Desmolicious wrote:
Bob, shouldn't you be under a lot of snow?
It's been a weird winter. The last four days we were in the 50s. There's no snow on the ground. Ice shacks are not on the lakes because the ice isn't thick enough. I've not seen a winter like this over the last dozen years.
And this is usually the coldest time of winter. Today we fell below freezing for the first time in more than a week. I'm sure we will pay with a snowy April.
I can confirm it does vignette ever so slightly by default. However, since I don't fancy the larger LH-6 hood. I made the vignette go away with a dremel. 4mm notches in to the corners and 2mm of material off the sides.
Nice pics Fred, that last one (flowers) is interesting. The separation between fore and background make those flowers really pop, like they are floating above the background.
Fred Miranda wrote:
A few more samples. Various apertures and distances:
Paul.S wrote:
Nice pics Fred, that last one (flowers) is interesting. The separation between fore and background make those flowers really pop, like they are floating above the background.
Thanks Paul,
For that shot, I had to apply the Adobe Portrait profile and even lower the contrast more to achieve a natural look. The lighting on the flowers and the blurred background created a nice separation effect.
I can confirm it does vignette ever so slightly by default. However, since I don't fancy the larger LH-6 hood. I made the vignette go away with a dremel. 4mm notches in to the corners and 2mm of material off the sides.
Can you post a picture showing the lens with this hood? TIA.
Timelines convey trends as they developed, and often provide valuable context.
It's coming up to three years since Cosina produced their last APO. Their first and second were 'macros', unsuitable for M-mount production. The first three came a year (or so) apart, starting in August 2017. The third in E-mount was 2019's 50/2 APO.
Cosina took a full year to release this 50/2 for Leica users. Based on the made-for-Sony lens, their first modern M-mount APO appeared in January 2021. But for their final APO, both (E,M) versions of the 35/2 were released in around April 2021. So Voigtlander APOs went from Sony-only lenses, to a Sony-then-Leica lens, to a dual Sony-Leica release arrangement.
Certainly the E-mount APOs are highly regarded and apparently sell well in the EVF camera world. Not only have there been no further E-mount APOs from Cosina, there have been no more M-mount APOs from them either - excluding the tiny and unconvincing 90/2.8 APO-Skopar (not an APO-Lanthar).
On March 4 of 2021, three weeks before the last CV 35/2 APO in M-mount was released, Leica announced their own 35/2 APO in M-mount. It's very likely Leica will continue to renew their aged M-mount APO lineup - rumor: 'the *next* APO lens will be a redesigned version of the current Leica APO-Summicron-M 90mm f/2 ASPH' (my asterisks). The 'current' one is a 1998 lens.
Since Cosina's APO development program came to a sudden halt, the company has produced an absolute plethora of M-mount lenses in many M-capable focal lengths: 21-28 (lots here)-35-40-50-75-90, many offered with several 'types' and finishes. They list 30 current M-mount lenses.
It might strike readers as curious that APO lenses - described by Peter Karbe as 'very important' to modern performance standards - have been off the design table for years within one of the most sophisticated, credentialed and talented lens makers in the industry.
What about the APO-Skopar 90. That was produced within the past 2 years.
My understanding is that manufacturing APO chromatic lenses wider than 35mm is very very challenging. Cosina has deployed a 35/50/90 in three of the commonly accessed APOchromatic focal lengths, the only other not being made being a 75 to match Leica's 75, which has a smaller user footprint due to funky frame lines and a tweener status in terms of focal length for some.
My understanding is that it's also very challenging to manufacture aprochromatic correcting in fast aperture lenses (f/1.4 or thereaabouts), which is why Leica has not done this or sought such a designation in their 50/75/90 Nocts or any of their summilux models.
100% crop from 24MP camera. Moderate sharpening in ACR. Sharpness in the central area is still good at 0.5-meter distance, but away from the center it gets progressively worse.
philip_pj wrote:
Timelines convey trends as they developed, and often provide valuable context.
It's coming up to three years since Cosina produced their last APO. Their first and second were 'macros', unsuitable for M-mount production. The first three came a year (or so) apart, starting in August 2017. The third in E-mount was 2019's 50/2 APO.
Cosina took a full year to release this 50/2 for Leica users. Based on the made-for-Sony lens, their first modern M-mount APO appeared in January 2021. But for their final APO, both (E,M) versions of the 35/2 were released in around April 2021. So Voigtlander APOs went from Sony-only lenses, to a Sony-then-Leica lens, to a dual Sony-Leica release arrangement.
Certainly the E-mount APOs are highly regarded and apparently sell well in the EVF camera world. Not only have there been no further E-mount APOs from Cosina, there have been no more M-mount APOs from them either - excluding the tiny and unconvincing 90/2.8 APO-Skopar (not an APO-Lanthar).
On March 4 of 2021, three weeks before the last CV 35/2 APO in M-mount was released, Leica announced their own 35/2 APO in M-mount. It's very likely Leica will continue to renew their aged M-mount APO lineup - rumor: 'the *next* APO lens will be a redesigned version of the current Leica APO-Summicron-M 90mm f/2 ASPH' (my asterisks). The 'current' one is a 1998 lens.
Since Cosina's APO development program came to a sudden halt, the company has produced an absolute plethora of M-mount lenses in many M-capable focal lengths: 21-28 (lots here)-35-40-50-75-90, many offered with several 'types' and finishes. They list 30 current M-mount lenses.
It might strike readers as curious that APO lenses - described by Peter Karbe as 'very important' to modern performance standards - have been off the design table for years within one of the most sophisticated, credentialed and talented lens makers in the industry....Show more →
IMO all we know with certainty about Cosina is we don't know. An apparent gap in the Voigtlander M lineup now would be something current at 24/25mm, whether fast or slow. This is also a gap for Leica given the recent discontinuation of the 24/3.8 and only populated by the 24/1.4 (which I thought was discontinued, but it's still listed on the Leica US site).
The Leica 90AA is still a pretty competitive lens despite its age. But sure, it could benefit from a refresh. IMO the frustration with Leica's recent refreshes has been that optical performance has been virtually untouched (and I can think of arguments for and against this). Instead, conveniences such as closer focusing, welcome as they may be, have been added. As great and popular as the 35 Lux and 50 Lux are, both could have benefitted optically from a more 'ground up' redesign.
