Voigtlander Ultra Wide-Heliar 12mm f/5.6 Aspherical Leica Screw Mount Lens with Viewfinder & Hood - Silver

by Voigtlander

Product Details

• Item Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 5.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B000CBNI1U
• Item model number: 130814
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: August 28, 2005

Product Description

One of the widest 35mm full frame lens in the world. In fact, it is the widest Mmount lens to date. The Voigtlander Ultra-Wide Heliar 12mm/f5.6 with 121 degreespicture angle, yield minimal distortion. With it's rectilinear lens design, it delivers the higest picture quality with the widest angle unmatched by any rangefinder lenses today. An affordable, high quality lens, popular among the Leica M8 users, which yield an approximate 16mm focal length with 1.33x sensor crop factor. An indispensible tool for photographers who want to create a wide space perspective. Screw Mount (Need the M-Bayonet Adapter to mount on M mount bodies)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wide view, but dark corners, November 11, 2006

By 

Mark W. Bohrer "Technology Writer & Documenta... (Saratoga, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Voigtlander's 12mm f/5.6 Ultra-Wide Heliar has the widest field of view of any rectilinear lens that mounts on a 35mm camera. It also shows severe vignetting at every aperture.

I bought one because I thought I wanted the unique perspective this lens offers. It works well for large, dark subjects at the center of a uniform background, but the very dark corners can be distracting. They also make it difficult to get an exposure that doesn't produce blown center highlights or black around the edges.

Photographing pro mountain bike racers with it up close, I could feel the wind as competitors cranked by a couple feet away, and I loved the look of the pictures. But the corner darkening bothered me too much, and I sold it. Almost any other good lens in the 16mm-21mm range will produce pleasing images with more uniform brightness.

The included finder is one of the best separate viewfinders I've ever used. Beware of the rear element coming unscrewed and falling off.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Both handy and useful, January 12, 2007

By 

Richard Byrne - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

I have to admit that I am besotted with wide-angle lenses. In the early 70s I had to have a 28mm, by 1985 I was hooked on a 20mm on a Pentax - I even had a 15mm, but it was so unwieldy that I had to give it up.

But the Voigtlander 12mm is a gem. Sure, there is some vignetting, by about a stop, but that's why we have fingers - to dodge the printing.

It does take time to adapt to seeing the way such a lens works - I have used the 12mm very happily within buildings, and you become aware not so much of lines of composition as the sheer volume of the space which you hope to record. I can't help thinking that past habits - of keeping my verticals vertical, for instance - were helpful.

If there is a single test if how well the lens is working for you it is probably to take note of whether in your final print you are still using the full frame - if you find yourself cropping, taking only the middle bits, then a little more practice may be needed.

All in all, an absolute treat. I give it four stars only because it isn't f:1.2 - my other obsession is low-light photography, and the Voigtlander 35mm f:1.2 is my other favourite lens. Extremes are not just fun - there is a discipline which is a joy to work with.