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A possible solution: I ordered the Voigtländer 10mm f/5.6 Super Ultra Wide for the CL to test it out. If the lens performance is up to snuff, it could do the number. Otherwise, I'll return it and think some more. ...
The lens arrived, I took it out for some testing yesterday. I am so far cautiously optimistic... I posted a first sample in the Tree photos thread:
https://www.getdpi.com/forum/artful...e-your-tree-photos-post790400.html#post790400
That's hand-held ... I need to do some more rigorous testing with the camera on a tripod. But so far it's hitting the spec the way I'd like.
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Okay, I wrote a bit more about it on the RFF and LUF. Since the thoughts are the same as for here, I'm adding the rest. Not to water down Dan's lovely "modern SWC" thought ... Perhaps this should be a thread of a "modern mini-SWC" ... LOL!
The Hasselblad SWC has been my gold standard in what I like in an ultra-wide camera for many years. Nowadays, I appreciate an all digital solution for the ease in use and the post processing options, but it proves difficult to get the kind of imaging that the lovely Biogon 38mm f/4.5 T* provides.
I've also got a thing going where the equipment I want to carry must be light and compact because I spend so much of my time out and about riding a bicycle nowadays. Because of this, the Leica CL (digital) has become my standard camera in so many ways, generally fitted with Leica R or M mount lenses.
Well, the small format requires a very short focal length lens to achieve the SWC's 73x73 degree angle of view when cropped square, and there are few of these around. I decided to give the Voigtländer Hyper-Wide 10mm f/5.6 a try; the 10mm nets approximately 77x77 degree AoV cropped square so it's quite close. The lens arrived two days ago; I had the chance to carry it on my bicycle ride Saturday morning and do some testing.
Leica CL + Voigtländer 10mm f/5.6
ISO 100 @ f/8 @ 1/100
Some preliminary testing proved to me that:
- The CL with M Adapter L mount adapter proves to be right on the money with mount registration. This is important because with a 10mm f/5.6 lens, TTL viewing/focusing is mostly silly unless you're working right up at the closest focusing distance provided by the lens mount.
- Diffraction means that although the lens can stop down to f/22, you're tossing most of its resolution down the tubes once you pass f/11. It looks like the best performing lens opening is between f/8 and f/11, there's little change between f/5.6 and f/8 anyway.
- A small amount of lateral chromatic aberration is there, but easily eliminated by nearly any image processing tools these days. Longitudinal chromatic aberration is very low, and resolution holds right to the corners and edges of the APS-C format (haven't done any testing on FF yet). Flare resistance also seems very good.
Leica CL + Voigtländer 10mm f/5.6
ISO 100 @ f/8 @ 1/160
Beyond that, the CL + V10mm proves to be handily sized, light, and ergonomically very nice ... better than the WATE, to me, and certainly a huge lot less to cart about than the CL+Super-Elmar-R 15mm. I haven't done comparisons yet, but I'm curious to see the differences when I get to that.
What you give up going to this solution for ultra-wide squares is some degree of resolution—16 mPixel output instead of 39 mPixel output—and nearly any notion of being able to use selective focus because the DoF is so great on the small 16x16mm format and lens max speed of f/5.6. I can live with these issues. 16 Mpixel is enough to print un-interpolated 13x13 inch prints at 300 ppi, which is the largest I normally make, and I've made even larger prints than that using as low as 5 mPixel original captures that stood up to critical review on exhibition.
By and large, I'm cautiously optimistic that this lens will complete my Leica CL kit nicely and provide that "mini-digital SWC" I've been seeking. And yes, I know that the native Leica TL-11-23mm is another very very fine lens that would do nearly the same, but it's three times the cost, much bulkier, difficult to get at present, and... well, I just don't really like zoom lenses all that much.
enjoy
G