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Archive 2015 · Zeiss 35mm f1.4 ZM or Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 Ultron for Landscape with de...

  
 
GMPhotography
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p.6 #1 · Zeiss 35mm f1.4 ZM or Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 Ultron for Landscape with deep DOF for A7rM and A7rII


Steve Spencer wrote:
Rumour has it that there will be a 18mm Batis coming next year. Then you might want to get rid of your VC 15 too. Everyone has different priorities. Me, I still like alt glass and the rendering styles it provides, but I understand when people want native lenses too--I better understand because that is what my wife wants. She is much more tolerant of my alt glass wants if she can get her native lenses


Yea maybe although at the very wide end I prefer MF. I also like the VC 15mm as its one of those camera corner pocket lenses.



Nov 13, 2015 at 06:11 PM
jaclarkaus
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p.6 #2 · Zeiss 35mm f1.4 ZM or Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 Ultron for Landscape with deep DOF for A7rM and A7rII


GMPhotography wrote:
Yea maybe although at the very wide end I prefer MF. I also like the VC 15mm as its one of those camera corner pocket lenses.


Once stopped down, there seems to be 2 focus settings on the VC for landscapes.... infinity for 99% of shots, no for the other ...



Nov 13, 2015 at 06:34 PM
GMPhotography
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p.6 #3 · Zeiss 35mm f1.4 ZM or Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 Ultron for Landscape with deep DOF for A7rM and A7rII


Tough little bugger to focus its so wide and everything seems to be in focus. Lol


Nov 13, 2015 at 07:34 PM
Steve Spencer
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p.6 #4 · Zeiss 35mm f1.4 ZM or Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 Ultron for Landscape with deep DOF for A7rM and A7rII


naturephoto1 wrote:
Unless I need/want AF, I would prefer MF for many or most of my needs which allows for smaller and lighter lenses. With the exception of the Loxia lenses, the only native lenses available for the Sony system are their AF lenses and the Zeiss Batis AF lenses which are also much larger, bulkier and often times heavier than the alternatives. Even the Loxia lenses are often times larger and heavier than the MF RF lenses that are an alternative. I for one like the fact that my WATE offers me the opportunity to carry the single lens for 3
...Show more

Congratulations Rich. I think you will like your M and R lenses on the modded camera. The Loxia lenses are about 30-40% heavier and larger than the ZM lenses with similar designs. They have better sealing and some electronics that results in the increased size. I still think they are pretty small and light, however. Like you, however, I think my primary kit will be M lenses with a couple R lenses thrown in.



Nov 13, 2015 at 08:47 PM
uhoh7
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p.6 #5 · Zeiss 35mm f1.4 ZM or Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 Ultron for Landscape with deep DOF for A7rM and A7rII


GMPhotography wrote:
I know its weird at one time I looked in my Canon bag this is years ago and i had ten Leica lenses in it and no Canon. Than I said screw it and bought a Leica DMR. Than moved on to M for awhile than sold all that and went MF. I feel like a train wreck at this point.

I can say one thing been there and done that.

Hey I totally get it too.


too bad we don't have unlimited means to follow the various options today. That 007 Leica S and a bevy of lenses? Oh yes An SL just for the great R glass and as a backup M body. A Q and RX1II just for walk around Some sort of 500mm platform.....

ahhh...we can dream can't we?



Nov 14, 2015 at 03:12 PM
GMPhotography
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p.6 #6 · Zeiss 35mm f1.4 ZM or Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 Ultron for Landscape with deep DOF for A7rM and A7rII


uhoh7 wrote:
too bad we don't have unlimited means to follow the various options today. That 007 Leica S and a bevy of lenses? Oh yes An SL just for the great R glass and as a backup M body. A Q and RX1II just for walk around Some sort of 500mm platform.....

ahhh...we can dream can't we?


I wish I could go back in time and cherry pick some of those lenses to use today. I had some amazing glass . I had the famed Leica 35-70 2.8 zoom. Cost ME 6 grand. I was actually afraid to shoot the damn thing. Lol



Nov 14, 2015 at 04:23 PM
carlitos
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p.6 #7 · Zeiss 35mm f1.4 ZM or Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 Ultron for Landscape with deep DOF for A7rM and A7rII


GMPhotography wrote:
I wish I could go back in time and cherry pick some of those lenses to use today. I had some amazing glass . I had the famed Leica 35-70 2.8 zoom. Cost ME 6 grand. I was actually afraid to shoot the damn thing. Lol


Be cool to be able to time travel, pick up lenses, carry a D810, Leica or such, take pictures in their time and place.




