15,21,25?

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satbunny

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I have always been a portrait man, with my 90mm lenses or a zoom set around that focal length. I then bought a 35mm and a whole new world of WIDE has hit me.

I like the 35mm but I am looking at other people's pics a lot and I am sure that I will enjoy going wider.

I've looked at some galleries of 15 and 25mm shots, and I also have wondered why people rave about these but rarely mention the 21mm.

Could my fellow RFF-ers suggest the pros and cons of the three lenses? Is the 21mm somehow not just 4mm below 25mm, I notice it is rangefinder coupled but that must be a non issue most of the time.

I suspect I will still be doing a lot of people pics, town centres, pedestrian crossings, and also very wide portraits of groups. I am also trying landscapes, and that is a new area for me.
 
I have the 21mm on order.
I will purchase the lens once it arrives at my local camera shop 😀

I've tried out the 25mm - it's "ok" - and I just purchased the 15mm off of a local fellow.

I've used a 21mm on the Contax G2 and the width is "just wide enough" for me without causing the "whoa, that is REALLY wild!!" distorted view that you can sometimes get from the 15mm.

It really makes a difference with respect to what your "width tolerance" is. I love wides. The wider the better. For many, they love the 25mm but they cannot stand the 21mm because it's "too wide" - so really it depends 🙂 I can tell you this though, standing across from St Patricks in NYC; you'll need at least the 21mm if you intend on getting the grandeur of the church into the 24x36 frame.

Cheers
Dave
 
Well, I don't have anything like that in RF, but do in SLR, which seems to be where you are also. I don't think 21mm has ever been a very popular lens. I am not sure why, except that 18mm and 19mm are wider. 25mm (or 24mm) is of course, 1/2 the normal lnes. 19mm may not be so noticible, but 18mm would be. In longer lenses, 4mm or 5mm would not be very noticible. In wide they certainly are. Others may have better reasons they can give for why 21mm isn't popular other than not so many makers have put out lenses at that focal length.

I think you will like going wider. I always have. Way back 30 or so years ago, when I only had a 50mm lens, I thought having a telephoto lens would be the cat's meow. My first two extra lenses were a 28mm and a 135mm (the standard next set). I soon found that although there were uses for the 135mm, and I did use it, I soon found out that I got more use from the 28mm. Now that was just me, but it sounds as if you might be headed down that road too. In my case, it was partly due to the fact I took a lot of scenics in Korea, and sometimes zooming with your feet would require wings to keep from falling off a cliff. But, along the way, I just got an appreciation for wide. Try it, you may like it. Either an 18mm or a 24/25mm might be a good next step, or an inexpensive but still relatively good 18-28mm zoom for your SLR. 28mm lenses were always popular as they were wide, but not too wide and therefore they don't distort as much as an 18mm will in many cases.

You will just have to try and see.
 
I'm saving my pennies for either the 21 or 15. I'm leaning towards the 21 mainly because it is RF coupled, and I'll have an easier time with filters as well. I already have a 15-30 Sigma in an EOS mount, so I've been playing with that to see what lengths I like, and I do seem to come back to 20 quite often. Also, the 21/4 + Bessa R + finder will probably be smaller and lighter than the 15-30 lense alone 🙂.
 
I'm a WA fan and own the 12, 15, 21, and 25 to satisfy my needs. Of the lot, the 15 and 21 are used most but I suspect the newly arrived 12 will be put to good use. People shots are quite easy with the 15 and 21, just make sure you keep the faces closer to the center of the frame to prevent distortion. In fact I like the 21 so much that my new website is named after it.
 
I have all three lenses and use the 21 more than the rest put together, in fact I hardly use the 25 at all. The 21 is a cracking lens and exceptional value IMHO.

Steve
 
I can recommend the 15. I got a used, mint example with finder, caps and box for $250. I have had more fun with this lens than with virtually any lens I have ever owned. Working carefully you can mask some of the "Ultrawide" characteristics if you keep it straight and level. However, if you want the ultrawide effect (looming foreground, curved horizons) it's there. Quite simplly, this is a fun, sharp lens and would be the last RF lens I get rid of.

Kevin
 
I remember reading about Nikkor wides when I started photography. It seemed that 24mm wasn't as popular as 20mm, perhaps because most zooms were in the 28-100 range, and 24 was felt too close.

I've just got the CV 21mm, largely because I wanted to go wide and I wasn't thinking of the 15mm, and because it was rangefinder-coupled. Despite that, I've failed to focus it several times - so I'll have some pure bokeh negs when they come out of the soup.

I'm still getting to grips with wides on an RF. Part of me thinks an SLR handles them better - and with Nikon, I could get a 24mm at f/2.

