Voigtlander 12 or 15mm?

[Acolyte]

Kit: Thanks for the input, will take note of it. Will be studying archi in NUS in a year's time, and I'm interested in photographing buildings, thus the decision to get a UWA after my 20mm didn't cut it for interior shots. Actually most of my external archi photos were taken with lens in the 40mm - 180mm range, am trying out UWA. Will post photos when I bookout this weekend.

enivre: Ok i'll give it a go with the, though my estimation wasn't really great. Shooting with my F3hp with the 20mm without grid lines in the focusing screen is somehow slanted 50% of the time. =/ Needs more practice.

And by blu-tacking, I plan to do so by aligning the bubble by placing the camera on the floor first before shooting. But come to think of it now its kind of a hassle hmmm.

 

[Acolyte]

CV12

First shot from a 12mm Thanks for contributing. How's the vignetting at larger apertures? Seems pretty obvious at the extreme left and right, surprisingly less so for the top corners.

 

[enivre]

Kit: Thanks for the input, will take note of it. Will be studying archi in NUS in a year's time, and I'm interested in photographing buildings, thus the decision to get a UWA after my 20mm didn't cut it for interior shots. Actually most of my external archi photos were taken with lens in the 40mm - 180mm range, am trying out UWA. Will post photos when I bookout this weekend.

enivre: Ok i'll give it a go with the, though my estimation wasn't really great. Shooting with my F3hp with the 20mm without grid lines in the focusing screen is somehow slanted 50% of the time. =/ Needs more practice.

And by blu-tacking, I plan to do so by aligning the bubble by placing the camera on the floor first before shooting. But come to think of it now its kind of a hassle hmmm.

Ah.. you will be my super junior... graduated many years ago, but now I'm back finishing my masters.

If you are having problems getting it straight with an SLR, an RF will be much worse (as you don't get to see exactly what you shoot). In addition, I find shooting symmetry a big problem with RFs for the same reason. There's always a bit of guess work involved.

If you are really serious you do need to consider proper TS lenses on SLRs, the shift is IMO very important for such photos.

That said, you really don't need to take nice architectural photos to be good in your design work lah... haha.. have fun slaving away in studio next year!

 

[Kit]

Kit: Thanks for the input, will take note of it. Will be studying archi in NUS in a year's time, and I'm interested in photographing buildings, thus the decision to get a UWA after my 20mm didn't cut it for interior shots. Actually most of my external archi photos were taken with lens in the 40mm - 180mm range, am trying out UWA. Will post photos when I bookout this weekend.

Hurhur......... I initially wanted to ask why you chosed an RF system for architectural and interior works but I figured that out already. Now what I'm more interested to know is why have you chosen NUS for your architectural education.....

 

[Kit]

great shots kit..

if im not wrong TS wanted to shoot uwa with RF, in which there is no TS lens.. (sorry for the pun)

except someone came along and make TS adapter for RF (maybe with tilt-shift goggles for the viewfinder too ;p)

anyway, handheld is not easy to control perspective:

CV12

Like you mentioned, a live feedback is essential to control perspective so I don't really see that happening soon. RF just isn't a natural choice for architectural work I guess.

 

[enivre]

Now what I'm more interested to know is why have you chosen NUS for your architectural education.....

Hehe.. I think this is another topic for another (very) long day....

 

[enivre]

RF just isn't a natural choice for architectural work I guess.

Agreed.... wrong tool for the wrong job... Not to say it's not possible, just needs a lot more work to get it right..

 

[skybala]

First shot from a 12mm Thanks for contributing. How's the vignetting at larger apertures? Seems pretty obvious at the extreme left and right, surprisingly less so for the top corners.

thats 5.6 (indoor). if you stop down you will still get vignetting, although not that hard to fix in pp. i personally like when the vignetting actually brings out the details of the sky (when shooting outdoors):

as kit and enivre said, if you are serious with arch & need your lines to be straight, go digital & get a tilt shift lens/adapter.... or a 4x5 :bsmilie:

i find that cv12 is very hard to use for a general-purpose lens. (some ppl say that its gimmicky).

 

[Acolyte]

Cuz I cant afford to study overseas? :x

Yup I do understand the limitations of using rf, one being the difficulty in framing/aligning. But my key consideration is firstly cost. Being an NSF don't really earn you a lot, so I do not have the financial ability to support the 14-24 or any dedicated archi lenses ($500+ for CV 15mm vs $2k for Nikkor 14-24). Plus you really need a FX body to get the most out of it. Yeah I'm aware of old manual PC lens like the 18mm f3.5 ais but those ain't wide enough, also not easy to find nor cheap.

Also, by being non-retrofocal in design, RF UWAs can produce distortion free images compared to SLR lenses. And they are way more tiny and portable.

