Gary - We took almost the exact same shots in Prague. There's no point in me posting anything from that trip, you've got it all covered (you did a better job then I did anyway).
Edward - The second one, which is also similar to the last two and another one somewhere near the middle.
uhoh7 - Like the last shot, really clean image. At first I thought it was shot with a 21SEM then cropped in.
Edward, I think either of the 35 Cron profiles looks good. I can see slight color shift in the uncoded version, but I guess it wouldn't often be obvious. In my testing with various 'problematic' lenses, I found the 28 Cron profile often worked well, and here it too looks good, though I can't tell much of a difference from the 35 Cron versions, and would go with them for the correct focal length in EXIF.
Nico - fantastic set! I really like the film 'scans', particularly the canoe/leaf. Any chance you can share how you did this with the a7R and enlarging lens? And thanks for the kind words, too.
Welcome bcdan - also a great set!
Gary, no worries about your Prague photos. I'm enjoying them a lot. It's not as though I'm not posting too many from NYC..
Adam - looks great. I can see why you like the 75 Cron so much. I can see the 50 Lux ASPH resemblance. You're right that the image looks a touch soft...
Great light in those, Charlie!
Werner - I love the mood. Thanks for the explanation of the Leica factory.
Duane - I like the feel of the image.
Duane - wow, those really pop. Who says the M-E/M9 can't do wide dynamic range?
Thanks Charlie!
I know a couple guys here know this, but while I was browsing LUF, came across a post about Zeiss discontinuing the ZM18 and 21/4.5... And the Zeiss page for the 18 confirms it. Sorry if this is old news. I don't recall this being discussed here and thought it would be relevant since the 18 has at least a couple users here.
Charlie - here's 21 SEM, 28 Cron and 50 Lux ASPH on the M9...
Adam, great portrait with the 75 APO. Some people don't like it because of the very low contrast but your shot is awesome.
Gary, beautiful images from Prague. #2 is my favorite.
Ron, thank you for your feedback. Great sets from Central Park. #3 from 1st set is my favorite.
Duane, St Peter's Cathedral set is all fantastic. Superb light and beautiful compositions.
Charlie, very cute portrait.
Regarding the discontinuation of the ZM 18, I have noticed that the production is discontinued, which means the item will remain in stock for a while, depending on the quantities produced in last batches and the level of sales. I hope Zeiss are working on an upgrade, perhaps an f/2.8 version.
Beautiful sets from everyone recently. Finally had a chance to get out yesterday for a few hours and head to the ocean a few km from here. Below is the Irakozaki Coast and Lighthouse. Both taken on the M240 with the CV 12mm and the Leica 21mm ASPH Elmarit.
edwardkaraa wrote:
Adam, great portrait with the 75 APO. Some people don't like it because of the very low contrast but your shot is awesome.
Gary, beautiful images from Prague. #2 is my favorite.
Ron, thank you for your feedback. Great sets from Central Park. #3 from 1st set is my favorite.
Duane, St Peter's Cathedral set is all fantastic. Superb light and beautiful compositions.
Charlie, very cute portrait.
Regarding the discontinuation of the ZM 18, I have noticed that the production is discontinued, which means the item will remain in stock for a while, depending on the quantities produced in last batches and the level of sales. I hope Zeiss are working on an upgrade, perhaps an f/2.8 version....Show more →
Edward the funny thing is.. I think the lens suffers from the same veiling flare that the 50APO suffered/suffers from. But when the lens came out, we still had film, so not a lot of widespread testing could be done, and Leica just never corrected the issue. Also, the veiling flare fills the entire frame, whereas on the 50APO it wouldn't always which made it more noticeable.
My thoughts on the 75APO are that in certain lighting conditions, on certain angles, the lens is very contrasty and beautiful.. Then other times, I need to crank the contrast way up, which destroys the IQ. It's a funny lens to shoot with that's for sure. And it isn't a reliable go to lens, but I seem to be able to make it work most of the time.
@ Lost in Japan: beautiful moods
@ pandorf: spectacular organ!
@Werner more superb interiors
@Paul love to see the contax M9 is heaven for 28mm.
adamdewilde wrote:
Edward the funny thing is.. I think the lens suffers from the same veiling flare that the 50APO suffered/suffers from. But when the lens came out, we still had film, so not a lot of widespread testing could be done, and Leica just never corrected the issue. Also, the veiling flare fills the entire frame, whereas on the 50APO it wouldn't always which made it more noticeable.
