First couple rolls with the 25mm Snapshot Skopar

Disaster_Area

Disaster_Area

Gadget Monger
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I picked this lens up a couple weeks ago, so far I absolutely love it. I've been trying to find the perfect lens for street photography... the 15 is stupidly easy to zone focus but too wide most times and has too much distortion for shooting people close up. My 35mm Ultron is good, but harder to zone focus and a bit too tight for my taste in a lot of situations. The 25mm seems to be the perfect compromise.







 
these look good! I like the indoor shots.

can I ask what your experience was using the 25mm indoors? It probably wouldn't occur to me to go this wide inside with a f4 lens (I was uneasy with the 15mm as well)

john
 
Thanks all,

All those shots were shot on Legacy Pro 400@320 (Fuji Neopan) souped in Rodinal 1:100 stand dev for one hour... 3 inversions at 30min.

As for the internal shots...

Shot #1 was shot with my elbows braced on a table 1/8th or 1/15th of a second.

Shot #2 was shot handheld at 1/15th of a second

I find the 25mm is a dream inside... I can easily shoot handheld as low as 1/8th and still get sharp negs. I found the 15mm tough inside as well as the distortion can get overwhelming in tight quarters but the 25mm is great.
 
The Snap Shot Skopar was the first lens that Mr Kobayashi had made. It was in 1999 - and to say that he has been prolific is an understatement. He certainly changed the rangefinder users world for the better.
I still have my Snap Shot Skopar and use it quite often. Usually on the Zeiss SW or a Bessa L. Great lens, sharp and nice contrast - and it makes it fun sometimes to shoot. Just aim it in the general direction and fire!
The story is that he wanted a "snap shot Elmar" but as that one only exists as a couple of prototypes - he decided to make his own. I have seen shots from the original Snap Shot Elmar and the Cosina version is better!
 
This thread convinced me to take with me the CV 25/4 on my trip to Cairo.

Thanks. Great shots!
 
i much prefer a 25 to a 28, they are close but the 25 just has a nice 'edge' to the images.
the cv 25 is a great lens, good sharpness and contrast and it does a wonderful job on an rd1 as well.
 
I agree the indoor shots here with the Snapshot Skopar are wonderful. I love my 25mm f4 too. It's fantastically sharp.

I am also a fan of the 'detent zone focus' that it employs. Wish all my lenses had the detents (coupled or not).

...
 
I would love to try it sometime. The VC 21mm f/4 Color-Skopar is nice and my 2nd most-used lens but sometimes I feel like I could really like a 24mm or 25mm.
 
I love the 25/4 , its fun indoors with 1600 film. It lives on my IIIf I use it on my m4-p with the 28 framelines which seem pretty close ( i wear glasses so the framing is sort of hit or miss) , but once youve used the thing you get an idea of the FOV and the 28 FL's appear to be the full VF for me.
 
It's quickly becoming one of my most used lens... my standard walk around kit is now the 25mm on my R3A for quick shots in aperture priority and either my 35mm Ultron or one of my 50's on my M2. I had tried the 21mm but found it fell into the same category as my 15mm... still just a BIT too wide. I don't know why but I seemed to be able to visualize the framing of this lens pretty well after only a few rolls, while some focal lengths I'm still struggling to estimate after using them for years. I also love the fact that unlike my 15mm I don't have to worry so much about making sure I'm shooting perfectly level... I don't know whether that's a feature of design or just the focal length. When I first got this lens I thought I'd lament the fact that it's not faster, but since I rarely use it below f8 anyways it hasn't been a problem.
 
I never even thought of using mine indoors! now you got me wanting to load a roll of Arista Premium (TriX) Don't have any Legacy Pro. Fantastic shots btw!
 
The SnapShot Skopar was my first lens when getting back into RF photography with a Bessa-L, and it was extremely useful on a subsequent trip to southern Spain. What a fine little lens... Here's a more recent example on a Bessa R4A, which of course has handy 25mm framelines...

070514-24.jpg
 
The 25 was my favorite carry everywhere lens on a Bessa L. I got it with an L and a 15/4.5 many years back. The price for the whole kit was too good to pass up. I shot all my family stuff with the 25, street stuff, it was a very surprising lens. I owned a 21/2.8 Elmarit and never liked it. My old 24/2.8 on my Nikkormat turned heads into foot balls too often but the snapshot was not like any other wide I have ever owned.

I had one for my Ms and then for my Nikon range finders. It was my wide for my 3 lens S2 kit. 25 from CV and then 50/1.4 and 105/2.5 where Nikkors. While I loved the 15 for dramatic lines, the 25 was an every thing lens.

I'm very happy Pres K came out with the R4X and an M mount 25, I only wish he had not done away with the snap shot bumps for crazy users like me.

Great shots and welcome to the club CV 25 lovers. Forget the softies, we should get a hat for us!

B2 (;->
 
Maybe I just haven't learned to take advantage of the click stops yet... but I find myself wishing they would have instead made three click stops for the hyperfocal distances of f5.6, f8 and f11.... f16 isn't needed because it approaches the everythings-in-focus range and I never shoot hyperfocal at f4.
 
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