Nov 14, 2015 at 05:45 PM
rscheffler
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p.6 #8 · Zeiss 35mm f1.4 ZM or Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 Ultron for Landscape with deep DOF for A7rM and A7rII


hiepphotog wrote:
Personally, if you are going to mod your A7R, why bother with the Ultron if you're after sharpness? WO, it's so personal that it's hard to say which is better. Heck, if anything, the CV 35/1.2 would be among the top as well.

rscheffler wrote:
I'm not sure I follow. The Ultron is a very good lens and stopped down just a bit is IMO impressive across the frame (on Leica M). I haven't compared it directly against the ZM 35/1.4 but would be surprised if there is much sharpness difference.

I think rendering character would be the bigger differentiator.

As for the 35/1.2... I don't believe it's as good as either. It suffers from greater field curvature than either the Distagon or Ultron. Perhaps by happenstance, that field curvature is counteracted on unmodded Sonys by the thick cover glass, making it one of the better performing
...Show more
hiepphotog wrote:
Well, I mean if one is after sharpness, the ZM 35/1.4 should be the top of that list.

Tariq Gibran wrote:
It certainly would be interesting to see a side by side comparison of the Ultron to the ZM 35/1.4 on a Leica M or Sony A7x Mod body. I have not seen that yet. Unless you have, I'm not sure how statements like this can be made about the ZM's superiority. I have seen enough from the better Voigtlanders to know that one should not discount them, particularly with regard to sharpness, before trying.

hiepphotog wrote:
Tariq, I can't think of a single CV M-mount that is sharper than a Zeiss/Leica equivalent (give or take less than a stop in max aperture). They are very good no doubt, but top of the heap in term of sharpness, I don't think so. CV is often after a certain characteristic, but not absolute sharpness.

On the other hand, both 50 APO and the D 35 have been tested to show the highest shapress in the M system (Imatest and the like). My own shooting with these two seems to bear that out at infinity as well.


My feeling about Voigtlander lenses was very much like this until the 35/1.2, which was decent. Then came the 21/1.8, which I owned alongside the 21 Lux. Technically, the CV is the better lens, for sharpness consistency, but I kept the Lux for its character, as Guy alluded to. But IMO, the 21/1.8 was a big step forward for the Voigtlander brand. It was a fast lens that held its own against slower lenses that should outperform it. IMO, the new 35/1.7 is another leap forward in performance, to the point where I no longer feel there is a technical compromise paid for using it instead of Zeiss or Leica. Ergonomic compromises, yes..

Guy, I came to the conclusion a few years into my Leica ownership that there was reason to own multiple lenses of the same focal lenghts... Modern lenses for sheer technical performance, modern fast lenses for their character, and vintage lenses for their imperfect rendering... Problem is I can never carry all of that around at the same time. Would totally defeat the size savings.

Tariq - I have both the CV 40/1.4 and the new Ultron. On Leica M, without doubt, the Ultron dramatically outperforms the 40. However, the quirk of the 40 is that it massive field curvature seen on Leica is mostly neutralized on unmodified Sony. There are also rendering differences, with the 40 being more imperfect (greater character).



Nov 14, 2015 at 09:03 PM
Tariq Gibran
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p.6 #9 · Zeiss 35mm f1.4 ZM or Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 Ultron for Landscape with deep DOF for A7rM and A7rII


rscheffler wrote:
Tariq - I have both the CV 40/1.4 and the new Ultron. On Leica M, without doubt, the Ultron dramatically outperforms the 40. However, the quirk of the 40 is that it massive field curvature seen on Leica is mostly neutralized on unmodified Sony. There are also rendering differences, with the 40 being more imperfect (greater character).


Yeah, I know it's just happenstance that the CV 40/1.4 does so well over about 95% of the frame of an unmodded A7x likely due to some bizarre perfect alignment of the Sony cover glass vs CV40 lens field curvature.

Here are some raws at F8 and F11 showing just how sharp and contrasty my copy of this lens is on the A7r (copy/ paste the links for anyone who wants them).

