Dr. Andreas Kaufmann, majority shareholder of Leica Camera AG, has acquired a 25.1% stake in the Internet platform “I-shot-it”. For a small fee, www.i-shot-it.com enables photo-enthusiasts—from amateurs to professionals—to take part in photographic competitions. An independent jury of internationally acclaimed photographers selects the prizewinners and in the open competitions, members of the “I-shot-it” community select the prizewinners by direct online voting.

“Many amateur photographers, and professionals, too, think our platform is great, because this is where their work finds the recognition they would otherwise often never find”, explains “I-shot-it” founder Hartmut Hennige. “The majority of photo competitions are so restrictive or have such strict rules that many photo enthusiasts are barred from entering right from the start. We let everybody try their luck. The jury members, all independent, acclaimed photographers, know nothing about the entrants or the camera they used to take the pictures.” According to Hartmut Hennige, around five million pictures have been uploaded so far. Around one half of these were submitted as competition entries.

Winners of the online photography competitions receive cash prizes –financed by the charges due for uploading image material—and a Leica camera. The current thirteen categories include genres such as wildlife, landscapes, black and white, cars, transport, flowers, street photography, sports, food and more.

The majority of visitors to the “I-shot-it” Web site come from the USA with more than 132,000 visits and 1.85 million page views. Dr. Andreas Kaufmann from ACM in Salzburg, Chairman of the Supervisory Board at Leica Camera AG, reckons with high growth rates in the coming months. “There has been a tremendous upswing of interest in photography over the past few years. The wish to be able to present your own photos to a virtually unlimited number of people in competitions is widespread”, says Dr. Kaufmann. “The growing numbers of fans and users shows just how enormous the demand is amongst photographers around the world. We intend to satisfy this demand.”

More Classic Lenses: Leica 50 1.5 Summarit & the Canon 50 1.2 LTM

1st up, the classic but unique Leica 50 1.5 Summarit

The Leica 50 Summarit has had a weird reputation as an oddball “crazy bokeh” super soft lens and for years I held off on buying one for that very reason. Every time I have seen samples they were crazy soft and without any sharpness to be seen along with almost NO contrast. But at the same time, it had a unique look..almost like the lens was painting the pixels on to the memory card from the sensor. When I thought about it more I knew that this lens may be just about perfect for shooting B&W due to the lower contrast and “glow” it usually has in images I see.

After deciding to try one I recently had the opportunity to acquire an old stiff focusing 50 Summarit 1.5 lens. This copy was made in 1951 and 3000 of them were made that year. This lens started production in 1939 and was made through 1957 so there are many copies out there from super old to just really old. There were a total of just under 75,000 Leica Summarit 1.5 lenses made and I always see them for sale on buy/sell forums or sites such as KEH.com.

When my 1951 arrived I was pleased with the small size, hefty build and chrome classic look. I attached it to my Leica Monochrom and took some test snaps. When I pulled them up on my display I was shocked! Expecting to see super fuzzy soft low contrast images wide open I was instead seeing images that were pretty damn sharp, had medium contrast and a Bokeh I could describe as “unique” with some swirl and pleasing attributes. Hmmm. I think I am going to like this little guy.

Here is a shot at f/2 from my Summarit and Monochrom. Looks good to me. 

The lens I have looks a bit dirty inside when looking through the glass. I see a bit of dust, dirt and crud but not really any haze. The problem many have with this lens is HAZE. If you shine a flashlight through your old lens and it looks cloudy or “hazy”, you may have some  haze going on. For this summarit all I see is dirt that has somehow been trapped inside for many years, but it still gives a decent image. No fungus, no oil, no scratches on the glass, no other issues. Dirt and dust will not really affect your images.

When shot wide open it appears that the lens can be sharp in the center with a super quick falloff into softness. The hydrant shot above…the hydrant is sharp but it is in the center of the frame and also at f/2 where my copy sharpens up considerably.

When shot at 1.5 you will see the Summarit character come out.

I have to say that I love what I am seeing coming out of this old classic but I wish my lens focused smoother. It is very stiff so I may just send it off for a CLA but I am afraid I will be trying to fix what is not broken, lol. It focuses SPOT ON perfect, even wide open. I have no focus shift and am loving the output, even the wild Bokeh it can give. I will be shooting more with this lens including some color when I get another new M 240 When I do I will add to this page with samples.

A full size from camera shot wide open with the little Summarit. Look at how sharp this lens CAN be. Focus is on the center leaves hanging from the tree.

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Next up, the Canon 50 1.2 LTM Lens. A Superfast and nice sized 50mm on the cheap, and guess what? It’s awesome!

If you want something REALLY unique and different with Bokeh that no other lens will give you then take a look at this Canon 50 1.2 LTM. Expect to pay around $600 and up or so for a good copy (compare that to $7-10k for a Noctilux) and if you want the original 50 1.2 hood, another $200 on top of that. This lens is larger and fatter than most of these classic lenses but it has a massive front element. It looks bad ass on a Leica M and amazing on my Monochrom with a mix of chrome and black. While having that short and stout appearance it is not too large and sized very nicely and still much smaller than even a classic Leica Noctilux f/1.

