Critique Welcomed Going Wide with Walt

[Chris Dodkin]

Met up with a chap from DPR today in LA - At the Walt Disney Concert Hall

First chance to use the new 14mm Lens on architecture, and he also had a Voigtlander 12mm (M Mount) with the Fuji M Mount adapter.

Stairway - 14mm Lens

Cloud Reflections - 14mm Lens

Fuji (Left) vs Voigtlander (Right) - interesting to see how much difference 2mm makes, and how much the color balance changed between lenses.

Sunburst with 14mm Lens - lighting wasn't ideal based on time of day, but a few clouds made things interesting

Interesting meeting, and great to try the M mount adapter - it was easy to use, and at f/8, I never had to re-focus

Tempted to look at the M mount options - as I believe Beth has already done

 

[Pete Askew]

What a fabulous set Chris, and an interesting comparison. With the 'crop' you avoid the vignette from the 12mm too. Lovely framing on number one and the the second and last are spectacularly good I think. Looks like it will be a useful combination. And a M adapter opens up all sorts of options (to spend large amounts of money!).

 

[Rob MacKillop]

That side-by-side comparison of the 14mm and 12mm is fascinating. If pushed to choose, I'd go with the Voigtlander: The colours are beautiful. But which was closer to what your eye saw, Chris?

 

[Brian Moore]

Wonderful set, Chris. I think that last one takes the cake, though. Wonderful image.

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Thanks Pete - I've resisted the M mount route so far, but it is very tempting (and potentially expensive)

Rob - the Voigtlander definitely enhanced what was there naturally - we both commented on it as we looked at the shots on the LCD vs what was in front of us.

You could get to the same effect using WB adjustment in ACR for the Fuji lens - so it's interesting to see how different glass impacts that piece at capture - I assume it's based on lens coatings and optics.

Did a check on the corners of the image, as using M mount lenses on the adaptor has been known to give some corner smearing (as well as the vignetting Pete mentioned).

Here's a comparison from the test images at full resolution:

The X-Pro1 allows the user to create up to six lens profiles to correct distortion, vignetting and corner colour shading - so given some time I could have dialed the lens in for a more 'neutral' image at capture.

Thanks Brian - I was getting frustrated by the angle of the sun and the building being mostly in shadow, so figured I had nothing to loose shooting into the light at the edge of the shadow. I tried shooting from the middle of the crosswalk (dangerous in LA), but this frame was taken from the safety of the sidewalk, and then the keystone distortion was taken out in PS.

 

[Peter McCullough]

wOw, beautifully done, lovely exposure. Superb set of images, great style.....!!!!!

 

[Beth Carter]

ooh, shiny. love the side by side comparison. the second shot of the clouds reflecting on the wall is my favorite.

my voigtlander 12mm seems a bit soft, especially compared to the fuji lenses. but it might be my m mount adapter, which i've had some problems with. can't quite justify the 14mm since the 10-22mm will be out later this year. might be able to hold myself to that too, if i stop looking at photos from you and steve boykin .

-4 vignette lens corrections in lightroom usually fixes the vignetting for me. should be similar in acr.

 

[Hamish Gill]

An interesting comparison Chris.
The black and white one of that building is a beauty mate!

M mount ... Do it!