The Spanish site DSLRmagazine is the first one sharing a full size image sample of the new Voigtländer 15mm f/4,5 III M-mount lens. The lens has a new optical design to get rid of the corner issues when using it on the Sony A7/r/s camera. Here is the full size image samples taken with the A7s (Click on image to enlarge):
Also Newsshooter posted two image samples again taken witht he A7s:
I got to put the lens on my a7S and was very happy with the lenses performance. As claimed the edge to edge sharpness was very impressive although it does have some barrel distortion towards the edges of frame which is quite noticeable. I really liked the feel and the handling of this lens on the Sony a7S and the images look very impressive whether your taking video or photographs.
And here is also a video they made with it:
Newsshooter at CP+ Tokyo 2015- Voigtlander Super Wide-Heliar Aspherical III VM 15mm f/4.5 Lens First Look from Matthew Allard ACS on Vimeo.
Of course the A7s is the one camera that because of the larger pixels always had less issues with such lenses. That said the picture shows a very improved quality on corners. And let me add that the lens looks quite good on the A7s! I really think that is going to land in my camera bag soon 🙂
The lens will ship in March according to Australian Store Mainlinephoto.com.au. In Japan it will cost 95,000 YEN. The US price should be a bit higher than that of the current [shoplink 33438 ebay]Heliar 15mm II (here on eBay)[/shoplink] but it has yet to be confirmed.
62 Responses
Nice lens, but too slow for my needs.
15mm or wider and 2.8 or faster.
That lens would make an earthquake through aurora hunters. 😀
This lens is already available, the Zeiss Distagon f2.8/15mm ZM. Much faster will be much bigger and way more expensive. For me the Zeiss is already to pricy, so I am happy with the Voigtländer (but I am also not hunting auroras 😉
I made an audible *ouch* when I googled that and saw the price.
well you want a fast, high quality 15mm lens, then don’t complain about the cost. It is always a size, cost, speed and IQ trade off…
With something like the a7s, an aurora would be just fine.
100% you can use already longer shutter times due to the short focal distance (if you want to avoid star trails), the rest you do with the high iso capability of the senor…
It does not look great on the a7, why have you suggested it? I assume you have tried it
Who cares how it looks on a camera?
But to answer your question I haven’t tried it on a Sony, I actually don’t even have a Sony! But then I also haven’t recommended it either, I only directed “Nobody” in the right direction. He was looking for a f 2.8 15mm lens and it exists already…
I didn’t mean how it looks on the camera. I mean, the photograph it takes does not look great due to the rear nodal point proximity to sensor
Well that could be, I used the lens only once and on film with the Zeiss Ikon ZM. Not surprisingly I didn’t have any issue with it….
Anyway I would never buy this lens, because I don’t need a fast UWA, F4.5 is fast enough and I am not willing to pay the price for the extra 11/3 stops…
can’t wait to skip it (in March) 🙂
Lol, i know they say this lens almost doesn’t even need to be focused, but you do actually need to focus it ! Come one, is this for real? One un-focused shot .. Do they just not care ?
The desperate need to be first to blog…must post must post!!!!!
While I agree that it was a misstep to not focus the shot, many are more concerned about the corner fall off and distortion. That being said, you’d think a photography site like DSLRmagazine would think to throw a sharp image up.
Well, there are those Lytro guys in the frame, they did something to the photographer with their light field black magic and made focus everywhere at the same time. Our monitors cant process their geniality so we can be happy they didnt brake.
Please let this be good! If it’s as good as the Sammy 14 at f4.5 then I’ll happily trade the extra stop and a bit of the Sammy for the compactness of the Voigtlander!
judging from the video it’s a nice lens for portraits..
Getting a life is a proven and 100% successful method to cure trollism.
agree, but i’m lazy on Mondays… wich means it’s AWESOME time for trolling…. 🙂
Respect for honesty. We are all messed up one way or another, anyway.
What is the focus point in that sample picture? Who pays for such a dull lens?
1. About half a meter outside the frame.
2. Prejudice much?
maybe not a dull lens but a dull photographer. not the best image for showing what the lens can do.
admin, give as more info about Canon 400 2.8 IS ? sony’s stuff are boring… 😉
It will most likely be the size of a telescope and cost $10000. All other attributes seem incidental next to those two, at least for me.
Fortunately canon lenses are typically smaller than zeiss and sony lenses
Newsshooter video footage from the lens looks superb though, and very little distortion!
