Disregarding autofocus, price, and the 3mm difference in focal length, if I wanted a small, lightweight ultra-wide to take on occasion with my 20-70 f4, which one of these would be preferred? I believe sharpness across the frame is better on the 12mm (though I've seen that the Cookie is not bad). How much will the aperture make a difference for travel, urban, cityscape photography on an A7RIV?
Assuming you're talking about the new, designed for mirrorless 12/2.8, I haven't used either, but, so far as travel is concerned, I have a Milvus 18/2.8 that I use wide open for night shooting quite a bit. I could crank the ISO and use a slower lens, I suppose, but I wouldn't want to. So that would be a downside of a slow UW to me. I don't know if that applies to you.
There's also the new TT Artisan 14/2.8 that's decently compact and sub-$200 that might also be worth a look.
I have the 15mm Cookie in M mount and an older 12mm in EF mount. The cookie is tiny and image quality is good. The size and weight are small enough that you can just tuck it into a corner of your bag and forget about it until you need it. It's actually the smallest M mount lens I own. I'm guessing the newly redesigned 12mm does have a little better IQ, but it is much, much larger. I was hoping they would release the new 12mm redesign in M mount, but not sure if that will happen. I also like the 15 F/2, as it is still relatively compact (especially in M mount), but it is excellent for astrophotography. If you want to go really wide and fast, the 10mm F/2.8 is also a really good lens, but it is on the larger side.
Here's an album of test images from the 15 Cookie that I put together shortly after I received the lens. I saw no noticeable issues with the performance of the lens, pretty sharp even to the corners, great sunstars and manageable vignetting. F8 to F11 seems to be the sweet spot for best performance.
josh-himes wrote:
I have the 15mm Cookie in M mount and an older 12mm in EF mount. The cookie is tiny and image quality is good. The size and weight are small enough that you can just tuck it into a corner of your bag and forget about it until you need it. It's actually the smallest M mount lens I own. I'm guessing the newly redesigned 12mm does have a little better IQ, but it is much, much larger. I was hoping they would release the new 12mm redesign in M mount, but not sure if that will happen. I also like the 15 F/2, as it is still relatively compact (especially in M mount), but it is excellent for astrophotography. If you want to go really wide and fast, the 10mm F/2.8 is also a really good lens, but it is on the larger side.
Here's an album of test images from the 15 Cookie that I put together shortly after I received the lens. I saw no noticeable issues with the performance of the lens, pretty sharp even to the corners, great sunstars and manageable vignetting. F8 to F11 seems to be the sweet spot for best performance.
Thanks for sharing those and your POV. Great to hear. The size of the 15 Cookie does appeal. The main considerations (even though I was ignoring them in my OP) is will f5.0 be fast enough for interior shots (I'm assuming yes given IBIS and great ISO performance on the A7RIV) and will I miss AF (I shoot Leica M right now 99% of the time so I'm used to manual, but it can be limiting for certain shots and angles - perhaps not an issue with such a wide angle though).
Lack of AF really shouldn't be an issue with any ultrawide, but especially not one this slow. You can focus at an appropriate hyperfocal distance and stop down a bit and to cover most everything.
Interior shots are probably manageable wide open with IBIS, but as always, it will be best to use a tripod and stop down if you want the best IQ. I find that it's best to fine-tune the composition and framing of ultrawide interior shots for the best results, so this is much easier with a tripod. Sometimes you can find a way to brace the camera and get away with a longer exposure using IBIS, which can be a good middle ground.
