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Archive 2018 · 15mm - Laowa or Voigtlander?

Charlie N
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p.3 #1 · p.3 #1 · 15mm - Laowa or Voigtlander?

if you do astro, Laowa, otherwise, voigtlander. I'de even consider a specialized lens before going the laowa route, simply due to the weight of the laowa, 500g is kind of heavy.

200g lighter + super nice sunstars may be enough to tip the scales in voigtlanders favor. It would for me at least, I have a pair of cheap samyangs that do well for my limited astro shooting.

Jan 26, 2018 at 10:49 PM

GMPhotography
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p.3 #2 · p.3 #2 · 15mm - Laowa or Voigtlander?

There is a 2.5 stop difference here and the Vignetting is pretty serious on the CV if I remember correctly that does not go away until F8. I’m laughing at the F2 comments for Astro. Really is that all it’s good for. It’s no different than owning a 35 1.4 you buy it for speed . Because it’s 15 you don’t need the speed. I’m just saying the logic here is a question mark.

Jan 26, 2018 at 10:55 PM

Fred Miranda
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p.3 #3 · p.3 #3 · 15mm - Laowa or Voigtlander?

Charlie N wrote:
if you do astro, Laowa, otherwise, voigtlander. I'de even consider a specialized lens before going the laowa route, simply due to the weight of the laowa, 500g is kind of heavy.

200g lighter + super nice sunstars may be enough to tip the scales in voigtlanders favor. It would for me at least, I have a pair of cheap samyangs that do well for my limited astro shooting.

The Laowa 15/2 weighs:

525 grams without hood and caps.
545 grams with metal hood only
578 grams with rear/front caps and hood...that's the weight inside your bag.

Officially they still say 500 grams but in reality, it weighs a bit more than that. Laowa had mistakenly written 9 aperture blades when the lens was released but after we checked it only had 7 blades, they fixed the mistake. Still shows 9 blades at B&H and Adorama though.

Jan 26, 2018 at 10:58 PM

MedicineMan404
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p.3 #4 · p.3 #4 · 15mm - Laowa or Voigtlander?

^I think software tweaking can still go on whether chip is present in the lens or not.
Does star-eater care if it is a Laowa or a Batis? Does the Sony engine compress or not compress
the raw output depending on the lens attached?
Matters not, I'll probably remember which lens I was using

Jan 26, 2018 at 11:05 PM

col4bin
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p.3 #5 · p.3 #5 · 15mm - Laowa or Voigtlander?

With the Laowa being a no chip lens, will I have to manually engage focus magnification? I don’t care about lens corrections as this lens looks easy to fix in post.

Jan 28, 2018 at 10:54 AM

rvh23
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p.3 #6 · p.3 #6 · 15mm - Laowa or Voigtlander?

Just landed a copy of the Laowa 15.

Things I like:

* Impressive IQ even in the corners (from about F4 onwards). For landscape photography where I'm usually at F8-F11 I'd have little concern about IQ when swapping out my Loxia 21 (or my equally-excellent-IQ Batis 18) to this lens when a wider FOV is needed. This is very different from my previous experience with adapted Rokinon 14mm (tried 4 copies) or Nikon 14-24 lenses.
* Solid build reminiscent of the Loxia
* crazy close focus

Things I don't like:

* purple fringing / CA on high contrast edges (although easily removed)
* inaccurate distance scale. E.g. setting the lens at "1m" corresponds to objects at 2-3m being at best focus and objects at 1m are not in sharp focus even at F5.6. True infinity focus is short of the infinity symbol and nowhere near the hard stop (neither for corner or center focus)
* lens focus direction (same as Nikon) opposite to all my other lenses

All up I will keep the lens as the IQ is very good. Of the negatives, only the inaccurate distance scale really annoys me because it complicates shots where viewfinder focus confirmation is not readily accessible. Do other owners of this lens notice the same issue regarding the inaccurate distance scale (and fringing)?

Jan 30, 2018 at 10:16 PM

GMPhotography
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p.3 #7 · p.3 #7 · 15mm - Laowa or Voigtlander?

I don’t pay much attention to the focus scale. Infinity focus stop is like a lot of manual focus lenses it’s not at the hard stop as a lot of OEM leave room for heat expansions . CA is very slight and goes away very quickly even without correction.

Jan 30, 2018 at 10:40 PM

rvh23
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p.3 #8 · p.3 #8 · 15mm - Laowa or Voigtlander?

Thanks Guy. I have no problem with the hard stop not being at infinity, that's expected. However, in my case true infinity focus is not even anywhere on the infinity symbol. Also, I get purple fringing even at f8-f11 for hard edges against a bright (white) sky, although checking remove CA in camera raw takes care of it very well. Does your copy not fringe at f8?

Edit: Note the purple fringing (at F8-11) is mostly in the corners and far edges. Closer to the middle of the frame there is virtually none.

Jan 30, 2018 at 10:49 PM

goto_dengo
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p.3 #9 · p.3 #9 · 15mm - Laowa or Voigtlander?

Thanks for the great info provided by so many of you.

I'm in the same position, looking for an UWA to replace or supplement my Rokinon 14mm. I feel almost bad complaining about that lens, since it's absolutely terrific for the price.

But the severe focus backlash on mine, and the weight and bulk, have me leaving it at home on a lot of hikes, and the other day, it cost me a pretty nice shot.