Stopped down to f/4 it looks great. Sharp, contrasty, and just about as good as most 50′s around.

But this lens is no Noctilux when shot at f/1.2, not even close really.

When I shot this lens I was let down at first as what was coming from the camera was VERY washed out with the lowest contrast I have seen coming from ANY lens..ever. I was about to sell it until I saw the Bokeh and realized that with some Processing the contrast is not an issue. I also realized that I have never seen a lens with this type of output. Just like the Leica Noctilux has its own unique look that some love and some hate, so does this Canon 50 1.2 LTM.

In fact, it is one of those lenses that can define you as an artist, just do not expect razor-sharp results or even normal results. After messing with the files a bit and adding some contrast to wide open shots I started to realize that this lens was staying in my collection of classic glass.

The Bokeh can be gorgeous (if you like crazy and unique)

Using this lens for a while  makes me want to find an M mount Canon 50 .95 “Dream Lens” which uses the same formula but is much larger, heavier and of course faster at 0.95. Those are usually much more expensive but could be worth it if you get a good copy and like the look these old Canon’s put out.

So for me, this lens is a keeper for me and one day I will try the 0.95 (if anyone has one they want to sell already modded to M mount or see me write about/borrow let me know). It offers such a unique way of seeing the world and while far from perfect, and very far from the norm, it has a beauty to it in the rendering as well as the build and feel. Focus is smooth, is almost spot on with my Leica MM and is easy to adapt to an M camera with a $20 adapter.

Since committing to the Leica MM I have become a classic lens Junkie, especially for 50mm lenses. Most are so cheap you can buy a few and decide what type of look you want for any certain day or project. You can also just buy one you love and shoot that one and only lens. For me, this one may be my new classic 50 fave next to the Summarit above. Both are lovely.

By Joeri van der Kloet – see his website HERE

Let me start with explaining what I do for a living. I am a documentary wedding photographer, based in the Netherlands and a little more than two years ago I switched from a DSLR to the M-system. I work with one M9 and one M9-P and a couple of lenses. Being a documentary photographer, my approach to wedding photography is to capture real moments, without interfering in these moments. For me, and for my clients, this approach really works. The Leica M fits perfectly in this approach, after lots of practice though. During a wedding, things are happening fast, so focussing and exposure have to be adjusted continuously. Manually of course. I have trained myself to focus my lenses within an instant of a second.

A few months ago I was asked by Transcontinenta, the company responsible for Leica in the Netherlands, whether I would be interested in testing the Leica M Monochrom on a wedding. Sure, I was interested! However, I didn’t feel like ‘testing’ a new camera on one of my clients, so I asked my friend Vivian, who is a wedding planner, if she had clients that would be interested in having a second shooter on their wedding. She came up with two couples and because I was available for those dates, I decided to shoot both weddings. The same day my contact at Leica called me and told me he had made a mistake. The Monochrom would only be available on the second date. Vivian however had already promised her clients that I would be there as a second shooter. I told her I’d come anyway, bringing another black and white camera: my trusty old Leica M6. The couple was excited and I was scared to death. Why on earth did I just say that?

I started in photography with manual film cameras: the Minolta XD-7 and XD-5. However, I had never covered a wedding with these things. When I started doing weddings, I had already switched to (D)SLRs. I don’t use my M6 that often. For professional work, it is not very usable. For fun photography, I also take the M9.

So I decided to keep it very simple. I packed ten rolls of Kodak T-Max 400, my M6, a 35 and 50, a three-stop ND-filter, my Gossen external meter and drove all the way to the venue. During the day I shot seven rolls of film and only used the external meter occasionally. I trusted my internal exposure computer – my brains – and even left out the battery of the M6. I had to shoot at long shutterspeeds – 1/8th – and at very fast shutterspeeds, but it didn’t bother me at all that I was stuck to 400 ISO. Since I’m not exactly a machine gun shooter with the M9, the need to take ten pictures of the same moment is non-existent. Compared to a normal M9-wedding, I had to wait and anticipate more with the limited amount of frames that I had. On the other hand, it was quite fun and I enjoyed being able to work with the M6. Also, I loved the inconspicuousness of the M6, which I prefer to the M9 because of the shutter that is way more silent. Because the depression of the M6-shutter is quite big, I used a soft-release, to prevent camera shake.

After the wedding, I mailed the films to a specialized company of which I was quite sure they’d do a good job. A little nervous, I opened the package a week later. Within one minute I knew that my internal exposure computer was still working great! All frames were perfectly exposed! Not a single one was ruined. A week later, when I had some time on my hands, I started camera scanning the frames. I needed a fast and cheap method, since the job was completely unpaid. Using my 5D2, a speedlite and a 90mm macro, I worked my way through the frames. It still took me more than a day to scan them all and I hadn’t even started selecting and editing yet. From the first frame on I decided to go hardcore: I would scan the edges of the frames and not crop the final image. It meant I had to throw away quite a few pictures that otherwise would have been good. Framing can be a little hard in the heat of the moment. Also, tilted shots, that otherwise would have been cropped, became unusable. Was I being too hard on myself?