I need to shoot a lot more and see how I get on with it. I'm mostly a 35 guy. At 35mm, I think an RF's better. At least with a .72 finder, there's a 35mm frame, and the view is at a higher magnification than any SLR. Plus there's no distortion to watch out for. The 21mm will have a higher magnification through the accessory viewfinder than it would on an SLR. But I can't help wondering.... Maybe it's just lust at the thought of the 24/2 and 28/2 Nikkors?

As to 21mm in a line-up, it fits neatly into mine: 21mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm. See, 21mm is to 50mm as 35mm is to 85mm, and 35mm is exactly half the area of 50mm!

On the other hand, 24mm/25mm, 35mm and 50mm is a neat arithmetic progression.

Then again, maybe I need to throw a 28mm into the mix, but I don't have the framelines for it...
 
I'd second what Kevin mentioned earlier about the 15mm.
I haven't used the 21 or 24 but do enjoy the 15. It's a fun little lens.
 
I had the 21 and used it for several months, then sold it. Too wide for me. Recently got a 25 and find it "just right" for my widest pics. For the most part I work from 35mm up so, as you can guess, I'm not a serious wideanglist ...

Gene
 
You gotta be careful with those "very wide portraits of groups". The very wide will distort the people close to the edge in the worst way. To put it simple, they will look reeeally fat (but still naturally fat) and none of them will appreciate it.

15mm is VERY wide. I can only imagine how wide it is, myself having 17mm the widest. It's fun to use occasionally, but difficult to get something really good out of it. Also, using its perspective most efficiently is to put some object in the close foreground and let the background to be seen as well - and in this case, you do have to take care of where you focus.
I also have a 24mm within the same system which i use much more often, but the next one is a 50mm.
So, if you have to choose between these three as companion to a 35, maybe the 21mm is the best - or the 25. If you can afford two, get the 25 and the 15. If you just want a lens to go wild occasionally, and for the rest of the WA is 35mm good enough, get the 15 only.

Issues specific to the CV wides themselves I will leave to the experienced guys.
 
GeneW said:
I had the 21 and used it for several months, then sold it. Too wide for me. Recently got a 25 and find it "just right" for my widest pics. For the most part I work from 35mm up so, as you can guess, I'm not a serious wideanglist ...

Gene
Click to expand...

heheh 🙂 I know you mentioned that when we met up Gene so I'm just going to say that the 25mm is the "diet coke" of wide angles; just not wide enough 😉

cheers
Dave 😀
 
No-one can tell you. I use 21 a fair amount and have done for 25 years or so -- Nikkor f/4 (for F -- lovely, but stolen in India), Leica f/2.8 (M, also very nice, stolen in Russia), Zeiss f/4.5 (M-adapted, 2x, sold for more modern lenses) , Adorama f/2.8, 39mm, still in use; Voigtlander f/4, 39mm, still in use. I own a 15 (39mm) but use it very little, and the 25 left me cool enough when I borrowed one that I didn't even buy it.

Your mileage is almost certain to vary: so much depends on your subjects, personal preferences, etc., that the question is barely worth asking. I've also owned/used 12mm (Voigtlander -- nice but I didn't need it as wewll as a 15), 14mm (Sigma for F -- still got it somewhere), 17mm (Tamron for F -- sold to a friend as I recall), 20mm (Russar -- awful, long gone) and 24mm (Nikkor for F -- sold years ago but rather nice).

Cheers,

Roger
 
Last edited:
Dear Principe Azul,

No, more like bad typing -- though come to think of it....

Now corrected to 'long gone' (initially 'lomg gone', then 'kong gone')

Incidentally I had to post this twice to make it stick. Maybe it's me; maybe the server; who knows?

Cheers,

Roger
 
Hi Roger,

I'm guessing that people steer clear of the Russar these days, given that it goes on eBay for what you'd pay at a dealer for a CV that's a stop faster (and, by all accounts, much better).

My earlier comment worrying about lack of framelines for the 28mm doesn't make sense. I've never bothered to check how my M4's framing matches the negs, and I often shoot from the hip. Heck, I even noticed that if I really peered around the .72 finder, I could get almost what the CV 21mm finder sees. How easy it is to start fretting about gear... or maybe I'm looking for an excuse to buy a second RF...

Anyway, I, too, am one of those who always read AP starting from the back - so three cheers to you!

Ian
 
I have the 15 and the 25 as I 've mentioned once or twice in other threads. Both great on the Bessa L, though I use the 15 most. There are a few people (and their environment!) shots in my gallery with the 15.
I find that the rangefinder patch and framelines on the R3a distract me somewhat with the wides, even though I'm using the accessory finders!

Go wide and enjoy!
 
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