M11-P && Zeiss 15mm/2.8 Distagon ZM

[arthury]

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I have been eyeing this Lens since 2014 but, for one reason or another, I have been giving myself excuses not to purchase it. When I explored recently in eBay and with other retailers for a used copy, I found a nicely maintained copy and bought it.

Things I like:

• It reminded me of my Distagon 15mm/2.8 Zf.2 on my Nikon system. Because of the diligently designed optics, it yielded very nice color saturation, crisp delineated lines and resolution that presented itself as a "touchable" image, so to speak. Absolutely thrilled to have this on my M11-P.
• A wider perspective than my 21mm 'Lux ASPH (when I need it)

Things I do not like:

• Not rangefinder coupled: this meant that I do not get the zoomed-in peak focus aid; albeit, I still get focus peaking. This is really not a big deal because, in general, the giant DoF covers almost everything, except for one situation when you are around 0.3m away from the subject and the aperture is at f/2.8

Nuances:

The Lens was designed and built during the earlier digital days when stacked CMOS is not a common occurrence; so, it came with a center-weighted ND filter to fool the exposure meter into reducing the vignetting. This specialty Zeiss T* coated filter listed for around $600 during its release time. As of 2025, we have stacked CMOS sensors which are able to siphon off very oblique light rays coming in from this lens. 

This meant :

1. no more color cast
2. no more grotesque vignetting

I have played around with it and here is what I discovered: to get the best image if you have the sky broadly across the frame, you may

1. either use the provided ND filter and a adjust vignetting manually in LR  (with no Lens profile chose) or
2. remove the ND filter and use the Lens Profile (for this Lens)  provided by LR

Do NOT use both or you will get patchy skies. Based on my own discoveries, it is best to use option [2] as it provides the best sky image. Looks like the newer sensors have made that ND filter irrelevant. Below are a few sample images tracing my discovery process.

 

Using BOTH the LR Lens profile and the center-weighted ND filter yielded a patchy sky due to cross interference between the two corrections

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Using the filter WITHOUT Lens Profile in LR but adjusting the vignetting manually in LR. It's decent.

 

Lastly, with filter removed and choosing the Lens Profile in LR for this Lens. Sky looked like it came from a regular lens.

Edited September 27 by arthury

[charlesphoto99]

If you haven't tried the 18mm Super-Elmar you should. IMO it's one of the best wide angle lenses ever made. 

[arthury]

If a friend of mine lend it to me, I will try it but I probably will not be out there purchasing one as I have enough ultra wide lenses (21mm 'Lux, 21mm Biogon, 15mm Distagon) to last me, not one, but two life times. 🤣

[lct]

Interesting lens indeed. Too bad it is not RF coupled. Last time i checked it was more expensive than the WATE so i passed on it. Did you try Leica perspective control with it? Just curious.

Edited September 27 by lct

[arthury]

3 hours ago, lct said:

Did you try Leica perspective control with it? Just curious.

No, I did not. 

I do have Leveling Lines turned ON; and, if I am doing architectural images, I would just adhere to the Leveling suggestions and I often get a well squared out building. Distagons are pretty well corrected rectilinear lenses; albeit, not as clinically corrected as Biogons. Having said that, I prefer the tones of Distagons more than Biogons -- they are similar to my 21mm 'Lux.

[Ne314satel]

Interesting topic. I've been shooting with 15mm for a long time. But it was only Ok with the M11 with LV.  There are albums with photos taken with the 15mm at the link.
Regarding the Zeiss 15mm lens, the weight is a huge drawback for me. Zeiss compared to 155g  Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 II is a huge difference. That's why I chose the Voigtländer and now I always carry it with me, just in my pocket or at the bottom of my bag. But the Zeiss also has very good glass quality.

That's my two cents.

 

Edited Tuesday at 08:21 AM by Ne314satel

[arthury]

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7 hours ago, Ne314satel said:

Interesting topic. I've been shooting with 15mm for a long time. But it was only Ok with the M11 with LV.  There are albums with photos taken with the 15mm at the link.
Regarding the Zeiss 15mm lens, the weight is a huge drawback for me. [...]

 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts about this lens

7 hours ago, Ne314satel said:

[...]
Regarding the Zeiss 15mm lens, the weight is a huge drawback for me. Zeiss compared to 155g  Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 II is a huge difference. That's why I chose the Voigtländer and now I always carry it with me, just in my pocket or at the bottom of my bag. But the Zeiss also has very good glass quality.

Yes, I agree that the weight is hefty but still smaller than the Noctilux f/0.95. I have previously tried the Voigtlander Heliar 12mm/5.6 but was quite disappointed by the unacceptably lower contrast; so, I got rid of it. (samples: https://www.flickr.com/photos/phlog/albums/72157643082467745/ )

Thanks for the input.

[lct]

45 minutes ago, arthury said:

[...] I have previously tried the Voigtlander Heliar 12mm/5.6 but was quite disappointed by the unacceptably lower contrast [...]

Was it a LTM copy? Just curious as the contrast of my VM copy looks pretty decent. Here with 16mm code and Leica perspective control adjusting the FoV to 16mm.
• M11, Heliar 12/5.6, LPC, f/8

Edited Tuesday at 05:02 PM by lct

[arthury]

2 hours ago, lct said:

Was it a LTM copy? Just curious as the contrast of my VM copy looks pretty decent. Here with 16mm code and Leica perspective control adjusting the FoV to 16mm.
• M11, Heliar 12/5.6, LPC, f/8

It was a regular m-mount.

[arthury]

21 hours ago, arthury said:

It was a regular m-mount.

But, it was years ago on my M240. I sold it before the M10 was released.

[lct]

4 minutes ago, arthury said:

But, it was years ago on my M240. I sold it before the M10 was released.

The Heliar 12/5.6 produces soft corners and edges with my M240, much more so than with the M11.  The culprit is not the lens there but the sensor.

[arthury]

Quite impressed with the performance so far in B&W. Will pick up more in color when the light is good.

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