Voigtlander 90mm f2.8 APO Skopar lens for Leica M mount makes an appearance. It gets a warm welcome.

 

Voigtlander makes a lot of very interesting lenses for M mount cameras and I'd be confident in saying that more M camera users end up buying Voigtlander's lens products for their Leica M cameras than they do actual Leica lenses. One of the reasons I circled back and started buying rangefinder digital cameras was due to the impulsive purchase of a stand out VM lens, the 50mm f2.0 APO Lanthar lens for M. Sure, I'd love to have acquired the Leica equivalent but the current cost of a Leica 50mm APO is $9095 USD while the Voigtlander is just $1,000. After having used the Voigtlander version on an SL2 and, as intended, on an M240 I can't imagine that the eight thousand dollar difference would be worth it considering how I use cameras and lenses (mostly handheld) and what my final targets are for the images I would generate (mostly web-centric). Both lenses are critically sharp at even the widest apertures and while I would guess that they have different "looks" I would also feel confident saying that the differences would be slim. At least to me.

When it comes to lenses I think a lot of the value lies in the subjective appreciation of the user. It's like the differences in discernment between various wine enthusiasts. Under perfect conditions I might be able to appreciate more positive flavors and characteristics from a $50 bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon but I'm certain that anything more expensive would be lost on me. And, with good food and good company I can be just as happy sharing a $12 to $15 bottle of wine. Like lenses the appreciation of wine is contextual and personal. ("Buy on bread, sell on cheese". -- tells you everything you need to know...).

If you've been reading here for the last year you'll know that I gave up any pretense of being logical and rational about camera and lens purchases and started tossing good money into a rangefinder system. I started with an inexpensive (?) used Leica M240 and really enjoyed using it. I worked with Leica film rangefinder cameras for fun in the 1980's (M3, M2, M4) and then, more seriously, for work in the 1990s (M6 .72, M6 .85, and M6 .68). When digital arrived, and digital Leicas didn't, I sold out of the film RF system and concentrated for the next twenty odd years on using digital Canons, Nikons, Sonys, etc. Along with some deep dives into 4:3 and m4:3 cameras. When I got my hands back on a rangefinder camera I felt like I was coming home to my earlier days in photography. It felt (and feels) nice. 

Until last week my "new" rangefinder system was barebones. Two identical cameras (who would travel for photography without bringing along a back-up camera???) and the usual complement of M mount lenses in 28, 35, 50 and 75mm. There's also a 40mm f1.4 M lens  in the studio inventory but I don't consider it to be part of this kit because neither of my Leica M cameras have frame lines for that focal length. And, when used on a Leica SL it does a good job of shrinking down that overall package to a more manageable size. So the 40mm camps with the SL stuff.

There was one focal length that I historically got a lot of use out of back in the 1990s that I didn't have for the new system. That was the 90mm. The longest focal length lens I would want to use with a rangefinder camera. As the focal lengths get longer the projected frame lines get smaller and less easy to use. You can get a 135mm lens for the Leica M cameras but good luck using the tiny frame lines for composition... (You could get accurate framing in live view but that slows down the camera a lot...).

I thought that the 75mm would work for me but memories of the old 90mm M Summicron lens kept popping up and poking at me. The 75 is a fine lens and I used it last month for some commercial cityscapes that turned out really well. But that extra 15mm on the 90mm is addictive. What finally pushed me to buy the VM90 was the realization that, with two adapters I could also use the 90 on both the Leica and Panasonic L mount cameras and the Fuji GFX 50Sii. I already had the adapters so all that was left was a trial run. 

When the 90mm VM lens arrived the first camera I mounted it on was not a rangefinder but was the Fuji medium format camera. When using the 4:3 format there is a bit of vignetting in the far corners but when using the 4:5 format crop on the camera the lens delivers good results with minimal-to-negligible vignetting and, at f4-5.6 a very sharp image. It's a "no brainer" on the SL cameras, especially with their easy "punch-in" magnification for fine manual focusing. A plus for both of those camera systems. 

I finally put the lens on one of the M240 cameras and first checked to make sure the camera and lens were well matched for precision focusing with the rangefinder. Yep! Check. 

Then I shot test frames all over the studio. It's a good performer. I can't wait for the current gray days to vanish so I can give the lens the workout in the sun light that it deserves. 

Three attributes of the 90VM lens that endear it to me are: When using it on a rangefinder and taking off the lens hood the lens doesn't protrude into the frame lines for 90mm lenses. Yay! Next, the lens is tiny. Absolutely tiny. Probably the first longer lens I could honestly describe as "pocketable" ---with a straight face. Along with its very small size is a commensurate very light weight. And, in the silver version, it is beautifully designed and constructed. 

One benefit of the Leica M240 and, I assume more recent Leica rangefinders, is the inclusion of live view. While I love rangefinder focusing and optical finder viewing sometimes, especially with longer or very wide angle lenses, it's advantageous to be able to compose across a three inch rear screen instead of trying to accurately assess what's in and what's out inside the frame lines in the optical finder window. Modern tech to the rescue. Live view actually makes the camera and lens practical for on tripod portrait shooting...

I seem to be hurtling in an ever accelerating trajectory toward having and working with a complete M rangefinder system. Why? Because it's fun. The process provides a bit of welcome friction to the process of taking photographs. The tiny size of the lenses makes it a perfect system choice for travel or one person-no assistant jobs. And the cameras are a joy to carry, hold and use. Why M240s? Because they are built like tanks, have massive battery reserves, and since the model was introduced in 2012 used camera bodies are plentiful and relatively cheap. Well, relative to newer Leica M products. I have one more body coming but I'll save that for a future blog post. 

