p.55 #1 · Official: Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 III E-mount
I rented this lens recently for a trip to Bali and loved it. My widest lens prior to this rental was the FE 28 and I am typically much more likely to be found shooting my Rokinon 135/2. But the Voigtlander 15 was fun to use and I love getting the EXIF data on each capture.
p.55 #2 · Official: Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 III E-mount
Well my new CV 10mm E mount has very soft corners/edges. I'd post a picture but I haven't joined "Upload and Sell". I'm going to do some additional testing, but I'm not pleased so far and my have to return it.
p.55 #3 · Official: Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 III E-mount
arduluth wrote:
Being on the outside, it's hard for us to say. Each lens has its own production line; improvements in quality variance could also have been derived from changes in manufacturing or in post-assembly QA, changes which might not be easy (or cost effective) to port to the production of the older lenses.
Sure: I didn't mean *solely* the design of the lens itself (although that may be part of it) but rather the whole lens-assembly process, which gets designed together, and as you say is often not cost effective to port to older lenses (and sometimes would require a change in the design of the lens itself)
p.55 #4 · Official: Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 III E-mount
Neurad1 wrote:
Well my new CV 10mm E mount has very soft corners/edges. I'd post a picture but I haven't joined "Upload and Sell". I'm going to do some additional testing, but I'm not pleased so far and my have to return it.
If you look through this thread you can see the corners and edges people are getting. It's pretty consistent, but the corners aren't blisteringly sharp in the best of them. Of course it's 10mm -- and many of us are happy to live with that. The Canon zoom at 11 is a bit better in the corners, though it isn't blisteringly sharp in the corners at 11 either. And not nothing else is as wide.
If 12 will do you my impression (but you'd want to find out for sure) is that the new Laowa 12mm 2.8 is sharper in the corners at f8. But it's much bigger and heavier. But if weight and being noticeably longer don't worry you, it's something to consider.
p.55 #5 · Official: Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 III E-mount
DavidBM wrote:
If you look through this thread you can see the corners and edges people are getting. It's pretty consistent, but the corners aren't blisteringly sharp in the best of them. Of course it's 10mm -- and many of us are happy to live with that. The Canon zoom at 11 is a bit better in the corners, though it isn't blisteringly sharp in the corners at 11 either. And not nothing else is as wide.
If 12 will do you my impression (but you'd want to find out for sure) is that the new Laowa 12mm 2.8 is sharper in the corners at f8. But it's much bigger and heavier. But if weight and being noticeably longer don't worry you, it's something to consider....Show more →
I posted some side-by-side examples comparing the 10/5.6 vs EF 11-24L @11mm. They are very similar and not excellent towards the edges. At f/8 they are both very good though.
Your copy does not look good Neurad1.
As David wrote, if you don't mind the size/weight and the 12mm instead of 10mm, the new Laowa looks promising.
p.55 #6 · Official: Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 III E-mount
Just received my 15mm E Mount Voigtlander yesterday.
Ive been comparing it against the 16-35mm Sony FE in some very basic comparisons.
Anything away from the corners and with distant objects (sunset, mountains, trees, clouds) the 15mm is blowing the 16-35mm FE away. Noticably better on these shots when zoomed in.
Corners- Voighlander is a tad more blurry than the zoom lens. But anything away from the corners is noticeably better on the 15mm.
For objects with in 100' or so its almost a dead draw, and on some close shots the Sony 16-35mm might be just a hair better.
p.55 #9 · Official: Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 III E-mount
Fred Miranda wrote:
I posted some side-by-side examples comparing the 10/5.6 vs EF 11-24L @11mm. They are very similar and not excellent towards the edges. At f/8 they are both very good though.
Your copy does not look good Neurad1.
As David wrote, if you don't mind the size/weight and the 12mm instead of 10mm, the new Laowa looks promising.
I must have missed this - where did you post them Fred?
p.55 #11 · Official: Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 III E-mount
Third time was the charm!!
My third attempt at the Voigtlander 15mm lens arrived today and I finally have a good copy!!
It is very nice in the corners at f/5.6.
I still had copy two that arrived last week and did a head to head comparison and.....well it was not a comparison at all. I use the A7R and did all the shots on a Gitzo 3 series tripod with remote release.
I opened my first shot wide open and it looked pretty good. Pulled up the f/5.6 shot and it looks great with detail in the corner. Copy two is plainly decentered and smeared in comparison.
