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WATE on M9?

J

Jan Brittenson

Senior Subscriber Member
I've been considering the options for a 15mm lens to replace my CV (which indeed is rather poor on the M9) and was looking at the ZM 15/4. But at ~$3500 *YIKES* it's only a marginal savings over a WATE. And then there's some risk of edge problems still.

Which leads me to wonder about the WATE in general and on the M9 in particular.

How does it perform? Handheld, wide open? If I put the camera on a tripod and stop it down to say f8, will it produce a well-defined image over the entire field? Is it sensitive to flare? How is it handheld - if I change focal lengths, will the camera notice for lens correction or do I need to manually change it? Or turn the camera off and back on? (Never used it on an M8 so sorry if this sounds dumb. :)) Any center IR hot spot on the M9? Does it render like modern Leica ASPH lenses do in general in terms of color and contrast?

The more I think about the WATE, the more attractive it becomes, at least conceptually...

Help persuade me! Show me some photos!
 
jonoslack

jonoslack

Active member
Jan Brittenson said:
The more I think about the WATE, the more attractive it becomes, at least conceptually...

Help persuade me! Show me some photos!
Click to expand...
HI Jan
the WATE is excellent on the M9 - it's excellent at all focal lengths, from wide open to stopped right down. The only down side is a very small amount of barrel distortion at 16 and 18mm.

I wouldn't be without it!

To be honest, the WATE and the 75 'cron are the two lenses I would never sell . . . no Aswhin, not even for a noctilux!
 
ashwinrao1

ashwinrao1

Active member
THe WATE performs very very well on the M9. No issues with color shifts at the edgets, well corrected distortion, and very hand holdable even at slow shutter speeds, so that the f/4 aperturs is not much of a limitation. It performs close to perfectly wide open and really shines by f/5.6-8 based on my experience. I only sold the lens to fund my new Noctilux, and being unable to justify owning a 4K lens that I would use rarely...but IMHO, if you love to shoot wide, you can't go wrong here. Don't wait on the WATE...

IF there's any convincing, it should be done through images. I offer up these, to show the unique properties and field of view of the WATE on the M9. I suspect that down the road, I may pick up the lens again.....once the finances allow. It's definitely a worth lens.





 
ashwinrao1

ashwinrao1

Active member
the only other possible downside that I'd see, by the way, is the size of the Frankenfinder...it's a biggy...
 
J

Jan Brittenson

Senior Subscriber Member
Those photos are sweet, Ashwin! They're great shots, but they also show off a bit of Leica "look".

Good point there on the finder...
 
jonoslack

jonoslack

Active member
Jan Brittenson said:
Those photos are sweet, Ashwin! They're great shots, but they also show off a bit of Leica "look".

Good point there on the finder...
Click to expand...
Yes, the Frankenfinder .. it is a thing of substance, but it works really well, despite being rather large - again, sweet on the M9











 
ashwinrao1

ashwinrao1

Active member
Darn you, Jono!!! You're gonna want to make me hurt my wallet again with your captures...:eek::D

Great captures!
 
P

proenca

Member
Jan,

As Jaap and Ashwin said , the WATE is perfect on the M9.

Have it, love it.

I too used * A LOT * the CV on the M8 and loved it to death. When I bought the M9, the CV/15 problems with the M9 were already documented so I decided that since I use wide quite often, I decided to gift myself a WATE.

Thankfully bought one demo unit with the frankenfinder for a steal.

Its a marvel.

Again, like Ashwin said, F4 is at first a slow speed but the lens is compact and very light, so you can REALLY handhold at quite slow speeds, so F4 aint really a problem. Put it this way : I love small apertures. I have a 1.0 Noctilux and I lust for a 0.95 Noctilux.

Ye, I'm a sucker for bokeh and speed.

But still, I wouldnt trade my WATE for a WATE Summilux.

The size of the WATE is perfect.

Also, one thing you can't ignore : the frankenfinder.

Its big , its cumbersome but also its very well made and its nice to have.

Thing is : if you find a set ( lens + finder ) for a good price, buy it.

Otherwise just buy the lens.

One trivia about the WATE is that its the first true zoom lens for M : the MATE ( 28-35-50 ) isnt a real zoom, you click between focal lenghts but you cant choose an intermediate focal lenght with it. You can with the wate, as you can with a "slr" zoom.

Just a curiosity :)

Anyway, its a fantastic lens.

Couple of my humble captures with it :



 
O

ohdannyboy

New member
I just picked up this lens and can only hope to strive to capture pictures as good as Ashwin's and Jono's! At least I have something to strive for now! :)
 
ashwinrao1

ashwinrao1

Active member
Goncalo, magical pics!

Danny, congrats on this lens! Thanks for the kind words & enjoy this beautyl Seeing these amazing images is making me miss mine....but it's such an expensive beast, and I don't go so wide so often....with these ultra wides, on the M9, Leica glass appears to be the way to go, as it is best corrected, as Goncalo commented! Further Size is a plus. It's relatively compact, for a 3 focal length solution!
 
J

Jan Brittenson

Senior Subscriber Member
Any thoughts on the new CV 15-35 viewfinder? Looks like it might be slightly less imposing than the Leica... If anyone has had a chance to try it out I'd love to know how the 15 framelines compare to the 16 end of the WATE!
 
jonoslack

jonoslack

Active member
Jan Brittenson said:
Any thoughts on the new CV 15-35 viewfinder? Looks like it might be slightly less imposing than the Leica... If anyone has had a chance to try it out I'd love to know how the 15 framelines compare to the 16 end of the WATE!
Click to expand...
No Idea
Don't write off the Frankenfinder though - it's very accurate, has a level in it, and it's not that big!
I guess you might call it a triumph of function over form :ROTFL: but at least the function is triumphant!
 
J

Jan Brittenson

Senior Subscriber Member
It looks like it's impossible to find a FrankenFinder, either new or used. :( For now I'll try using the CV 21 VF - the old plastic one, using the optical edge for 16 and the framelines for 21, and winging 18 as somewhere inbetween... Might be good enough for handheld. Worth trying at least before buying a CV zoom finder.

Folks, keep your eyes peeled! If you see a FF on sale, let me know!
 
A

Alnitak

New member
ashwinrao1 said:
THe WATE performs very very well on the M9. No issues with color shifts at the edges,
Click to expand...
Unfortunately this is not uniformly the case. Some have reported that they get red edges. I have had two M9's; with my first one I had no issues. My second M9 has red edge issues at 16mm with the WATE (even with the newest firmware), although only in some conditions.

That said, as many have shown here with their images, its an outstanding lens on the M9 and has a really nice Leica-style rendering.

Jeff
 
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