TTArtisan 21mm F1.5

[f.hayek]

Does one REALLY need a super-fast ultra-WA? I get it for astrophotography. I see more 21 Summilux lenses for resale than any other Summilux. The new Voigtlander 1,4/21 looks to be sharper wide-open and with less distortion perhaps?

 

[Rayt]

Does one REALLY need a super-fast ultra-WA? I get it for astrophotography. I see more 21 Summilux lenses for resale than any other Summilux. The new Voigtlander 1,4/21 looks to be sharper wide-open and with less distortion perhaps?

My favourite camera for street photography with film is the Hasselblad SWC. It is full of limitations for one the F4.5 max aperture and another stop of light with the yellow filter. Also it is scale focus so takes a lot of practice to get it right when most of my shots need to be from 4 to 5 feet away. In 135 format it is equivalent to a 15mm lens cropped to a square. I don't use a 15mm because the DOF is too huge and I don't get the subject separation. A 21mm with 1.4 max aperture scaled focused @1.4 is the perfect street shooter in a similar spirit. There's about a foot of DOF when focus is set to 4 feet @1.4.

Here are two shots the first one with 21mm Elmarit asph and the second with 21mm Summilux both wide open. I have sold the Elmarit and intend to use the Summilux as my main lens.

L1001740-1 by ray tai, on Flickr

L1002276-1 by ray tai, on Flickr