p.14 #1 · Official: Voigtlander Heliar Classic 50mm F1.5 VM
trebuh wrote:
Hi,
I just received this lens.
There is something special with it that i like.
But i'm unable to get picture as sharp as i can see in this topic at f1.5.
Are you adding sharpening ?
(i use it on a fuji XT4)
Thank you !
How are you viewing the images? At the pixel level? My opinion is this lens looks best if you don't look too closely at the details.
You're also using it on APS-C. That's like taking a 26MP 1.5x crop from roughly a 60MP full frame image. The images shared by Juha were all shot on full frame 24MP sensors. Therefore his images show less enlargement of the lens's aberrations.
One option might be to use f/2 instead of f/1.5 to reduce some of the aberrations, but of course it will also reduce the amount of background blur, etc.
p.14 #2 · Official: Voigtlander Heliar Classic 50mm F1.5 VM
rscheffler wrote:
How are you viewing the images? At the pixel level? My opinion is this lens looks best if you don't look too closely at the details.
You're also using it on APS-C. That's like taking a 26MP 1.5x crop from roughly a 60MP full frame image. The images shared by Juha were all shot on full frame 24MP sensors. Therefore his images show less enlargement of the lens's aberrations.
One option might be to use f/2 instead of f/1.5 to reduce some of the aberrations, but of course it will also reduce the amount of background blur, etc.
I viewing the images in Capture One with and without crop.
I have just set the sharpening to default (140) and it's better.
But i find 140 is huge no ?
I have another strange thing, to have "normal" shadows I have to add something like +50 for shadow in Capture One !?
This lens is particular and I think it needs some practice to be mastered...
p.14 #8 · Official: Voigtlander Heliar Classic 50mm F1.5 VM
I still think a significant factor is you're shooting on APS-C and I believe most images posted in this thread have been made with full frame cameras.
As you know, 26MP APS-C crops the center of the frame and is similar pixel density to a 60MP full frame image. Crop that 60MP image to APS-C and I think it will look the same as what you're getting (there might be some sensor glass thickness variables affecting image quality, but perhaps only minor). The higher pixel density effectively allows for greater enlargement of the image compared to the images posted by Juha shot at 24MP. If viewed at the pixel level, 24MP full frame images will be enlarged less than 26MP APS-C. You are seeing 'deeper' into the imperfections of the lens and will need to sharpen it a lot more for similar results. The alternative is you can downsample your images to something smaller, and they will look sharper.
Perhaps someone shooting at higher than 24MP full frame could post some full resolution images for you to download and compare? For example mapgraphs is using the Nikon Z7, which is 40-something MP... any a7RIV users out there willing to do so?
p.14 #9 · Official: Voigtlander Heliar Classic 50mm F1.5 VM
Some of the samples I posted (via links to Google Photos) were SOOC JPEGs from my Sony A7C and Sigma fp with standard settings (no additional sharpening added), and some were Post Processed in C1 Pro. I usually keep Sharpening settings in C1 Pro set as default (the default values might depend on camera that was used) and I turn off the Noise Reduction from default values to 0. I'll check what the defaults are for A7C a bit later today.
As mentioned by Ron the perceived sharpness might be different on 24MP full frame (both A7C and Sigma FP) and 26MP APS-C.
p.14 #11 · Official: Voigtlander Heliar Classic 50mm F1.5 VM
trebuh wrote:
Thanks to you all.
Are there any alternatives to this lens, same bokeh / rendering but sharper?
Thanks again.
It might help to post a sample in order to understand what you're describing.
The lens is sharp. Bitingly sharp. It also comes with a distinctive "bloom" or glow, especialy with hard light, wide open. Resizing down diminishes the effect of the bloom but it is still there and readily visible. It is a look that works well in monochrome and ambient light. The lens has been described as being a contemporary version of, or similar in rendering to, a 1930s Hektor 5cm or 1940s Summitar 5cm.
I don't use C1, shoot mostly jpg (M-240 & Z 7) and sometimes boost contrast slightly, hardly ever sharpen.
p.14 #14 · Official: Voigtlander Heliar Classic 50mm F1.5 VM
I only have pictures of my kids but I will make others to post here.
