Voigtlander on Sony Adapter Question

[Ian]

After reading several articles concerning chromatic aberration issues when pairing M lenses to Sony Nex cameras, I'm interested in renting the Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 Heliar to see if that issue persists with the A6000.

However since the rental fee for the M to E adaptor is $30, I don't mind just buying one to have for future lenses.

I'd rather buy quality but I'd also rather not throw money down the toilet. In your collective experience, is the Metabones adapter the one to go with or should I buy a cheaper one?

Here's the adapter in question:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/983732-REG/metabones_mb_lm_e_bm2_leica_m_to_e_mount_nex.html

[Eric Lundquist]

I purchased the Rainbow Imaging adapter for my Voigtlander 40/1.4. Very tight fit with no wobble. I've been very impressed for the price.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003X1A6PC/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Ian]

Out of curiosity, how hard is it to take the Voigtlander lens on and off of the adapter. One blogster said that it was enough of a PITA that he bought a separate adapter for each M lens.

[Eric Lundquist]

At the price that I bought mine I would probably go that route. It's not that difficult to remove but requires more handling of the lens. I only have one M-Mount lens so far :)

[Ian]

Thank you sir! That was tremendously helpful.

[Jacob D]

Ian,

Depending which Voigtlander 15 you buy, you'll need one or TWO adapters. That lens comes in both Leica Thread Mount (aka "LTM") and there is a newer M Mount version. The earlier lens is smaller and lighter, even with the secondary adapter which is required to adapt from LTM to M, you then need a single M to E adapter.

The LTM to M adapter can be a hassle to take on and off. It's also light enough that if you ever ended up with multiple LTM lenses, they could each have their own.

I owned a 15/4.5 and sold for some quick cash (aslo I suspected my lens had a small issue) and will purchase it again as soon as I find a deal on one. Great lens. Chromatic Abberation is not a problem with it, but you're probably talking about the magenta color shift around the perimeter. I have heard this is about like the NEX 5N – it's there but not too bad and only sometimes becomes bothersome. If you do get it please let me know how it performs on the A6000 as I'm considering that as a possible upgrade from my 5N in the future.

Another great Voigtlander lens that you might like is the Lanthar 90. Also in LTM mount (only). For the effective 135mm reach it gives you, it's very light and produces beautiful colors with almost zero chromatic abberation (this time referring to actual abberations, not color shift) as it's an apo-chromat. It has no color shift at all on the NEX.

[Jacob D]

Also, I would buy the best M adapter you can afford. Any small variation with the thickness, being out of plane, or having any play will impact the lens ability to focus. This won't be quite as critical with the ultrawide lens, but if you ever grab another lens it may cause more noticeable results.

The Voigtlander branded M to E adapter is probably one of the better/best you can get.

http://www.cameraquest.com/voigt_adpt_sonye.htm

[Ian]

Thanks Jacob! You've been a great resource and I've perused your blog (among others) more than a few times as I've tried to sort this stuff out.

I'm a sucker for communist era stuff and it's just a matter of time before I buy a couple Soviet LTM lenses just for fun.

Edit to add: I didn't understand the distinction between color shift and aberration. Yes my largest concern is color shift in fringes of the photo with this particular lens.

[Ian]

Some thread drift…

On a hike where you'll take mostly landscape photos with the occasional shot of wildlife, which prime lens/focal length would you keep on your Nex throughout the day? What lenses do you keep in your kit on standby?

With Sony's focus peaking, I'm less leery about using a manual focus lens for the occasional surprise wildlife shot. I expect for a Sony 16mm lens to arrive in the mail any day now but the reviews seem pretty meh and I bought it to use with the Fish Eye and Wide Angle adapters than anything else.

[Jacob D]

Ian,

Chromatic abberation (or "CA") is a specific defect that shows up on high contrast edges, such as leaves against the sky, spectral highlights on water, etc… Usually it looks like purple fringing around the edges of objects.

The "colorshift" issue seen when putting some rangefinder lenses on the NEX cameras is a different issue. It looks more like color vignetting.

The first of the two is a fairly common issue, unless the lens is an apochromat in which case it will virtually eliminate CA's by nature of it's optical design. Anyway it's easy to correct most of the time using the post processing program of your choice. The second of those two is somewhat correctable but takes a little more work and the results can vary.

The CV15 does show some colorshift on the 5N sensor and I've heard the combination of CV15 + a6000 is similar. Most of the time the colorshift is not problematic for me… in scenes with a lot of snow, fog, or otherwise dominated by neutral colors it can become a nuisance.

Overall it's a great lens. Tiny, very sharp, very little distortion, and not much detail smearing in the corners… the colorshift is really the only downside. Compared to the Sony 16… it's a much better lens, but if you're mostly looking at 800px wide images on the web it won't matter much – so shop according to your needs.

[Author]

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