Fred Miranda wrote:
Is the CV 50/2.2 that popular in Tokyo?
It was I stock in many stores after launch for a week or two but now it's out of stock / backordered everywhere (including online stores across Japan). I don't know how big volumes were supplied at launch but it seems to have been a pretty good seller. It must be partly thanks to reasonable pricing at ~66K yen as lower priced CV rangefinder lenses are always their long term bestsellers in Japan.
Juha Kannisto wrote:
It was I stock in many stores after launch for a week or two but now it's out of stock / backordered everywhere (including online stores across Japan). I don't know how big volumes were supplied at launch but it seems to have been a pretty good seller. It must be partly thanks to reasonable pricing at ~66K yen as lower priced CV rangefinder lenses are always their long term bestsellers in Japan.
I expected this lens to be as popular in Japan as it is here in the US. There aren't many compact 50mm lenses that offer this level of image quality, especially at this price.
That's the one and they did mention that the 50 2.2's were not available online so you might try calling or just take the train out there. The first floor has the cameras and lenses.
I just received my silver copy today. It is surprisingly light, but very good looking and tiny for the focal length/aperture. Though I wish CV took less of a conical design approach (as most, I appreciate the current Leica design language).
The vignette at 2.2 is fairly strong but manageable.
Looking forward to getting some time with it and seeing where it goes.
polylepis wrote:
That's the one and they did mention that the 50 2.2's were not available online so you might try calling or just take the train out there. The first floor has the cameras and lenses.
Thanks again! I just visited the store and found that they had 2 units of 50/2.2 (Silver only) at the shop and I bought one of them. I was planning to get a black one but I can go with Silver as well. I'm on my way to check out an event at Harajuku and don't have my mount adapter with me so I'll start shooting with it later this weekend
The shop has pretty good selection of CV glass and same prices as Map Camera & Fujiya Camera and it's one stop from Nakano station (where Fujiya Camera is located) so I'll keep an eye on them as one of the good options for CV glass in the future as well.
I'm glad that worked out! It's a small suburban shop so I wonder: did their eyebrows raise ever so slightly when the second foreigner walked in for that lens? Nice folks and a bit reluctant to sell at first because they lacked a demo for me to try.
polylepis wrote:
I'm glad that worked out! It's a small suburban shop so I wonder: did their eyebrows raise ever so slightly when the second foreigner walked in for that lens? Nice folks and a bit reluctant to sell at first because they lacked a demo for me to try.
They do have "Japan Tax Free" option for foreign tourists according to their website so I suppose they would get foreign customers every now and then too even though they are probably not so well known by travelers...
I saw 2 male staff at the shop when I went there, and I was serviced by an elderly man. I first checked their sizeable Voigtländer section and saw one of the 50/2.2 Color-Skopar lenses in a box there with label for Silver version and asked if they had any in Black. They checked the other box hiding behind it as well and it was silver too. They mentioned about Cosina having some kind of shortage of supply specifically for the black version of the lens. I asked to confirm the price and told them I'd buy the silver version and they were nice and polite indeed and I didn't have any trouble making the purchase. I spoke with them only in Japanese so didn't really find out how they would handle English speaking customers. Would be happy to buy again from there in the future when there's an opportunity. I usually buy from Map or Fujiya Camera but this shop could be a useful place to check especially when I'm looking for a lens that's out of stock in the other shops again.
I enjoyed shooting the lens today at Koenji where they had a big annual Awaodori festival this weekend. It was way too crowded for the actual event so I didn't really take photos of the Awaodori performances and didn't even see them, but I enjoyed taking regular street scenery photos there with my A7CII and the new lens and I enjoyed some street festival food & drink.
Photos mostly at f8 and f2. I did my usual PP on most of them but several flower photos were just exported through C1 Pro without any processing as I liked the original colors as they were: https://photos.app.goo.gl/7dKc3k37wbNaEzd39
I'm impressed with how sharp the lens is wide open at minimum focus distance and I like the bokeh rendering quite a bit too. Hard infinity is perfectly aligned with my Rayqual adapter.
That's awesome Juha, thanks! I was waiting for these. I guess that clears up any/all hesitation for me. I even like the aesthetics of the flaring.
Since you're using it on the same body I would, I have a couple of specific questions for you. Do you find you always need to punch in to focus, or can you rely on peaking alone, using the EVF? Wide open, and at f8..?
What are your overall impressions of the ergos of the lens on the A7cII? Since it's very small, do you find you need to "reach" for it too much, to focus?
My last question is a bit off topic.. do you remember if the last photo was outside a denim shop or something..? The figure looks remarkably like the one the japanese brand Momotaro use on their jeans patch, and other branding. I'm very into japanese raw denim clothing, so I'd love to know more, if you have any info.
Juha Kannisto wrote:
They do have "Japan Tax Free" option for foreign tourists according to their website so I suppose they would get foreign customers every now and then too even though they are probably not so well known by travelers...
I saw 2 male staff at the shop when I went there, and I was serviced by an elderly man. I first checked their sizeable Voigtländer section and saw one of the 50/2.2 Color-Skopar lenses in a box there with label for Silver version and asked if they had any in Black. They checked the other box hiding behind it as well and it was silver too. They mentioned about Cosina having some kind of shortage of supply specifically for the black version of the lens. I asked to confirm the price and told them I'd buy the silver version and they were nice and polite indeed and I didn't have any trouble making the purchase. I spoke with them only in Japanese so didn't really find out how they would handle English speaking customers. Would be happy to buy again from there in the future when there's an opportunity. I usually buy from Map or Fujiya Camera but this shop could be a useful place to check especially when I'm looking for a lens that's out of stock in the other shops again.
I enjoyed shooting the lens today at Koenji where they had a big annual Awaodori festival this weekend. It was way too crowded for the actual event so I didn't really take photos of the Awaodori performances and didn't even see them, but I enjoyed taking regular street scenery photos there with my A7CII and the new lens and I enjoyed some street festival food & drink.
Photos mostly at f8 and f2. I did my usual PP on most of them but several flower photos were just exported through C1 Pro without any processing as I liked the original colors as they were: https://photos.app.goo.gl/7dKc3k37wbNaEzd39
I'm impressed with how sharp the lens is wide open at minimum focus distance and I like the bokeh rendering quite a bit too. Hard infinity is perfectly aligned with my Rayqual adapter....Show more →
I'm glad you were able to find a copy! These samples are lovely, as usual, Juha. The colors are slightly more vivid than usual, which I really like.
