15mm HELIAR sharpness

G

georgef

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Mar 15, 2007
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Hi everyone,
I just received a voigt 15mm f.4.5 HELIAR and tried it on my RD-1; none of the photos has come up remotely sharp. I set the camera to f.5.6 @ 125/sec at the hyperfocal spot, then I tried it at f.11 160/sec (attached images: CENTRE is centre, and SIDE is bottom edge) and not a single distance is in focus. I am baffled!!! The only thing I can think of is a faulty lens!

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

thanks, g
 

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Yep- these look like crap- sorry. Sure you have a good LTM adapter? My 15 is quite sharp on film.
 
my 15 was just like that. never sharp at any focal point. ended up selling it for a CV 21, which is far superior. i know there are sharp 15mm units out there, but some are dogs.
 
Yeah they are, BTW dont look into artistic merit in these please ha ha!
Here's the thing: I posted a while ago about LTM adapters, and the general consensous was that diff LTM adapters were for crop line purposes, not mounting. Since the RD1 has manula crop lines, the LTM is indefferent (or did I get it totally wrong?!?). so I bought a genouine Voigt 28-90 adapter. It seems to work mechanically, but....is that the issue?

...(music)...dazed and confused for so long its not true....:) g
 
Try this when you are using hyperfocal, use the next "more open" aperture instead of the actual one you are using on the lens. In other words, if you are using f11 -- then use f8 for your hyperfocal settings. I read about this some time ago in the forum. It has something to do with the RD1 crop factor that is a bit too boffinish for me to understand.

Take care,
Michael
 
georgef said:
Here's the thing: I posted a while ago about LTM adapters, and the general consensous was that diff LTM adapters were for crop line purposes, not mounting. Since the RD1 has manula crop lines, the LTM is indefferent (or did I get it totally wrong?!?). so I bought a genouine Voigt 28-90 adapter. It seems to work mechanically, but....is that the issue?
g
Click to expand...

Yes- but...the thickness of the adapter is the most important thing- it needs to be precise, and some of the cheap-o ones are bad in this regard. This will affect focus.

BTW- I've never heard of bad 15mm lenses- however, nobody is perfect. I 've had good luck with all my CV lenses (I own three presently, and have owned others in the past, including another 15mm which I sold, regretted selling, and replaced :bang: I'll keep this one iny my line-up, no matter how little use it gets.)
 
i have all cv adapters and never had a problem with them.
i have the 15 also but have not used it yet as my 15 finder was all blurry and needed to be replaced. it should be here today or tomorrow.
here's hoping my 15 is a sharp one.

joe
 
If you're using the CV adapter, it should be fine.

How about shooting a diagonal surface (paving stones for example) focusing on a particular spot (use a tape measure if necessary) and see if anything is in focus. You should be able to cover a range of about 1-2 feet to infinity, more or less. At least you should be able to see if it's sharper at the near or far end.

If nothing's in focus, then it's the lens itself that's faulty.
 
georgef, if you want to, contact me, we can try one of my adapters and see if that is the problem. I live in Toronto. (I believe in a previous post, you said you lived in this area.)

I tried someone's 15mm on my R-D1 at a Toronto RFF gathering last year, it was supersharp.
 
I can only add my name to the list of those who are very pleased with their CV 15 - mine has always given me nice sharp results on film.
 
My 15 is ok. But its sharper on film then on digital, I think. Hwere a testfoto with my new R-D1s.

_EPS0724.jpg
 
Mine is also sharp (I use a VC LTM). Sharpness slightly degrades in the corners, but that is 'normal' for this lens.
 
George-
Whatever comes of this, let us know. Maybe if there proves to be a simple fix you could save someone else a headache.
I have and love a 15mm. It has always given contrasty, razor shrp results on film.
That I can think of, you may try stopping down less; F/11 is maybe too far for optimal performance on a crop sensor.
Next, as has been said, the DOF scale on the lens may be a wee bit optimistic, especially for digital. So try setting the focus nearer the actual subject distance.
Barring all of that, I'd be looking for a warranty repair or refund!
 
Hi,


I had the same probelm when I started with the 15mm and Hyperfocal setting.

In fact, I found that the Hyperfocal setting did not work at all with my M8 and after some experiments, I found it best to set to distance in nearfield and to something short before infinity for distance shooting.

Now the lens is sharp :angel:

Best regards

Karl-Heinz
 
Happened to me too (with film) and I used a 28/90 CV-Adapter. But I knew the lens is sharp because I had used it successfully with the Bessa L. Changed to a Leitz-adapter and it is OK now. I still use the 28/90-adapter with the CV 75 where it works great.
 
SEVRES_BABYLONE is a local photographer here who graciously offered to hok up for some java today to try out his lens and adapters. I will take some photos and post them here to compare.

in terms of the photos I originally posted, the file is the full sensor size 3008X2000 and the crops were 300 wide, so 1/10 the width/height proportions.
 
487753598_d9179de062_o.jpg
My 15mm is sharp I think . . .

this is cropped top and bottom but full width (resized of course) . . .
 
Hey Joe, where did you take that shot at? My first thoughts go to the Kennedy Center but I'm confident that I'm incorrect about that.
 
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