p.6 #1 · voigtlander 15 super wide heliar 2014 plus the other lenses.
[Cross Post from the A7 series thread]
One of the unexpected (at least to me) findings with the Voigtlander 14/4.5 III is how much MFD is reduced with a helicoid. Here are three images. The first is focused near infinity focused, the second with the helicoid open about 1/4 and the third with the helicoid open about 2/3. At this point, I'm about an inch or two away from the subject. If I open the helicoid all the way, I cannot get focus. This was all handheld and I wasn't trying to do any real testing but I find this combo really interesting. By the way, on the last image, the focus point was on the 'D'
p.6 #3 · voigtlander 15 super wide heliar 2014 plus the other lenses.
Jochenb wrote:
Bob, Mike, some nice examples already. How's the sharpness across the frame? Good corners/edges? Any weird field curvature?
I've only had the one outing so far and have yet to print anything, but I don't see anything that stands out. Sharpness in the edges and corners looks pretty good (mine were taken at F8/11). I hope to get up to Boston this week and let it loose some more. I just need to get my fingers out of the way!
I agree with you Bob regrading the MFD, I was perhaps a foot away from the pulley in the last shot but I think the helicoid was only about 1/3 deployed. No surprise really given the focal length, my LTM and earlier M version were the same.
p.6 #4 · voigtlander 15 super wide heliar 2014 plus the other lenses.
A shot to show corner performance
This one was PP'd in LR and includes auto CA removal checked. I can't host raws but I loaded up large (4500 wide) jpegs below, both with PP and no PP (LR defaults). Full sized jpgs were too large but these are easily big enough to see what's going on.
p.6 #9 · voigtlander 15 super wide heliar 2014 plus the other lenses.
This lens keeps growing on me the more I use it. It's been nearly glued on my A7II since I received. Here's a couple from last night. Both are shot at f/8 the second converted using Silver Efex Pro2
p.6 #12 · voigtlander 15 super wide heliar 2014 plus the other lenses.
Yes, nice shots.
The double star has to do with the design if the light, if you look at other lights, the star is a singularly.
This link to a post that Bob posted on the last page in reply to me shows this. https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1255248/774#12929764
p.6 #14 · voigtlander 15 super wide heliar 2014 plus the other lenses.
Hardcore wrote:
Beautiful shots Bob!
So the first one... is the double star effect on the street lights a result of the internal reflections of the a7II?
It's definitely the lights. Each post has multiple lights like what you see in the black and white image in the same post. So, the double star is the pattern made from each light and not sensor reflection (which has an entirely different look).
p.6 #20 · voigtlander 15 super wide heliar 2014 plus the other lenses.
Thanks for confirming, Bob.
Gary - my thoughts as well. I plan to visit the Voigtlander distributor in Taiwan when I'm there in a few weeks and hopefully I can play with some lenses. But I'm not yet sure I'll buy one (the price from Camtec also seems better than in the US and Taiwan). I don't use the 15 much on the M, in part due to colour shift being worse than the 12/5.6 and being lazy about doing the extra steps to correct in LR. And I have the LTM version of the 12, which is so tiny, it's an afterthought to include it in the day to day kit. While the new 15 is small compared to SLR UWA options, it's definitely a bit on the big side (I think) relative to other M lenses and will then take up an 'official' spot in the bag...
.. part of going mirrorless, right? 
