Optical shop on S. Congress.
In the first week of January a commenter asked me if I had ever tried using the Voigtlander 75mm f1.9 VM (meaning Voigtlander for M) lens that was launched last year. It had never dawned on me to try. But after nosing around on the web and looking at various combinations of MF cameras and 35mm format lenses I decided I'd go a super nerd and give it a try. The lens is very small and light and it works well on the intended format (24 by 36 mm) but I had misgivings about its ability to shine across a bigger slab of sensor.
A while back I'd bought a TTArtisan M to GFX adapter so .... what the hell? In actual practice the camera dwarfs the lens. But that's fine since it also cuts down on both the weight and the overall size of the package. The adapter was a good fit on both ends and so off we go.
The weather during the day I decided to do this grand experiment was gray and overcast. Chilly but not uncomfortable if you dress for it. I did my usual walk through downtown, came home for lunch and then went out again for a walk on South Congress Ave. later.
Since the lens has no electronic connects to the camera and is completely manual in all respects I had to work with it a bit differently than I would with a dedicated GFX lens. I wanted to use the black and white formula for Tri-X so I imput that. The one "clerical" error which some overly diligent reader will no doubt discover is that I didn't change focal length setting in the manual lens set-up menu in the camera. In the exif it will read as a VM 58 which is the reference I've set up for a profile to use with the 58mm f1.4 lens from the same company. Please note that if you are one of the people who enjoy getting a lot of use out of your red pen.
Once I had the camera mostly set up I aimed it at an evenly lit nine foot stretch of white seamless paper to see how bad the vignetting might be. The far corners were very, very dark. I decided to use a crop frame and chose 6:5 instead of 3:2. That trims the corners a bit but I decided to leave off making vignetting corrections in post so you can see exactly how the camera acts with this lens.
It's fun to shoot with this set up. The lens is quite sharp in the center of the frame, even when used at or near the maximum aperture. Since my fastest native GFX lens hits its limits at f3.5 it was nice to be able to mess with even shallower depth of field with the 75mm used at f1.9, f2.0 and f2.8. You'll see samples below.
The Fuji is a fun camera to use in that it's reasonably sized for a camera with a larger sensor and it also has really good in body image stabilization; even with non-auto lenses. The finder is big and bright and, if you want to be all Super Sneaky the rear LCD can be used as a waist level finder.
When you use a non-communicative lens you'll find good focus peaking which gets even better if your whole photo is in black and white but the focus peaking indicators are a bright color. Me? I like red. To get the best focus out of the lens I suggest pressing in on the rear dial (which is also a button) and using the image magnification feature. It works very well.
I didn't have a particular agenda in my outings but I did feel more comfortable with the camera than ever before. The one change I'll make before I use the Tri-X profile again is to turn down the grain effect in the formula. I think it's a bit over the top. Just a thought.
So, if you can deal with the vignetting you might find the 75mm lens a good, fun addition to the GFX toy box. I do. And it makes me want to try out the Voigtlander 90mm f2.8 Ultron as well. That gets me a bit further into the portrait range but it duplicates what I already have with the (dreadfully heavy) TTArtisan 90mm f1.2. Might want to get rid of the big one and get the smaller VM. Who knows?
Take a peek at the pix and a gander at the captions. Fun with photography.
Austin photographer outfitted for mild winter weather.
See how tiny that lens is? Weird, yeah?
Latté at Jo's Coffee on S. Congress. At the edge of the lens's close focusing range.
I think this is an ashtray. It's been so many years since I've been around people who smoke while drinking coffee. 20 years from now I doubt young people will be able to identify it.
It does have a very utilitarian design.
Austin restaurants are nearly overrun by these metal chairs.
Doesn't mean I don't like em. Just, well....they're everywhere.
Some day, when I win the Texas State Lottery I'm going to buy one of
the Stetson "Open Road" hats. Just to have one. Just to better remember
Lyndon Baines Johnson. Just to have a two season hat for a one and a half season
state. But I sure like the way they look in photos.
Used boots. Who thought there would be a whole industry around them.
Found in a casual men's shop. Multiple copies for sale.
Such an odd thing to pair with slacker jeans and flannel shirts.
So strange to have flannel shirts in central Texas.
Sexual politics in a window display...
Ah. The female gaze.
rules to follow or just more fantasy?
Nice bokeh.
Claimed and then claimed again. Does someone have a contract?
Cars. Weird. Not one I'd pick out. Even with my lottery winnings...
And the Subaru Forester has a lot more cargo space...
That's my current take on the Voigtlander 75mm when paired with
the Fuji GFX 50Sii.
Hope you liked it.
Flirting mannequins!
ReplyDeleteWindow drama at its best!!!
ReplyDeleteI don’t know… I don’t mind the grain.
ReplyDeletePerhaps it's because I'm a fiction writer, but I suspect the male mannequin was not proposing your standard missionary position. And how have you lured two of us into discussing the sexual impulses of mannequins?
ReplyDeleteIf I understood this blog entry correctly, you're suggesting that a little post-processing of the square images in Lightroom would get rid of the vignetting altogether?
Of course, none of these issues would occur if you had chosen to pop for that Fuji GF 100 F2, which you should have months ago, like all the Serious Photographers. Not to sound like a broken record or anything.
Excellent images. This lens really does shine in black and white.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this series. I have been thinking about the 75mm focal length.
Kirk, as an experiment, I have used the Xpan 90/4 lens on the Fuji MF camera. It works well, covers the sensor, and to my eye, seems to give a more film-like look to the image.
ReplyDeletenot cheap that chromes book i don't think, 2022 reprint is € 480.00 if it's by some freak a copy of the original it might be worth more
ReplyDeleteIsn’t a copy of the original a cotradiction in terms?
ReplyDeleteI could live with that degree with the vignetting.
ReplyDeleteRe the Stetson hats I bought an Open Road back in '82 after getting hooked on their Whippet Fedoras (loosely resembling the Indiana Jones hat).
The Open Road is terrific though I abhor the LBJ style and prefer the Fedora style - which of course they no longer make, sigh. They were terrifically expensive then especially if you opted for the heavyweight 10x beaver (no idea what why go for now) but then I was a bachelor at the time and working out of Manhattan. I'd say buy it and enjoy, life is short.
Loving these B&W images from the Fuji. That lens is a winner too.
ReplyDeleteEric
(hey it's warmed up! It's only -34C, -43C with windchill in Calgary)
oops. Like a dumbass I left the lens hood on the 75mm while shooting it on the GFX. Since I'm reasonably certain the lens hood is designed to be most efficient with 35mm circles I'm betting that maybe some of the vignetting the lens exhibited could be partially caused by the intrusion of the lens hood. I'll try to get around to testing that hypothesis but until I do the new rule around here is "Never use a lens hood on a 35mm legacy lens when attached to a medium format camera!!!"
ReplyDeleteLovely set of B&W images. I especially like the uncaptioned image of the couple in the café with the woman sitting on the barstool. You have the subject couple bookended by two other couples which gives the shot such pleasing symmetry.
ReplyDelete