Lastly, I'm not going to shoot commercially (not in a long while, maybe never haha), so I probably cannot justify the purchase of such a specialized lens. (my parents will kill me first and ask questions later lol.)

So yeah, these are my main considerations. I fully understand the limitations, but IF you manage to get it right, it will be well worth it. (It's a big IF, of course.)

 

[Royale With Cheese]

Hmm..

If you really want to get them straight, its not that hard on a RF really, just have to really carry around a tripod, bubble level on the camera & time to compose etc.

woah, so many architect in RF forum.

 

[Kit]

Cuz I cant afford to study overseas? :x

Yup I do understand the limitations of using rf, one being the difficulty in framing/aligning. But my key consideration is firstly cost. Being an NSF don't really earn you a lot, so I do not have the financial ability to support the 14-24 or any dedicated archi lenses ($500+ for CV 15mm vs $2k for Nikkor 14-24). Plus you really need a FX body to get the most out of it. Yeah I'm aware of old manual PC lens like the 18mm f3.5 ais but those ain't wide enough, also not easy to find nor cheap.

Also, by being non-retrofocal in design, RF UWAs can produce distortion free images compared to SLR lenses. And they are way more tiny and portable.

Lastly, I'm not going to shoot commercially (not in a long while, maybe never haha), so I probably cannot justify the purchase of such a specialized lens. (my parents will kill me first and ask questions later lol.)

So yeah, these are my main considerations. I fully understand the limitations, but IF you manage to get it right, it will be well worth it. (It's a big IF, of course.)

Its true, dedicated equipment comes at a price(and weight). You might want to consider other alternatives like a compact field camera instead. I've lost touch with those but maybe MF guys can help? Not having dedicated equipment does not means that you can't do proper architectural stuff actually. Most of the time, I too don't lug around tripod and bunch of lenses just to have some fun.

 

[Kit]

Hmm..

If you really want to get them straight, its not that hard on a RF really, just have to really carry around a tripod, bubble level on the camera & time to compose etc.

woah, so many architect in RF forum.

I think this also applies to all format, not just RF.

 

[Acolyte]

Anyway here're some sample photos I took with the 20mm on my F3hp to give you guys some idea what i shoot

Hope these samples could point you guys in recommending me the 12 or 15mm thanks. I'm still quite undecided as of now. Have good deal on either lens, but cant decide which focal length to take up. Thanks!

 

[Acolyte]

And these are some general shots taken with a 50mm. Sorry for the uninteresting photos, they were the best I could access in camp.

 

[Kit]

You are into a variety of shots so a single lens might not suffice. For the 1st 3 shots, you probably need a wide angle for its dramatic effects and just to be sure that you capture everything. For those upwards looking perspective, I sometimes think that even a 24mm can be too wide if I wish to exclude the surrounding context. So if you are looking for a lens for use in "general", get the 15mm but even that could be a little too wide at times. Try out the 15mm and if you need wider, add the 12mm later on.

 

[enivre]

Hm... If your mind is made up to stick with an RF then try the 15mm, buy a used copy and sell it at minimal loss if it doesn't suit your purposes. Or meet up with other RFers when they shoot and borrow the lens for a few shots to see for yourself.

Also, from the looks of what you shoot, you can skip the TS lenses and such for now. Those are needed when you need "proper" photos where everything is nice and straight, necessary if you shoot commercially but you can make do with photoshop to correct when necessary.

If you must use TS, can consider hunting down an old Nikon 28mm TS, 28mm isn't wide but you can stitch together 2 images for a wider shot. I think the 28mm is about the same price range as the 15mm Voigtlander. Definitely not as wide, but I find the perspective that UWA lenses draw don't always give an accurate depiction of a space. (Oh but the 28 does have distortion, but again can be corrected if you wish to do so digitally)

 

[alantcs2010]

Home Interior taken with Voiglander 15mm lens. It is a great lens.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alantcs/6089196706/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alantcs/6089159936/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alantcs/6089159334/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alantcs/6088614095/

 

[Acolyte]

Once again, thank you to both kit and enivre for your valuable input. Shall source for a 15mm ltm then, and report back when I finish a roll. (gonna take a long long time due to army haha.) Not easy to find used ones now though.

If I really get serious about proper archi photos will consider getting the TS lenses.

(BTW whats the big hooha about studying archi in NUS? :think: Mind PM-ing me why? Haha. But I think I do get some inkling of what you seniors meant.)

 

[Acolyte]

Home Interior taken with Voiglander 15mm lens. It is a great lens.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alantcs/6089196706/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alantcs/6089159936/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alantcs/6089159334/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alantcs/6088614095/

Wow the lines are remarkably straight. Shot on full frame or crop frame? Thanks for sharing too.

 

[pikapig]

i tried both..and i love both....
i guess u shld join our outing one day....i have the 15mm....u can test it..and find another person w a 12mm..so u can do some comparison before deciding which u prefer