The more time I worked on the frames and files, the happier I became. Although the files are far from clean – TMax is pretty far from clean either – they have a unique feel and character. Maybe I fell in love with these pics, because I put so much effort and time in them, but to me they are pure and authentic. It is just one camera, two lenses, a few rolls of film and loads of work. Of course, I would have preferred to make some very nice fine-art prints in the darkroom, but I don’t have one and my dark-room skills are rusty.

The Monochrom

A few weeks later I picked up the M Monochrom and I couldn’t wait to see the results of this much praised camera. Having countless hours of experience with the M9, the Monochrom wasn’t hard to get used to at all. Even the post-processing wasn’t that hard. I only used Lightroom and was satisfied with the results. Compared to the scanned files from the M6, the Monochrom files are easier to work with, since they are so much more flexible. The toning is amazing, as is the crisp sharpness and the ability to use high ISO. After getting used to the camera I shot a wedding as a second shooter. While driving to the venue I thought it might be a good idea to make a comparison between the two cameras. Lots of things have been said about the Monochrom and one of the things is people saying: “I already have a Monochrome. It’s called Tri-X and my M2/3/4/5/6/7”.

During the wedding, I found it hard to resist picking my M9 from my bag just to take some shots in colour, but I figured that would blur the experience. The wedding was one big party with many, many kids, lots of colours everywhere and there I was with a black and white camera.

I can’t say it felt different from shooting with the M9. The shutter is the same, as is the sound. The only noticeable difference is the high ISO capacity and that was useful. I even left my 35/1.2 at home for that reason. The biggest difference is during post-processing. There you’ll notice that sometimes black and white just doesn’t work, or sometimes just rocks! Also the files are more flexible than the M9 files and that is a good thing.

Would I take the Monochrom or the M6 to one of my own weddings? No, unless I was asked to do so. In my work I use roughly 60% color and 40% black and white and that works. However, I like to be able to decide afterwards which picture will be converted to black and white and which picture will be in color. This is obviously not possible with the MM. With the M6 I would only use it with a couple of extra film bodies. One for high ISO film, one for color, etc. I would also have to invest in a high quality scanner and even then I would have to spend more time on each wedding, meaning my price would increase. Even though I would like that idea to work, I don’t think I can sell it. So if I, as a professional, had to choose between the two cameras, I’d go for the Monochrom. However, besides being a professional, I still have a passion for pure, raw documentary photography. And for me, the M6 just adds to the sensation of documenting reality. Despite the technical limitations of these pictures, I think I prefer them to the far better M Monochrom output. Maybe I even prefer them BECAUSE of the technical inferiority. I don’t know.

I would have loved to keep the MM for a couple of weeks, but I had to return it. The M6 however will stay with me. Although I only shoot a few rolls each year, the amount of sheer happiness it delivers makes it impossible to part with it.

My dad showed me your homepage and I really like your mindset and how you work together with your readers. So I thought why not sending you some of my pictures and see if you like them

My name is Miriam Anastasia Ottmann, friends call me Mimi. I am 16 years old and go to highschool. I am German but I live on Salt Spring Island in Canada for half a year. This is a wonderful place to do some of my favorite activities: meeting new people, enjoying the nature and taking pictures. I like to take photos of people and nature and work with them to create special, and sometimes crazy, pictures. My dad is very interested in photography and tought me, and still does, how to see the world with photographer eyes. I like to learn by practicing, just to go out and try some new things with the camera. I use a small LUMIX camera with a LEICA lense and I love how it works. I have experienced that also with small cameras you can create great pictures and amaze other people and first of all: yourself.

I took my pictures on the famous Saturday Market here on Salt Spring.

Best regards

Mimi

WOW!!! This is a giveaway and will not last long. The Panasonic GX1 is being cleared out at Amazon right now for $249. New in box GX1 Micro 4/3 body, $249. This was the main competitor to the E-P3 and while I preferred the Olympus E-P3, the GX1 was considered the comeback camera from the original GF1. If you want one, get it now at $249. They will not last!

BUY THE PANASONIC GX1 HERE for $249!

If you want a perfect lens for this camera that you will ADORE, go for this one.

The Classic Nikkor 8.5cm f/2 LTM lens review

click on any image in this review for a larger size image

Ahhh yes. Classic solid brass and chrome lenses from the 1950′s certainly have a charm about them. When you find one, hold one and use one you will indeed say to yourself “they do not make them like this anymore”. While Leica still makes damn finely built lenses today, the prices are so high that I see many shooters priced out of the market. I have friends who save for an entire year just so they can buy one 50 Summilux ASPH. Well, I am here to tell you that if you shoot a Leica M, digital or film, there are some special lenses out there that you can buy for much less than a modern Leica lens and in some cases you may even prefer the output.

While many of these old lenses have poor performance and tons of “glow” (which is another word for “flaws”), many of us love those old flaws and imperfections. Those of us  who use and get to know these old jewel like lenses realize that once you master them they can be quite beautiful, even by 2013 standards. Some of these old lenses are gems..diamonds in the rough so to speak. Many were used by press shooters in the 50′s and many of those swore by this exact lens, the Nikkor 8.5cm f/2. I was lucky enough to find one in LTM mount in quite amazing shape for a screaming deal, chump change for most Leica lens buyers, and I am glad I did.

