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New 21mm || SEM or not SEM, that is the question!


Dennis

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5 hours ago, Harvard Kiwi said:

Hi Dennis, 

That was shot on my M10 and the Metadata says it was shot at f5.6. However, shots wide open at f4 are also free of the colour casts but show sign of darker vignetting.

I was very concerned around potential colour cast from the 21/4 on a digital sensor and couldn't get a consistent answer around whether it was ok or not. The consensus appeared to be that it was fine on the M10-R so I took the risk as I prefer to shoot black and white anyway. 

I do agree that it probably has a lot to do with the copy that you get and I feel very lucky. 

I wanted to save money because I couldn't afford to spend more at the time and because I wasn't sure that it was an FL I would use often.

However, after getting it, it sat on my camera for weeks without being changed and we had a lot of fun together. As a 50mm man, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the 21mm focal length and 99% of the time I'm either using my 50 or my 21 (and the ratio has to be close to 50/50)

I also highly recommend the Voigtlander 21/25 metal viewfinder. It is so bright and clear, it actually looks ok on the camera, and it doesn't drain the battery like my Visoflex 020 does. 

Any update on your copy?

Same here.
I'm still "knowing" the focal length on my M10. I was in a Leica store recently. I tried the 21 SEM but didn't have any kind of 21 VF to show me. So, I still want to see how it feels about an external VF. I will probably buy online the Voigtlander 21/25...
I use the CV 21/4 at f8 only and really like it. In harsh situations, I can see some Italian flag. No problem to edit it. It would be better without, but it's the only cons I have found on that lens.
Since I got the Q2M last month, I haven't used my 21mm anymore 😎 Now I'm shooting 28mm, tomorrow; who knows?

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11 minutes ago, KFo said:

Just saw that Voïgtlander announced a new 21 f/3.4 for December release.

Any info yet on how this lens stacks up?  Not finding online reviews yet..

21/3.5 v2 i believe. If it has the same optics as the current 21/3.5 v1 it should be sharp at all apertures with no color shifts but significant CA.

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1 hour ago, lct said:

21/3.5 v2 i believe. If it has the same optics as the current 21/3.5 v1 it should be sharp at all apertures with no color shifts but significant CA.

Just read the Reid Reviews write up on the current 21 f/3.4 compared to the f/4 (which I own).  It doesn't look like there are any differences that would matter to me between the two.

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18 minutes ago, KFo said:

Just read the Reid Reviews write up on the current 21 f/3.4 compared to the f/4 (which I own).  It doesn't look like there are any differences that would matter to me between the two.

I haven't read this review but i respect Sean Reid so i feel hard to believe that he did not see red edge issues with the 21/4 on some rangefinder cameras, especially the M240. It is an advantage of the 21/3.5 v1 as far as my samples are concerned but it has more CA than the 21/4. Hard to believe that Sean Reid missed that too but again i have not read his review :cool:. I own both lenses and i tend to prefer the 21/3.5 v1 for its lack of color shifts and for its sharpness at fast apertures and the 21/4 for its tiny size on APS cameras where red edges are non significant. As for the CV 21/3.5 v2 i don't know if it fixes the CA issue but it would be interesting if it does certainly. CV 21/4 and 21/3.5 v1 on M240 at f/8, no 6-bit coding:

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1 hour ago, lct said:

I haven't read this review but i respect Sean Reid so i feel hard to believe that he did not see red edge issues with the 21/4 on some rangefinder cameras, especially the M240. It is an advantage of the 21/3.5 v1 as far as my samples are concerned but it has more CA than the 21/4. Hard to believe that Sean Reid missed that too but again i have not read his review :cool:. I own both lenses and i tend to prefer the 21/3.5 v1 for its lack of color shifts and for its sharpness at fast apertures and the 21/4 for its tiny size on APS cameras where red edges are non significant. As for the CV 21/3.5 v2 i don't know if it fixes the CA issue but it would be interesting if it does certainly. CV 21/4 and 21/3.5 v1 on M240 at f/8, no 6-bit coding:

....differences that matter to me.... :)

I shoot an M10P and the color drift/vignetting is controlled well enough with the in camera correction manually selected (21 f/2.8 selection).  I tend to shoot B&W as well which renders the color drift even less important to me.

Sean didn't miss anything about color drift as best as I can tell, it's just not important to me.  There are some trivial resolution differences between the lenses (off axis) as well as a trivial difference in contrast, but again not enough to be important to me.

I am looking for another 21 that renders contrast significantly different than my CV 21f/4.  Right now I lean towards the Leica 21 f/3.4 for that solution.

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It seems pretty clear from the countless posts and reviews I read that any digital body from the M240 and earlier suffers greatly from the Italian flag effect with the CV21/4. I'd say the verdict on that is pretty much unanimous and if you have one of those bodies you should be considering the 3.5 instead (unless you are shooting B&W and don't mind the vignetting). The M10-R reviews mostly don't have issues to the point where I wouldn't be concerned. For the standard M10, and possibly the M10-P it does seem to be more mixed with some saying it isn't an issue, but I've seen photos posted from an M10 where the colour cast was clearly present. It seems very much to be luck of the draw. It would be nice if the 3.5ii came in all black as well as I prefer the look of that lens over the chrome on the panda 3.5 version 1.

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3 hours ago, Harvard Kiwi said:

For the standard M10, and possibly the M10-P it does seem to be more mixed with some saying it isn't an issue, but I've seen photos posted from an M10 where the colour cast was clearly present.

I still have to edit the photos of the 21/4. Here a DNG unedited file taken with the M10. Lens coded as 21/2.8

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There is a slight color cast on the top of the image, but very easily editable. But it's not like the image ICT posted (of the M240) on #106

P.s. It's a screenshot of Photo mechanic. This, It's more phinky than the original file 🙂 

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7 hours ago, Dennis said:

I still have to edit the photos of the 21/4. Here a DNG unedited file taken with the M10. Lens coded as 21/2.8

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There is a slight color cast on the top of the image, but very easily editable. But it's not like the image ICT posted (of the M240) on #106

P.s. It's a screenshot of Photo mechanic. This, It's more phinky than the original file 🙂 

It is about the same on my M10P.

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