SL2 and 21mm Voigtlander VM / 18mm Zeiss ZM

[Peters]

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Hi guys, 

 

I was wondering if anyone has had the chance to use the new vintage Voigtlander 21mm 3.5 VM or the Zeiss 18mm ZM lens on the SL2. How do these lenses hold up in terms of resolving 47MP?

I have an 11-23mm TL which is nice on APSC but do find it somewhat wasted on a full frame body...

Cheers 

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[Stuart Richardson]

I have the 18mm and used it a couple of times for architecture work and it seemed ok for that, but I am not absolutely sure, so I will try again and let you know. Is there any particular aspect you are interested in? I assume just edge to edge sharpness etc...I suspect that it will work ok when stopped down to 8 or 11, but will not be as sharp as, for example, the 16-35mm SL zoom.

 

[Peters]

18 hours ago, Stuart Richardson said:

I have the 18mm and used it a couple of times for architecture work and it seemed ok for that, but I am not absolutely sure, so I will try again and let you know. Is there any particular aspect you are interested in? I assume just edge to edge sharpness etc...I suspect that it will work ok when stopped down to 8 or 11, but will not be as sharp as, for example, the 16-35mm SL zoom.

 

Thanks Stuart that would be helpful. Sharpness and the ability to resolve detail - some lenses i.e. 35mm 1.4 Voigtlander looks the same on an 18MP sensor with a 47MP sensor...

[Stuart Richardson]

Ok, I did a quick test inside at a close distance...about 1.5-2m. At that range, it is very sharp on center wide open, but very blurry at the edges and corners. I would not consider any aperture sharp corner to corner. At f/11 about 3/4 of the frame is acceptably sharp, but the far edges and corners are still blurred. I think any native or decent SLR lens in this focal length will do better. I can tell the lens itself is sharp, but it is being diffracted by the cover glass. It is hard to describe, but you can see that the image does not suffer any aberrations...the color is good and you can see how the lens has some contrast and there is no fringing etc, there is just blurriness and slight double image effect towards the edges. It is sad, as the lens is super sharp on film and pretty good on the M10. But the SL2 is not as good with it. I can test outside tomorrow at some point, but pretty sure the story will be the same or worse. Generally at further focal distances the rear element is closer to the sensor, so if anything it will be more affected.

 

In my use case, f11 was the best aperture. At f16 diffraction starts to overwhelm everything, and at f8 the edges are still quite a bit softer than f11. So if I had to use this one for a job, I would pick f11 if at all possible. I think you could get away with 5.6 or f8 on APS-C. Certainly for video.

Edited October 8, 2020 by Stuart Richardson

[SJH]

I’ve just acquired the Voigtlander 21mm 3.5 VM for my SL2 so just in the process of testing it out so no conclusions yet but here’s a review of the lens https://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2019/05/27/the-voigtlander-21-f-3-5-color-skopar-m-mount-lens-what-a-charmer/ I’ve just selected the Leica 21mm 3.4 lens profile in the menu.

[Peters]

17 hours ago, Stuart Richardson said:

Ok, I did a quick test inside at a close distance...about 1.5-2m. At that range, it is very sharp on center wide open, but very blurry at the edges and corners. I would not consider any aperture sharp corner to corner. At f/11 about 3/4 of the frame is acceptably sharp, but the far edges and corners are still blurred. I think any native or decent SLR lens in this focal length will do better. I can tell the lens itself is sharp, but it is being diffracted by the cover glass. It is hard to describe, but you can see that the image does not suffer any aberrations...the color is good and you can see how the lens has some contrast and there is no fringing etc, there is just blurriness and slight double image effect towards the edges. It is sad, as the lens is super sharp on film and pretty good on the M10. But the SL2 is not as good with it. I can test outside tomorrow at some point, but pretty sure the story will be the same or worse. Generally at further focal distances the rear element is closer to the sensor, so if anything it will be more affected.

 

In my use case, f11 was the best aperture. At f16 diffraction starts to overwhelm everything, and at f8 the edges are still quite a bit softer than f11. So if I had to use this one for a job, I would pick f11 if at all possible. I think you could get away with 5.6 or f8 on APS-C. Certainly for video.

Thank you so much Stuart for your detailed analysis. Sounds like an old M Lens holds up rather well against a 47MP sensor, just a same about those corners. Thank you again, much appreciated. 

[Peters]

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11 hours ago, SJH said:

I’ve just acquired the Voigtlander 21mm 3.5 VM for my SL2 so just in the process of testing it out so no conclusions yet but here’s a review of the lens https://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2019/05/27/the-voigtlander-21-f-3-5-color-skopar-m-mount-lens-what-a-charmer/ I’ve just selected the Leica 21mm 3.4 lens profile in the menu.

Would be very interested in your findings! Please keep us updated! Regards

[SJH]

Thanks Peters and in the end I returned the lens (something I don’t do often) on the basis that I just felt it’s performance suffered from the same issues as the Leica 21 SEM on an SL2 which has been fairly extensively covered is this forum. On my M10R and M10M it was pretty good (maybe 80% of the Leica lens?) but I think for the SL2 I’m going to wait until the 21mm APO arrives. The other issue I had was usability and this is of course subjective but I found the silver and overall finish led to it being difficult to read the lens markings in some lighting conditions. Over a few days this became more and more frustrating!!

As a result I’ve ordered the TTArtisans 21mm direct from the Leica Rumours site, so it works out at about £330 in the UK - so half the cost of the Voigtlander 21mm 3.5. The other issue I had with the Voigtlander was that finding the hood in stock in Europe was almost impossible and it’s c£80 where it is in stock, the TTArtisans comes with two. I appreciate of course it’s a heavier lens but I believe I will be getting the same level of build quality, better ergonomics, similar IQ, 1.4 and all for half the cost until the 21mm APO arrives. I’ll probably use it on my M’s mostly but I will give it a shot on the SL2 as well.

Nearly of my lenses for the SL2 and M’s are Leica but I do have the 7Artisans 28mm 1.4 and I have to say that it’s very very good. No not quite a Summilux but it’s pretty close especially on my M10M, so I’m looking forward to the 21mm TTArtisans which is arriving today.