Voigtlander 15mm III thoughts?

[jagsiva]

Anyone out there try this on an A7R yet? Initial reviews seem very positive. Curious as to how it compares with the 16-35.

 

[serhan]

photoreview.com.au: Voigtlander III 15mm f/4.5 Lens review

Conclusion
Although not a perfect match for the digital sensor on the Sony α7 II camera, the review lens was able to produce some interesting images. The combination of the small, pan-focal lens and compact full-frame camera body was great for street photography. It was possible to shoot subjects close-up without them being aware of the camera, using just the monitor screen to compose shots.

The wide depth of field at smaller aperture settings allows photographers to set the aperture and focus rings and simply aim and shoot. The most practical aperture settings are between f/5.6 and f/11, after which diffraction starts to reduce image sharpness. The virtual lack of rectilinear distortion makes this lens suitable for some types of architectural photography.

If you can handle the inherent limitations of the lens design, it's well worth a look. It's considerably smaller and lighter (and a bit cheaper) than Sony's nearest equivalent, the Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm f/4 ZA OSS, which we reviewed recently. It also covers a wider angle of view.

On A7 II:

photoreview.com.au: Sony Vario Tessar FE 16-35mm f/4 Review

 

[jagsiva]

interesting, the zoom looks like it's keeping up quite well.

 

[hiepphotog]

From the graphs, I would say the zoom is much better than this CV 15 III. But Imatest doesn't test lens at infinity, so I wouldn't take this too seriously.

 

[serhan]

15mm has strong vignetting on the A7R. I doubt results will change that much due to size differences between the lenses. It is just physics and digital sensors where the wide angles has the most problem... Sony is performing its best at 16mm.

I have 12mm also. I like CV wide lenses due to sizes and for distortion ctrl, but they work better on apsc sensors eg 12mm has -2EV light fall even on apsc vs 16-35 has similar results on FF.

Here is CV 15mm w/ 58mm filter

and Sony 16-35mm f4 w/ 72mm filter

 

[mbroomfield]

I've posted some samples here in the Fun with A7x camera thread (I have the A7r), and on FM.

voigtlander 15 super wide heliar 2014 plus the other lenses. - FM Forums

 

[biglouis]

I am in two minds about trading up to the 15 vIII. I actually weighed my 15v2 and the Ultron 21/1.8 on the scales and together they weigh more than the FE 16-35, which was an eye opener!

LouisB

 

[jagsiva]

Thanks for the input guys. Factoring in the price, it seems almost like a no brainer!

 

[Vivek]

Price, weight and performance (even speed!) are on the zoom's side. If you aren't a Leica M user then there is absolutely no reason for it at all.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

The zoom is really good at 16, not to mention 21,24 as well. Frankly I think it maybe one of the best wide zooms around. From 16 to at least 24. I need to test 28mm on it but I tested against canons 17 and 24 TSE glass and it was right there with them

 

[biglouis]

Hmmm. Went out shooting with the 15mm today - it was a great lens on my M8 and even better on my M6/7/P - on film it was sublime.

On the A7r I've finally got to admit it is substandard. On sale elsewhere.

LouisB