I found one!

The Nikkor 8.5 f/2 Lens is considered a legend by many shooters in the know and I have been keeping an eye out for a Leica screw mount version for a few weeks without any luck. Suddenly I happened to stumble upon a rare version of this lens at a local Scottsdale, AZ shop called collectiblecameras.com . They had received a “MIOJ” Tokyo version of this lens which is not the oldest version but it is one of those that is harder to find, even more so with a hood, front cap and original rear metal cap. This one had it all, even the matching case for the lens. Score!

When I saw it on their website I bought it and chose to pick up in person and pay in cash. I then picked it up a week and a half later as it was out getting a cleaning and adjust.

When I held the lens I was struck by the beauty of it. The heft. The smoothness of the focus barrel and the great condition it was in for being a 1950′s rangefinder lens. I was put off by the fact that it is a clickless aperture lens and that the aperture dial moves with the focus ring but even so, after firing off a few test shots and seeing how sharp it was wide open as well as the buttery bokeh, I knew had to have it. Whipped out my debit card and made the purchase final. Those are some great guys at collectible and they have loads of old classic gear. You can see their website HERE. You never know, you may find something you like. They also buy and trade old gear.

Shooting the lens at f/2 will give you sharp details at your focus point with a beautiful buttery fall off into melty goo goo land  :)

Indoor at high ISO works as well..

This lens is an all out steal at the prices you can get them for, and the shop where I bought this one even made a goof on the price on this specific lens as they did not realize it was the more rare collectible version. If I did not know any better I would think it was 10 years old, not 60. It is in that nice of condition. The lens competes with lenses like the 75 Lux 1.4 at 1/20th the price. While not as “perfect” as a Leica 75 Lux which is not known for its unique Noctilux type of rendering, the Nikkor has loads of charm and in case I have not said it enough, lovely Bokeh in 90% of situations. This could be called Nikon’s original “Cream Machine”. This is a Sonnar design and it has a great smooth signature with biting sharpness if you indeed nail focus. Best of both worlds in one lens.

Wide open at ISO 6400 on the Leica MM

A portrait classic, 85mm. But the M does not have 85mm framelines!

True! The Leica M cameras do not have 85mm framelines, but it is not so hard to guess when using the 75mm framelines. Once you snap a few shots you will get the hang of what is happening. By using an adapter like THIS ONE you can screw it on the bottom of the lens, snap it to your Leica M and have the 75 lines show up. I took the portrait below and while not framed perfectly, it came out OK for a test shot. It was taken at f/2 wide open. Here you can see the Bokeh in the background is a little “busy”. With foliage it can do that but this is a challenge for any lens.

As for the adapter I have tried quite a few from the $10 cheapies to the $25 mid range to the $50 Voigtlander models. If I were buying from scratch I would go with the Voigtlander adapter. It is the best of the lot. I tried the Kippon adapters and they just do not fit right and are made sort of rough. The $10 cheapies are OK and work but also not up to the quality of the Voigtlander adapters. I have 7-8 adapters here and for this lens I have the Voigtlander attached without any issues.

So yes, you can use this lens effectively on a Leica M camera. It may not have the perfection of the modern lenses, and if shooting professionally I would use modern glass but for those times when you want a little bit of a classic injection, these lenses simply rock.

Think about it, for the cost of one modern Leica lens, say a 35 Lux ASPH FLE you could buy 8-10 classic lenses in all focal lengths and give them a spin, and then sell what you do not want or need without losing anything. You can even do so by using my own buy/sell forum here on this site.

When shooting these old lenses in black & white they can be phenomenal as they were made in the B&W era..it is what they were made for. Usually single coated you will get less contrast and a bit of glow/coma/flare as well. These things can indeed add to the charm of your photos. After all, back in the 50′s there were some astonishing photos made and what lenses were used? Lenses like this one right here.

I Found a 2nd One!

During the 3 days of compiling and writing this review I acquired a 2nd Nikkor 8.5cm Lens from a trade deal I made and it is a later version. A teeny bit smaller, the aperture dial has clicks and goes to f/32 instead of f/16. Optics seem the same in my tests. Since I have acquired a 2nd copy, although without caps, hood or case I am selling the rarer and nicer “MIOJ” version which was responsible for every image in this review. I will keep the 2nd copy as my user. (UPDATE – the “MIOJ” has sold already, minutes after the ad was posted in the buy/sell.)

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Fun with the Classics

It is pretty fun to mess around with these old classic lenses. They look great, feel fabulous, are easier on the pocketbook than modern glass and would be easy to resell without losing money after you try them out. After trying several classic lenses I have found 3 that I am thrilled with. One of them is this 85 f/2 Nikkor. While I am not an 85mm or 90 guy, it will get used a few times per year and by spending a few hundred compared to a few thousand it is much easier to justify. Dont forget to check out Ashwin Rao’s article where he shared some images from this lens as well.