On top of all, the A7R is bad combined with rangefinder UWWs, no? The A7s much less. Quite meaningless, this.
Is there something in focus in the sample image??? Or it was meant as an example to show us the bokeh? 😉
It’s in focus where you need it to be to test the corner sharpness – check the floor in the bottom corners, but you’ll need to zoom in
Sorry, but if that’s “in focus” then my v1 is waaay sharper into the corners as well (magenta shading aside, but that’s a quick job for the flat field plugin)!
I guess it’s a good thing, maybe I’ve got a keeper and I can spare some cash not upgrading! 🙂
I think we probably just need to conclude it’s not a great sample, even for the corners!
I am wondering… He maybe wanted to show us, that with great technique and experience, it is possible to shoot 15mm f4.5 while not having a single spot in focus. This is a great feat, i thought it impossible. His next leap will be out of focus 12mm f8 shot
No sharpness to this example. The A7s was good with the original 15mm. Show us a (shots) with an A7R or an A7II please!
I think he is just trying to show that the color cast problem has almost been corrected, I think that was pretty much the only problem with the V1 anyway.
it needs an adapter, I thought it was an e-mount rebulid or sth.
While it’s more compact, it’s also darker than both the 16-35 and the 10-18 (which works surprisingly well on FE between 12-16, even though it was designed for APS-C), and in price it sits right between the two (128k and 66k JPY respectively), while being much less flexible, not native (and it’s spillover effects, e.g. automatic corrections, exif, IBIS, effect of the sensor stack filter difference, etc). We’ll need to see some proper photos to see if it’s image quality justifies it’s price.
Me, I’d have preferred a similarly sized or just slightly larger 18~20 mm f2.8~f3.2 native lens. The 28 f2 + WA on paper was promising but turned out quite large and the first reports are not praising the adapter at all.
I had great hopes for the 28+adapter as well. Unfortunately it looks big as my 180!
Compare that with a Voigtlander 20mm for Nikon…
Until Sony starts making more compact lenses (and I don’t mean “rangefinder sized”, more “af slr sized” like the Alpha line) it looks like I’ll stick with legacy glass.
P.s.: and please Sony, loose the darn focus by wire and start using proper focusing helicoids again!
I couldn’t agree more – the advances in lens element manufacturing, the new optical formulas it enables (just look at the Panasonic LX7 to LX100), the software corrections to make up for the raw optical imperfections (which many E lenses rely heavily upon); despite all these factors that could make lenses more compact, instead lenses just keep getting bigger and bigger since film SLR days…
One of the reasons is the constant need for speed and the disappearance of slow high quality lenses.
There were also fast and high quality lenses in the film SLR era.
E.g. look at the Zuikos.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympus_OM_system#Lenses
The 55 f1.2 was quite good, yet just 47×65 mm, 310 g. 85 f2 at just 46×60 mm, 260 g.
Or the Pentax 100 f2.8 is still regarded as a very sharp lens – and it was just 56 mm long with 225 g.
Nikon also had some excellent fast primes. Etc.
Valid points, but I’d argue not the whole story. My 10-18 is great, light and sharp, but the focus by wire and the ugly starburst really kill it for me sometimes. The 16-35 is very good, but it is big, heavy, expensive and still focus by wire. There is certainly a place for that 15mm, but as you say, we need proper samples.
Have you tried the 20mm 3.5 VL? Makes for a compact package and while certainly not perfect, I’d say it is a great performer given its size and price,
Price? About 600? Ok, not too too bad. Still, I’ve been looking at more pictures coming off the 12mm they have. Bad color casting, but it IS sharp in the corners. With a bit of clean up it performs quite well. Very tempted by the 12. Hmm, we shall see.
I just tried the a7r in the shops. The shutter button is the worst thing I have ever felt
It is indeed a very crappy shutter ;D
I’m pretty sure it doesn’t have half-press unless my friend got a flawed sample.
Yeah you can’t feel the half press. I need to do 2.5foot prints. The whole camera felt like a toy. Dammit, I guess I’ll keep waiting
Umm it seems to work fine. The shutter is down a bit, any touch of the button is half press. There is no click it’s true. My FM2 was no more solid than this puppy, so I do not get the toy part.
It’s funny I have been using a wide variety of cameras for nearly 50 years, and I never expected any of them to work like the one before. It took me a few hours to get my a7R just how I wanted it.
I don’t get why people post “I’ve used cameras for 900 years”, etc. I can only guess that it’s you announcing your senility and inability to feel a poor product due to an aged brain and senses.