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5540407/CV40F8.ARW

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5540407/CV40F11.ARW

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5540407/CV40F11b.ARW






Nov 14, 2015 at 09:42 PM
GMPhotography
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p.6 #10 · Zeiss 35mm f1.4 ZM or Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 Ultron for Landscape with deep DOF for A7rM and A7rII


Part of this whole lens coming into this time period is pretty much everything being made is pretty much corrected for the lens aberrations that give lenses that character . The demand or maybe better said what OEMs are selling is ultimate sharpness. We will see less and less of those character lenses . The Loxia are not new designs for instance the Batis are very very good wide open but well corrected. Not many lenses are these days and I'm afraid we will see less and less. Let's say no Summilux R glass any more. Which wide open was not corrected well at all but we loved that look. Even my VC 15 III is now corrected for digital sensors and we will see more and more specifically corrected for digital. The trend is here the old glass is slowly going away. I find it quite interesting to see the change. This VC 35 1.7 sounds like a really nice lens and the price is very good. I know I gave up on the premium lenses for that extra 2 percent performance boost as the costs are just to high . These two lenses seem like that, one is a little better but they very very close . I'm thinking of renting the VC it sounds like a nice lens.


Nov 14, 2015 at 09:58 PM
uhoh7
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p.6 #11 · Zeiss 35mm f1.4 ZM or Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 Ultron for Landscape with deep DOF for A7rM and A7rII


GMPhotography wrote:
Part of this whole lens coming into this time period is pretty much everything being made is pretty much corrected for the lens aberrations that give lenses that character . The demand or maybe better said what OEMs are selling is ultimate sharpness. We will see less and less of those character lenses . The Loxia are not new designs for instance the Batis are very very good wide open but well corrected.


What is the source of the correction? The lens design? Or the body? I would say we are seeing more and more of the latter, as the Sony A7 design team leads one to believe in their early interview at DC watch, and as we see with the Leica Q.

But perhaps a more interesting case is the 28 cron. Based on it's design elements, it is arguably the most modern 28 ever made, including both the new Lux and the giant Otus. Yet today the 28 cron is a digital M enigma, with 2 very distinct personalities even Lightroom cannot reconcile.

There is the CCD cron and there is the CMOS cron, i.e. the MM/M9 cron and the M240/6 cron. Really I don't think it's the CCD vs CMOS, but instead the in-body corrections of the M240/6.

Ron is the expert of this lens as it performs on the M240, where it can be very harsh socially. "Too Clinical", maybe, and very corrected. I am experienced with the 28 cron on the M9, and before that on the Nex-5n, as it's been my most used lens. I consider it my best lens.

Sometimes I hesitate to stop a lens all the way to f/8, unless I'm just looking for landscape fidelity. The character often is sucked away. The 28 cron on the M9 is flat out gorgeous and aluring at f/8, full of character, yet very very crisp (as at every aperture to f/11).

Here past f/8 with little PP:

Town Cabin by unoh7, on Flickr

Certainly it's not the same as when shot fast:


White Bark at 10k by unoh7, Wide Open

Like most lenses it's character changes, but to my eye the punch and swagger are there always. The A7.mod, of course cannot correct the lens. Not a bad thing really:


Rapunzel Lived Here by unoh7, on Flickr


Welcome to Shoshone by unoh7, on Flickr

I see this lens low now as low as 2150

And I think the issue of correction is another reason why bodies like a Kolari A7 or Leica SL or M9 are very attractive for lens lovers: there is no whitewash. It's light and glass.



Nov 15, 2015 at 12:38 PM
GMPhotography
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p.6 #12 · Zeiss 35mm f1.4 ZM or Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 Ultron for Landscape with deep DOF for A7rM and A7rII


I think we are seeing it on both sides from the body and the lens designs that are coming out being specifically made for these new sensors. It makes sense there trying to make lenses work with there sensors better than being separate islands there making lenses designed for the new digital sensors.



