The GetDPI Photography Forum

Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!

Which 21mm for M9?

Re the 21/4.5 and the M9. Don't give up on it yet. Marvelously sharp lens, great color rendering. Here are three admittedly lame shots from a walkabout the neighborhood showing the benefits of the DNG Flat Field correction plug-in for LR4 from Adobe. Completely removes the color shift issue for me in using this lens with the M9...
 

Double Negative

Not Available
Ahh, nice. Basically a "CornerFix plug-in" for LR. To be fair, CornerFix can do this too, albeit as a separate process. It's nice to see this integrated.
 

Mike Woods

New member
Ahh, nice. Basically a "CornerFix plug-in" for LR. To be fair, CornerFix can do this too, albeit as a separate process. It's nice to see this integrated.
Well you learn something every day! Presumably though this involves taking some form of calibration shots?

Mike
 

Double Negative

Not Available
Well you learn something every day! Presumably though this involves taking some form of calibration shots?
Not sure about the Flat Field Correction plug-in for LR, but with CornerFix yes. It's really a very simple process, works with any workflow (albeit an extra step) and is free. More info:

Using CornerFix to Correct Images

Thank you. They look much better than I expected.
Quite welcome! The first images in that thread were shot using an older pre-1.162 (forgot version) firmware and both with/without CornerFix. CF handles it nicely, but as said - v1.162+ firmware should resolve things.
 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
An interesting lens, no doubt - and it does work with the M9. Just keep in mind the size and weight...

Let's hope it leans more towards the 35 than the 50 in terms of "feel." ;)
I agree. I like the Nokton 50/1.5 for B&W... The contrast was just a little too low for my tastes for color shots (can be fixed in PP and with presets) but the Zeiss Planar had rendering I preferred so it stayed. I liked the rendering of the 28 Ultron but I wasn't in love with the focal length (If I want wide I prefer to go really wide and if I barely want wide I prefer 35.) The 35 Nokton II knocked my socks off. Way better than I expected and honestly Cosina could marketed it as a Zeiss (although the rendering is more Leica than Zeiss) and sold it for twice the price easily. That being said the test shots I saw from Photokina are similar to the 35 Nokton II - it's just a matter of will it play nice with the M without having to resort to Cornerfix. I really hope so or else it will have permanent MM duty and maybe that's not a bad thing either (once I buy one.)

Unfortunately I have to wait a bit until I'm back stateside to play with it but hopefully I can post something up sooner rather than later.
 

Double Negative

Not Available
I agree. I like the Nokton 50/1.5 for B&W... The contrast was just a little too low for my tastes for color shots (can be fixed in PP and with presets) but the Zeiss Planar had rendering I preferred so it stayed. I liked the rendering of the 28 Ultron but I wasn't in love with the focal length (If I want wide I prefer to go really wide and if I barely want wide I prefer 35.) The 35 Nokton II knocked my socks off. Way better than I expected and honestly Cosina could marketed it as a Zeiss (although the rendering is more Leica than Zeiss) and sold it for twice the price easily. That being said the test shots I saw from Photokina are similar to the 35 Nokton II - it's just a matter of will it play nice with the M without having to resort to Cornerfix. I really hope so or else it will have permanent MM duty and maybe that's not a bad thing either (once I buy one.)

Unfortunately I have to wait a bit until I'm back stateside to play with it but hopefully I can post something up sooner rather than later.
That makes sense; the (older) 50 Nokton is more of a "classic" rendering and the Planar more "modern." I can see why you like it for B&W. The older 28 Ultron is closer to it than the newer, which I was looking into as well. I ended up going with the 28 Cron, and have been in love with it. I wasn't sure about the focal length either, but it really gelled with me (as I liked the 25 on the M8). Something about the entire VF being used, not needed an external, etc. and of course, the performance and character.

