3 cv 15's in the classifieds

[back alley]

why the run on 15's?

too hard to use?
people get frustrated?

i shot a complete roll with the 15 on the weekend but need to process it yet.
it seemed a real treat to use but i'm now sorta worried that i may be too hopeful...

joe

 

[colyn]

I like mine and have no intentions of selling.. A sharp lens..

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

I wouldn't assume that something that is up for sale in the Classifieds automatically means that there's something wrong with it.

Granted, there are a few trailing each other, but I've seen people fetch these almost as fast as they appear. The chrome ones seem to linger on longer, though.

I've shot a few shots with it, and it's a nice little lens. It's just not my style of photography with rangefinders. But like everything involving taste, that could change in the future.

I did experience the need to be disciplined about estimating DOF, framing, etc. Some people can't handle that, and I don't think that's the fault of the lens.

 

[Bryce]

Here's what I want to know- why is it that all three of these lenses, sold in nations that use the metric system, show DOF markings in both feet and meters.
Mine, here in the U.S. has only the metric markings.
Not that it was hard to deal with, but I must say I feel slightly cheated...

 

[rich815]

I bought mine used from a guy who just found he did not use it much. It is pretty specialized. Very cool lens, but yes, specialized. Now, I agree. I've hardly used mine. No intention of selling, just hardly use it. It's pretty much permanently affixed to my Cosina sw 107 (Bessa L) and it's great to throw in the bag if I go on a multi-day shoot but otherwise I'd rarely carry it around as an only camera so do not use it much day to day.

I suspect others find themselves in the same boat, get some other gear lust eventually, see it as a lens hardly used, and sell it to get some cash to buy another lens.

 

[drewbarb]

I bought one of these lenses a few years back, and once the novelty wore off, I rarely used it. It's just so wide, I found very few situations were it was really useful. So I sold it. A while later I got a 21mm Skopar, and I find it to be a far more useful lens. I get lots of keepers with it. I even sold my Leica 24mm ASPH and kept the little CV 21mm, and used the extra cash to pay some bills and buy lots of film.

But I found I still missed that little 15mm every once in a while. So last summer, I bought another one- and I'll keep this one, even though I don't use it all that much. It's just such a fine little lens, and so (relatively) affordable that it seems silly not to keep one, for those shots where nothing else will do. I don't use it much, but it's nice to know it's there. Besides, if I ever get a digital M body, I bet I'll use it a bit more.

 

[sepiareverb]

I had the Nikon 15/3.5Ais lens- it was quite a chunk of glass- and I got a few good things with it, but it is superwide (as the name implies) and I never really got the hang of it. I remember some Nikon marketing piece said "every photjournalist who gets on a plane needs one" or something along those lines. I don't see a 15 in my future, 21 is about as wide as I go happily- and still get the keepers. I guess it just depends what you are looking at and where it is that determines your lens kit.

 

[sienarot]

Actually, I hope more show up so everyone will lower their prices to out compete each other! Haha 😀

I'm actually looking forward to getting the CV 15/4.5. I unloaded all my 35mm SLR stuff with the intention of getting the CV 15 eventually because I really enjoy shooting wide (17mm wasn't wide enough for me!). Unfortunately none of the ads posted in the classifieds are priced in such a way that they justify going the used routed as opposed to new. I'm guessing that's because none of them are within NA.

 

[back alley]

i wasn't suggesting that the problem was the lens or that there was anything wrong with the lenses.
i was wondering if people found them hard to use well or too specialized to hang on to.
i plan on keeping mine no matter how the first roll turns out, btw.

joe

 

[Joe Vitessa]

Yeah, I always wanted to like the lens, but I could never get a straight horizon out of the thing. Bought and sold two of them. Perhaps someday I'll try it again...

 

[cbass]

Here's what I want to know- why is it that all three of these lenses, sold in nations that use the metric system, show DOF markings in both feet and meters.
Mine, here in the U.S. has only the metric markings.
Not that it was hard to deal with, but I must say I feel slightly cheated...

My CV 25/4, purchased new from PhotoVillage last year, also shows DOF markings in meters only. All my other CV lenses show feet and meters.

Count me among the satisfied users of the 15/4.5. I shot some wi-i-i-ide interiors with that little lens when I visited Paris last year. It's not an everyday lens but it's a neat peice of gear to have in your kit.

 

[BillBingham2]

I'm very happy with my 15. There have been a few times (e.g. King Tut Exhibit) where I needed it, nothing else would do. It's not a every day lens for me, but it's in my everyday carry kit.

I look at online markets as having cycles. If you watch EvilBay for stuff you will probably see cycles. Lots of 105/2.5 Nikkors for LTM and S, then none for a while. I look at this as just a high point in the cycle and perhaps a low point for prices.

B2 (;->

 

[maddoc]

The 15mm Super Wide-Heliar is a nice, small, and sharp lens. But ... I don't use it often so I decided to sell mine. This lens is not hard to use but a spirit level helps a lot getting a straight horizont out of it. I am also not a fan of external viewfinders so ... 28mm will be the widest lens in the near future.

 

[galavanter]

I just purchased mine from maddoc (at a very fair used price by the way including the 15D viewfinder) because I hope to do a series of portraits with my R-D1 in very tight quarters. I just hope it is wide enough! I don't know how they will turn out but I got tired of daydreaming about it.

 

[oscroft]

Well, mine's not for sale - I love it (it only gets used occasionally, but it's really fun when it does)

 

[oscroft]

why is it that all three of these lenses, sold in nations that use the metric system, show DOF markings in both feet and meters

Here in the UK we still use a mixture of metric and imperial measures (milk is sold in litres but beer in pints, weights are officially in kilos but we drive in miles per hour - it's quite mad), and I suspect more people think in feet and yards than in metres.

 

[amateriat]

The widest optic I ever owned was a Minolta AF 20mm f/2.8 for my two-body 9xi system, which I bought based mostly on the idea that a five lens system should stretch from about 20mm to 200mm (the others were: 50mm f/2.8 Macro, 135mm f/2.8, 28-70 f/2.8 G, 80-200mm f/2.8 APO). Rarely used it. My "natural" widest focal length seems to be 24-28mm (RF or SLR...the need for an external VF for something wider in the former case has little bearing on this for me), but if a Konica M-Hex 17/35mm "dualie" fell into my lap...


- Barrett

 

[jan normandale]

I use mine most in very tight spaces where a 35 or 28 is just too wide. I use it a lot. Feet would be nice but the metres thing is not that large a mental jump

 

[akptc]

The 15/4 is great on the R-D1, I am keeping mine.

 

[Bryce]

Alan-
I should probably know that. I've only visited the U.K. once as a small child, but a couple of years ago I was working for a local machine shop. We did some repair work for a British Petroleum refinery in my neighborhood. The representative saw the beat up tape measure I was using while he waited for me to finish the work on the valve he'd brought in.
He said, "do you think you could use a new tape?" and handed me a complementary one that had a BP logo and the company's motto on the side.
It was a 16 foot tape, and the motto? "The Whole 9 Yards".