The 28/2 Ultron revisited

ferider

ferider

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Not to put fuel in a mostly extinguished fire .... Just wanted to note that the 28/2 Ultron works out very well for me on my new M.

"Focus shift" is no issue at all.

If you think about it, shift means the focus plane is curved, which is bad for test shots of flat resolution charts, but when you focus and recompose out of center, like I mostly do, a curved focal plane works in my favor.

An example:

L1000513.jpg


And a full crop of the focus point:

L1000513-crp.jpg


Enough resolution for me, and if at all limited, then by my hand-holding. And bokeh/3D rendering is nice as well to my eyes.

The curved focal plane also works very well with similarly optimized Mandler lenses, like the 75 Summilux I use together with the Ultron (the 50mm pre-asph Summilux works like this, too).

If you are looking for a fast 28 for your digital Leica, and don't shoot only flat test charts, have no fear, the Ultron is super value.

If you worry about sample variation, buy a used lens from a seller that you trust - like I did (thank you Steve/Bingley :) ).

Roland.

PS: more photos here: http://ferider.smugmug.com/Picture-a-Week/2015/01172015
 
Interesting real life example. I like the focus/out of focus ratio and the three D effect. Now if I only had an M ...or my wife would think of a present...
robert
 
Still like this lens :) Last week at Gualala River north of Bodega Bay (if you don't know where that is: remember Hitchcock's "The Birds"):

L1000016.jpg


L1000010.jpg


Roland.
 
When I had a 28/2 I remember pretty clearly that mine was soft wide open, but that this was far more evident on digital than on film. That wasn't such a big deal for me, what I didn't like was the loss of contrast that I saw at f2. At 2.8 on down it was great. What I observed generally was that at 28mm, f2 didn't really give me much more in terms of limited DoF. Nowhere near that isolation that you can get with even a 35. With that in mind, the 28/2.8 Biogon made more sense to me. Used it's about the same price, and there is a HUGE difference in sharpness and contrast. It's really an astonishing little 28mm and perfectly balanced on the R4a.

But of course I'm glad we have the choice of both!
 
Still like this lens :) Beg. of the week in Taiwan:

L1000572.jpg


Team is undecided about food choice ....

Ding%20Tai%20Fung.jpg


And at a Hotpot place in Beijing eating hand-made noodles:

L1000587-X2.jpg


Roland.
 
Thanks Roland for the link, I'm mainly a 35/50 shooter with RF but sometimes I think for a small change and try the 28/50 combo.The 28/2 Ultron seems mer a good lens and not too expensive, at least to give a try...
robert
 
robert blu said:
Anyone else using this lens? Any more sample film or digital?
robert
Click to expand...

At one time, I had both this lens and the Color Skopar 28/3.5. I used them both on Ricoh GXR/M, Leica M9, and Sony A7, as well as on film with the M4-2. My example of the Ultron 28/2 disappointed me with its sharpness wide open all the time and didn't achieve the kind of results I wanted until I had it stopped down to f/4 or smaller. At which point, the Color Skopar 28/3.5 was always sharp.

I sold the Ultron and still have the Color Skopar. The CS28 doesn't work quite as well with the later digital Leicas (M-D or M-P) as it did with the M9, or with the Ricoh GXR, when it comes to color but it works very nicely for B&W with them. It's a better lens on film than on digital bodies.

G
 
robert blu said:
Anyone else using this lens? Any more sample film or digital?
robert
Click to expand...


I've been using the VM 28/f2 on an M2 for a couple of years and have really enjoyed it (you'll find a few of my photos in the other threads mentioned).

I haven't had issues with focus shift, but I don't really shoot in such a way that it would be a problem...

Here's a bit of a photo dump showing how the Ultron performs in various situations, all on film with the M2. Apertures all guessed, I don't keep notes... All V550 scans.


400TX - f8


400TX - f11


400TX - f2


400TX - f5.6


400TX - f2 and probably 1/30"


Provia 100F - f4?


400TX - f2


TMax100 - f2


Acros100 - f11


400TX - f2


Portra400 - f2


400TX - f5.6?
 
james.liam said:
Can anyone who's used this lens and the 3,5/28 Skopar speak of the differences?
Click to expand...

My example of the Ultron 28/2 was unsharp at corners and edges until f/4-f/5.6, where the Color Skopar 28/3.5 is sharp at corners and edges even wide open. The Ultron showed little propensity to induce color shifting, fall-off, or corner artifacts when used with any of the digital M bodies; the Color Skopar does induce these aberrations on all the digital bodies, least on the M9 of the ones I've used it on.

Despite its flaws on the digital bodies, I found I just preferred the CS28.
 
A lot of great photos in this thread - just love the wide view and for want of a better word, "crispness" that I have come to appreciate with the Voigtländer lenses.
 
james.liam said:
Can anyone who's used this lens and the 3,5/28 Skopar speak of the differences?
Click to expand...

I still own both. And I have a very good copy of the Color Skopar (they are not all the same).

Practically, with my Ultron and CS copies, resolution, color, etc., are pretty much on par, at all f-stops. The main differences are

1) The Color Skopar shows "Italian Flag" on digital, the Ultron does not.
2) at f3.5, the Color Skopar vignettes more than the Ultron at the same stop.

Of course, the CS is tiny, heavy in built, etc.

28 is my favorite focal length, so I have quite a few lenses. Still in honeymoon with my 28 Summicron. The Ultron seems to be quite close to the Summicron in performance, just a little softer wide open (in the corners only). At f2, the older 28/1.9 is softer across the picture including the center.

Roland.
 
I remember when the C/V 28/2 was released, and was underwhelmed—but I own the Elmarit-M 28 ASPH. :) Now, in 2017, I'm once again thinking about the C/V because the Elmarit performs poorly on my full-frame digital (Sony A7ii). While there's no color shifting, the image is seriously blurred at all edges of the frame, even stopped down. Does the C/V perform better with the thick cover glass of the Sony sensor?
 
Voigtländer 28mm f2 Ultron VM lens
Sony A7III
Yokohama, Japan - September 2019

It's been awhile since I've used this lens.

DSC01868.JPG


DSC01879.JPG


All the best,
Mike
 
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