p.276 #9 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
I am impressed with the new Voigtlander 12mm f/5.6 Sony FE Mount ASPH.
The build quality is nice. The lens is very compact for such a wide view. This is a huge plus. The corners seem better than I expected.
I will need some time to get used to the stunning "wideness" of it though. I debated getting the 10 but this lens will do. It takes some careful thought and time to line up a shot. When I first mounted it on my a7RII in my living room my initial reaction was a loud "wow!" Any object near the lens gets distorted big time.
I mainly got it for shooting tight indoor spaces. Right now my main two lenses for architecture/real estate work are the Canon 17 TS-E and 24 TS-E lenses. The first time I slowed down and tested the 12mm on a tripod I immediately missed not being able to shift large expanses of unwanted ceilings out of the image. But there are times when the 17 TS-E is just not wide enough.
I tried using the 12mm in my bathroom, a small 7x10 foot room with a glass shower wall along one side. The 17 TS-E just does not "show the room". Of course one can use a three image pano but that takes more work, especially in a room with challenging lighting. The challenge with the 12mm is getting the camera height perfectly set, the verticals straight and the horizontals square without any ugly trapezoidal distortion. Anything close to the lens, like a sink or toilet gets magnified big time. All about compromise.
But the potential is there, I can feel it. Just need some time. Next week I want to do more tests, pitting the 17 TS-E against the Voigtlander 12mm. I also want to see how a three stitched TS-E image stacks up against the Voigtlander 12mm?
p.276 #10 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
I guess it's only alt if you use it on a mirrorless, but I picked up a used Nikon 200-500/5.6 VR and a Vello AF adapter to use on the a7rII. If it works out better than the Canon 400/5.6L, then I plan to trade in the Canon to B&H on a new a7rII and I'll have my now out of warranty camera sent off to have its sensor modded for RF lenses.
p.276 #12 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
Looking forward to the arrival of a Zeiss Loxia 35/2 lens for my Sony bodies. After reading all the pros and cons, it seems like it could be a great lens for me.
p.276 #15 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
I've tried out the OM 21 3.5 multicoated that I got the other day a bit, but it's been the kind of winter not good for testing here in Vermont. I'll have to try it more. I got it as an experiment in cost/weight to replace the stolen Loxia 21, but I'm not sure it's going to hold up.
Also on the way an OM 24 2.8 multicoated, not here yet...
p.276 #18 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
A Leica Elmarit-P 150mm f2.8 projection lens for 25 Euros to complement my Super-Colorplan-P. Preliminary tests show that it is not as good wide open as the Super-Colorplan-P but both lenses work surprisingly well with putting a aperture mask ("Waterhouse stops"?) in front of the lens. Stopped down to approx. f5 it is very sharp across the frame. I will experiment further and will show some results as soon as I have finalized my adaptation work.
p.276 #19 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
I bought them a while ago, but didn't post, and have had a sort of re-discovery now that I was about to sell them. I have a Pentax 85 1.8 SMC and a 50 1.4 SMC A, both in K Mount. They were on my to-sell shelf, and I hadn't used them since early summer. I looked in my Lightroom catalog before I actually put them up for sale, and now I'm having second thoughts. The 85, especially, is lovely, and the 50 has some lovely moments in my catalog as well. I took the 50 on a trip as my only 50, and I think afterwards I was disappointed in the corners. Maybe the 85 never quite gets good corners either on the a7rii, but both have lovely character. I guess maybe I thought for the price/value, I can get other character lenses that are better across the frame. The 85, it looks like, I only made about 40 exposures in my catalog before putting it on the sell shelf, but I'm not seeing why at a casual glance at those images. I think I got some other nice 85-90 lenses that beat it in some ways around that time. Reconsidering the sale.
p.276 #20 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
I've finally started to consolidate my lenses and have settled on a set of Rangefinder lenses-Zeiss Contax primarily with an admixture of some Soviet era Kiev lenses and SLR lenses-Minolta Rokkor MC/MD lenses.
The Soviet admixture Contax/Kiev lenses were a Helios-103 Biotar (the Zeiss Biotar is simply too expensive since it is a collector's lens) and an Industar-26M which is a tessar design only produced in LTM but found on Ebay adapted to Kiev mount for $14.00.
My new acquisition is an Industar-61 L/D 2.8/53. An improved Tessar, produced only in LTM (An SLR cousin the Industar-61 L/Z was also produced in M42 mount), that I just found on Ebay as a freebie offered with a $29.00 Contax/Kiev to NEX adapter.
The 10 is wider...