If you want some of that classic fun with your rangefinder check out lenses like this 85 f/2 or the 35 1.8 or the Canon 50 1.8, Leica 50 Summitar or the Leica 50 Summarit 1.5 (review soon). All fantastic but that is just the tip of the iceberg and each one has their own unique flavor or fingerprint that you just may fall in love with. There are TONS of these beauties out there to unearth

But these old classics are not for everyone. For those who want perfection I’d suggest grabbing some of the best Leica M glass made today. The 35 Lux ASPH, the 50 Lux ASPH and the 90 Cron APO just to name a few. Ken Hansen (khpny19@aol.com), PopFlash and Pro Shop has all of those in stock now

if you want more info on this lens, check out this wealth of information on it.

Here’s my submission to your Daily Inspiration series!

I recently deleted all of my photos off my Flickr account, sifted through years of photos i have taken on my hard drive and newly edited 16 of them i deem to be my best. They can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/feiningers-cat/

I had quite a severe case of GAS in the last two years but fortunately you can not only buy cams on Amazon but also sell them there. So yeah, I lost quite some money this way but I regard that as a rental fee for all the nice cams I got to try. After all photography is my hobby and hobbies don’t make money but give you fun and I sure had fun. Anyway, now I ended up with a Sony RX1, a NEX-5N with the F1.8 50mm and an Olympus E-PM2 with the F1.8 75mm and I guess that’s all I need for now. The RX1 puts a pretty hard damper on any new camera lust that might emerge as there is hardly any better cam out there that is not either way too huge or way too expensive for me

Anyway, I’ll spare you with any further grandpa Simpson stories and present you some of my favorite photos from the last three years. You can pick the three you like most or post them all, it’s up to you! Thanks for looking at them and keep up the good work, I really enjoy your site as it’s quite informative and as i feel less crazy when i see how much money you spend on photo gear

Sincerely,

Feininger’s Cat

Nikon has upped the ante, finally with this new lenses for the Nikon 1 series! A high quality super fast 1.2 aperture 85mm equivalent is ready to be pre-ordered and it looks very nice. While it costs about triple of the Nikon V1 closeout price of $299 at about $900, I bet this will be an amazing portrait lens for the Nikon 1.

This lens will feature a metal construction, Nano coatings and a floating element along with a big manual focus ring for super fine focusing. It will arrive in Black or Silver and you can pre-order it now at B&H Photo. I can not wait to get a hold of one to test as it can take the little impressive 1 series to the next level with some real shallow DOF possibilities and a pro grade construction.

Also looks like Nikon reduced the price of the V2 body, now at $696. A perfect companion to the new 32 1.2. Still, a Nikon V2 and 32 1.2 lens will set you back about $1600, more expensive than an  Olympus E-P5 or OM-D E-M5 with a 25 1.4 or 45 1.8 which will get you more shallow DOF if you wanted it. Still, for those Nikon 1 fans, and there are quite a few out there now including my Son who made the V1 and 18.5 his #1 camera, this lens is VERY welcome.

The Voigtlander 21 1.8 Lens Review by Steve Huff

Thanks to new site sponsor CameraQuest for loaning me this lens and viewfinder for review.

Hello to all who lurk here on stevehuffphoto.com! It is once again “review day ” and what I have to talk to you about today is a real GEM of a lens for any and all Leica M shooters, the Voigtlander 21 1.8 M lens. I have already posted many of my thoughts on this lens in my 1st look of it HERE, so if you missed that go take a look if you like.  Wether you shoot an old or new film rangefinder or use one of the digital versions like the M8, M9, M9-P, M-E, MM or M this lens delivers. While I have not shot it on the new M yet, it does well on the M9/ME and is gorgeous on the MM as well. In fact, it does so well I would PERSONALLY take this lens over the Leica equivalent (The Leica 21 Lux) any day of the week, not because it is superior but because it is almost its equal and I would save myself $6000 in cold hard cash, yes…$6000 separates these lenses and the Voigtlander is really good. I’d rather take the 5-10% less build and performance and pocket over $6k to take an amazing vacation/photo trip to really use the lens. If I were a rich man, I’d take the Leica but when it comes to saving money you can do so with this lens and trust me, your photos will not take the quality hit. Hmmm. Did I just finish the whole review? Well, not really, read on…

While not small in size, it is smaller than the Leica 21 Summilux 1.4 and about 90% of the performance..and then some.

These days, Voigtlander is really rocking it with some of their newest glass and this 21 1.8 is no exception. Compared to the Leica 21 Lux, it has less distortion, is only a teeny bit slower at 1.8 vs 1.4 and is also lighter and smaller. It is just as sharp if not sharper and gives no magenta edges on the M9/M-E, even without coding the lens. It also focuses close at .5 meters though you will lose the RF focusing at .7. I was able to shoot a few at .5 meters by guessing and it works quite well.  Compared to what I remember from the Leica 21 1.4, this Voigtlander has a little bit less micro-contrast and is also a little less contrasty in general and the Leica will win in overall heft and build, but that is about where it ends. When it comes to quality, the Voigtlander and the Leica has it, but this one will cost you MUCH less.