I made more pictures and indeed, the difficulty comes from the focus.
With the glow, it's very difficult for me to get the focus right, even with the focus peaking and even when the focus peaking tells me I'm right.
So I have a huuuuuuge waste rate (normally I very rarely miss my focus).
But when the focus is not missed, indeed it is very soft but sharp.
p.14 #15 · Official: Voigtlander Heliar Classic 50mm F1.5 VM
rscheffler wrote:
Back to Kistar again. By some weird coincidence, I just stumbled across this blog post by a Japanese optician (I think) who apparently makes custom eyepiece correction lenses for Leica Ginza customers. The one photo in the post was made with the M version Kistar 40/2.4. Either it's available, or he has some inside line through his connections to access a preproduction copy...
Now the M-mount Kistar 40/2.4 finally got announced for mid-May release but they are not accepting orders yet until the specific release date gets fixed: https://kinoshita-optical.com/topics/blog/2016
In the meanwhile I picked up the original Kistar 55/1.2 (Contax/Yashica mount) 2nd hand from Map Camera.
p.14 #16 · Official: Voigtlander Heliar Classic 50mm F1.5 VM
rscheffler wrote:
I'm really digging how this lens looks at dusk with all the smooth, reflective surfaces of the buildings. How much did you typically stop down for the farther distance cityscapes? Sure, if you zoom in to 100% and look in the image periphery you can see some sharpness falloff, but when images are viewed normally, it's not noticeable. The near distance wide open images at night have a really pleasing feeling to them. Kind of vintage. Kind of sentimental. Not punchy and sterile.
I feel like this lens was made for the Japanese B&W street photography genre. It would be wild if Cosina released a 35/1.5 with the same characteristics. It might tame my lust for the 35 Lux pre-ASPH....Show more →
I have never tried the 35 Lux pre-asph but keep hearing great things about it. Some thing the CV 35/1.4 Nokton has similar look. Do you guys agree?
p.14 #19 · Official: Voigtlander Heliar Classic 50mm F1.5 VM
Juha Kannisto wrote:
The original founder of Kinoshita Optical was Tomioka Optics' original designer of the Tominon 55/1.2 lens and the current president is his son. They used Contax / Yashica mount on their first 3 Kistar lenses (55/1.2, 35/1.4, 85/1.4) I think because Tomioka Optics had been involved in Contax lens manufacturing and they had the know-how about that mount. Then they made 40/2.4 in E-mount and Fuji X-mount since it's meant to be a "pancake" style lens and using an adapter would defeat the purpose of keeping it small and compact. Next up is that 40/2.4 in M-mount (their first in M). ...Show more → rscheffler wrote:
Back to Kistar again. By some weird coincidence, I just stumbled across this blog post by a Japanese optician (I think) who apparently makes custom eyepiece correction lenses for Leica Ginza customers. The one photo in the post was made with the M version Kistar 40/2.4. Either it's available, or he has some inside line through his connections to access a preproduction copy...
Juha Kannisto wrote:
Now the M-mount Kistar 40/2.4 finally got announced for mid-May release but they are not accepting orders yet until the specific release date gets fixed: https://kinoshita-optical.com/topics/blog/2016
In the meanwhile I picked up the original Kistar 55/1.2 (Contax/Yashica mount) 2nd hand from Map Camera.
Very cool! Please start an image thread for the 55, would love to see more from it. TBH, it’s the 85 I’m most interested in…. If you ever get a line on one, LMK!
p.14 #20 · Official: Voigtlander Heliar Classic 50mm F1.5 VM
trebuh wrote:
I only have pictures of my kids but I will make others to post here.
I made more pictures and indeed, the difficulty comes from the focus.
With the glow, it's very difficult for me to get the focus right, even with the focus peaking and even when the focus peaking tells me I'm right.
So I have a huuuuuuge waste rate (normally I very rarely miss my focus).
But when the focus is not missed, indeed it is very soft but sharp.
In another thread somewhere here recently, Fred suggested not to use focus peaking with lenses that have high amounts of spherical aberration because focus peaking looks for highest contrast rather than finest details. I guess magnification is the way to go with non-rangefinder cameras?
