Re: [Leica] Which Ultra-Wide, Heliar 15mm or Heliar 12mm

[Henning Wulff <henningw@archiphoto.com>]

At 4:42 PM -0400 5/2/01, JULIAN TOPLEY wrote:

>
>What experience do you have between the view finders?  Are they both quite
>barrelled - this has an obvious effect on usability.  Also does the spirit
>level help much for either of these lenses.
>
>I am looking for something to capture dramatic landscape and and to capture
>what I can not, using my Nikon with 35mm and 28mm PC lenses hence the question
>on the spirit level.
>
>I use my Leica for portability most of all, an ultra wide lens will give me
>what my Nikon can't - there have been many moments where I wanted to capture
>an entire cityscape or the entire elevation of a building at very close range.
>  The same applies to interiors, the 28mm often doesn't come close and I have
>to keep the lens level.
>
>Julian

Both viewfinders have some barrel distortion and seem to be optically 
similar: ie, the 12 viewfinder just continues with the same 
amount/type of distortion that the 15 viewfinder has. In comparison 
with other finders, the 16 viewfinder for the Hologon has the same 
amount/type of distortion, except it covers less (more like a finder 
for 18 or 19mm), and the finder for the original 15 Hologon for Leica 
has the same amount of distortion as the Cosina finder, except that 
it is bigger, brighter and has a spirit level.

Both can be used with the Cosina spirit level (and needs the double 
shoe), except that the height of the spirit level eyepiece is set for 
the 12 viewfinder, which is higher than the 15. For critical stuff 
(which needs a tripod or some such anyway, I use other levels. When 
you get used to shooting with very wide lenses you get to know pretty 
well when things are level, so a level is not strictly a necessity.

Again, the main thing is not to choose the lens based on which one 
has more metal in it, or which one works better with the Cosina 
spirit level, or even which one can take a filter easily - they are 
too different in the way they image to compare them in that manner. 
If you want to get a lens, and it's a 28 or a 35 made by the same 
company, would you buy one or the other based on some slight 
difference in viewfinders or construction or which one images the way 
you want? The pictures made with the 12 or 15 will be different, and 
not because one is optically or physically better than the other. If 
you have never used anything wider than a 21, I srongly suggest you 
get the 15, see how you like it and get used to it, and then consider 
the 12. I have had and used every single focal length between 21 and 
12 except 13 and 16, and also full frame and circular fisheyes, and I 
find that the 12 is more difficult to learn than the fisheyes of 
either type.

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    *            Henning J. Wulff
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