Literally just two shots to see the dramatic improvement! This is what they should all perform like.
Looking over other shots I think f/8 might be the sweet spot on mine but some real world shooting this weekend will determine that.
Another thing I noticed is copy three seems better calibrated to infinity at or just a true smidge before the hard stop. My first two copies were certainly more before the hard stop.
Copy three was from B&H if that matters.
Glad I rolled the dice again. I can safely pass on the Samyang 14mm now as I am quite happy to have this 15mm
A big thanks the Fred, Guy and all the folks here who have provided images, input and advice on that there are good copies out there. And to those who are still looking for one, keep trying! They really do exist and I think the lens is good enough to try for it.
p.55 #13 · Official: Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 III E-mount
Just got this email from Voigtlander today in response to questions I emailed them about the corner softness problem and whether a remedy was forthcoming:
Dear Mr. ,
Thank you for your email and interest in Voigtländer.
Super Wide Heliar 15 mm F4.5 aspherical E-mount has been modified for especially for
Sony E-mount cameras and we have not heard of any problems with corner softness.
At the moment there is a large delivery bottleneck and the partial deliveries don’t cover
our backorders. The US market gets their supplies directly from the factory in Japan, so
we can’t speak for their situation, but it is probably the same.
Please check with your vendor/dealer, if they have any other information.
We hope we have been able to help you with this information.
p.55 #14 · Official: Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 III E-mount
WestTexas Sky wrote:
Third time was the charm!!
My third attempt at the Voigtlander 15mm lens arrived today and I finally have a good copy!!
It is very nice in the corners at f/5.6.
I still had copy two that arrived last week and did a head to head comparison and.....well it was not a comparison at all. I use the A7R and did all the shots on a Gitzo 3 series tripod with remote release.
I opened my first shot wide open and it looked pretty good. Pulled up the f/5.6 shot and it looks great with detail in the corner. Copy two is plainly decentered and smeared in comparison.
Literally just two shots to see the dramatic improvement! This is what they should all perform like.
Looking over other shots I think f/8 might be the sweet spot on mine but some real world shooting this weekend will determine that.
Another thing I noticed is copy three seems better calibrated to infinity at or just a true smidge before the hard stop. My first two copies were certainly more before the hard stop.
Copy three was from B&H if that matters.
Glad I rolled the dice again. I can safely pass on the Samyang 14mm now as I am quite happy to have this 15mm
A big thanks the Fred, Guy and all the folks here who have provided images, input and advice on that there are good copies out there. And to those who are still looking for one, keep trying! They really do exist and I think the lens is good enough to try for it. ...Show more →
Don't you ever sell it! Save it for your grandkids!
p.55 #15 · Official: Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 III E-mount
WestTexas Sky,
If possible could you please post a link to full resolution examples of the bad copy shot and the good copy shot at f/5.6?
I am on my first copy of the CV 15mm with only a few days to make up my mind about keeping it.
Love many aspects of the lens, but not the corners. I would greatly appreciate more guidance on whether I am being too picky or not. Your pictures would help a lot!
p.55 #18 · Official: Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 III E-mount
Check out page 10 of this thread and see where Fred posted some good vs bad corner comparisons. This matches pretty much what I got between copies one and two being bad and copy three being good.
Page 12 has some samples of good corners from Guy.
HCEHCE wrote:
WestTexas Sky,
If possible could you please post a link to full resolution examples of the bad copy shot and the good copy shot at f/5.6?
I am on my first copy of the CV 15mm with only a few days to make up my mind about keeping it.
Love many aspects of the lens, but not the corners. I would greatly appreciate more guidance on whether I am being too picky or not. Your pictures would help a lot!
p.55 #20 · Official: Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 III E-mount
Parariss wrote:
No kidding!
Oh look...some new Loxia 15!...(screw the grandkids
["Squirrel!..."]
It's funny because I play the 15/4.5 lottery again but this time for a M-mount version. I bought it used so it was a big gamble although it was a great price. To my surprise today I tested and it's a choppy. Sharp wide-open towards the corners. Peaks at f/5.6.
I'm glad because I was missing a 15mm prime to go along with my Loxia 21/2.8.
I sold my E-mount (choppy) to Guy a while back thinking I could get another one very easily but quickly realized it was not going to be the case.
But the Voigtlander 15 was fun to use and I love getting the EXIF data on each capture. 
