Re: VOIGTLANDER HELIAR

[petermarshall@xxxxxxxxx (Peter Marshall)]

> A friend of mine had one and he said the results were very good, and 
> this lens is giving the Zeiss Hologon an apparent run for its money! 
> 
> Personally I believe it is still better to shoot in 6x9 format with a 
> 47mm super angulon! Or with a 38mm Biogon Hasselblad wide camera.
> 
> 
> 
I've been using one for about a month. Absolutely superb quality. 

I'm amazed every time I look at the pictures. I keep saying it is 
impossible to make a 15mm with so little distortion or image fall-off - it 
is sharp and pretty evenly illuminated into the corners - no noticeable 
falloff at all with b/w - not tried on colour transparency though. 

In fact I just put a ruler along the edge of a building in one of the few 
architectural pictures I've done and it shows zero distortion. Interesting 
perspective of course. The viewfinder does show enough distortion to make 
it a little difficult to get things absolutely upright (its still pretty 
good) and for some types of work a spirit level would be handy, but that's 
no criticism of this lens.

Someone I know took one on his Leica on a visit to Solms and reported one 
or two raised eyebrows, and also that Leitz have apparently tested this 
lens and are somewhat disturbed that a range of lenses of this quality 
will be available at such low prices.

I'd rate it clearly superior to the Super Angulon or the Biogon as a lens, 
but for some uses the larger formats would of course have an advantage. 

The horizontal angle of view is about 100 degrees. 

At the price its an incredible bargain. 

Peter Marshall
Photography guide at About.com       http://photography.about.com/
email: photography.guide@xxxxxxxxx
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