Voigtlander 15mm Version III on a Sony A7II test

[UHDR]

i ment to post/share my results too but house-buying got in the way. from the little usage i have i found:

1, very good sharpness (although i did jump from sigma 12-24mm)
2, there is some strange synergy between the a7r and this little lens, specially with the blue sky. there is certain crispiness that it has over all of my other lens. I guess afterall they did redesign the lens based on a7r....
3, i use heliopan ND filter, i didnt have much problem putting it on and off.
4, i did find it hard to focus some times because the DOF is so wide.
5, there is certain un-smoothness with the focus ring if the lens if pointed up/down (not levelled). it feels like gravity is at work....
6, the built-in hood does make taking off lens cap/putting on abit more difficult....
7, i wish the aperture ring clicks abit harder, some times it's difficult to feel how many stops i have turned when im looking through EVF.

that's it for now, i will report back when i have done more shootings with it.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Keep the data coming folks. Thanks

I can't wait to see what this does on the new body.

 

[scho]

Just received my copy of the CV 15mmIII today and of course it poured rain all day. I managed to get out on the deck during a brief lull in the rain and shot an f stop series with the lens on an A7r, tripod mounted. Same focus point in all shots, just changed aperture settings. All raws processed in LR using same development settings and the default lens profile for the CV 15 vIII (there is also a profile for the CV 15 vII). Good sharpness across frame from 4.5 down to 8 with somewhat less fine detail at 11 and 16. Look at wood grain in the bench and notice that moire also is diminished at 11 and 16. No need for a flat field or LCC to correct corner/edge color casts which are not present as they were with the earlier CV 15 versions. Vignetting is corrected by the lens profile.

Overall view

Full size images

f/4.5

f/6.3

f/8.0

f/11.0

f/16.0

 

[scho]

A relatively long exposure (4 sec) taken after sunset with the A7r+CV15III on a tripod. Click image for full size.

 

[biglouis]

I too still have my WATE and it indeed did perform well though I did find it really hard to critically focus at close distances and for this reason and the fact that it has greater range I bought the 16-35. Now that I have sold my M to fund the Q I really am debating whether to hold onto it as it a very expensive bit of glass just to leave sitting in the safe 99% of the time

David, if you recall from my Leica days I also had the WATE. My reason for selling it was the CV 15 version 2. When I tried them side by side on my M8 I decided that the WATE was not worth approximately 5 times the price (second hand) of the CV15. So, I cashed in.

I sold my version 2 a few months ago as it never really worked well on either my A7 or A7R. However, I must admit looking at Guy's samples I might try the version 3.

I'm also waiting for a Batis 25/2 which is on pre-order (I'm told it might be late July) and I want to see how that performs first.

LouisB

 

[Viramati]

Thanks Louis for the input. Now that I have the Q I might just sell everything it's so good!!!

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Somewhere in Texas. With my recent drive across the US i happened to find this pulling off to get gas. All handheld with the 15mm at F8. Im really falling in love with this lens again. Its just about perfect

 

[Guy Mancuso]

BTW the vignetting on some of these is intentional. The first one posted I put a very slight vignette on but its really good across the frame normally. They really improved this lens design from previous versions.

 

[ErikKaffehr]

Guy,

Thanks for sharing. I see you had great fun. I right now have two lenses for my UW needs, the Samyang 14/2.8 and the Sigma 12-24, so I guess I stand over the Voiglander, but nice to hear about it.

Best regards
Erik

Somewhere in Texas. With my recent drive across the US i happened to find this pulling off to get gas. All handheld with the 15mm at F8. Im really falling in love with this lens again. Its just about perfect

 

[Godfrey]

Thanks for the test photos, Guy. It looks to be a fine performer.

I don't know that I want or need one at present, but if it turns out I do I now feel confident that this model of the 15mm will do what I want. It should work beautifully on the M-P or MM246.

G

 

[Viramati]

I am really thinking of picking up this lens now I have the A7rII. From all the posts here it would appear that it performs better than the WATE wide open and maybe even stopped down. I do have the 16-35 but this is so small and light that I can carry it my Hadley small bag along with the Q and A7rII and FE55.

So Question. Will it out perform the WATE at 16mm which I am seeing is a little soft at the edges on the rII

 

[Guy Mancuso]

I think it will myself. Leica owners may debate it but dang thing is really good

 

[jpaulmoore]

Please pardon my ignorance on this but what adapter are you using to attach this to the A7r ll? How do you gauge adjustments/settings for proper exposure? I am thinking of adding either the Batis 25 or 16-35 zoom to my lens lineup and this 15 looks to be exceptional. Shooting an equal, if not more amounts of architecture, what are your recommendations? I have both the Canon 17mm & 24mm TSE lenses, I am looking for a lightweight alternative when I don't want to pack so much gear.
Regards,
J. Paul

 

[Guy Mancuso]

I'm using a metabones Leica M to Sony adapter. 100 dollars but are quite few with varies pricing. It's a dumb adapter no electronics. So really almost anything will work
Exposure wise most of us just use A mode camera and it adjust shutter speed to working aperture.

 

[jpaulmoore]

Guy, thanks for this information!
J. Paul

 

[Guy Mancuso]

My pleasure. I have this lens than the Batis 25, 35 1.4 and the Batis 85. Really nice combination set. These are my main lenses. Just need a 135 /200 in my bag

 

[JMaher]

Guy,

How does this lens compare to the Rokinon 14 2.8? I already own that and while it's quite large the image quality seem rather good. Although due to its size I rarely carry it.

Jim

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Much better corners and very little distortion . Plus you can use this at 5.6 better than F8 on 14

Outside that this is so small too.

I do have a cheap adapter Fotosy if anyone wants to buy it cheap. I can try it first

 

[Guy Mancuso]

In all seriousness its kind of a bargain at 800 dollars. I would buy this over the Zeiss 15 any day

No one has said I was crazy yet on it and a lot of folks bought one. Just no exit data if that's a issue

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Great Joe live to hear your thoughts on it. Honestly for a super wide on the A7rII I don't think you can do much better. It just performs perfectly in these Sonys

Great idea in the EXIF stuff