At $1249 for a fast quality wide angle lens, it is a steal of a deal. Even this little rescue dog thought so

The Voigtlander 21 1.8 Lens on the Leica MM, at 1.8

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While this shot is nothing special, the Bokeh quality from this lens is smooth and silky. 

Shooting WIDE. It can indeed be a challenge. 

I am not really a wide angle shooter, at all. My go to focal lengths have always been 28mm, 35mm and 50mm with rare use of the 28. So shooting a 21, for me, was a challenge when trying to create interesting review snaps. My goal for review images though is to create a mix of interesting shots while showing what the lens can do on a given camera. I look for nice colors if shooting color, I look for shots that will present interesting Bokeh opportunities and I look for detail shots to see what the lens can do with sharpness and detail. I also like to see what the lens can do with B&W photography using the Leica Monochrom, so what you see in this review will helpfully help you to understand what the lens can do on the Leica MM and M9/M-E.

Product shots with the Sony RX1

Ever since selling off my Leica M 240 to be able to keep the MM (which I already miss… of course) I wondered what this lens would do on a color M. Any color M. I was able to get a hold of a Leica M-E for a few days and took it out with the 21mm. It performed much better than I expected in all areas. Sharpness, color, bokeh, etc. I kept thinking to myself “man, if Voigtlander did this well with a 21mm lens, I can not wait to get my hands on that sweet new 50 Nokton 1.5 that is set to hit in June“. While shooting the Leica M-E I was reminded of the M9 color and signature, which is indeed different than what comes from the new M 240. After shooting the M-E again I can easily state that yes, I still and do prefer the new M 240. I hope to have one again within 9-12 months.

When I do get one again I will try out this 21 on it and add to this review.

The Voigtlander 21 at f/4 on the Leica M-E – AWB

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Nature Trail in full AZ sun, mid day. The 21 1.8 at f/4 

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While a challenge to those of us who are “wide angle challenged” the 21mm focal length can be very cool to use sometimes. While not an every day lens, in some situations it can help you capture “more” of the scene. I took the MM and 21 to a local immigration reform March here in Phx (that only had about 100 people show up) and shot some with the 21. It worked out well and using the external viewfinder was a MUST to frame the shots, and man what a nice VF it is. The version II VF from Voigtlander is all metal, hefty but small and just has overall amazing quality. I can HIGHLY recommend the Voigtlander 21mm VF for any 21mm lens you may use. It is large, bright and easy to frame with. One of those products that is a joy to use and at $209, it will not break the bank. If you are using the new Leica M and have the EVF, then you will not need the optical VF of course but this little guy is so clear, bright and well made…in addition to being sexy to look at. (more on the VF later on).

The next three shots ranged from f/2.8-f/4

The viewfinder… it feels just as high quality (if not more so) than any Leica or Zeiss finder I have tried over the years. It is metal, solid, and feels like it will last a lifetime. Focusing using the rangefinder and then framing with the external is a pain in the ass but if you want to frame correctly, it is needed for this lens and any lens wider than 28mm.

Shooting the lens in B&W on the Monochrom was a pleasant experience as the lens just seemed to be quite amazing for B&W. Just the right amount of contrast and sharpness with pleasant Bokeh makes for a classic yet modern-ish rendering. Shooting at 1.8 also shows that this lens can suck in some light with the best of them. The self portrait shot below (3rd shot) was taken wide open in my kitchen which was actually a bit dim. The lens made it appear brighter than it really was. Great fast lenses do this but not all of them do. For example, the classic Nikkor 3.5cm 1.8 shot in dim lighting results in a duller and darker rendering. Lenses that do suck in the light? Noctilux, Summilux, Canon 85L, Nikon 85 1.4, etc. So this lens is in good company.

This is a crop of an image shot at f/1.8…

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…and this shot was at .5 meters with me guessing the focus by bringing the camera down to the dogs level and moving it in to what I felt was .5 meters…

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…and a self portrait at .5 meters wide open. The Leica 21 Lux focuses to .7 meters while this one gets a little closer

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Some smooth bokeh in color – an OOC JPEG at 1.8 on the M-E

Crop crop till you drop

Using the Leica MM and the 21 1.8 I often found the lens to be too wide for my tastes but at the same time, when viewing that full 21mm frame I kept thinking that I could really grow to love this focal length. To show how wide it is check out the shot below that I snapped in a restaurant. I will first show the original, then a crop and then an almost 100% crop. Click them to see larger and better looking sizes. They look VERY nice on my iMac 27″ display.

The Monochrom is a gorgeous camera that for me, easily replaces any film camera. It can indeed meet and exceed the quality of any B&W film. Outside of the window in the above scene was the full harsh Phoenix AZ sunshine. The camera and Voigtlander 21 1.8 captured it all, inside and out. This 21 1.8 has a little less contrast than the Leica 21 Summilux so when shooting on a camera such as the Monochrom, it will be easier to avoid blowing highlights as the lens will not render in a harsh way, unless of course you like that look. Then you can just process the photo to give you a higher contrast look like below where I purposely blew out the background to make the image pop more:

This lens has a very pleasing way of rendering on the Leica MM – I blew out the background on purpose to create more pop.

