Snapshot Skopar 25/4 on R-D1

24mgdriver

Michael A. Bender
Local time
11:28 AM
Joined
Nov 20, 2008
Messages
156
What can you say about the Snapshot Skopar 25mm/4 on the
R-D1. I know, its not Rangefinder coupled, what about handling and
sharpness ? Pretty good for Street shots ?

Is it better to use a color skopar 21mm /4
and external viewfinder ?
 
It is about as sharp as the 1980 Leica lenses which are not as sharp as the newer lenses.

Handling in fine. I have no trouble with scale focus for 24 mm. If you will do a lot under 10 feet, buy some other lens. This is 35 mm equivalent which many use for interior work and I would not want to not couple it to the RF. If you will use it 6 feet to infinity say for landscapes, you will be happy.

The round shade jammed on mine right out out the box new and I did not tighten it. Aluminum against aluminum just like cheap filters. A TRACE of silicone paste on the filter threads cured the problem.
 
I just bought a color skopar 21mm / 4 LTM and got a very good price.
I dicide to take my GV-2 Viewfinder ( 28mm ) from my Ricoh for shooting :)

But if anyone will sell a 21mm 1,5x Voigtländer digital Viewfinder, let me know :)
 
The lens is ok if you want a good combination of modern (new) lens, compact in size at a good price with a good quality.

The zeiss 25/2.8 is twice as expensive and much bigger. The Leica elmar and elmarit are much more expensive and the elmar 24/3.8 remains bigger. Otherwise you have to revert to an old used lens and find one in a good shape

Quality is ok, quite sharp, some vignetting, high contrast, nice handling (to me). You can find a few shots on my site (the newest two are shot with the skopar 25/4): http://www.flickr.com/photos/pmat look for EPSN0964_ and EPSN0963

It is a good lens to take quick snapshots for casual photography being compact, large DOF, cheap. It is rangefinder coupled (new M mount version). the 21 will give even more DOF making focusing easier but it become too wide to my tastes and I don't want to carry a viewfinder (even though the 25 is wider than the r-d1's native viewfinder, i can still extrapolate and avoid having to carry an extra viewfinder. Don't know if this will still hold going wider with a 21)

Philippe

http://streetphoto.free.fr/street/index.html
 
Back
Top Bottom