don't know how to do that. Problem with well designed (for me) cameras like the CL i tend to shoot w/o reading the instructions manual so i may miss some important features this way. In case of field curvature, only available choice is focus peaking IINW provided contrast is high enough in the corners. Will see that when i receive the lens, thanks for sharing.

Or you do it the hard way. Take the pic and then zoom in the corners to see whether they are sharp for that focus distance.

 

However, I will be disappointed if CL doesn't have moveable focus zoom point. Now I hear that even M10 has it (my M240 has not)

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[...] I will be disappointed if CL doesn't have moveable focus zoom point. Now I hear that even M10 has it (my M240 has not)

 

Seems like i has moveable focus point with TL lenses but i have no experience with the latters.

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Just received the CV 15/4.5 v2. Cute little lens, nicely made, it is almost as tiny as the CV 21/4. Perfect size on the CL to me. IQ wise, i've found no color shift in the corners or elsewhere at f/4.5. Corners are rather soft at f/4.5 but remain contrasty enough to allow for accurate focusing with focus peaking and i have detected no smearing whatsoever (pics to follow). Aside from DoF, the CV 15/4.5 v2 seems to behave the same way at f/4.5 as the CV 21/4 at f/4 on good FF cameras. Not a lens for OOC jpegs though as vignetting is severe at f/4.5 and must be adjusted in PP.

 

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CL, CV 15/4.5 v2, f/4.5, 100 iso, focus on the tree at the top left corner.

 

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CL, CV 15/4.5 v2, f/4.5, 2000 iso, focus on "Castelot". Noise is due to high iso and vignetting correction.

 

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