I noticed the poor build and design 15 seconds after touching it. I’m guessing Sony feel the same as the shutter button on the mk2 is different. It is superior. You can feel the half press.
” any touch of the button is half press”
This is not true (you should probably learn more about mechanical, membrane, scissor, omron and other switches etc) but as you get older your motor skills aren’t as good
Nice. Another aggressive wuss. I’m sure it’s an absolute POS to guys like you.
No problem they built it for me. I have commented elsewhere to this effect. After moving to my Fuji X-E1, after selling my lovely Chamonix 4X5, I have developed a digital appreciation and the a7R fits almost exactly, my needs.
Feel free to engage in more aggressive behavior, you don’t have to face me. You would not act like that in my presence, all the people I deal with in person, are quite polite. 😉
Objectively speaking, you were incorrect about the shutter button’s design, this leads me to distrust other statements you’ve made. The rest of your argument is the hypocritical ramblings of a delusional incoherent, therefore I need not reply much further
You gonna shut up? The button functions exactly like my Fuji’s button but there is no defined click when you enter the first stage, of the two stages possible. Apart from that it’s the same. It might even be an improvement.
I have no problem with that, it works just fine. They have changed it so it works like all the other cameras just now, because of the howls of rage from you and your ilk. You do talk in howls, you and your ilk.
The build and design is very good. Roger at Lens Rentals took one apart, he does not impress easily. It’s well built, strong, all metal and although not really weatherproof, fairly well sealed. It speaks to your ability, that a shutter button not working how you think it should makes “The whole camera felt like a toy.”
“You gonna shut up?”
How aggressive.
“The button functions exactly like my Fuji”
Circulus in demonstrando.
“They have changed it so it works like all the other cameras”
All the other cameras must be badly designed too!
“The build and design is very good.”
It’s not, they don’t even use torque gauges.
“he does not impress easily”
Argumentum ad verecundiam.
“all metal and although not really weatherproof, fairly well sealed”
This is false, also irrelevant (like much of your argument)
http://petapixel.com/assets/uploads/2014/01/a7rteardown27.jpg
” It speaks to your ability, that a shutter button not working how you think it should makes “The whole camera felt like a toy.””
Your observation skills have failed you again, note “whole”; furthermore, contextomy and straw man; in addition, ad hominem; in conclusion, throughout the words in your posts you have demonstrated nothing but aggression, ignorance, hypocrisy, a lack of understanding, a lack of observation and a lack of motor skills. I do wonder why someone would get so defensive of me not liking a shutter button. Perhaps you should calm down
Hey Chris – I’m with you – guys like Bob are just troublemakers.
The question is, how well does a camera that will be obsolescent in 2-3 years have to be built? I remember buying an NEC computer back in the 1980s that was built like a fine Swiss watch. It had a lightning-fast 80286 processor that was state-of-art for maybe a year – could have bought 2 Taiwainese boxes for the same price.
My A7 isn’t built like my M4P or my Canon F1 or my 1960 Nikon F. Each was made to last for the 50+ years that great cameras were once meant to last. Today they are computers that accept lenses – period. The A7 does the job beautifully – heck, my NEX-6 still makes gorgeous 24×36 prints – especially with all my vintage glass, on both cameras.
But the technology will be turning over in cameras like it did in microprocessors a few years back. Why pay for build you have NO chance of getting back when the camera is 2 years old – build that has NO impact on image creation?
As for the A7 shutter button location – gee, mine is right where it is on all those great old 50 year-old cameras! Who knew they were all wrong and “Bob” was the poo-bah of camera design?
Polite with you? I guess they are not very bright then.
It took me the whole of 30 seconds to feel it’s crappiness.
Pentax ASAHI 17mm – A7:
https://500px.com/photo/99156375/
fisheye…
Not necessarily the first… I did post a couple a few days ago taken with A7R (link under your last VM 15mm post) 🙂 But, of course, that was a preproduction sample…
The video looks good, though is kind of cheating since it was in aps-c mode.
I want a 14mm 15mm or 16mm f/4 like this small for my A7S!
I want it to have autofocusing and filter thread.
Sony please! thank you!
Well, I’d be worried if the new optimized version looks bad on the a7s. The real issue is how it looks on the a7r.
I’m thinking Voigtlander was made for A7. 50mm 1.5, 75mm 1.8 and this guy. Think I’m all set. Three and done and still have cash in my pocket for other stupid stuff I don’t need…but will buy. Yippie!