Nov 15, 2015 at 01:42 PM
sebboh
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p.6 #13 · Zeiss 35mm f1.4 ZM or Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 Ultron for Landscape with deep DOF for A7rM and A7rII


uhoh7 wrote:
What is the source of the correction? The lens design? Or the body? I would say we are seeing more and more of the latter, as the Sony A7 design team leads one to believe in their early interview at DC watch, and as we see with the Leica Q.


we are certainly seeing more sensor correction, how could we see less? film did nothing. we are also seeing more optical correction though as lens design and construction becomes easier. mostly though the sensor corrections allow the lens designers to correct more of the aberrations that can't be corrected by the sensor by focusing less on what can be corrected by the sensor so that overall image is more highly corrected.

uhoh7 wrote:
But perhaps a more interesting case is the 28 cron. Based on it's design elements, it is arguably the most modern 28 ever made, including both the new Lux and the giant Otus. Yet today the 28 cron is a digital M enigma, with 2 very distinct personalities even Lightroom cannot reconcile.


i'm curious to hear how you think the 28 cron is the most modern 28mm? it's a lens designed for film, what do you mean by modern? the multiple personalities of the 28 cron seem to come solely from leica's different lens corrections for different cameras. i never understand when leica people complain about how other makers use camera lens corrections, their cameras perform much more egregious corrections than any other interchangeable lens camera.




Nov 15, 2015 at 01:57 PM
Charlie N
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p.6 #14 · Zeiss 35mm f1.4 ZM or Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 Ultron for Landscape with deep DOF for A7rM and A7rII


I tested the 35 ultron briefly, and I think the lens is on the league of the FE 55 when stopped down. It definitely outclassed my CV 40, and definitely a high end optic. I cant imagine paying significantly more, considering how well the ultron performs, and I LOVE the voigtlander starbursts, so nice.


Nov 15, 2015 at 06:17 PM
Tariq Gibran
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p.6 #15 · Zeiss 35mm f1.4 ZM or Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 Ultron for Landscape with deep DOF for A7rM and A7rII


Charlie N wrote:
I tested the 35 ultron briefly, and I think the lens is on the league of the FE 55 when stopped down. It definitely outclassed my CV 40, and definitely a high end optic. I cant imagine paying significantly more, considering how well the ultron performs, and I LOVE the voigtlander starbursts, so nice.


Which body did you try the Ultron on?




Nov 15, 2015 at 07:40 PM
rscheffler
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p.6 #16 · Zeiss 35mm f1.4 ZM or Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 Ultron for Landscape with deep DOF for A7rM and A7rII


sebboh wrote:
i'm curious to hear how you think the 28 cron is the most modern 28mm? it's a lens designed for film, what do you mean by modern? the multiple personalities of the 28 cron seem to come solely from leica's different lens corrections for different cameras. i never understand when leica people complain about how other makers use camera lens corrections, their cameras perform much more egregious corrections than any other interchangeable lens camera.


I'm curious how Leica's corrections are much more egregious. The M series correction are only for color shift and partial vignetting (rather than full vignetting removal). No distortion correction. The Q and SL are the ones pushing further with correction of intentionally strong lens distortion (not sure about the T system). How is this any worse than what Sony is doing, say for the FE28/2 or the Batis lenses? How about the 'secret sauce' applied by Fuji in-camera that appears to be some kind of selective sharpening/clarity enhancement? When the system first launched and I saw initial reviews of the 35/1.4, I though 'wow that lens is sharp wide open.' But after seeing the same raw images processed through a converter that didn't apply any Fuji settings... IMO the images looked very plain.



Nov 16, 2015 at 02:27 AM
sebboh
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p.6 #17 · Zeiss 35mm f1.4 ZM or Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 Ultron for Landscape with deep DOF for A7rM and A7rII


rscheffler wrote:
I'm curious how Leica's corrections are much more egregious. The M series correction are only for color shift and partial vignetting (rather than full vignetting removal). No distortion correction. The Q and SL are the ones pushing further with correction of intentionally strong lens distortion (not sure about the T system). How is this any worse than what Sony is doing, say for the FE28/2 or the Batis lenses? How about the 'secret sauce' applied by Fuji in-camera that appears to be some kind of selective sharpening/clarity enhancement? When the system first launched and I saw initial reviews of the
...Show more

oh man, i totally forgot about fuji and their weird noise reduction/local contrast enhancement. i consider that more of a correction of sensor flaws than lens flaws (i've never stuck their lenses on another camera though, so hard to tell).

the problem with the leica corrections is that 1) they are baked in so you have to turn them off before you take the shot you can't just uncheck a box in LR as you can with most other makers (not those fuji ones which are part of the demosaicing process i guess?), and 2) it's a very complex correction that isn't easily undone or replicated through additional post processing. as a consequence of this you have a lens like the 28 cron that many people love on one camera and find to be kinda blah on another camera due to a change in the in camera corrections. i believe you showed this yourself a while back? the m240 + 28 cron correction is not simply color correction and a radial exposure correction, it is also a non symmetric contrast and/or shadow correction.

the Q and SL corrections seem worse than other AF lenses because it seems that they are necessary to even get FF coverage (can they be turned off in LR? i actually don't know). you can shoot the RX1 or FE 28 with corrections turned off and not have black corners (i haven't looked into the batis but assume they work similarly?).




