Experimenting with Heliar 15/4.5

Mr Ho · Mar 3, 2007

Following on my sunset post yesterday in the Critique Forum (thanks to those who provided feedback), I'm putting these thumbnails up here from a recent trip to northwestern Cebu province in the Phillipines. These were all shot with my Bessa R3M on Fujicolor 100, with my 15/4.5 set mostly at 5.6.

I find the lens did reasonable justice to the colors, which seemed very vibrant to me at the time. Perhaps it's the film or maybe the aperture that didn't render them as brightly as my mind remembers. Any suggestions from other Heliar 15mm users?

Also, there is some distortion on the border of the group photo of the kids. I guess it just takes practice to minimize such stretch marks! Anyone have other examples of large group shots like this?

ferider · Mar 3, 2007

Nr. 3 is outstanding, Mr. Ho. Great composition, the eyes of the girl make it !

Roland.

Mr Ho · Mar 3, 2007

It's the simple things in life...

It's the simple things in life...

Thanks, Roland. I was chatting with that family as I waited for the front gate of my friend's adjacent property to be opened up, and felt immediately envious of their happy nature in spite of the abject poverty in which they live. When I summoned up the courage to ask if I could take their photo, all family members quickly stepped forward, with the mother hiking up her son's shirt to reveal the family jewels and pushing her daughter out in front. Her eyes were truly as big and soulful as they appear here. 😱

RF-Addict · Mar 3, 2007

Hello MR. Ho,

you observed correctly that the 15mm Heliar will distort at the edges of the frame - it is inevitable. It is best to keep people away from the edges - the same is true for trees - they will lean in. Congratulations on your pictures - they are full of life.

Bryce · Mar 3, 2007

Nice pics!
Wide angle distortion is a fact of life with wide angle lenses; the 15mm just shows it so clearly because it is so very wide.
The problem is not that the lens creates distortion, the 15mm is excellent that way. It is that the lens has to present a curved space on a flat surface.
Keeping the camera perfectly level and keeping human forms away from the edges and especially the corners of the frame is the only way to avoid mishapen looking faces.
Hope that helps!

Mr Ho · Mar 3, 2007

More 15/4.5 shots

More 15/4.5 shots

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, I will learn to keep faces out of the sides. I guess the same goes for having someone too close in the center. He/she would get barrel-distorted.

Here are some "landscape / architectural" shots, for which this lens seems to excel. The sunset was shot at 1/8 handheld!

I will continue to practice with group shots, but my knees get sore shooting them with this lens!

Any suggestions on type of film or ISO or F-stop to use with this lens? I want to make sure I capture the colors I see.

Bryce · Mar 3, 2007

There's no reason to keep faces out of the middle of the frame, except that any face placed too close to the lens will seem a bit distorted. That's just because the person's nose is so close to the camera that it appears unnaturally large compared to the rest of the person's face and body.
One oddity of wide perspective lenses is the especially saturated colors they seem to provide. If someone can explain this phenomenon to me I'd thoroughly appreciate it.
I usually try to keep the 15mm lens at 5.6-11; resolution drops off visibly stopped down more than that. Wide open seems to be O.K., but probably costs sharpness near the corners. I haven't experimented with that enough to say.
Attached are a couple of recent pictures of mine, taken through a 77mm U.V. filter and on Fujicolor 200. One into the sun, one not. The scene is of a geology class field trip on the two nicest days of our (Seattle area) winter. Lucky us!

Mr Ho · Mar 4, 2007

Thanks, Bryce.

I tested the close up effect on my son and have to say when I got the prints back I thought his head looked a bit odd (er than usual)! I have yet to scan the print, so can't post it now. I had him at just about a meter from the lens, dead-centered. Still, it was neat to get all of him (at a big 12 years) and the whole beach and sky in as well. Here's one of him using the 50/2 Heliar.

I shot athe 15mm most of the time between 5.6 and 11 but didn't bracket the same shot repeatedly for test purposes. I was on holiday and that sort of work seemed a tad ambitious.

Still, the Heliar 15's a fun lens. There are some posts on the new Zeiss 15mm, but at US$4000 vs. US$300 for the Heliar, I think I'm okay for the moment, in spite of the possible three F-stop gain!

Bébèrt · Mar 4, 2007

The Heliar is a fine lens but I find it a bit hard to get a good composition and the best read-out from your lightmeter.

laptoprob · Mar 4, 2007

The observed edge distortion is why I glued a bubble level to the side of my finder. I usually try to avoid 'using' the sides of the frame by using portrait instead of landscape format. Foreground and sky are often less affected by this distortion. It also helps to create some distance to the object.

Monz · Mar 4, 2007

Mr Ho,
Nice pictures. The distortion seen towards the edges can be "corrected" with Photoshop using the 'filter -> distort -> lens correction' feature. See my picture taken with the 15mm lens which has been "corrected" in this manner....

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=56608&ppuser=1882

Best wishes.

--
Monz

ronnie_retro · Mar 5, 2007

Thanks to all that posted, particularly Mr. Ho. I've been mulling over whether or not to purchase this lens, and now I'm sure it'll be the next CV lens I get. Looks like a real fun lens to have.

Monz · Mar 5, 2007

Mr Ho · Mar 5, 2007

Thanks, Monz, for the links and advice on distortion correction.

For your "Gingerbread Men", how close to the plate was the camera? Less than 1m?

Was this image corrected? If so, can you post the before and after shots? It would be interesting to see!

Adrian

swoop · Mar 5, 2007

And I thought 25mm was wide. wow.

Monz · Mar 6, 2007

Mr Ho said:
Thanks, Monz, for the links and advice on distortion correction.

For your "Gingerbread Men", how close to the plate was the camera? Less than 1m?

Was this image corrected? If so, can you post the before and after shots? It would be interesting to see!

Adrian

Hi Adrian,

For the "Gingerbread Men" picture, the plate was about 50cm from the lens. The picture was not "corrected" in Photoshop but slightly cropped (a strip from the right side and top were removed). I had intended the plate to be more central but due to parallax issues, the plate is to the left of centre. I now try to compensate when I have objects close to the lens by leaving "extra space" on the side of the frame nearest the accessory viewfinder (if that makes sense).

Kind regards.

--
MOnz

ronnie_retro · Mar 6, 2007

Monz-

Great pics! The pool table shot is a classic.

laptoprob · Mar 8, 2007

This pic,

shows the effect of vertical position. Aided by the natural vignetting wide open the distance is stressed.
This also illustrates that the stretched effect in vertical positon usually isn't a bad thing.

John Robertson · Mar 8, 2007

15mm was my first CV purchase way back in 1999, it along with the CV28mm Ultron are my favourite lenses. It started with the 15CV, now I have two Bessas (T & R2) along with 15; 21; 25; 28; 35; 50; & 90mm CVLenses. The Leica CL I bought the 15 for is seldom used now.
The 15 is a stunningly sharp lens with high colour contrast. Ektachrome 100VS
shot with it is amazing!!! B/W is pretty good as well
P.S. Can I also strongly recommend the CV low level finder+15mm att to use with this lens, its not cheap but is well worth the money.

Dingo · Mar 8, 2007

Good shot John !

Talking about the CV15, this folder worth taking a look, and with care you can use this lens for portrait works :

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=5503

Thank you.

Experimenting with Heliar 15/4.5

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