Voigtlander 21mm f4 VM Colour Skopar Lens Black

I am in the process of selling this lens in favor of the Zeiss 18mm f/4, yet still I have a very high opinion of it.Here's the good:-This lens is very sharp. Central sharpness is great even wide open at f/4. Stopped down to f/8, sharpness across the frame is competitive with the 21mm Summilux (which I tried on loan) in a 13x19" print from my Canon PIXMA Pro-100. Unlike the Summilux, there is little to no purple fringing with the Color Skopar.-There is little distortion. A bit of barrel. Again, comparable to the Leicas in this respect.-It's crazy small and light. Half the weight of the f/3.4 Super Elmar.-It's inexpensive. Only 14% of the Super Elmar price.-It has excellent build quality, a small, built-in hood, and takes regular 39mm filters-It has a minimum focus distance of just 0.5mNow for the bad:-It's has less edge sharpness than the Leica lenses - noticeable when viewing at high magnification from close up on screen or in large prints-It has color shift and vignetting that are not automatically corrected by the camera. Note that you can use the 21mm f/2.8 code for pretty decent results, or you can use a third party solution (Adobe Lightroom Flat Field plugin or Cornerfix) for perfect correction. I use the Lightroom plugin from Adobe, and it corrects these issues as well as they are corrected by the camera for my Leica lenses.Bottom line: Highly recommended 21mm lens for the money.

This lens if fantastic. It performs really well, but where it really shines is in how compact it is. I'm used to F/4 lenses because I also have a mamiya 7II, and honestly I'd rather have quality over speed more of the time anyway. This thing easily fits in a pocket, and it's 21mm....just an awesome value. I wish Leica made something this cool.

Depending on the camera I'm using, I would give 2-3 stars. I ended up returning the lens+ Light+ Small+ Feels well+ Focusses good+ Can produce nice colors and sunstars+ Sharp+ Low price for an M Mount lens- Heavy vignetting and color shift, especially on my full frame M9 (see pictures of the sky as well as a white wall), but even recognizable on my 1.3-Crop-Sensor M8. I prefer not having to correct it excessively

This is a great little wide angle lens.It fits my Leica CL (with adapter) perfectly and the lens feels natural in hand.I have used it twice now and have been blown lver by the quality of the images it produces. (Even my bad pictures have a nice quality!) It is sharp and everything works like a dream.The package arrived on time and the package was as stated.I will buy from this seller again!(EDIT NOVEMBER 2022)I've been usimg this lens for about a year now and find that I am not using it as often as I had thought.The focal length is good for street photography, but the focus throw is loooong. It is not a fast lens, but still looks good in dim situations. I was told it is a copy of a much older zeiss lens. I would still buy it, as it is great for shooting in daylight. but there are faster options in this focal length that would be better for darker scenes.

This lens is almost exactly what I hoped for. I bought this for my fujifilm x-pro2 and the only complaint is that it doesn’t focus as close as I had hoped. It could be my choice in the adapter (fujifilm brand, Leica m to Fuji x), but the things I like about it quickly outweigh the one thing I don’t. First off, the lens has a vibe to it. It’s a very small, but not extremely light lens. The build quality and ergonomics feel and look amazing. It slows me down even more when I shoot with it (because of the manual focusing) which is good for my intentions with this lens. I bought it to be my “23” focal length and wanted something odd or unique instead the fujifilm 23mm options. I do a lot of work where my subjects are still, or controlled/anticipated movement so the manual focus is no issue and adds a bit more intention to the photograph.

Yes, limited to f/4 but with a focal length like this it sucks in light. I don't have an issue when using it for what it purchased it for, mainly street and documentary type images. At f/8 or f/11 it's zone focus perfection... set it correctly and never have to worry, you're covered from about 3 feet to infinity. Critical focus will give you even better results and at f/4 with good distance separation you'll get pleasing bokeh. For architecture it's pretty distortion free but gets even better with a little post image correction. Best aspect of this lens besides it's image quality is its size (it's tiny) and build quality (not Leica quality but damn close). I shoot this on film cameras, mainly Leica... M6, M4, and M3's. With a .72 viewfinder I never need a external VF as the entire view is approx 20-ish mm. I frame following the parallax correction of the VF focus patch for the M3 or M4. On the M6 it pulls up 28mm and I use them for guidance in framing on this body quite effectively. . In this manner you get just a little more real estate on the final image. If critical I'd spend the 200$ for the VF but with street or most anything with this lens I'm usually not even raising the camera to my eye. Only for portraits and then framing as described works perfectly. I highly recommend this lens for film. I've used this on my M10 but with digital some of the imperfections of design don't play well with modern sensor design, mainly smearing in the corners.

This is now my goto lens for travel photography and video. Great results. Worth every cent.