From the Hip: cv 21/4 and ricoh gxr m

[rbelyell]

ive bought and sold the cv 15/4.5, 25/4 and 35/1.4, and i'm selling the 75/2.5. but THIS lens is going to stay for a long while! i love the IQ and i love it for street work as its tiny and easily hyperfocused at f8 for 'from the hip' shooting. static scenes shot through evf. c&c welcome.

[sichko]

They look good.

[Orio]

Nice series, and great choice of lenses! Those Voigtländers are really great value for the money!
Even after I got the Biogon 25, I am keeping the Snapshot-Skopar, because it's so tiny and unobtrusive,
yet takes images that at f/8 can really rival the Biogon for the sharpness.

I also use the wide lenses in the same way that you do for street shooting, but I use 25 or 28 mm,
the 21 is too wide for me and I always end up with lots of needless stuff at the edges, forcing me to crop.
One day I hope to get used to using the 35, but you really need care in holding the camera with a 35 because
the risk of cutting out parts of subject becomes high, especially if you like to shoot near the subjects.

[rbelyell]

thank you both! it is a stunning lens. i am amazed at the depth and framewide clarity it has, and also very little distortion. ive always coveted the biogon 21/2.8, but outside of the extra speed, i am now unsure what it can add that im not getting with the cv at 1/3 the price.

orio: yes, you are right, it is a little wide, but it works much better on my gxr than any other wide ive used that i just deal with the cropping. there is such good resolution i feel it doesnt at all degrade the IQ. if i need to get closer i bring along my nikkor 35/2.5 which is the same tiny size and easily carried in a pocket.
tony

[Attila]

Good work, nice , crisp images !

[rbelyell]

thank you attila. i'm enjoying it.

[kds315*]

I cannot more than agree. Great series Tony!

[rbelyell]

thank you klaus!

[hoanpham]

great series.
the heliar 15mm is my fav too. it's so tiny and can bring anywhere...

[Rick1779]

Actually I swapped my 21 with the 15mm cause the 21 wasn't wide enough
But I love and loved both lenses

[rbelyell]

thanks guys.

hoan and rick: actually the 15 did not work for me. i personally see a big difference in resolution between the 15 and the 21. maybe i had a bad copy of the 15, but its rendering was disappointing to me.

omar: the ricoh is awesome. focusing is easy, its extremely compact and well built. it has a system of microlenses designed soecifically to work with rf lenses, so if you shoot rf and dont want to shell out the money for a leica, the ricoh is the way to go.

[Jesito]

Tony.

Same feeling about the 15mm, I've tested two copies, looking mint both, but non puzzling results from any of them on the GXR
But in the NEX they gave much better results, don't know what may happen. Even the Samsung 16mm on the NX1000 gave much better results.

Which mount was it?. L39 with adapter or M?.

Thanks for sharing, the 21mm samples are really outstanding. And you're right with your assessment: the GXR is superb for use with RF lenses.

[rbelyell]

thanks jes. i had the 15 in ltm mount. ive read that the 15 and 25 protrude too much for proper rendering with some cameras. for example the 25 was great on my old ep2, but mediocre on my gxr. ive seen shots from the 15 on an rd1 that look far better than what i was getting on my gxr. go figure!
tony

[kuuan]

very convincing samples with the CV21, nice series Tony, you are tempting me much to look out for this lens.

However I have been puzzled that you have not liked your CV 4.5/15, 4/25 and 1.4/35, more so now because Jesito also says he didn't like the CV15 on the GXR M. I have been very happy with both the CV15 and 25 on the GXR M, specially the CV15 is much better on the GXR M than on the NEX5N, have no experience using it on Samsung and m4/3 though

excuse me for hijacking this thread, but I am really curious about what you think: this is e.g. a pic I took with the CV 15 on the GXR M this afternoon, resized and sharpened

and an unsharpened 100% crop


I find it ok for a 15mm on APS-C, but is it that I am satisfied where I should not, should I expect better?

btw. I am also curious, Orio, when you say 21mm is too wide, is this on APS-C or on FF Leica M9?

[rbelyell]

your samples look good to me. but honestly, its very hard for me to compare a web posting to what i see or saw from the lens directly. i found it lacked the clarity throughout the frame that i personally wanted and was getting from other lenses on the gxr. i am also a pixel peeper, and i wasnt happy woth what i peeped! but you should not be concerned what i or anyone else thinks, as long as youre happy and making images that please you, thats all you should want!
tony