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Best Voigtlander M-mount lenses for Leica and Sony sensors

Taylor Sherman
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p.3 #1 · p.3 #1 · Best Voigtlander M-mount lenses for Leica and Sony sensors

d.s. wrote:
I don't remember where, but read the 21/2.8 Biogon performs a bit better than the 21/3.5 Skopar on a Sony(?), but these results look great. I'm glad I just bought one.

I recall all of the Biogons being pretty bad on Sony sensors. But I'm mostly thinking of how things were in 2012-2013 on the Nex-7 and the first A7.

May 29, 2020 at 06:14 PM

Fred Miranda
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p.3 #2 · p.3 #2 · Best Voigtlander M-mount lenses for Leica and Sony sensors

Taylor Sherman wrote:
I recall all of the Biogons being pretty bad on Sony sensors. But I'm mostly thinking of how things were in 2012-2013 on the Nex-7 and the first A7.

I've tried the Zeiss 21/2.8 Biogon on the A7R II a few years back and saw a very exaggerated field curvature.
So far, the CV 21/3.5 seems to be a great choice for both systems but I have not tried the 21/1.4 Nokton VM version yet.

In the future I may add Zeiss and Leica lenses to this comparison thread as well.

May 30, 2020 at 12:00 AM

kidtexas
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p.3 #3 · p.3 #3 · Best Voigtlander M-mount lenses for Leica and Sony sensors

The 21/4.5 Biogon is mega bad on a Sony

It’s also pretty bad (or so I’ve read) on color M’s as well. It’s great on the 2 Monochrom’s Ive used it on - original and M10M.

I’m kind of curious to see what the ZM 35/2 is like on a Sony since the Loxia looks like a tweaked version of it.

May 30, 2020 at 07:46 AM

Fred Miranda
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p.3 #4 · p.3 #4 · Best Voigtlander M-mount lenses for Leica and Sony sensors

Sorry for the delay continue testing the remaining lenses. The weather got bad for infinity tests but hopefully things will improve soon.

Jun 05, 2020 at 01:02 AM

joakim
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p.3 #5 · p.3 #5 · Best Voigtlander M-mount lenses for Leica and Sony sensors

So Voigtländer has managed to produce a 21mm M-mount lens that works very well on both Leica M and Sone FE cameras (and other mirrorless mounts I assume) that sells for a very reasonable price. Well done Voigtländer!

Jun 05, 2020 at 02:26 AM

Fred Miranda
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p.3 #6 · p.3 #6 · Best Voigtlander M-mount lenses for Leica and Sony sensors

joakim wrote:
So Voigtländer has managed to produce a 21mm M-mount lens that works very well on both Leica M and Sone FE cameras (and other mirrorless mounts I assume) that sells for a very reasonable price. Well done Voigtländer!

Yes, I don't know any other 21mm that would work well for both Sony and Leica. I will try the Voigtlander 21/.1.4 Nokton VM as well.

So, I've tested the CV 50/3.5 Heliar again and ran into the same issue I had with other VM lenses. The lens' infinity hard top does not allow me to reach true infinity. It was the case with my CV 35/1.2 III, CV 35/1.4, CV 28/2 and now CV 50/3.5. It's not the body mount to sensor tolerance since I tested them on both Leica M240 and M10 bodies...
The good news is that the CV 50/3.5 Heliar performs great on both systems as well. I will post crops soon.

Jun 11, 2020 at 07:40 PM

Fred Miranda
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p.3 #7 · p.3 #7 · Best Voigtlander M-mount lenses for Leica and Sony sensors

Voigtlander 12mm f/5.6 Ultra Wide-Heliar Aspherical III


	?ts=1621794958

Distance: Infinity
Focus: Center - Best of three @ high magnification
WB: Daylight for both systems
Vignetting and distortion were NOT corrected
Sony A7RII files downsampled to 24MP to match the Leica resolution
Same sharpening used for both cameras once files were normalized. (Not other corrections in LR)

PS: Disregard Leica's aperture settings. The camera does not record aperture accurately. It's just an estimation and it's usually wrong.

_______________________

Voigtlander 12mm f/5.6 Ultra Wide-Heliar Aspherical III

Center resolution comparison only Sony and Leica bodies

Center at f/5.6: Similar performance

Center at f/8: Similar performance

Center at f/11: similar performance

Jun 12, 2020 at 11:44 AM

Fred Miranda
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p.3 #8 · p.3 #8 · Best Voigtlander M-mount lenses for Leica and Sony sensors

Voigtlander 12mm f/5.6 Ultra Wide-Heliar Aspherical III

Mid-field resolution comparison only Sony and Leica bodies

Mid-field at f/5.6: The Sony appears a tad stronger but it is due to the Sony's higher resolution sensor downsampled to Leica's 24MP size. If a Sony appears stronger, that just means the M-mount lens performs similarly on both Leica and Sony

Mid-field at f/8: Similar

Mid-field at f/11: Similar

Jun 12, 2020 at 11:45 AM

Fred Miranda
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p.3 #9 · p.3 #9 · Best Voigtlander M-mount lenses for Leica and Sony sensors

Voigtlander 12mm f/5.6 Ultra Wide-Heliar Aspherical III

Extreme Corner resolution comparison only Sony and Leica bodies

Extreme corner at f/5.6: Similar performance

Extreme corner at f/8: Similar performance

Extreme corner at f/11: Similar performance

Jun 12, 2020 at 11:46 AM

Fred Miranda
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p.3 #10 · p.3 #10 · Best Voigtlander M-mount lenses for Leica and Sony sensors

Based on the crops above, I'd say that the Voigtlander 12mm f/5.6 III VM performs similarly on both Sony and Leica sensors. I don't have the CV 15/4.5 III anymore to post crops but I've tested this before and the same is true for this lens.

