Leica Showcase Voigtlander 50mm F1.5 M-Mount, v2- October 2020 version

[BrianS]

Nickel and Black finish, 43mm filter thread, compact design- reminded me of a Bertele lens from the 1930s.

This lens is compact. It looks to be an Asymmetric design, meaning the front section is probably a loner focal length than the rear. This allows the two sections to be brought close together, like in a Sonnar formula lens. That's a guess on my part. It is compact.

 

[BrianS]

And it is sharp. These are all at F1.5. Quick test- will do more with this lens soon.
Close focus to 0.7m. Aspheric design. This is the multicoated version, a single coated version is available.
This is an 8 element in 7 group lens. I don't trust that many air/glass interfaces to a single coating. If it was a Sonnar- that would be different.

This lens is a winner. I'll be testing against my original LTM Cosina/Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton. That lens is much bigger, 52mm filters.

The focus ring is easily gripped, very smooth, handles well. The aperture ring has wings, making it easy to set by feel.

 

[rayvonn]

Does look a bit like the Sonnar externally but, I’m guessing, with more modern rendering.

 

[BrianS]

The rendering is "smooth", very smooth. Focus is perfect on my M9. With the 50/1.1 and 35/1.2 V1: I needed to build up the cam, those lenses were optimized for the Cosina made film cameras. This lens is optimized for Digital cameras.

I like this lens. It feels vintage, looks vintage, but has modern optics with personality. Well behaved design.

The Museums I normally visit are still shutdown. I need to do a decent walk-around test with this lens.

 

[MoonMind]

I hadn't yet fully appreciated the size of this lens. Very keen on you further findings - this looks very, very interesting.

However, I admit to being a real fan of the older M mount version - it's my favourite 50mm lens, in fact. And I have seen - preliminary - reports of somewhat wild bokeh of the new version, something my Nokton doesn't have to any major extend. But what I see in your test shots doesn't show that at all ... Consider me intrigued.

EDIT: I just took another round of test shots - boring, but instructive; the 50mm f/1.5 VM is just the best balanced performer of all the M mount 50mm I own (not that many), even over its f/1.2 stable mate which is, on purely optical terms, superior, but it doesn't render the more pleasing image, nor is it considerably sharper wide open (if anything, the much older f/1.5 is at least as sharp). I know that's an unfair comparison, and the - much bigger and heavier - f/1.2 is a really solid performer and more versatile, but it doesn't *outshine* the f/1.5. Interestingly, I time and again prefer both Voigtländer lenses over the otherwise very reliable Summicron-M. That lens certainly isn't a lot sharper wide open (again, from what I'm seeing in my totally unscientific testing, the f/1.5 holds its own against the legendary Leica lens), and its rendering is less attractive, though really nice for an f/2 lens. I'm beginning to suspect that I wouldn't have to regret selling on the Summicron ...

Again, should the new f/1.5 version equal or even outperform its predecessor, that'd be a major feat! Looking forward to the comparison! It might also be the death knell for the Summicron in my kit since the f/1.5 II is smaller than even the superbly compact Leica lens ...

Besides, I now own another wonderfully satisfying 50mm f/2

M.

 

[BrianS]

The Bokeh of this lens reminds me of the classic Nikkor 10.5cm F2.5: under-corrected for spherical aberration, and a hint of astigmatism. The latter- common in lenses that are highly corrected for flatness of field. The new lens is better corrected for spherical aberration.

More images- most wide-open. In the one outing- no hint of wild bokeh. Bokeh is subjective, but wild- would be evident. "Wild" would show up with a lens used wide-open, focused close, and with structure in the background. These are wide-open.

Most of these images are up-close at 0.7m, and wide-open. This is where the out-of-focus areas are at an extreme- really pushes the design.
This lens is well behaved.

 

[BrianS]

JUST FOR COMPARISON!

Summarit 50/1.5, wide-open.

Summar 5cm F2 Wide-Open,

And a Sonnar 5cm F2, wide-open.

 

[MoonMind]

The Bokeh of this lens reminds me of the classic Nikkor 10.5cm F2.5: under-corrected for spherical aberration, and a hint of astigmatism. The latter- common in lenses that are highly corrected for flatness of field. The new lens is better corrected for spherical aberration.

More images- most wide-open. In the one outing- no hint of wild bokeh. Bokeh is subjective, but wild- would be evident. "Wild" would show up with a lens used wide-open, focused close, and with structure in the background. These are wide-open.View attachment 240418View attachment 240419View attachment 240420View attachment 240421View attachment 240422View attachment 240423View attachment 240424

Most of these images are up-close at 0.7m, and wide-open. This is where the out-of-focus areas are at an extreme- really pushes the design.
This lens is well behaved.

Very nice, and indeed very smooth. Though I guess I see what people have been referring to: There's a swirl (depending on the background), and there can be green outlining. However, I personally really like what I see; looking forward to the comparison

M.

 

[BrianS]

The green outlining/ color fringing: the sensor is completely saturated as it is pointed into the Sun. I attribute this more to the sensor array reacting to the pathological case for lighting.

With astigmatism and footballs: more common in lenses that have little field curvature. Sonnars tend to have a high degree of field curvature, the Nikkor 10.5cm F2.5 is an exception.

Nikkor 10.5cm F2.5, wide-open. As an example of Footballs in a Sonnar.

 

[MoonMind]

The green outlining/ color fringing: the sensor is completely saturated as it is pointed into the Sun. I attribute this more to the sensor array reacting to the pathological case for lighting.

With astigmatism and footballs: more common in lenses that have little field curvature. Sonnars tend to have a high degree of field curvature, the Nikkor 10.5cm F2.5 is an exception.

Nikkor 10.5cm F2.5, wide-open. As an example of Footballs in a Sonnar.
View attachment 240436

As always, very helpful and instructive! Thanks for the assessment.

M.

 

[BrianS]

Both wide-open at F1.5.
No filter.
Very heavy overcast today.
Nokton-M 50/1.5, V2.
The color fringing coming off the Leaf- I suspect is IR leakage on the M9. I'll try with a UV/IR blocking filter later.
CCD's are much more sensitive to IR than newer CMOS sensors. It's more than the cover glass used: bigger and deeper pixels are more sensitive to IR. Infrared tends to get absorbed deeper in the sensor.

 

[BrianS]

Pairs of images, F1.5 and F4

 

[BrianS]

At F4, the second image is a 100% crop to show edges.