How sharp is the Voigtlander 21 1.8?

This lens is sharp as any lens I have ever tested, has minimal distortion and during my 2 weeks of use I found no issues with the lens that would deter me from buying one. In fact, if I were more of a 21mm shooter this would indeed be in my kit. I may pick up the luttle brother to this lens, the 21 f/4 as it is much cheaper and smaller and for the amount I use 21mm, it could be just the trick. Then again, if I went that route I would lose the look of the 21 1.8 due to no longer having any shallow DOF capabilities. I love the way this lens renders and it reminds me a bit of classic mixed with modern and somehow they managed to get it all together in the perfect way.

But let’s get back  to sharpness. This lens is as sharp as you can ask for and on the MM and M-E, without any coding at all I did not have any color or vignetting issues, which is quite incredible for a wide angle lens such as this. The lens does vignette wide open at 1.8 a bit but nothing objectionable. Check out the image below which is a 100% full size file from the Leica M-E via RAW conversion. Click it to see the full size detail.

click the images below to see the 21 1.8 in full size on the Leica M-E

1st one at f/4 – focus is one the top of the metal rail, closest to me. Still some shallow DOF here at f/4. Corners are sharp, the ones in focus. The trees in the upper left are not in focus as that is not the focus point, so those are blurred due to shallow DOF.

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This image was shot at f/2.8

So for me, this lens gives plenty of sharpness and detail, no question. No one would need more.

Below you can see the same shot at various apertures. This lens is sharp at 1.8 and stays that way as you stop down. You can see the slight Vignetting at 1.8 which is all gone by 2.8. Click each image for larger with 100% crop embedded.

Sharp corner to corner…

The Voigtlander Viewfinders

Looking through the excellent 21/25mm Viewfinder – All metal construction – $209 

When shooting a lens wider than 28mm on a Leica M you will need an external viewfinder to frame your subject. You will still use the standard viewfinder/ramgefinder window of your camera to focus, but to frame it all up you will need the external viewfinder with 21mm framelines. This way you can see what you will get on your final image. External viewfinders can look really cool but in reality, for me, they are a pain in the rear. Having to use one VF to focus and another to frame kills any “decisive moment” shots unless you are zone focusing (which is easy to do with a 21mm) but I was able to try out a couple of cool Voigtlander viewfinders. One of them is the 21/25mm all metal designed version 2 viewfinder which is the latest and greatest Voigtlander 21/25mm finder. It is solid, small but has some heft due to its rock solid metal construction. THIS is the VF I would buy with the lens at just over $200.

Comes with a nice little velvety blue bag for storage

There is also the Voigtlander monster of a VF, the 15-35 which will give you 15-35 frame lines. So if you have the excellent 15mm f/4.5 you can use this one for both lenses, all the way up to 35mm. It’s large and bulky but versatile. You can choose between 15, 18, 21, 25 or 35. Also excellent but for those with multiple wide angle lenses.

It’s large and in charge…for those who want one viewfinder that will take on all wide angle lenses. Still smaller than the Leica “Frankenfinder”

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What about the .5 meter close focus? How can you focus this close on an M9/MM/ME?

Here is a quick tip! It may not be the most practical thing to do but as most of you know a Leica M8, M9, MM, ME, etc can not focus closer than .7 meters, even if the lens you are using focuses as close as .5 meters. Old classic lenses usually had a 1 meter limitation. Newer lenses from Leica all focus to .7 meters (most of them) and some other lenses can focus as close as .5 meters, which is about 1.6 feet. Once you turn the lens past .7 meters to go to .5 you lose rangefinder focusing. You can just move in a little closer and guess but it can be hit or miss. If you want to focus close on a regular basis here is a way you can do so and all you need is a string (I used a cable for my example photo so you could see it clearly), a measuring tape and some scissors.

Simple and effective. You could even tape a piece of light string to your camera body when shooting with a close focusing lens.

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The cons of the Voigtlander 21 1.8. What is wrong with it? My final thoughts. 

In the world of 21mm lenses, this is a jewel of a lens for more reason that the quality it gives us in our photos. The reason it is so special is that it has the look as well as the build and feel of an old classic while giving performance that is nearing the $7250 Leica 21 Summilux. When I tell myself that this lens is $6000 less than the Leica 21 Lux, it boggles my mind. The Leica is larger, heavier, uses more expensive filters, has more distortion and is much more expensive. The Voigtlander has a llittle bit less micro contrast, which Leica is very good at but other than that…well, what can I say?

The Voigtlander is still on the large side for a rangefinder lens and the Voigtlander also has less overall contrast than the Leica equivalent. But without any question of a doubt I would not hesitate one moment to buy this lens if I were a wide angle shooter and wanted a fast aperture wide. It offers incredible performance for the price and gives superb quality build to boot.

