p.33 #7 · Official: Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 III E-mount
Okay from what I'm seeing the CV 15 is maybe the best bad copy yet. It's only smearing at the very last extreme corner. Still not as a good Choppy one would be but not terrible. The Batis 18 no smearing but your focus might be off slightly so losing resolution is my guess. The Batis is a hard lens to focus as it was like my 25 you really have to work it. Worth another test and try focusing on the corner. We have yet to see a bad 18mm so I'm going with the odds thinking it's good but focus might be ever so slightly off.
There is a question you have to ask yourself and that is do the very extreme corners matter that much. Normally your upper corners in a landscape type shot is sky and lower is dirt 6 feet in front of you. A shot like this may not matter. Just a random thought to think about but I would try again on the 15 but the 18 it looks okay just focus maybe a touch off. Fred knows this lens better than me so his opinion on the 18 would be more valid. But I think that's what's going on
p.33 #9 · Official: Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 III E-mount
GMPhotography wrote:
Okay from what I'm seeing the CV 15 is maybe the best bad copy yet. It's only smearing at the very last extreme corner. Still not as a good Choppy one would be but not terrible. The Batis 18 no smearing but your focus might be off slightly so losing resolution is my guess. The Batis is a hard lens to focus as it was like my 25 you really have to work it. Worth another test and try focusing on the corner. We have yet to see a bad 18mm so I'm going with the odds thinking it's good but focus might be ever so slightly off.
There is a question you have to ask yourself and that is do the very extreme corners matter that much. Normally your upper corners in a landscape type shot is sky and lower is dirt 6 feet in front of you. A shot like this may not matter. Just a random thought to think about but I would try again on the 15 but the 18 it looks okay just focus maybe a touch off. Fred knows this lens better than me so his opinion on the 18 would be more valid. But I think that's what's going on...Show more →
Thanks for your feedback! Ok, I will test the Batis again. It could be due to the fact that it was little windy when I did the test on the Batis. Hopefully, I am not the first to get the bad copy of the Batis since I like it.
p.33 #10 · Official: Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 III E-mount
WOW! I sent my Voigtlander 15/4.5 III Sony FE- Mount ASPH Super Wide Heliar lens back on Friday with USPS and already got the refund from CameraQuest. Many thanks to Stephen Gandy indeed! Thank you.
So, playing this round of the lens roulette cost me $21 for insurance and postage.
Stephen Gandy and CameraQuest are not the problem.
They suffer from the poor CV QC as we do.
p.33 #12 · Official: Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 III E-mount
My CV 15mm (not the newest release) is pretty close to the Leica Wate. I do not see the same problems posted above. Now I was planning on selling the WATE and had a buyer but I am not likely to sell. At f8, the WATE is a little better in the corners and edges but not a huge difference. The CV has a lot more fringing and CA. At 21mm the Leica just is so great corner to corner. So that is why i am likely to keep it..
p.33 #13 · Official: Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 III E-mount
I would like to have a WATE for sure but I just can't get to the pricing. Now with all this, looks like I'll never get one. Lol
I would have to sell or trade the Cv 15 and reluctantly my Loxia 21. Than I'm still short 1500 dollars. Stupid me I helped make the WATE famous years ago. Lol
p.33 #14 · Official: Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 III E-mount
GMPhotography wrote:
I would like to have a WATE for sure but I just can't get to the pricing. Now with all this, looks like I'll never get one. Lol
I would have to sell or trade the Cv 15 and reluctantly my Loxia 21. Than I'm still short 1500 dollars. Stupid me I helped make the WATE famous years ago. Lol
Hi Guy,
Some of us decided not to get the Sony FE 16-35mm and bought the WATE instead. We saved ourselves the roulette of not getting a good FE 16-35, didn't purchase the Loxia 21mm, didn't purchase the CV 15mm III, and won't purchase the Batis 18mm. Ultimately we saved the headaches of also gettng a good Loxia 21mm, a good CV15mm III, and a good Batis 18mm. So, we saved on the merry-go-round of trying to get good copies and may well have paid less or only a bit more than those that purchased and decided to keep several of the mentioned Sony, Zeiss, and CV lenses. Plus we have benefitted from having a smaller and lighter package in a single lens.
p.33 #15 · Official: Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 III E-mount
I see the CV as a great option for anyone looking for a portable ultra wide angle lens. Most of the slight smearing copies (not the few very bad copies) we see will work 90%+ of the time in the field and with in a few cases with some slight cropping. It isn't a Leica or a Zeiss but for the price it really is a good value. Anyone looking at this lens for both the portability and value factors should keep this mind as they pixel peep these extreme corners
I ordered a WATE and it will arrive tomorrow. I'm very interested in seeing how it compares to my FE 16-35, CV 15 III M, and Loxia 21. I won't sell the Loxia 21 as I have all 3 Loxia's and will buy whatever focal length comes out next (hoping for a 15mm, or 100mm). The CV 15 III is still a nice portable lens with very decent IQ. I'm thinking about keeping my M version until we find out if a Loxia 15mm is coming or not. I have the Batis 2/25 and 1.8/85 but will be putting them both up for sale on the B/S today as I have decided to go with the Loxia line and the WATE for small manual focus lenses. I've got the FE 24-70 f/2.8 GM and ordered this morning the 85 f/1.4 GM. I figure go with the Sony G and GM lenses for my zoom and autofocus lenses.
We have so many great options today as we build our kits for various types of shooting!
p.33 #16 · Official: Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 III E-mount
Oh I agree a lot of the lenses where not out either so it was a excellent choice for sure. Yea if you do the math on all three new it's about the same as buying a used WATE at around 3600 or so. Maybe I can sell my A6300 after this week and work on it. Will see
Nice part all three at 67mm . Right where I use filters.
p.33 #17 · Official: Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 III E-mount
Chuck you will love the zoom and the 85. Your new kit is what I would like to get too. WATE ,24-70 85,Loxia 21 love to keep, Loxia 50 and my CV 35 1.7
One lens I can sell is the Rokinon 135 even though great it's a temp fix.i could get there just need to sell a lot of stuff but love to see more tests on it. Can one rent a WATE anywhere. Like to test it out
Seriously if anyone wants to do some horse trading let me know
p.33 #20 · Official: Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 III E-mount
Well, I have Choppy and a WATE and did some tests yesterday with the TechArt Pro LM-EA7 adapter. Of course, I am aware that AF introduces new variables into the comparison. However, I can also use the adapter in manual mode and replace the AF variability with that of my aging eyes.
The comparison I did yesterday reminded me of the comparisons hiepphotog and I did of many rangefinder lenses, including my WATE, on my stock A7r2 and a Kolari modified version 2 with thinner sensor cover glass, let's refer to that as A7r2.mod2.
We got the best corner performance of the WATE with the A7r2.mod2. The disadvantage of the A7r2.mod2 is that it can lead to inferior performance with native WA FE lenses. The thicker sensor cover glass of the stock A7r2 is also the reason the WATE has to be stopped down to f/8 before its extreme corner performance catches up to that of Choppy. Choppy doesn't exhibit that feature. Its extreme corner performance is excellent from f/4.5 on and, if at all, only improves insignificantly at f/8 aside from DoF gain, whereas my WATE improved its extreme corner performance significantly.
I want to repeat my adapter comparisons more carefully before I go into details.