I'll probably keep it around for Astro, but it's not much fun to use.

I'd happily buy the Voigtlander, but I'm not willing to work to find a good copy. Any indication their QC has improved since the initial run, or is it still a mess?

Edited on Jan 30, 2018 at 11:05 PM · View previous versions

Jan 30, 2018 at 11:02 PM

GMPhotography
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p.3 #10 · p.3 #10 · 15mm - Laowa or Voigtlander?

No not that I have noticed . My infinity is exactly right at the infinity symbol. Have to look at my Big Bronco test see where the CA goes away

Jan 30, 2018 at 11:03 PM

GMPhotography
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p.3 #11 · p.3 #11 · 15mm - Laowa or Voigtlander?

Big Bronco test I noted it goes away at F4

https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1511916/0?keyword=Laowa,15mm#14208656

Jan 30, 2018 at 11:05 PM

GMPhotography
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p.3 #12 · p.3 #12 · 15mm - Laowa or Voigtlander?

Actually I see a touch CA at 5.6. I’m using C1 and I know the CA correction is not on. So sounds normal. Just have that on and it will clean up. Sounds like you got a good copy though since you mentioned the corners which are outstanding for a 15mm lens.

Jan 30, 2018 at 11:11 PM

rvh23
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p.3 #13 · p.3 #13 · 15mm - Laowa or Voigtlander?

So I've been doing a bit more testing on my Laowa 15 this afternoon, and not seeing the flat focus field I thought I had read about with this lens.

I shot a large factory wall from about 30m, framed so it spans about the top 30% edge of a horizontal frame. Even at F8 I clearly see sharper centre detail when I focus closer, and sharper corners when I focus further. The compromise "mid-frame" setting produces centre and corner details that are noticeably softer at 100% than either of those settings. At normal print sizes however and with a little sharpening results are still likely to be very good. When feeling particularly pedantic, I can always take two shots rather than one to capture distant details.

Jan 31, 2018 at 02:17 AM

Aztatlan
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p.3 #14 · p.3 #14 · 15mm - Laowa or Voigtlander?

rvh23 wrote:
So I've been doing a bit more testing on my Laowa 15 this afternoon, and not seeing the flat focus field I thought I had read about with this lens.

I shot a large factory wall from about 30m, framed so it spans about the top 30% edge of a horizontal frame. Even at F8 I clearly see sharper centre detail when I focus closer, and sharper corners when I focus further. The compromise "mid-frame" setting produces centre and corner details that are noticeably softer at 100% than either of those settings. At normal print sizes however and with a...Show more →

It could be a bad sample.

The bad copy I had bought (and returned) had a "wavy" field of focus - it was possible to get sharp corners, centre and midfield - but never at the same time. I could get sharp edges and centre but soft mid, or a sharp mid with soft centre and edges etc. I can't remember how accurate the focus scale was on that copy, but given you say true infinity is not on the infinity symbol on your lens something sounds messed up.

Jan 31, 2018 at 02:53 AM

rvh23
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p.3 #15 · p.3 #15 · 15mm - Laowa or Voigtlander?

Here are some images from my factory wall test at F8. Opened using Camera Raw 9.1 default settings (minimal sharpening) except that "remove CA" was checked.


	http://www.richardvanhoesel.com/public/full.jpg

In each paired comparison below, left image is focus for edge, right is focus for center. These are 100% views.

First pair is from the extreme right part of the image:


	http://www.richardvanhoesel.com/public/right edge.jpg

Next pair is near the center of the image:


	http://www.richardvanhoesel.com/public/center.jpg

Edited on Jan 31, 2018 at 07:24 AM · View previous versions

Jan 31, 2018 at 03:46 AM

tsdevine
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p.3 #16 · p.3 #16 · 15mm - Laowa or Voigtlander?

Here is one my my test shots at f/8 (Laowa 15), processed through Photo Ninja.

Full Size

-Tim

Jan 31, 2018 at 05:53 AM

rvh23
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p.3 #17 · p.3 #17 · 15mm - Laowa or Voigtlander?

I don't think I have a bad copy of this lens. It just displays some mild field curvature that I hadn't heard anyone mention thus far. My factory wall results are essentially unsharpened. With typical sharpening the whole wall would likely look very good even on large prints. I will reiterate for a 15mm lens this is a very impressive lens.

Feb 01, 2018 at 07:14 PM

e6filmuser
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p.3 #18 · p.3 #18 · 15mm - Laowa or Voigtlander?

Just a note of caution. In this thread, the Laowa is mostly referred to as "the Laowa 15". This is clearly all about the 15 f2.

There is also a Laowa 15 f4 macro, which is quite a different beast.

Harold

Feb 03, 2018 at 06:19 AM

expwmbat
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p.3 #19 · p.3 #19 · 15mm - Laowa or Voigtlander?

How different is the 15 f4? I haven't seen direct comparisons.

Feb 03, 2018 at 10:20 AM

e6filmuser
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p.3 #20 · p.3 #20 · 15mm - Laowa or Voigtlander?

expwmbat wrote:
How different is the 15 f4? I haven't seen direct comparisons.

http://www.venuslens.net/product/laowa-15mm-f/

Harold

Feb 03, 2018 at 11:00 AM

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