Hologon 16mm lens for the Contax G2.

[mfs]

Do any of our members have first hand experience with this lens??
How is it to use?? Is it useful for general work?? Or is it too limiting??
Must the central filter be used?? It really limits the functionality of the lens since it reduces the effective speed of the lens dramatically.
Please give me your thoughts.
Thank you for your help.

Martin

[Mike Richards]

I'm disappointed with the lens. Too much vignetting, even with the graduated filter in place. Here's an example.

[Doug]

Mike, is that cemetary shot WITH the graduated center filter, or without? Just for comparison, here's one with the Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5, plain, no filters...

[Doug]

I think I trimmed some off the top, but it's otherwise full-frame...

[Doug]

Ok, here's one that IS full-frame, and with a similar expanse of lawn. Again CV 15mm...

[mfs]

Can the lens be used without the central filter?? If so, how bad is the vignetting??
Martin

[Mike Richards]

Doug,
The cemetery shot is with the graduated filter. In fact, I have never taken a shot without it. Here's another, again with filter:

[Doug]

That looks fine to me, Mike. A certain amount of corner fall-off is optically inevitable on such wide-field lenses. I am a little surprised the center filter doesn't remove it all, though. Is that a 2-stop loss, leaving you at f/16? Or am I thinking of an older slower Hologon...

[Mike Richards]

Doug,
You're right. It's a 4x filter which costs you two exposure stops. The cemetery shot is a bit more representative. The monument image has been perspective processed and cropped a bit. The spirit level in the viewfinder is a nice touch, although I wish it had a more viscous liquid in it. With hand held shots, it's a bit "bouncy" to use. But with a tripod, it's very nice.
Mike

[jdos2]

I like the vignetting effect of the wide angle rangefinder (non-retrofocus) lenses- it makes subject POP, as there's no focus manipulation that can easily be done to help...

I just got rid of my Mamiya 7's 43mm- a wonderful lens, and as close as I could have gotten to the 16mm Holgon- I didn't have a center filter for it, and suffered the strong light loss in the corners. Once I got used to that, it was easy to shoot with the lens.

The Holgon has always been a fantasy lens for me. Someday. Someday.

[Doug]

Interesting, JD; I hadn't heard that about the Mamiya 43mm before, but it makes sense. By contrast, the (retrofocus) 45mm for my 6x7 reflex shows so little sign of this effect I'm not sure if I see it.

[jdos2]

Yeah, it's a common deal for non-retrofocus lenses. When I use a very wide lens, I consider the subject carefully- as distortion with the retrofocus lenses can be strong, depending on the lens.