12 or 15 for 8

[Bill Pierce]

Does anybody have any thoughts on whether the Cosina 12 or the 15mm give better results on the M8 with it's less than full frame? With the Nikon 14-24 adding over 2 pounds to an already hefty Nikon D3 body and that situation being pretty much duplicated by some of the Canon combos, you can see why the M8/Cosina combo would be a very popular alternative in the extra-wide catagory if the performance at the edges of the field was as good as that of the DSLRs.

Any thoughts. Even better, any hands on experience?

Bill

[marke]

Bill, I've never tried either one, but have heard that the 15 has considerably less barrel distortion that the 12 when used on a film M. Now how much that matters on the cropped M8 image, I couldn't say.

Sorry I can't be of anymore help. I hope someone else who has tried this specific combination will chime in.

[Glenn2]

Bill, the 15mm works very well on the M8. Haven't splurged on an M8 myself yet, but got the chance to try out the 15mm on a friends camera. I use the 15mm a lot on my old M4's, but have to be careful the 21 SA doesn't get jealous.___ ;-) If I ever end up buying an eight the 15mm CV will get a lot of use. Have heard that someone is making a little gadget that allows the use of 39mm filters. The extra stop of the 15 is worth thinking about if you're into available light.

Will attach a self portrait, Al Kaplan style that I did in a local photo store. I'm the serious looking one on the right. Must have been thinking... "If I drop it, I buy it $$$$".

M8, 15mmCV, 640asa, 1/45" @ f/4.5 This was from the jpg as I didn't have a suitable raw converter.

Glenn

[ferider]

I believe the 15 Heliar is one of the most popular lenses for the M8.

See, for instance:

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=m8+leica+heliar

[Zen-shooter]

Hi Bill,
Perhaps I can have you consider a rather radical idea - using an adapter such as the F to M mount, that Stephen G and Novoflex markets.
I use a 14/2.8 Nikkor on the R-D1S (which becomes a 21mm effective length).
On the M8 that becomes something like an 18mm focal. Of course focusing would have to be done via scale, rather than RF.
Bulkier, yes but still smaller than a D3 combo.
Two benefits I do see with the Nikkor lens is that distortion and vignetting is surprisingly well controlled, thus minimizing my time Photoshopping. Though flare can be a problem when pointing toward a light source.

Looks sort of like this...
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1317/1376865239_2a19341c14_m.jpg

[Trius]

I believe our former patron, Jorge, used the 15 a lot on the M8. Alas, I don't think his gallery is here any longer. As I recall, the edge performance was very good wrt sharpness. If there was any falloff, it was minimal and of a pleasant sort.