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 p.4 #3 · Voigtlander 21mm f/3.5 Color Skopar Review | |
Went out for some "tests." After confirming it was centered - it is - I set out to explore. I'm not a big lens-testing-pixel-peeping sorta fella, and regardless, Fred did an outstanding and thorough job of showing how the lens behaves in certain situations, so I wasn't about to try and re-create a similar test, when the results are already readily available.
I'm not going to be using this lens primarily as a landscape lens, if at all. Now that that is out of the way, you should understand that different applications need different criteria more than others. My main use for this lens is for cramped-quarters interior candid work, both for stills and on a gimbal for video. It'll also be used for street/travel, and as a lightweight, "one-lens carry" lens. I can't tell you what a JOY it was to just walk out my door with no bag. Just this tiny little guy on my a7S with a shoulder strap.
For my purposes, my main concern is close-range performance. I'm also interested in how the OOF areas behave when I won't have control over what's in the frame. Handling and haptics are also VERY important, because I like to be able to pre-focus, just by knocking the throw against infinity and pulling back some. If I do this enough times, the lens will become familiar enough to where I know how far to pull back to get someone in focus at various distances. This is also crucial for candid/street work because, at this wide a FL, even with focus magnify, it's almost impossible to tell where critical focus is based off of the LCD when it's at waist-level. So much easier just to use the focus markings on the barrel.
So here are some shots. The camera used was an a7S, so whether these results will be applicable to anyone's needs... who knows, but here they are. I've also uploaded a .ZIP file containing the raws, in case anyone wants to tinker with them. Be advised that I taped over the electrical contacts, so there will be no EXIF data, but also no sneaky baked-in corrections.
All shots were wide open except for those with obvious sunstars, which were at f/5.6. They get cleaner at f/8, but I'm testing for myself, and I'll be using it mostly between 3.5 and 5.6. There is some vignetting wide open, but I don't care. I intentionally tested some wide-open MFD and >2m shots against busy backgrounds (chain link fence, jagged foliage) and I think it did great. There may be some optical vignetting (aka The Helios Swirl) happening, depending on certain conditions. Love it.
So, final thoughts, then. Perfect? No. As good as I'd hoped it would be? Better, actually. Super happy with it.
Without further ado, here's the folder:
Color Skopar 21mm FE Raw Files
Here are the pics:
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