What are your favorite Voigtlander lenses to use on a Leica?

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I was wondering which Voigtlander lenses the LUGers here like to use the best on their Leica regardless of performance and/or personal opinion?

Personally the only Voigtlander lens I own at the moment is the wonderful pancake 35mm f2.5 Color Skopar. Very good performance esp. on my Leica III(F).

-- Alfie Wang (leica_phile@hotmail.com), February 19, 2002

Answers

I love my 12mm lens . It's difficult to use , but when you get it right , the pay off is nice .

-- leonid kotlyar (kotlyarl@mail.nih.gov), February 19, 2002.

I would say exactly the same about my 15. I have the 15, 25, and 35/1.7. The first two are beautifully small, the third is irritatingly large, but incredibly good. My favorite, however, is the 25, and my next, should there be one, is going to be either the 28 or the 21--it's weight vs speed, and probably speed will win. On the other hand, the 50 strikes me as being way oversized, and me--the longer my lenses get the faster I like them, so I wouldn't have the 75 or 90--I use an 85/1.5 Canon lens.

-- Michael Darnton (mdarnton@hotmail.com), February 19, 2002.

The favourite lens? 50/1.5 Nokton. I like everything about this lens -- handling, imaging characteristics (sharpness, "bokeh", no flare), weight and size. The close second are 90/3.5 APO-Lanthar and 35/1.7 Ultron. 90/3.5 is flawless, nice small and lightweight with very creamy "bokeh". With 35/1.7 you have sometimes to struggle with rendition of OOF details, but when you get it right it is really rewarding! 21/4 I like for its coverage but I don't use it that often. I just bought 28/1.9 which I hope will replace 35/1.7, but I have not seen any film from it yet. I like the handling of this lens though -- reminds me of Nokton.

35/2.5 Pancake must be fun lens -- probably the smallest in VC lineup. And it sure is a steal at under $200!

-- Alexander Grekhov (grekhov@wgukraine.com), February 19, 2002.


Alexander, How would you say the construction of the 28 1.9 differs from the 35 1.7? Ive read its better made-- is there a discernable difference? How does it compare in size?

-- Marke Gilbert (Bohdi137@aol.com), February 19, 2002.

I think I'd probably like a 75mm f/2.5 for its compact size and ease of use and carrying.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), February 19, 2002.


How would you say the construction of the 28 1.9 differs from the 35 1.7? Ive read its better made-- is there a discernable difference? How does it compare in size?

Of all CV lenses that I've used the 35/1.7 without a doubt has a most pleasant feel. Both aperture and focusing rings are very smooth. With the 28/1.9 the focusing ring is great -- at least as smooth as 35/1.7 and 50/1.5. The aperture ring however has completely different feel (reminds me 75/2.5) -- it has *very* pronounced half-stops and is takes some effort to move the aperture ring between them. It probably will change with use.

As far as weight goes -- 28/1.9 is the heaviest CV lens made so far. handling and size is very similar to 50/1.5. I really like it so far. You'll most likely need to buy an external CV finder to use with this lens. CV 28mm is a bright-line -- very good finder, IMHO (as well as 21mm).

As you probably can tell I'm a big fan of CV lenses... :-)

-- Alexander Grekhov (grekhov@wgukraine.com), February 19, 2002.


I'm shooting with three Summicrons (35 ASPH,50,90) and a CV 21/4. The latter seems fast enough, because with the wider lens you can use a slower shutter speed. I recently made some 16X20 prints from the 21, and the Neopan 1600 film seemed to be the limitation, not the lens. It's very small and light; there's never a reason not to take it along.

-- Phil Stiles (stiles@metrocast.net), February 19, 2002.

The 15mm is incredible, when you consider what a 15mm costs for any other system and how much Leica would want for one it is the bargain of the century. It is also incredibly useful and versatile - every Leica ownwer should have one!

I will be buying a 75mm very soon, for the rarer occasions I need a longer lens than 35mm, the combination of size, aperture and price adds up to a far more sensible option than Leica's bulky, expensive offering.

-- Giles Poilu (giles@monpoilu.icom43.net), February 20, 2002.


The 25mmf4 an amazing lens..

briandavidstevens

http://www.35mmf8.org

-- briandavidstevens (briandavidstevens@talk21.com), February 20, 2002.


My absolute favorites are the 15/4.5 and the 21/4. The 15 finder never leaves my M6 classic and the 21 finder rides permanently on my M6 TTL. After that the 35/2.5 classic. (I use it outside in bright light and use the old 'lux 1.4 for available light.) Recently got the 12/5.6 but am using it mostly with the Bessa T these days. I've used the 25/ 4 a good deal in street shooting. It is a summer lens, made for bright light and long days; it takes a back seat in winter. I also use the 28/1.9--an excellent lens, even wide open. I use the 75/2.5 occationally. When you want it you really want it. All these lenses have been good to me.

-- Alex Shishin (shishin@pp.iij4-u.or.jp), February 20, 2002.


The only VC lens I have is the Skopar 25/4 but it is a wonderful lens. Very light and small excellent saturation and contrast. Wish it were faster but would then be more expensive.

-- Gerry Widen (gwiden@alliancepartners.org), February 20, 2002.


WANG! WANG! WANG!

-- Masatoshi Yamamoto (masa@nifty.co.jp), February 22, 2002.

Question,

Of those who are using the 75mm 2.5 CV lens on their M's do you have any focus accuaracy problems? Close focus is fine, sometimes it is the shot from 15 or 20 ft that seems just a bit off. Anyone else?

Neil Swanson

-- Neil Swanson (neilsphoto@yahoo.com), February 22, 2002.


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