15mm Super Wide Heliar for M8, New version or old?

[Al Kaplan]

The front element has the hardest coating I've ever seen. I've been carrying it everywhere, day after day, for over three years. I didn't "lose" the lens cap. It's here someplace. I just never use it. It's a cheap lens. It's passed the 1,000 days mark. I bought it second hand. For the twenty-five or so cents a day I'm not going to go crazy worrying about scratches on the glass to match the aluminum showing on the front edge of the "hood".

 

[boy_lah]

I started posting my cuba shots on my Flickr...below taken using the old 15mm

 

[kin]

The front element has the hardest coating I've ever seen. I've been carrying it everywhere, day after day, for over three years. I didn't "lose" the lens cap. It's here someplace. I just never use it. It's a cheap lens. It's passed the 1,000 days mark. I bought it second hand. For the twenty-five or so cents a day I'm not going to go crazy worrying about scratches on the glass to match the aluminum showing on the front edge of the "hood".

Yes Al, I've seen you mention this before somewhere else. You're a braver man than me! I take it you don't use the UV/IR filter? I had all kinds of problems shooting with accurate colour on the M8 and had to resort to the Jamie profiles in C1 to get any kind of colour approaching accurate.

That was before using the UV/IR filter fitted to the hood.

 

[Grober]

Using the LTM (first) version of the CV 15mm Heliar is no problem. Zone focusing is easy to learn since this lens has such a huge depth of field. (I usually shoot it at f5.6 or f8. Wearing this lens, my M8 is great for capturing longer exposure night photos with the camera mounted on a small table tripod.)

If you use it on the Leica M8, I strongly recommend that you invest in the Milich LTM adapter since coding this lens for use on the M8 is strictly mandatory.

-g

 

[Dingo]

Oh? Sorry, I though you were having difficulty focusing close up, wide open. It's not normally a problem for most people as 15mm is a pretty wide angle and it doesn't get any easier to focus than that.

Actually when I suggested to use the ruler, I meant that it's good to check what you think is 1m from time to time. You'll be surprised how far off you can get, perhaps the reason why you are having issues. 😉

Second that. Guess the distance when using the 15 or 12 is the easiest game, try shooting with a Rollei 35 and you really know the difficulties of guessing distance.

 

[kin]

Ah, the Rollie 35, yes that one needed some trial and error before getting the focus correctly. The lens is so small.

Actually it might be that 'old school' shooters that learnt photography prior to AF have no problems estimating distances but 'new shooters' that grew up with AF might not have ever needed to know how long 1m is and so have problems.

I did a quick experiment in the office and had my staff show me what they though was a meter length - and here are the results:

Staff 1: 97cm
Staff 2: 116cm
Staff 3: 128cm
Staff 4: 62cm

Pretty shocking eh? The variations from the correct length is beyond the DOF shooting at 1m, f4.5 for a 15mm lens in one instance.

 

[Dingo]

I think guessing distance correctly is a gift, but like other skills, with enough practice you can improve your guessing results. BTW, the the first version of L-mount CV25 is also designed for scale focusing, so I don't think shooting with the 15 needs any coupling at all.

Having said that, just get the new 15 if you really needs to focus very precisely.

 

[robklurfield]

Is anyone influenced by the price now that the bartender has it for $549 on his site? If you need the LTM to M adapter AND you need the 77mm filter holder and you add their costs to the old one, the differential isn't so bad. Seems folks who own both M's screwmounts have an easy choice. For the rest of us, I'm curious if the price makes a difference? Then, for us M8 shooters, there's still the question of which VF (or any VF for that matter).

 

[noimmunity]

Well, the day finally arrived😱! A year-and-a-half later, the CV 15 is part of my M8 kit. Settled for the LTM version. Cheaper used, in silver, slightly easier to code with the Milich adapter, focuses closer (30cm is exactly the length of my forearm minus hand). Most of its use will be for landscape, 80-90% of which will be at infinity, anyway.

Here is a link to a thread in which Mabelsound aka John shows off his (now former) CV 15 with a neat little filter rig inside the hood: http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86368&highlight=Super+Wide+Heliar

When "focal length-itis" hits, I think I need the 15 to approximate a 21 on the M8, but I'm not sure I really do. But when/if I do, I'll prefer to go for the new one. The ease of filter use is key (yeah I know one can be rigged or done with a milich adapter on the LTM version, but...), but I expect the ergonomic and even occasionally the RF coupling to make a difference.
If you just use it on film, I think the LTM version would be fine.