[Leica] A very wide view!

[TTAbrahams@aol.com]

 I have been shooting with the new 12/5,6 Ultra-Wide Heliar for the last 24 
hours. My test sample arrived yesterday and it makes the 15 Heliar seem like 
a "normal" lens. So far I have only processed one roll, but I will have some 
more to run over the weekend. The results are very promising, under a 30-time 
magnifier it looks sharp and "snappy". The lens is very well made, feels more 
solid than the Heliar 15mm and the "lens hood" is a nicely machined 
crackle-finished ring with two "ears" on it and it is mounted on a rotating 
ring so that you can align it yourself. The finder is spectacular, very 
bright and also quite large. It looks like a small Sony TV for a doll's 
house! Nice crackle finish on the back part and a crome surround on the 
front. The glass on the front has a considerable curvature to it and, as with 
the 15 Heliar finder, it shows strong curvature in the corners. The lens 
itself is rectilinear and that is some accomplishment for a lens with 120 
degrees or more coverage! It focusses to 0,3 meter (12") and has click-stops 
at 0,5meter and 1meter settings. It is a smallish lens; size of a 35/2 Asph 
and the finder is almost as big. It will meter with a M6 without having to 
correct for the intrusion of the rear element. 
 It certainly gives you new view of things, as well as a slightly different 
view of your knuckles, toes and stomach. In the future we will be able to 
identify 12/5,6 users by the convoluted stance they adopt. Fingers gingerly 
holding the camera by its short sides, leaning forward and sucking in the 
stomach for verticals. Depth of field is amazing, at 5,6 it extends from 
4feet to infinity and at f22 it probably extends from quite a bit behind you 
to wherever you can see and beyond.
 The lens has a focussing lever similar to the one fitted on the 25/4 
Snapshot Skopar and you just click it into place, 0,5 meter for a head and 
torso shot and 1 meter for a full figure shot!
 As with any ultra-wide angle, it is not a lens for everyone and it deserves 
(and demands) respect to use it well. It is easy to get way too much 
foreground and it also requires that you hold it straight. There is 
supposedly a bubble-level accessory coming and that would be a "good thing". 
You tilt it and the world tilts with you! Just like the 15 finder, it shows 
slightly less than what shows up on the negative (about 93-95%) and if you 
move your eye off center on the finder, the image in the finder is blurred. 
 I don't know, but I suspect that this lens is the widest 35mm rectilinear 
lens made. Nikon used to produce the 13/5,6 on special order (I don't know if 
it is still being made) and Cosina has bettered that by 1mm. Talk about 
pushing the optical envelope, particularly as the Cosina/Voigtlander lens is 
going to be sold at around US$1100 versus the Nikons $8000+ 13/5,6.
 It obviously has provisions for using filters, according to the instructions 
included. A special filter holder, using 77mm filters will be available.
 It is of course screwmount, although at the moment I am using it on a M6 
with an adapter. I will try it out on the Bessa-R and Bessa-L over the 
weekend.
 You also will develop a steady hand in cutting negs. The angle of the lens 
is so steep that it creeps under the filmgate and the space between the negs 
is very narrow, just like the 15/4,5 and the 21/3,4 Super-Angulon. You also 
will have to keep a close eye on the meter, the lens picks up a lot of sky 
and it can throw the meter off by a fair margin. I will switch to a 
non-metered camera and use a handheld meter once I am through with the 4th 
roll of Delta 100 in the M6.
 Of course, this would make a great medium wide-angle on a digital back on an 
M camera! The chip could be ½ film size and you still get the angle of a 
24-25mm lens. Does Cosina know something we don't know?
With stomach sucked in, knuckles shaved and held close to the camera body, a 
very wide view of the world!
Tom A