p.14 #3 · Voigtlander 21mm f/3.5 Color Skopar Review
Can someone say something about the overall iq the skopar 21 produces compared to the Tokina Firin 20 f/2.0 ?
I cannot deside wich one to order, the small sized voightlander or the fast Tokina...
I love fast lenses that can be used in low light conditions without tripod but I also love the look and feel of the Voigtländer lenses as the Nokton 40f1.2 is my absolute favorite lens...
A hard decision...
p.14 #4 · Voigtlander 21mm f/3.5 Color Skopar Review
Well. mine arrived today, sent to me here in Mexico by Stephen Gandy, so a two week wait. It was worth it. What a lovely lens. My copy, btw, seems very well set up. Decent corners wide open that just get better until f/8. Any softness in the middle is only noticeable, with my copy at least, wide open and magnified to 2X. Otherwise I don't see it at all.
p.14 #5 · Voigtlander 21mm f/3.5 Color Skopar Review
Chrismoll wrote:
Can someone say something about the overall iq the skopar 21 produces compared to the Tokina Firin 20 f/2.0 ?
I cannot deside wich one to order, the small sized voightlander or the fast Tokina...
I love fast lenses that can be used in low light conditions without tripod but I also love the look and feel of the Voigtländer lenses as the Nokton 40f1.2 is my absolute favorite lens...
A hard decision...
Well, I have neither lens (yet) so can't comment on overall iq other than through a comparison of the FM (and Phillip Reeve) reviews. Since this was a focal length of need for me, I considered this option as well. CV21 has better sunstars and flare resistance and is a great performer stopped down to F5.6 for landscapes. This is where this lens really shines, and it does so in an incredibly small form factor that lets you bring other toys along. The Tokina has worse flare resistance and sunstars (that you have to stop down to F11 to get) and is both considerably heavier and (esp when the square and non-reversible hood is considered) larger design. Tokina has some mustache distortion making it trickier (but not too much) to work with for architectural shots, but is obviously way faster, which gives more flexibility for low-light and astro use. According to Phillip Reeve's review, this lens, like the CV, has a mid-field sharpness dip (but not as pronounced as on the CV wide open), with good sharpness achieved by F5.6. For me, the Tokina is the choice if you need astro capabilities and intend to do handheld nightscapes or indoor shooting. Otherwise, the form factor and sunstars give the CV the advantage. That's my take. My order for the CV21/3.5 is in and I'll update my take on it once I get to use it.
p.14 #6 · Voigtlander 21mm f/3.5 Color Skopar Review
This is, by far, the best "here, let me Google that for you" reply I've ever read. Excellent work!
Side note - curious why you didn't just order from Cameraquest rather than B and H? They're the US distributor, so B and H will be getting their shipment from them anyway. It's a slightly unusual setup, and Cameraquest isn't as well known, but Stephen (the owner) is wonderful and I've now ordered 4 lenses from them. Free overnight shipping! If B and H doesn't show it "in stock" soon, maybe cancel with them?
Just my 2 cents.
-Tim
MFoucs wrote:
Well, I have neither lens (yet) so can't comment on overall iq other than through a comparison of the FM (and Phillip Reeve) reviews. Since this was a focal length of need for me, I considered this option as well. CV21 has better sunstars and flare resistance and is a great performer stopped down to F5.6 for landscapes. This is where this lens really shines, and it does so in an incredibly small form factor that lets you bring other toys along. The Tokina has worse flare resistance and sunstars (that you have to stop down to F11 to get) and is both considerably heavier and (esp when the square and non-reversible hood is considered) larger design. Tokina has some mustache distortion making it trickier (but not too much) to work with for architectural shots, but is obviously way faster, which gives more flexibility for low-light and astro use. According to Phillip Reeve's review, this lens, like the CV, has a mid-field sharpness dip (but not as pronounced as on the CV wide open), with good sharpness achieved by F5.6. For me, the Tokina is the choice if you need astro capabilities and intend to do handheld nightscapes or indoor shooting. Otherwise, the form factor and sunstars give the CV the advantage. That's my take. My order for the CV21/3.5 is in and I'll update my take on it once I get to use it....Show more →
p.14 #7 · Voigtlander 21mm f/3.5 Color Skopar Review
Actually B&H gets there Voightlanders from Photo Village in NY they are the East cost distributor and Camerquest is the West Coast distributor . Both great shops though. I order direct from Stephan myself
p.14 #10 · Voigtlander 21mm f/3.5 Color Skopar Review
Mine arrived yesterday (Stephen is fast to ship stuff out BTW), but am waiting on weather and time availability to give it a go. Fingers crossed, expectations low.
p.14 #12 · Voigtlander 21mm f/3.5 Color Skopar Review
The CV 21 looks like a good and inexpensive option to the Loxia 21. I can certainly see the attraction. But likely anyone owning Loxia will not be moving to this model. At least that's the camp I'm in.
Great to see the sample images, and the overall take away is positive toward this new lens!
p.14 #13 · Voigtlander 21mm f/3.5 Color Skopar Review
Gunzorro wrote:
The CV 21 looks like a good and inexpensive option to the Loxia 21. I can certainly see the attraction. But likely anyone owning Loxia will not be moving to this model. At least that's the camp I'm in.
Great to see the sample images, and the overall take away is positive toward this new lens!
For me it's all about will it be good enough for its size and weight to take on outings were size and weight are a premium. Otherwise the Lox is the winner IQ-wise hands down.
p.14 #14 · Voigtlander 21mm f/3.5 Color Skopar Review
jhinkey wrote:
For me it's all about will it be good enough for its size and weight to take on outings were size and weight are a premium. Otherwise the Lox is the winner IQ-wise hands down.
I know that every ounce matters to you when you are hauling a camera to the top of a mountain, as you commonly do!
My needs are less physically demanding, so Loxia is a perfect lightweight prime.
p.14 #15 · Voigtlander 21mm f/3.5 Color Skopar Review
Took some quick snaps of downtown with the new lens and I think it's better than my first copy, but we'll see when I get to look at the images side by side. This copy seems to allow me to go ever so slightly beyond best infinity focus.
One thing with this lens is that the mid-zone dip along the diagonal happens to lie on the right/left edge of the frame when taking a landscape orientation shot with the horizon along the middle of the frame.
Unsharp corners can be tolerated usually if there's nothing of detail or in focus there, but the frame edges need to be sharp.
p.14 #17 · Voigtlander 21mm f/3.5 Color Skopar Review
Thats really nice!
I tried the VM Skopar 21, seems ok, but not perfect. I usually leave the imperfections in, or fix CA, vignetting and distortion manually. The VM profile seems a decent starting point until we have an official one. Is there not a built-in one? I taped over the contacts, so I'm not sure...
fplstudio wrote:
A shot of this afternoon....
Which correction profile are you guy using in LR?
p.14 #19 · Voigtlander 21mm f/3.5 Color Skopar Review
I like to be able to change aperture while in focus magnify, and I find the digital distance scale silly and EVF real-estate-consuming. Also don't like any baked-in corrections. YMMV, of course. grahamgibson wrote:
Why tape the contacts?
p.14 #20 · Voigtlander 21mm f/3.5 Color Skopar Review
imagesfromobjects wrote:
I like to be able to change aperture while in focus magnify, and I find the digital distance scale silly and EVF real-estate-consuming. Also don't like any baked-in corrections. YMMV, of course.
Exactly - it's annoying that while at 100% magnification (or any magnification) that changing the aperture ring pops you out of that mode. This is a case of the software guys not being photo geeks and not using the camera themselves.
