[Leica] Hologon 16, convert to Leica, or get a G2?

[douglas.sharp at gmx.de (Douglas Sharp)]

Richard,

I don't really see the point - the CV 15 mm is an excellent lens, 
reasonably priced and some reviewers have written that it is actually 
superior to the Hologon. Another difference is that the Hologon has only 
a fixed aperture of f8, while the CV 15 has  f4.5 to f22 (not that it 
makes all that much difference at such short focal lengths).

Admittedly, the Hologon is quite a spectacular looking piece of kit, but 
it definitely needs the centre-grad filter to get decent results (this 
also makes the effective aperture f11 if I remember rightly).

Going the way of the Contax G is risky, who knows how long the 
electronics will last. In this respect, a mount conversion to M would be 
more advisable.

Zeiss apparently also produced the Hologon with an M-mount in limited 
numbers, but this was later superseded by their 2.8/15mm in ZM-mount for 
the new Zeiss-Ikon RF camera (which is another route you could take)

Why not go the whole hog and try a CV 5.6/12mm Ultra-Wide Heliar? It's a 
wonderful lens. I usually use both the CV lenses on an M6 or a Minolta 
CLE. The metering characteristics of the CLE seem to be a better match 
to both.

Cheers
Douglas

Richard Man wrote:
> I know the VL 15 is much cheaper and there exists the WATE, the 18/4
> etc. But lets say if you find a Hologon 16 for the Contax G. Would you
> convert it to Leica M mount, or just get a G2 body?
>
>