Nov 16, 2015 at 03:07 AM
Charlie N
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p.6 #18 · Zeiss 35mm f1.4 ZM or Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 Ultron for Landscape with deep DOF for A7rM and A7rII


Tariq Gibran wrote:
Which body did you try the Ultron on?



A7rii



Nov 16, 2015 at 11:03 AM
Steve Spencer
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p.6 #19 · Zeiss 35mm f1.4 ZM or Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 Ultron for Landscape with deep DOF for A7rM and A7rII


sebboh wrote:
oh man, i totally forgot about fuji and their weird noise reduction/local contrast enhancement. i consider that more of a correction of sensor flaws than lens flaws (i've never stuck their lenses on another camera though, so hard to tell).

the problem with the leica corrections is that 1) they are baked in so you have to turn them off before you take the shot you can't just uncheck a box in LR as you can with most other makers (not those fuji ones which are part of the demosaicing process i guess?), and 2) it's a very complex correction that
...Show more

But if you don't want the corrections on the M lenses, just don't do the 6-Bit coding or cover up the dots. So it is easy enough to "turn them off." I don't know if there are profiles out there to get them back, but I assume that it wouldn't be too hard to make such profiles. With regard to Q and SL files, I have seen them with black corners, so there must be some way to turn them off, but you are right that with those lenses the image circle is so small that without the correction the corners are black. So, if you wanted to live without the correction you would have to crop. I'm not really interested in AF lenses, so it doesn't bother me and the M lens correction doesn't seem that bad as it doesn't deal with distortion. Still your point is well taken. Leica users should not complain about other companies doing in camera corrections. They do the same thing and at least as much as most.

My own view is that in camera corrections is an unintended side effect of an EVF. If you can apply the corrections to the EVF feed, then you can do a lot more in camera without people noticing. I think this gives lens designers the latitude to correct a lot less with the lens if it can be corrected in camera. I'm not sure that is a good thing, but I expect it to be the way of the future as EVFs are used more often.



Nov 16, 2015 at 11:08 AM
uhoh7
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p.6 #20 · Zeiss 35mm f1.4 ZM or Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 Ultron for Landscape with deep DOF for A7rM and A7rII


sebboh wrote:
i'm curious to hear how you think the 28 cron is the most modern 28mm? it's a lens designed for film, what do you mean by modern?


Well you might not like my source, since you seem to rank him with Ken Rockwell

"So a new design was created from scratch: the Summicron-M1:2/28mm ASPH., scheduled for delivery early in 2001.
The optical prescription of the lens is quite fascinating. It fits in the genealogy of the seminal Summilux ASPH, a design that decisively departs from the classical Double-Gauss formula. This design-type, now more than a 100 years old, has been stretched to the limits and a performance plateau has been reached. The new Summilux design, incorporates the negative front and back surfaces and the aspherical surface. It is probably the first lens that has been designed specifically around the use of aspherics. Retrofocus designs are a second approach to step out of the shadows of the Double-Gauss formula. More lens elements can potentially improve performance, as more parameters can be controlled. The new Summicron-M 1:2/28mm ASPH picks up design elements of both: the lens group in front of the aperture is an enhancement of the Summilux (front group) design and the lens group behind the aperture fits into the retrofocus family and is a derivative of the 2.8/28 formula."

Erwin Puts

Subjective Reporting?

It seems to me whether a lens is designed for film or digital is independent of the fundamental optics and layout, and where they stand in the history of lens design. Instead it's just the adjustment of a given lens to the additional optical qualities of its "sensor", which in the case of the A7 series thick stack, is retrograde. Obviously the 28 cron has no problem whatever with digital, and I never heard anyone say: "Oh it's better on film"

Your point on corrections I take, as I have heard them say: "It's better on the M9"

I think we are being let down by both Leica and Sony in not having a easy way to adjust corrections and make our own in-body profiles for specific lenses.



Nov 16, 2015 at 11:22 AM
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