25mm info

[Henk]

Hello,

I want to buy a 25mm lens and was thinking about the Voigtlander 25 4/P M mount lens. It will be used on a Leica M6 classic body. I also would like to use the cameras viewfinder (edge to edge) for this (no external vf). I only shoot B&W film.

Are there owners among you who are not satisfied with this lens. If so, why ?

Thanx !

 

[Bavaricus]

Hello,

i had the screwmount version of this lens and it was great on my CL and M6! A few weeks ago i shot great pictures with this lens in Paris, especially inside Notre Dame and on the streets. Never missed a special VF, with a little practice.

Now i ended up in a M8 and i sold the lens because of the lack of coupling.

 

[Doug]

Henk, the lens is quite excellent... I have both the later M-mount and the SnapShot Skopar. I use the latter mainly on my Bessa L and the bayonet mount one on the Bessa 4A... and it's suitable for the M8 as well, matching nicely its 24mm framelines.

However, IMHO the 25mm is not a good match for the M6 .72x finder, in which the 28mm lines are an inaccurate stretch anyway. I'd suggest a good 25mm accessory finder such as the Voigtlander, or better yet the magnificent Zeiss 25/28 finder, both of which provide a big bright view. I use the latter with 18 and 21mm lenses on the M8, and honestly it's no big deal to use only the top finder and guess-focus in good light, and make a quick check with the camera RF on the occasions when you want/need more accurate focusing.

Accessory top-mounted finders are a long-held tradition in RF photography... learn to love 'em! 🙂

 

[Henk]

Thanks !

The problem is that I'm wearing glasses and I use my M6 with a dioptre without my glasses. I'm afraid that a vf will not "work" with glasses.

 

[newspaperguy]

For ease of pocket carry, I've used the CV 25 on a Bessa L without attaching the viewfinder. Results were (to me) surprisingly good... that is, very close to what I had visualized.

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

The CV 25 was my street lens of choice for a while, but I sold it because I already had a good 28. I miss it, though. It is excellent--very sharp. I used it on an R4A, which actually has 25mm framelines.

 

[Austerby]

I had a good 28 but sold it and kept the 25. I use it on my IIIa, M3 and R3a with the external viewfinder and it works very well.

 

[Sjixxxy]

I love my 25mm f/4 for shooting wedding receptions & parties with flash. Examples of that work can be found here on my web site. Depth of field is great enough that I can shoot at f5.6 without worrying about missing the focus, while at the same time not totally blinding everyone in my wake with a huge flash pulse.

I do prefer the accessory finder instead of the M6's finder. I find it much easier to get an external finder up to my eye in a snapshot moment that I do the built in M6 finder. But, if you aren't 100% concerned about what falls on the edges of the frame, I doubt you'd have little issue using the full viewfinder to make sure that all the important elements are included in the compositions.

 

[Tin]

I don't know about the M6. I use my 25 on a Bessa R2 without an external viewfinder. I find that the extreme outer edges of my camera viewfinder are good approximations for the view of the 25. I do wear glasses and use my camera with my glasses on, and sometimes I need to shift my eye left and right a little bit to get a full view of the whole viewfinder. So if you use your camera without glasses, you should see a bit more than I normally do, and should not need to shift your eye..