Paulo J Moreira
Old meets new
I couldn't resist a good deal on the Voigtlander Super Wide-Heliar 15/4.5 and so, for the first time in many years, I have spent money on a lens that has no use in digital, this is a film only lens.
The memorable time that I had with this lens when I tested it stayed in my mind. There is only one word to describe this lens, amazing! No vignetting (considering how wide it is), no distortion (this is really amazing), impeccable sharpness across the frame. Sorry, no bokeh here, you see this is an ultra wide lens with a maximum aperture of f4.5.
With this lens, all my LTM cameras have instant focus, no shutter or focus lag with this one, closed to f11, everything is in focus from the minimum focusing distance all the way to infinity. I am lucky to live in a country where winter time does not mean darkness, so this technique can be used all year long.
The Zorki 3 is a wonderful rangefinder, the styling is so close to the Leica 3 that you could dismiss it as just another low quality Leica copy. However, this is not the case, the Zorki 3, for a change is a much better shooter than the Leica III, all models considered. No more bottom loading, big, bright viewfinder combined with the rangefinder (the Leica III never had this), this was developing the concept of the Leica III, not copying it.
The camera lacks the overal mechanical refinement of the German role model, but it is more refined than the zillions of Zorki 4 that followed.
Old meets new
I couldn't resist a good deal on the Voigtlander Super Wide-Heliar 15/4.5 and so, for the first time in many years, I have spent money on a lens that has no use in digital, this is a film only lens.
The memorable time that I had with this lens when I tested it stayed in my mind. There is only one word to describe this lens, amazing! No vignetting (considering how wide it is), no distortion (this is really amazing), impeccable sharpness across the frame. Sorry, no bokeh here, you see this is an ultra wide lens with a maximum aperture of f4.5.
With this lens, all my LTM cameras have instant focus, no shutter or focus lag with this one, closed to f11, everything is in focus from the minimum focusing distance all the way to infinity. I am lucky to live in a country where winter time does not mean darkness, so this technique can be used all year long.
The Zorki 3 is a wonderful rangefinder, the styling is so close to the Leica 3 that you could dismiss it as just another low quality Leica copy. However, this is not the case, the Zorki 3, for a change is a much better shooter than the Leica III, all models considered. No more bottom loading, big, bright viewfinder combined with the rangefinder (the Leica III never had this), this was developing the concept of the Leica III, not copying it.
The camera lacks the overal mechanical refinement of the German role model, but it is more refined than the zillions of Zorki 4 that followed.