Ricoh GXR: M-Mount Unit with Voigtländer 15 mm

Archive

Note: At the end of October 2016, I decided to sell my Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 lens in favor of the newer version Type III lens. I did so, because of the difficulties I had in creating proper calibration images for this lens to remove the strong color cast that photos taken with his lens exhibit when used at the Leica M (Typ 240). I am therefore no longer able to update this page or to answer questions about this lens.

After Ricoh's official announcement of the M-mount expansion unit, I decided to buy one, although I had not intended to do so originally. Here are my first personal experiences with the lenses that I bought (or tried to buy). This page is devoted to the Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 lens.

Preparations for the M-Mount Unit

In preparation of the Ricoh GXR M-mount expansion unit, I bought one lens, a Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5, and auctioned a second one in August 2011, a Leitz Elmar-C 90mm f/4. Both lenses were meant to extend the range of my two Ricoh GXR A12 units at the wide and tele ends.

First, I bought the Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5, which is manufactured by Cosina and equivalent to a 22.5 mm wide angle lens on the GXR. Note that it has an in-built lens hood.

Photos: Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 (22.5 mm equiv.)

On the M-mount expansion unit, it has an equivalent focal length of 22.5 mm and thus, is a little bit wider than my favorite focal length of 24 mm (which I have learned to prefer over 28 mm).

Body with Lens Attached

Photos: Body with A12 M-mount expansion unit attached and Voigtländer Super Wide-Heliar 15mm f/4.5 lens

Some Technical Data

Focal length	15 mm (22.5 mm equiv.)
Angle of view (35mm film)	110° diagonal
Maximum aperture	4.5
f-stop range	4.5-22
Number of iris blades	10
Number of lenses/groups	8/6
Shortest distance	0.5 m
Weight	156 g
Length	38.2 mm
Maximum diameter	59.4 mm
Filter thread	52 mm
Lens hood	integrated

Sample Images

Here are a first few samples taken with the Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 lens (click the images to view the unprocessed original files in a new window):

Conclusions

Disclaimer: I am not a lens expert who sees marked differences between various Leica and/or other lenses. I can check for soft corners, find differences in color rendition, and, in rare cases, may discover a "3D look", but that's all. Please regard therefore my conclusions as the verdict of a "layman".

I have to admit that I use this lens rarely. Manual focusing is not a big issue with this lens because of the huge depth of field. Corner sharpness seems to be OK for such a wide lens.