M8+15mm CV, a reliable setup?

[meandihagee]

I keep going back and forth on buying a new camera...

Can anyone tell me if this will work for a project shot indoors in rather dark hallways?

Is this setup good for big prints with shots at 400ish ISO? Will the 15mm take the IR filters, should I worry about the corners, color aberrations and so on?

I would stick to film and a 21mm lens, but I think the possibility of a preview will help me a lot on this project.

Could you please post some pictures shot at a high ISO with this combo?

Thanks

 

[AceVentura1962]

I have the M8 and the cv15. Personally, I love the combo but it does have quirks. First, the lens is blisteringly sharp, especially at 5.6 and above. However, give it's wide FOV, it can distort a scene unless it is held perfectly oblique to the FOV. This has nothing to do w the lens per se but is a fact of optics.

Will it mount an IR cut filter? No, not directly. Steve Huff figured out a way to mount them by flipping them and stuffing tissue in the gap. Apparently it works. Here's the link to his review: http://www.stevehuffphotos.com/Steve_Huff_Photos/VOIGTLANDER_15_HELIAR_REVIEW.html

As to shooting indoors, well, this is a f/4.5 lens. I guess that really depends on your lighting source.

I bought mine here from another forum member and it is easily my favorite outdoor lens on the M8, especially for street photography. FWIW, mine came w a custom made hood and built-in filter that I seldom use. I really just shoot outdoors as is.

 

[AceVentura1962]

Oh, forgot to add. You'll need a 21mm external finder for any critical composition. I have one and use it as often as not. For noncritical photos, the internal VF gives you a close approximation if u look beyond the frame lines. For critical work, though, I ise the external VF.

 

[jsrockit]

The rear element of these lenses is very close to the M8's sensor. It will work, but it is not optimum....the corners and edges will need work in most situations. You will most likely have to use corner fix.

 

[efix]

The new version of the lens comes in M-mount and has a 52mm filter thread. If you use a UV/IR filter, make sure to code the lens, preferrably as a Wide-Angle-Tri-Elmar, in which case you have to set it to 16mm each time you power up the camera. At the 16mm setting, almost all colour shifts are corrected in-camera.

 

[meandihagee]

thanks for the quick replies. looks a little quirky indeed...

 

[umcelinho]

how about a NEX and the CV 12mm Heliar? it will give you a 18mm equivalent field of view, you get live view, great iso performance, so you can compensate the f5.6 max aperture easily. Also, no need for IR filters. might be a good option.

 

[AceVentura1962]

Quirky? Well, yes, but you're shooting w a rangefinder in the SLR age. Yes, it's quirky bur really no more than the M8 itself. If you want that focal length, it really is a good buy. As I said, it's easily my favorite outdoor lens.

 

[rodl]

The Voigt 15mm M mount is a best buy in my book. As stated above, blistering sharp and while it's not immune from distortion like all such ultra wides, it adds virtually none of its own. I don't use a UV/IR filter on mine as I found it really doesn't need it and I got blue edges with a filter, even coded. If you're going to use it under extremely low light, you'll need a tripod but it hand holds to slower speeds than longer lenses if you use good technique.

 

[The Meaness]

Sorry these are not high ISO, but they illustrate your other criteria. I sometimes do real estate shoots with the M8/CV 15 combo. I have the M Mount version with a UV/IR filter permanently attached, the lens coded as a WATE (as efix described), and a profile set in corner fix for the combo that usually does the trick.

Without any of those three things, 99% of the time I would be able to notice color shift on the edges of the photo.

It is some work up front, but once you have the filter, the lens coded, and the preset in corner fix, the only "hassle" is running the .dngs through corner fix before LR, etc.

I'd be happy to take some interior shots at higher ISO and send you some full size .dngs if you want. Just PM me.

M8 + CV 15:

 

[gilpen123]

VC 15 with 21 mm finder and M8.2 sample, didn't use any UVIR filter here

 

[The Meaness]

gilpen, that is awesome! Do you think the shift is not noticeable because your shot leans towards blue tones in the corners, or do you not see noticeable shift typically?

 

[sprokitt]

I have this setup and concur with everything said so far. I have shot the lens w/o a finder, but doing so means you will be doing a lot of cropping later.
As for big prints / hi iso - the print quality at a given ISO will be about the same regardless of lens. If your question is hand-hold-ability, then beware. In low light and even at hi ISO you will be pushing your luck with a f4.5 lens. As noted, coding as WATE is REQUIRED.

Aside from the caveats listed, this is a great little lens and works fine on an M8. I wish I had an M9 to really let the little guy do its thing.

Best of luck.

 

[gilpen123]

Didn't have much chance using this lens as I sold the M8.2 soon after acquiring this lens. In my short stint with the 15 and M8, I really did not see any noticeable color shift. I'm still holding onto this lens and hope to see use with an M9 in the future. In the ,meantime I will try with a film RF. Here's another angle of the same subject and another pic.

 

[JayM]

The 15 is great on the M8 or RD1. I used a UV/IR cut and coded mine as a one of the Leica 21mm lenses using a sharpie. Took care of all the corner problems as far as I could tell. I shot it at 640 a lot but it was outdoors so it didn't do the weird **** that M8s do at higher ISO settings.

 

[Lss]

the only "hassle" is running the .dngs through corner fix before LR, etc.

And since Cornerfix supports batch processing, this is a fairly hassle-free exercise.

Tip for Aperture workflow: When I have many photos with many different lenses requiring CornerFix, I run them all through CornerFix with each required profile, import all the processed photos, stack them, and then remove the unnecessary duplicates (ones processed with the wrong profile) when I go through the set. It's easy and quick. I assume you can do the same in Lightroom or any other competent photo management software.