Voigtlander 12mm Heliar on M8

[infocusf8@earthlink.]

Has anyone used the Voigtlander 12mm F5.6 on a Leica M8? I'm interested in your impressions of this lens and would enjoy seeing some pics taken with it on the M8. I've read about its considerable light fall off on the edges with film cameras but am curious to know if the M8 sensor cuts that out or minimizes it. Thanks for your replies.

 

[cme4brain]

Has anyone used the Voigtlander 12mm F5.6 on a Leica M8? I'm interested in your impressions of this lens and would enjoy seeing some pics taken with it on the M8. I've read about its considerable light fall off on the edges with film cameras but am curious to know if the M8 sensor cuts that out or minimizes it. Thanks for your replies.

Threads concerning this are all over the place. it is a great lens with little vignetting that I have noticed.

 

[dudedog]

Ive been using the 12 Heliar on my M8 for about a month. I find it to be very sharp, with some falloff at the corners, but nothing so significant that it can't be fairly well overcome within Lightroom.

Attached are 2 images. These were taken in the cockpit of an old Blue Angels Jet. The first is not adjusted at all. The second is the same file with only 2 LightRoom adjustments under the "Lens Vignetting" area:
1) Amount +50
2) Midpoint 30 [which is actually moving the slider -20]

While these are not the most sophisticated tools for doing this, it shows how the file can be made to look pretty good without a lot of time intensive work.

BTW- this image was done by just setting the M8 on the cockpit seat, setting the Aperture to F8, putting the Shutter Speed on "A" and pushing the shutter button. The exposure was 32 Seconds!!!

I'll upload 2 more images in another Reply for your review.

All in all, I really like this lens. I hope this helps. George

 

[dudedog]

Here are a 3rd and 4th file for comparison. This image was taken in NY by pushing the camera lens up against the glass window of the ToysRUs store in Times Square and shooting. It is at F5.6 and 1/8th second. The first shot is untouched, the second shot shows only "Lens Vignetting" adjustments in LightRoom at an Amount of 85 and a Midpoint of 10.

Have a great weekend!

George

 

[POINT OF VIEW]

M8 + 12mm

M8 + 12mm

The 12 mm voigtlander literally turns the M8 into a point and shoot. This is of course due to the extreme wide DOF range. Any thing within 12” to infinity will be in focus. You will need the voigtlander 12mm viewer to compose the picture. Even though the camera is seeing about 18mm I find the 12mm viewfinder to be very accurate. I believe that is due to the fact when this lens is on a film camera you actually have to look in the corners of the viewer to see the entire shot. I do not see any depreciable light fall off when using the M8 with good lighting. You are right there is some with film, but I rarely shoot with film any more. The attached photos were all taken with the M8 and 12mm voigtlander. Some were cropped. Hope this helps. Bill

http://www.pbase.com/leicalight/oc_fair_bw

 

[infocusf8@earthlink.]

Thank you!

Thank you!

Thank you dudedog and pointofview for the excellent feedback and photo's. You have convinced me that this is an excellent lens to have. The characteristics of it remind me of the 15mm F4.5 Voigtlander that I own and have come to use a lot.

 

[DaveB]

If you like your 15mm CV you'll love the 12mm. I think it's particularly sharp. Composition is a little more difficult as more attention has to be paid to verticals, horizontals and vanishing point. Because it is so wide anything near the edge of the frame will be distorted. As a result I think the 15mm, for me anyway, is more satisfactory for architectural type shots.

Attached are three images with 12mm: The first is straight from the camera processed with C1 LE. The second has been through CornerFix to lighten the vignetting in the corners. The third is an actual pixel crop from the center of the image.

It's hard to go wrong with either the 15mm or 12mm CV's.

 

[Sailor Ted]

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=393466353&size=l&context=set-72157602190988427

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=345158413&context=set-72157602190988427&size=l

 

[infocusf8@earthlink.]

Thank You All!

Thank You All!

Thank you all for your feedback and posting your images, I purchased the 12mm Heliar last night from PhotoVillage and am looking forward to using it on my M8.😀

 

[DaveB]

Good for you. You'll have a lot of fun with it.

Just keep your fingers out of the way!

And protect that front element. It's vulnerable sticking way out as it does.

 

[infocusf8@earthlink.]

First Photo With Voigtlander 12mm Heliar

First Photo With Voigtlander 12mm Heliar

I finally got my Voigtlander 12mm F5.6 Heliar and went out in the fog today to do some photo. This is the first pic I took with it and I must say I'm stoked. It is an absolute bargain at what it is selling for and as much as I like my 15mm Voigtlander this lens is even better.😀

 

[jklotz]

What are you guys using to put a UV/IR cut filter on the lens? Did you get the oversized Voightlander on or the JM one?

 

[hdrmd]

The JM one works fine. As someone said above: a great point and shoot lens. DR

 

[roentarre]

So no problems with flare using UV filter?