For right now getting used to the 90mm VM lens on an M240 body is the top of my agenda. 

Swim notes: Drat. It rained today. We swimmers don't really care about the rain so the coach and 20 or so swimmers hit the water for the 8 a.m. Saturday workout. Coach Peter was on the deck. I was in my favorite lane and we'd just pounded through the warm up sets and were settling into the main sets when the weather intruded. The morning had been gray, rainy, dark and cloud covered but now, at 8:30 we started hearing distant thunder. A phone app showed the coach that lightning strikes were 14 miles away. Then the thunder picked up and started to resemble a tympani concert. The lightning strikes got closer and when the app showed them to be five miles out and heading our way Peter called it and ordered everyone out of the pool. Ten minutes later we had a thrashing downpour and lightning was dancing all around the horizon. With almost immediate and near continuous thunder. 

Most of us are so addicted to our endorphin rushes that we'll probably hit the pool in the afternoon for self-paced slogs. Depending on weather. Those who only want to get wet once a day will hit the soggy hike and bike trails for an hour run and some of us will give up on the great outdoors for the day and head to the gym for some weight work.

So sad when swims get truncated. Almost as bad as leaving the house and driving a long way for a bout of street photography only to discover that you forgot to pull the camera battery off the charger at home and put it in the camera. ...  Only it's worse because it's swimming. Or, more accurately,  not swimming.

After a weekend of pulling out stacks of paper, moving filing cabinets, rolling up carpets and other prep work for house upgrades there was a lot of pent up desire to be outside with a fun camera.

 

I've been shooting in Jpeg+Raw lately with the M 240, mostly to give myself a choice, when I review files, between black and white and color. The image above looked much better to me in black and white while most of the files below seemed to depend on color to carry the day. 

The Leica M 240 and the 50mm Voigtlander lens seem to be a perfect match. When I use wider lenses on that body, especially the 28mm, you have to move your eye around the finder to really see the frame lines with any degree of accuracy. And that's presuming that the framelines are accurate in the first place. A big assumption given parallax and the changing magnification as the lens focuses toward the minimum focusing distance. The 35mm focal length is the last stop before the inconvenience of wider angle lenses seeps in. I was going to go through the process of finding just the right diopter attachment so I would not have to wear my glasses with the wider angle lenses but I've pretty much decided that in the same way the Q2 is a camera with a fixed 28mm lens and the Fuji X100V is a fixed 35mm lens, the M240 might most comfortably be considered a camera with a fixed 50mm lens. At least the way I use it.

At some point, if I ever warm up to using the 28mm on the rangefinder I'll hunt down a very nice 28mm bright line finder to put into the accessory shoe of the camera. Then I'll focus through the regular finder and then compose with the bright line accessory finder. But for now? I'll keep sticking the 28mm on the front of the SL2 and be happy with it. Or, alternately, I'll stop worrying about where the edges of the frame lines are in the M 240 finder and just merrily shoot without making a big deal out of it. It's not like I'm using this particular lens and camera combination for client work, after all.

I could lie and chalk up the performance here to the fantastic dynamic range of a decade old sensor or I could be honest and admit that I started with a dark file, used an A.I. filter to accentuate the color and contrast of the sky, then made another layer in Lightroom and used the brush tool to select the area under the eaves and on the wall adjacent to the eaves and in shadow. Once selected I color corrected the underlying area (it was too blue), warmed up the white on the sign with the hand, and opened up the exposure on the underlying area as well. I finished it off by adding some clarity slider to the selection but not to the global frame since I wanted the sky to go out of focus. Lightroom makes area by area corrections much easier to do now and I rarely have to go into PhotoShop to get what I want.

Why am I happy with the frame above? Well, I screwed up the exposure by one stop. I forgot about the 1/4000th of a second limit and, using ISO 500 and f4.0, I overexposed and subsequently got into an argument with my camera. But I was able to pull back the details in the file by reducing the exposure in post. I'd read that the sensor in this camera and earlier M digital cameras had limited dynamic range but I think this is a repudiation of some of that reporting. Sure, if you are off by two stops I'm betting your file is screwed but one half or even one stop? Worth a try every time. Or....you could just take the time to get the exposure correct. (Red-faced with shame....). 

the City of Austin likes murals. They'll commission people to paint them on just about anything. 

Above and below= Two versions of the same frame. Color and "Monochrome" AKA: black and white. 

I went back and forth but after looking at them for a while I decided that I like the black and white version better. Not sure why. Retro charm?

Great idea but I'm pretty sure Willie doesn't want the job and wouldn't like the salary....

On this image and several below I used the Lightroom feature: Lens Blur to selectively blur the background. You'll note that because it analyzes the original frame to determine it's "depth" via a 3D mapping routine the focus falls off in a natural progression the further it "extends" away from the main subject. You can control the amount and intensity of the fall off as well as modifying the range of the effect. I absolutely love it and will probably never have to buy a fast lens ever again (kidding? maybe). 

A bit overdone in these examples but easier to see that way....

Nothing beats an A to B comparison, right?

Top one is with the Lens Blur filter using default settings. 

The bottom image is unfiltered. As it appears right out of camera. 

Not a huge difference but enough. 

One click. that's it. No time having to select the subject, etc. 

This is either machine learning or artificial intelligence but whichever it is

I like it.

I used a "dramatic sky" filter from the LRC presets and toned it down by 50%. 

Is any day really complete without a dose of Mannequin? Especially a mannequin with what appears to be a pyramid in the background. 

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