Leica Showcase Voigtländer 50 f/3.5 Heliar VM

mike3996

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Finland
This nice little lens is so cute and tiny. And the rendering is very good as well -- thanks to its slow maximum aperture, it's very easy to work with. And me being never a fifty guy and a 28/35 mm shooter for a long time, the jump into 50 was suspiciously smooth...

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A couple of really tight crops (~ 2 MP) of a friend. The second day with the lens and some fresh paths to walk about, realised I could have used a 35 in a couple of spots. But these squirrel shots are better with a lens of longer reach!

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What an awful, awful scene and a most poor composition. I'm not feeling well if I look at the big picture. But at the same time, I can't resist showing how much the lens has microcontrast wide open...

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Maybe a closer crop to combat file size limitations...

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Thank you for kind words. I don't tend to think when I shoot (as such, I everything I do right is pure fool's luck) but maybe during crop phase I subconsciously found the two-and-two-tone composition most aesthetic, and stripped everything else away.

This lens is going places. I've been shooting it wide open for some time now and the performance is just unreal.

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Thank you for kind words. I don't tend to think when I shoot (as such, I everything I do right is pure fool's luck) but maybe during crop phase I subconsciously found the two-and-two-tone composition most aesthetic, and stripped everything else away.

This lens is going places. I've been shooting it wide open for some time now and the performance is just unreal.

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The only time I've used mine other than wide open has been for landscapes. I really enjoy the lens' rendering, it's sharp, but smooth. (If that makes any sense to anyone other than me.) Another one of a couple of lenses I really need to shoot more.
 
Having shot this exclusively during this July I'm almost growing bored of the ultra contrasty presentation it puts out. Almost. From picture to picture, everything always shows in brutal detail. :) Will probably affect my future decisions about lenses -- for example, perhaps a vintage Leica instead of a sharp Zeiss.

For the sake of a showcase (show-off), here's one scene shot wide open and a blow-up of the center.

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Heliar rides again! Given its slow aperture I've been shooting other lenses meanwhile. It's been gorgeous out there today so I took mine for a stroll.

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The rendering is so wonderful, and this lens truly takes the aperture out of the equation. Leave it wide open and you'll get plenty of DOF shooting afar and pleasant blur when focused close.

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Narrow crop from another pic of the same scene.
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