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Nikon Z7 - Voigtlander Heliar-Hyper Wide 10mm f/5.6     Z7 Arrival-Sept 28     Z7 User Manual Menus
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2019-February-24


Nikon Z7 with Voigtlander 10mm f/5.6


Nikon Z7 with Voigtlander 10mm f/5.6


Nikon Z7 with Voigtlander 10mm f/5.6


Nikon Z7 with Voigtlander 10mm f/5.6


Nikon Z7 with Voigtlander 10mm f/5.6


Nikon Z7 with Voigtlander Heliar-Hyper Wide 10mm F5.6 - Cropped to 20mm-equivalent


Nikon Z7 with Voigtlander 10mm f/5.6 at f/5.6 at 1/750 second at ISO 64. Straight from JPEG. Silent shutter (see my comment below).



Nikon Z7 with Voigtlander 10mm f/5.6 at f/8 at 1/350 second at ISO 64. Straight from JPEG. Silent shutter (see my comment below).
 


Nikon Z7 with Voigtlander 10mm f/5.6 at f/5.6 at 1/750 second at ISO 64. Straight from JPEG. Silent shutter (see my comment below). Malibu, CA


Nikon Z7 with Voigtlander 10mm f/5.6 at f/5.6 at 1/180 second at ISO 64.
 

 

COMMENT ABOUT VOIGTLANDER HELIAR-HYPER WIDE 10MM F5.6

I have been testing this remarkable lens for a few weeks, and here are some comments....

This is the widest of the wide in the 35mm photography.

This is a very good lens, perfectly usable for even a 45 MP camera. I got a Leica-M version with a Leica/M-Nikon Z adapter ($20).

The resolution is the best at f/5.6 (wide open). The f/8-11 is good. The diffraction starts to sneak in at f/16. Never use f/22.

I would use f/5.6 (wide-open) or f/5.6 + 1/2, unless the depth is needed, in which case I would use f/8-11-16.

Focus is critical; focus carefully, don't rely on the depth of field. For the subject far away, set to infinity.

The closest distance is 0.5 m. Not enough for me. (I am getting a Fotofox extendable ring adapter from China.)

For the depth purpose, use f/8-11-16. That is, your main subject is close to the camera. But f/22 will cause bad diffraction, so stop at f/16 or f/11.

No doubt Cosina will offer a Nikon Z version soon. I am using the Leica-M version. I understand the Sony version focuses closer...

This lens controls the ghosts and flare very well when shooting directly into the sun. They do appear, and how they appear depends on the location of the sun.
Often you can find a location of the sun such that almost no ghosts or flare appear.

The 10-blade aperture creates a "sun-star". As you close down the aperture, the sun-star gets sharper.
Even the lens wide-open creates a nice, natural-looking sun-star, and the ghost is best-controlled when wide-open.

One caveat: Nikon Z7 (and I am sure the Z6 too) creates a vertical "sun streak" from the sun (or any strong light source). This is an artifact created by
the vertically-traversing focal-plane shutter. It is most obvious when the lens is wide-open.
I saw this phenomenon in my Nikon F2 some forty years ago and Nikon, Japan confirmed that. Since the F2 has a horizontally-traversing shutter,
the line streak appeared horizontally from the sun. (This is, I believe, the same diffraction phenomenon that causes the edge of the aperture leaf to produce a sun-star streak. Since the vertical-traversing shutter has a "horizontal" curtain edge, the diffraction streak appears vertical, the same as the traversal direction.) It is quite noticeable especially when the lens is wide-open. I guess any camera will produce this artifact (not just Nikon) when you include a strong light source like the sun.

Tip:
You can easily avoid this by not using a focal-plane shutter --- Use the "silent shutter" instead!
 

MACRO ADAPTER FOR VOIGTLANDER 10MM

Voigtlander 10mm F5.6 (Leica M-mount) only focuses up to 0.5 m (about 1.5 feet). I obtained a Fotofox Leica-M to Nikon-Z Macro adapter. This connects a Leica-M lens to the Nikon Z mount but also extends like a macro ring. This adapter extends up to 6 mm, which is more than enough for this extremely short focal length lens.

I made some test shots using a supplement bottle (11 cm high and 6 cm in diameter). I tried all 5 f-stops: f/5.6 - f/8 - f/11 - f/16 - f/22.

1) The first one is the closest you can do with the lens alone (no extension). All apertures are good. The depth of field is affected by the aperture. I am showing f/5.6 here.

2) The second and third shots are taken using the macro extension. The f/8 and f/11 shots are shown here.

3) The fourth one is almost the limit. The bottle is 1.5 cm away from the lens surface and the built-in hood of the lens is almost touching the bottle. Here, the resolution is bad (various aberrations) except at the center. This is a rare situation where I recommend using f/22 for this lens, as shown here.
 

 


Nikon Z7 with Voigtlander 10mm f/5.6 at f/22 at 1/30 second at ISO 64, with Fotofox macro adapter. A leaf in a park, CA
 


Nikon Z7 with Voigtlander 10mm f/5.6 at f/22 at 1/15 second at ISO 25600, with Fotofox macro adapter. P.F.Chang restaurant, CA




 

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