Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/07/15
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Dear Fellow LUGnuts, I received my new Aspheric 15mm f4.5 from Fieldgrass & Gale in London. They shipped it two day air to Virginia. The financial transaction was very easy. The lens and viewfinder cost 254 British pounds. When they told me the price, I asked how much would it cost to also buy the external viewfinder? I was very surprised to hear it was included. The lens is a Leica screw mount (LSM) and is aspherical by Voitlander (since 1756). None of the internal literature describes the aspherical part of the label. It does not couple with the rangefinder on my M6. I had to buy a screw to M mount adapter for an additional 19 pounds. The adapter is made in Japan by Avenon out of brass with chrome and looks first rate. The lens is relatively small (30.7mm long), almost 50mm in diameter and very light weight (105g). It has a silver external color with black painted aperture and focussing rings settings. There is no indenting of the marks so if the paint wears off, you better guess your aperture and focussing settings. I thought I read of another LUG member using clear finger nail polish but I'm not sure. Focussing is by guestimate but at f16, the depth of field ranges from infinity to .2 meters. Its kind of changes your M6 into a point and shoot camera. Anti-reflective coatings look even on the external front and rear elements. Focussing and aperture rings turn smoothly without backlash. The external viewfinder is clear without much distortion and fully coated. It looks good for a 15mm view of the world. The lens shade is built in as small extensions of the lens longer on the left and right sides of the lens shorter on the top and bottom. The metal lens cap fits over the front nicely but tends to fall off easily. It has a liner of felt that may better replaced with a thin rubber band of some sort. I'm taking this lens with me on a trip to London and Geneva this weekend. I'll let you know in about 10 days how the images look. It seems like a great deal for less than $500 US. Its not a Zeiss Hologon but it does have an aperture greater than f8. I carrying a Hologon and investing that much money just would get the use to personally justify it. This will hopefully be a fun lens for me. Voitlander also makes a 25mm/4 lens with viewfinder but I already have the use of a 24/2.8 Leica lens. The 15mm Heliar is no Leica lens but I know that going into this transaction. So far, it seems mechanically stable. Let's see how the photos turn out. It seems like a good value for the money. Maybe I'll use it so much that I'll wear the f stops right off the aperture ring. That would make me happy. Happy shooting, Richard Clompus, OD Virginia, USA