LT: Voightlander 40mm Ultron/FE55/Zeiss 25mm F2

[Guy Mancuso]

This week I got the Zeiss 25mm F2 with a Canon Metabones III adapter and I also grabbed a Voightlander 40mm Ultron lens for Canon mount used at KEH. First let me say I like the fact that with the Canon mount and the Metabones I get aperture control in camera like the rest of my lenses except for one. That keeps life simple and i also get full Exif data which I like especially for test like these. I know exactly what i did and the kicker is I can rent the Canon 17,24mm T/S lenses. I even get AF with a Canon lens. So i see a big upside to switching to the Canon mount.

Anyway lets get on with this little pancake 40mm Ultron . Here is the lens at B&H
Voigtlander 40mm f/2.0 Ultron SL II Aspherical Lens BA229E B&H

Its a pancake lens and its smaller even with the adapter than the 55mm. Now this test was almost perfect but my corner test for the 55mm did not work out as I missed focus but I did get a good on center test against the 55mm. Also in this test I got corners and center shots of the 40mm that look pretty darn good. I also while I was testing did the Zeiss 25mm F2 lens corner test which looks very good. But as you know this focal length is tough in the corners so the 25mm as damn good as it is has in the extreme corners a little softness and frankly so does my Leica 19mm R lens. I do not know a lens outside a tech lens that does not. So do keep that in mind

Okay the 40mm by itself centers and corners.

First the full image shot at F4

Lets do the centers first here

 

[Guy Mancuso]

On center it looks at 2.8 it hits it mark and by F4 very sharp. After that its equal to F4 on center. Nice results

This lens I wonder how it would measure up to the FE 35mm at 300 dollars cheaper. I was not happy with my FE 35mm as I thought my corners where not very good. Here they look very good as you can see.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Okay same images with corner test in upper left corner.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Again at F4 looks acceptable and just gets better at 5.6 and F8 which I expect to happen. Not bad at all. This is a sweet little lens so far and it does very well on center vs the 55mm FE glass.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

So here is the full frame 40mm at F2

 

[Guy Mancuso]

The 40mm a little behind the 55mm but certainly given the 55mm test scores we know what it is capable of. A very good showing for the Voightlander 40mm. I have several thoughts on this lens. One is it better than the 35mm FE or close enough to it. Its very small package like the 35mm has the same type of lens hood and it has a very nice manual focus. Second thought is do I keep it or sell it when I am ready for the 24-70 and is the 24-70 at this focal length better. It gaps nicely in my collection 19,25,40 and 55. If I decide to go with the zoom than money wise this has to go. But what a nice walk around lens it is and they have a 28mm also for 600.

This is also cheaper than the 35mm FE new by 300 dollars and i grabbed this used for 365.00

For 365 dollars its a great lens to stick in the corner of your bag.

Interesting

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Okay some random shots just playing around . I did nothing to the files and these are all handheld walking around Frontier Town.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Oops the last one I was on a tripod. But the rest handheld some wide open and some like 6.3 the Exif should have them in it.

Hope this was helpful. If folks want raws of this whole test I can upload them , it will be big just a fair warning. Let me know

Moving on to the Zeiss 25mm F2

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Moving on to the Zeiss 25mm F2 here is the full frame at F2. I left all lenses vignetting in so you folks can see what the 40mm and 25mm are doing wide open.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

On center very good right at F2 and gets about perfect at 2.8. Good showing and as expected

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Lets move on to the upper left crops.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

As you can see the very extreme corners are a little soft. This is expected in these super wides and i have yet to see a lens not do this except for a tech lens. But there is a silver lining. In C1 there is a slider for corner sharpness and in the second image I made that correction and it cleans up very nicely.

Uncorrected

Corrected

Now its still my opinion this is the best 24/25 around as i have not seen anything better. YMMV but this lens is a keeper and i should also point out 90 percent of landscape shooters images are sky in the corners.It would make no difference.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Hope this helps. If I get some time I have shots from Zion with the 25mm that I shot with the D800e

 

[Guy Mancuso]

I need breakfast and another espresso. LOL

 

[nikonf]

Guy,
Can I please get the Raw files for the Zeiss 25mm f2 ?
May I also have the Zion images as I will also be using the 25mm for landscape work?
Thanks,
Mike

Oops the last one I was on a tripod. But the rest handheld some wide open and some like 6.3 the Exif should have them in it.

Hope this was helpful. If folks want raws of this whole test I can upload them , it will be big just a fair warning. Let me know

Moving on to the Zeiss 25mm F2

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Yea Mike ill load them up later today.

Remember also just a little sharpening to these posted. Clarity added would certainly make them jump.

 

[nikonf]

Thanks !!!
Jersey boys like to help other Jersey boys ......ROTFLMAO :ROTFL:

Yea Mike ill load them up later today.

Remember also just a little sharpening to these posted. Clarity added would certainly make them jump.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

I added a couple real shots from Zion as well to play with . You can post them in this thread if you want.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Here we go

https://www.yousendit.com/download/elNLcmxkNEgwVW5MYnRVag

 

[Ocean]

Guy, thanks for these raw files. We quickly forget how good those Nikon D800E files are! In some way, I prefer them to the Sony A7r files although they are very different images.