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photo: breakfast at the cafe - Ultron 28/2 on M-P

Godfrey

Well-known member

Leica M-P + Ultron 28mm f/2
ISO 1600 @ f/3.4 @ 1/30

Now testing the Voigtländer Ultron 28mm f/2 on the M-P. It's an interesting lens ... Wide open, the corners and edges are pretty "glowy" and unsharp, center is pretty sharp. One stop down shows major improvement and more even illumination, two stops down and it's sharp everywhere, the illumination curve is flat. In some ways it reminds me of the Summilux 35 v2, but of course with a much wider field of view. It's a little harder to love than the Color Skopar 28 but there's almost no color shifting and it actually balances on this body a bit better.

enjoy!
G
 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
The 28/2 Ultron was one of the first M mount lenses I bought. I actually liked the modern yet classic rendering a lot but eventually sold it because I just wasn't really a 28 guy then. You probably won't even have to worry about the slight focus shift the lens has with live view so that's a bonus of having the newer body.
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
The 28/2 Ultron was one of the first M mount lenses I bought. I actually liked the modern yet classic rendering a lot but eventually sold it because I just wasn't really a 28 guy then. You probably won't even have to worry about the slight focus shift the lens has with live view so that's a bonus of having the newer body.
I've been curious about the reports of focus shifting with the Ultron f/2 since I first thought to buy one. The M-P typ 240 finally provides an ideal platform to do some real testing that isn't ferociously time consuming. So I did a set of test exposures with the Ultron 28: at a focus distance of approximately 7 feet ...

Set 1: focus with the RF, make exposures at that focus setting at f/2 to f/11 aperture settings.

Set 2: focus with the EVF/LCD (focus peaking off), and readjust for each aperture from f/2 to f/11

Set 3: focus with the EVF/LCD (focus peaking on), and readjust for each aperture from f/2 to f/11​

I repeated the full set of test exposures four times. What I found is that

a) There is variation in the focus between what the RF and the EVF tell me is "in focus", and that the variation is not always better for the EVF than it is for the RF. This is probably down to the vagaries of my eyes' ability; I don't have eyes that perform perfectly either. ;-)

b) The focus variation is mostly visible at 2:1 magnification. Drop down to 1:1 and it is very difficult to see in most cases, excluding obvious missed-focus cases.

c) Focus peaking nets a slight improvement in focusing speed but little improvement in focusing accuracy. It works better in the field hand-held than it does for tripod-mounted critical focusing efforts.​

I don't see much on this example of the lens that says it focus shifts by much, although the overall sharpness between f/2 and f/4 improves so much by f/4 you'd think it's a different lens.

Regardless, the Ultron 28 has been a source of consternation to me since I bought it. Images made with it show it to be a good performer, but it doesn't inspire me much for some reason. The Color Skopar 28mm f/3.5 is more inspiring and produces results I like more, despite the need to do corrections for color shifting.

I'll use it for a while yet. "Equipment is transitory ..." et cetera. ;-)

G
 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
Yeah I don't believe the focus shift was as bad as the internet made it seem but I do believe some were optimized either for f/2 or f/2.8. In either case I shot wide open or stopped down to f/4-f/8 and zone focused.

This seemed to work out well enough for most subjects... Just didn't get along with the focal length where I seemed to always need something a tad wider or a tad tighter. I settled on a 21-25mm lens paired with either a 35/50/75/90.
 
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