Leica Showcase Voigtländer 50 f/3.5 Heliar VM

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There's the medium format feeling again...


Edit 11 months later. I obviously edited the file too hot to show anything meaningful. Here's a tamer process with Rawtherapee and some 1:1 detail crops.

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I am pretty much breathless with the performance of this lens. The grass is 3D, you can't convince me otherwise.

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Crop of the above. I prefocused to the railing and waited for a suitable victim to appear. I got one where she's in focus but nothing beats a smiler. :)

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Some people wonder: "Yes -- this lens is sharp and all. But wouldn't the other quality fifties be equally sharp at f/3.5 and upwards?"

I have to personally conclude that yes, they are sharp but no fifty I've shot can render like this while being equally sharp. Sharpness at focus and the pleasantly MF-like bokeh along with transitions.

Throw in the lightweight build and ease of use, this is a fine fifty indeed.

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I enjoy this lens as well.
Not that I already have a vast collection but this is a link to the selection : Search
No full seized image files I'm afraid.

I also learned a valuable lesson with this lens on film :rolleyes: :
f/3.5 is rather dim
In my "film days" I was so used to have a fast lens on the camera that I didn't think about that anymore, even on a dim day with a slow film.
On digital, f/3.5 is not an issue either but it was a real wakeup call last winter going out with this lens and a 100 ISO film :doh:.
No problem of course since it was only a walk in our area.
 
Quite anecdotally when I'm out in the bright daylight shooting my Summicron 35 and the Heliar on the side, it's the Heliar that always feels super fast because I don't slow it down at all whereas I like to rest the Summicron at f/8 when I cannot use f/2.

I would change the lenses from Summicron to the Heliar and get a blown picture the first shot: whoa slow down you speed demon.
 
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