So there really is nothing wrong with this lens, and for the cost it is a home run it. There is also a Zeiss 21 2.8 lens but the Zeiss is slower at 2.8, not as hefty in the build and more expensive. When you look for a fast 21 mm lens for your M mount camera, be sure to NOT look past this Voigtlander. They are making some superb quality glass these days and buying an all Voigtlander setup could help save you a ton of cash and possibly your marriage This lens is HIGHLY recommended if you are in search of a fast 21mm.

If you have the mega-bucks, just go for the Leica and call it a day knowing  you have the ultimate but remember, you can get just about as good for much less

Below: At f/8 this lens is insanely sharp and again, sharpness across the frame which is impressive for such a wide angle lens. 

Where to buy this lens? 

This lens was sent to me for review by Stephen Gandy at CameraQuest.com. They are also a site sponsor and sell the 21 1.8 lens for $1249 with FREE fast shipping. You can go direct to their 21 1.8 page HERE.

LENS SPECIFICATIONS:

Mount Type VM for M-mount Cameras

Focal Length 21mm

Aperture Range f/1.8-22

Angle of View 91º

Minimum Focus Distance 19.7″ (0.5 m)

Focus Range 27.6″ – infinity (0.5 m – infinity)

Lens Construction 13 Elements in 11 Groups

Number of Aperture Blades 10

Filter Size 58mm

Dimensions (Diam. x L) 2.7 x 3.6″ (69 x 92 mm) including lens hood

Weight 14.5 oz (412 g)

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The new Olympus PEN E-P5 and all new accessories and black lenses are now available at Amazon and B&H photo for pre-order. THESE ARE ALL scheduled to be released and shipped by June 15th – about 30 days from now but 1st come, 1st serve. Amazon does not charge you until the item ships, not even an authorization. B&H does not charge you but may do an Authorization at the time of order. Both are easily canceled online if you change your mind. Links below:

The best bang for the buck is to get the package with lens and EVF which saves you some cash..to the tune of $

The Silver Kit:

Amazon – Olympus E-P5 Silver with black 17 1.8 Lens and new VF-4 EVF – $1449

B&H Photo – Olympus E-P5, Silver with black 17 1.8 Lens and new VF-4 – $1449

The Black Kit:

Amazon – Olympus E-P5 BLACK with black 17 1.8 lens and new VF-5 EVF – $1449

B&H Photo – Olympus E-P5 BLACK with black 17 1.8 lens and new VF-5 EVF – $1449

The new EVF – VF-4

Amazon – VF-4 - $279

B&H Photo – VF-4 - $279

The new Black 75 1.8 Lens (see my review of this amazing lens HERE)

Amazon – The black Olympus 75 1.8 Lens – $899

B&H Photo – The black Olympus 75 1.8 Lens – $899

The new Black 45 1.8 Lens (Review Here)

Amazon – The black Olympus 45 1.8 Lens

B&H Photo – The black Olympus 45 1.8 Lens

The new Black 17 1.8 Lens (Review Here)

Amazon – The black Olympus 17 1.8 Lens

B&H Photo – The black Olympus 17 1.8 Lens

So who and why should you pre-order? If you know for a fact you want this new E-P5 or any of  these lenses, pre-ordering ensures you get them 1st, when they are released. Sometimes, like with the OM-D E-M5 there is huge demand and when the camera ships, they are not available as they are all shipped to those who pre-ordered 1st. Pre-ordering is a zero risk thing to do. How so? Well, you do not get charged until the item ships. For example, I pre-ordered the silver set at Amazon with the new EVF and black 17 1.8. I did this so I can review it and get it when it is released. My debit card (I do not believe in credit cards) was not charged, nor was it authorized. It will not be charged until the items ship on or around June 15th. Anytime before this I can go into my Amazon account online and cancel my order or change my shipping speed. So if I decide in 2 weeks that I don’t want it, I can cancel it – no harm.

When the camera does ship..what if it sucks? What if I hate it? What if it has quirks? Easy, I can return it for a full 100% refund. I log into Amazon, go to my account and find the order. I click on “return item” and instantly Amazon presents me with a UPS shipping label I can print or they offer me the option of having UPS pick it up from my home on the next day where the driver will have a label. All I have to do is box it up. When I return an item to Amazon, my refund is usually processed as soon as they see UPS have picked it up from me or when I have dropped it off at a UPS location. Amazon has the best return process in the business, just do not abuse it.

When a camera is returned to Amazon (as long as it is not a defect) they sell it as used at a discount, sometimes pretty nice discounts. They do not resell it as new, ever.

I have been shopping with Amazon for MANY years and have bought many items from them. I have returned a few as well from Headphones, Cameras, Lenses and other misc. items. Never an issue or problem. Always a joy.

So pre-ordering a camera is actually quite smart if you know you will want it. It makes sure you get it when it is released and that you will not be waiting in some line for your name to come up. That is how I get most of my cameras 1st

As I have done in the past over the last 5 years, I provide pre-order links on new cameras and lenses for your convenience and also because it helps this site to continue on. When you use those links above, I get a small percentage that helps pay for web hosting and all of the other expenses that add up to run this site (which are much more than you could know). That is the only thing that keeps this site rolling along. So thanks in advance to anyone using my links for their purchase. It costs you nothing more at all, but really helps me out. So thank you