Jun 12, 2020 at 12:07 PM

Fred Miranda
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p.3 #11 · p.3 #11 · Best Voigtlander M-mount lenses for Leica and Sony sensors

As I wrote previously my CV 50/3.5 Heliar copy is not able to focus at infinity at the hard stop -- A common trend I see with Voigtlander lenses. The difference is very tiny but enough to make things apparent at 1:1 magnification.

However, I've analyzed the crops and the CV 50/3.5 'Sony' images are razor sharp in all areas of the image field. I don't see any induced field curvature.

See images below showing the Sony crops at f/4. I'm not showing the Leica crops because they look softer since I can't focus at infinity.
Based on these crops, I would say the CV 50/3.5 Heliar is outstanding on the Sony sensor. Perhaps only the Voigtlander 50/2 APO will perform better here.

Center at f/4

Mid-field at f/4

Extreme corner at f/4

Jun 12, 2020 at 12:12 PM

hanay78
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p.3 #12 · p.3 #12 · Best Voigtlander M-mount lenses for Leica and Sony sensors

Very interesting comparison! Are you going to shave it? because if the lee seven5 does not vignete, it would be a very interesting lens

Fred Miranda wrote:
Based on the crops above, I'd say that the Voigtlander 12mm f/5.6 III VM performs similarly on both Sony and Leica sensors. I don't have the CV 15/4.5 III anymore to post crops but I've tested this before and the same is true for this lens.

Jun 12, 2020 at 05:15 PM

Fred Miranda
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p.3 #13 · p.3 #13 · Best Voigtlander M-mount lenses for Leica and Sony sensors

hanay78 wrote:
Very interesting comparison! Are you going to shave it? because if the lee seven5 does not vignete, it would be a very interesting lens

I'm pretty sure the CV 12/5.6 will vignette with the Seven5 + NDs. It works with the CV 15/4.5 III with the pedals removed but it's the limit for this adapter. The Seven5 polarizer won't work with any FL shorter than 21mm.

I will leave the CV 12/5.6 III VM as its and just shoot with my A7R II + SR app whenever I need the ND effect.

Jun 12, 2020 at 09:43 PM

freaklikeme
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p.3 #14 · p.3 #14 · Best Voigtlander M-mount lenses for Leica and Sony sensors

It's surprising how consistent the 12mm is between the two cameras. I wonder if the corners are better on film.

Fred, I don't know if it's already on your list, but I highly recommend giving the ZM 15/2.8 a rental. It's big, roughly the same size and weight as the Laowa 15/2, and vignettes so badly they include a center filter, but the results are never less than impressive on an M or modded-Sony.

Jun 12, 2020 at 10:20 PM

nehemiahphoto
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p.3 #15 · p.3 #15 · Best Voigtlander M-mount lenses for Leica and Sony sensors

freaklikeme wrote:
It's surprising how consistent the 12mm is between the two cameras. I wonder if the corners are better on film.

Fred, I don't know if it's already on your list, but I highly recommend giving the ZM 15/2.8 a rental. It's big, roughly the same size and weight as the Laowa 15/2, and vignettes so badly they include a center filter, but the results are never less than impressive on an M or modded-Sony.

Lol

So what’s the t-stop with the center filter?

Jun 12, 2020 at 10:55 PM

engel001
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p.3 #16 · p.3 #16 · Best Voigtlander M-mount lenses for Leica and Sony sensors

“Based on these crops, I would say the CV 50/3.5 Heliar is outstanding on the Sony sensor. Perhaps only the Voigtlander 50/2 APO will perform better here.“

Fred, since you have both Voigtlanders, the Heliar and the APO, have you had a chance to compare them side-by-side at distance on Sony? Also, do you know if the Heliar IV formula is identical to that of the collapsible screw-mount (Version 1, Anniversary)?

Jun 12, 2020 at 11:29 PM

freaklikeme
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p.3 #17 · p.3 #17 · Best Voigtlander M-mount lenses for Leica and Sony sensors

nehemiahphoto wrote:
Lol

So what’s the t-stop with the center filter?

I think it's a 2.5 stop filter, so... not great.

Jun 13, 2020 at 12:13 AM

nehemiahphoto
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p.3 #18 · p.3 #18 · Best Voigtlander M-mount lenses for Leica and Sony sensors

freaklikeme wrote:
I think it's a 2.5 stop filter, so... not great.

ouch

Jun 13, 2020 at 12:45 AM

freaklikeme
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p.3 #19 · p.3 #19 · Best Voigtlander M-mount lenses for Leica and Sony sensors

nehemiahphoto wrote:
ouch

Yeah, not great, but...

Jun 13, 2020 at 01:13 AM

hanay78
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p.3 #20 · p.3 #20 · Best Voigtlander M-mount lenses for Leica and Sony sensors

For my usage, more interesting would be the gradient filters. Is there an app that mimics this effect? I use gradient filters all the time. What is people doing in this respect?

Fred Miranda wrote:
I'm pretty sure the CV 12/5.6 will vignette with the Seven5 + NDs. It works with the CV 15/4.5 III with the pedals removed but it's the limit for this adapter. The Seven5 polarizer won't work with any FL shorter than 21mm.

I will leave the CV 12/5.6 III VM as its and just shoot with my A7R II + SR app whenever I need the ND effect.

Jun 13, 2020 at 01:41 AM

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