I would agree about the 35 Nokton. It's such a sleeper lens. It renders absolutely wonderfully. I've been waffling over replacing it with a Lux or Cron but I like the 28/50 combo more than I expected. So we'll see what happens. I might just stick with the Nokton. I just wish it were a bit smaller, lighter and had a finger tab... I've grown to really like them, LOL.

From what I've seen of the 21 on the M9, I don't think CornerFix will be needed. Just coding it as an Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 (ASPH?) should do the trick. Very sharp, lovely saturation and color. Hard to comment on the bokeh for a couple of reasons right now...
 

scho

Well-known member
I took a chance and ordered the new Voigtlander 21/1.8 Ultron on a whim because of how much I like the Nokton 35/1.2 II... Unfortunately nothing to report yet but when I can I will let you know if you're still looking for a 21 then.
I did the same and my lens arrived today. So far looks very good, based on a few quick snaps around the house. No corner or edge smearing, low distortion, and very sharp across the frame. There is a little CA and some purple fringing, but both easily removed in LR. No cyan vignetting and no red edges. No need for CF or FF profiling. I'll post some shots from the field later today.

Here is the lens on the M-E with the CV metal 21/25 finder (quite nice). I'm not crazy about the Zeiss style pinch lens cap, but I'm used to that problem. Lens is heavy, but feels solid with smooth focusing and positive aperture click stops.

 

Godfrey

Well-known member
I did the same and my lens arrived today. So far looks very good, based on a few quick snaps around the house. No corner or edge smearing, low distortion, and very sharp across the frame. There is a little CA and some purple fringing, but both easily removed in LR. No cyan vignetting and no red edges. No need for CF or FF profiling. I'll post some shots from the field later today.

Here is the lens on the M-E with the CV metal 21/25 finder (quite nice). I'm not crazy about the Zeiss style pinch lens cap, but I'm used to that problem. Lens is heavy, but feels solid with smooth focusing and positive aperture click stops.

Looks great, Carl, and from your description it sounds great too. I look forward to seeing some photos made with it.

G
 

Double Negative

Not Available
That certainly does look nice. Very similar to the 35 and 50, externally. I look forward to seeing (hopefully many) more shots from these lenses in the near future.
 

scho

Well-known member
A few walkabout shots with the Voigtlander 21mm f/1.8 Ultron on the M-E. I manually coded the lens as an Elmarit 2.8 ASPH (no menu item for the 21 1.4 Lux). All handheld and minimally processed in LR4. Click image for full size original.









 

Double Negative

Not Available
Those look pretty darn good! No odd colors, sharp even into the corners. What apertures did you use primarily? I'd say f/8 going by EXIF, more or less.
 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
I did the same and my lens arrived today. So far looks very good, based on a few quick snaps around the house. No corner or edge smearing, low distortion, and very sharp across the frame. There is a little CA and some purple fringing, but both easily removed in LR. No cyan vignetting and no red edges. No need for CF or FF profiling. I'll post some shots from the field later today.

Here is the lens on the M-E with the CV metal 21/25 finder (quite nice). I'm not crazy about the Zeiss style pinch lens cap, but I'm used to that problem. Lens is heavy, but feels solid with smooth focusing and positive aperture click stops.

Sounds good. Great to hear and I'm even more excited now.
 
A few walkabout shots with the Voigtlander 21mm f/1.8 Ultron on the M-E. I manually coded the lens as an Elmarit 2.8 ASPH (no menu item for the 21 1.4 Lux). All handheld and minimally processed in LR4. Click image for full size original.
Looks good. And more impressive to me, looks like there is minimal distortion.

Ordered one yesterday :)
 

scho

Well-known member
Those look pretty darn good! No odd colors, sharp even into the corners. What apertures did you use primarily? I'd say f/8 going by EXIF, more or less.
Yes, mostly shooting at f/8. Here is one at f/2.8. Not very revealing, but I'll run through the apertures with more appropriate subject matter later.

 
Top