Hi Adam,
Loving your stuff with APO 50
As you know I shoot with both the SEM21 and the ZM18 on the M9.
Your comment about the veiling flare had me searching my photo stream It's not easy to find flare with either lens, but of course I shoot a lot, so it's there in some shots.
The 21 has more more effective hood, but frankly my own experience so far is that it's a near dead heat between what many consider the best UWA ever made by Leica and the poor Zeiss stepchild
I code the 18 as 21/2.8 pre asph, which seems great. I realize you are just reporting, not "dissing", as you include the APO 50 in this "veiling flare" class. My advice is, though: if you see the veiling flare with the zeiss, check for dust
IMO, the 28 Cron tends to flare more easily than any of the 21s and wider I have used.
Great sets everyone & thanks for the likes!
M240 & 21 SEM except last with 28 Cron.
Back at the end of October my GF and I had an introduction to sailing with a friend who is fairly new to the pursuit. I can definitely see the appeal, now having done it. We sailed across the Chesapeake from Baltimore. The return trip was also revealing just how powerful a moderate storm can be with 3-5 foot waves and relatively strong winds. No photos of that aspect of the trip as I didn't want to risk bad luck getting the M doused from the waves crashing over the bow.
rscheffler wrote:
Nico - fantastic set! I really like the film 'scans', particularly the canoe/leaf. Any chance you can share how you did this with the a7R and enlarging lens? And thanks for the kind words, too.
Thanks to everyone for the likes. Ron as you are asking and this may be useful for anyone still occasionally using 120 film I have had fantastic results using a Sony A7R, a copy stand (£25 off ebay) with self built diffuser light box and an old Vivitar flash. I use a the digiliza lomography magnetic negative mask. PM if you want to find out more. Have quiet a few examples of using this setup on my flickr page - http://www.flickr.com/photos/nico1974
uhoh7 wrote:
@ Lost in Japan: beautiful moods
@ pandorf: spectacular organ!
@Werner more superb interiors
@Paul love to see the contax M9 is heaven for 28mm.
Hi Adam,
Loving your stuff with APO 50
As you know I shoot with both the SEM21 and the ZM18 on the M9.
Your comment about the veiling flare had me searching my photo stream It's not easy to find flare with either lens, but of course I shoot a lot, so it's there in some shots.
The 21 has more more effective hood, but frankly my own experience so far is that it's a near dead heat between what many consider the best UWA ever made by Leica and the poor Zeiss stepchild
I code the 18 as 21/2.8 pre asph, which seems great. I realize you are just reporting, not "dissing", as you include the APO 50 in this "veiling flare" class. My advice is, though: if you see the veiling flare with the zeiss, check for dust ...Show more →
Yeah, I've done a lot of tests with ALL my lenses.. ZM and Leica. With and without filters. What I found is that on specific angles MOST of the lenses can produce veiling flare, or ghosting or orbs of white (and rarely is it the filters fault). It's actually more common on the M240 then the M9. I'm thinking the way the sensor glass reflects light?! I haven't seem much bad veiling flare from the many MM and the first generation 50APO samples I looked at.. But the second people started using the 50APO on the M240 there were tons of complaints. My best guess, is the sensor has a lot to do with the problem. Also as I mentioned, sometimes the 75APO is contrasty beyond belief.. But most of the time I think it suffers from veiling flare, which is what makes it appear as a less contrasty lens.
I can make Zeiss lenses flare too, but usually it's a more pleasing flare. The 50Summilux has a horrid flare if you're unlucky enough to make it happen.
I bought a few REALLY cheap filters ($5 a piece) to use for special effects (paint them, oil them, etc). And I accidentally left the filter on one of my lenses when I was shooting a wedding. For the first 20 shots I noticed a weird blue streak across most of my images. It looked kinda like when a cartoon depicts an image of glass (blue lighting bolt looking thing). I realised it was because I left the crappy filter on. I shot the rest of the day without a filter (not a big deal). But later when I got home and examined the 20 or so images.. I noticed that you could see reflections in the blue streaks that were all flipped around and there was a discernible alternate image.. It was a weird double exposure look. That's the day when I came to the conclusion that you have to be very careful what filters you use, and you have to be mindful that sometimes even the good ones need to be removed from your lens. So when I'm out doing something important, I carry a filter box with me.. Incase I need to remove the filter.
BTW the flare in your images adds to the scene.. Nice shots!
It's not easy to find flare with either lens, but of course I shoot a lot, so it's there in some shots.
