I am not sure how to answer. All the images I have posted are not cropped. The "smearing," if I notice it all, tends to be wide open with foreground objects. How much is "smearing" compared to a combination of depth of field and vignetting, I am not sure. I certainly cannot predict the effect and I really am not conscious of the problem.

I have found you need to be more conservative of the DoF scale by one stop--for example, I use the f/8 scale when set to f/11. I also have noticed there is an improvement with images when I pay attention to focus and not simply use it as a straight point and shoot--I may focus to 2m when shooting landscapes for example. Not that I am focusing with the monitor, but I will make minor manual adjustments to match the approximate distance to the object, which is simple and quick.

Since the camera does not process the images for this lens, I think shooting RAW is important--the two cropped images that were requested are not processed, but the others are. There is not a lot of processing and it is fairly consistent. This lens was designed for 35mm rather than a m4/3 sensor. However, unlike the 17mm Olympus lens, there is no distortion correction in processing which is quite amazing when compared to the barrel distortion in many small-format lenses.

On the whole I am happy with the lens and have fun using it. It is compact, and fast and easy to use.

Some more

Yet more

i consider this one of the best quality lenses from voigtlander , construction and optics
[considering the exotic focal length]


dont own it but played around with it at photo village

An update for optical viewfinders for this lens. I have tried two viewfinders and found both a little less than perfect. The first viewfinder I use is the Lumix 24mm finder. The framelines are actually 3:2--I believe it is a Voigtlander 25mm finder. Interestingly, the framelines match the top of image area resulting in not showing the bottom of the frame. It is useable, but you need to get used to it.

The second viewfinder I tried was the Voigtlander 21mm. The frame lines were much better in that while a little wide, the top and bottom of the frame was good. The only problem was that the frame reticle was crocked. I sent it back only to be replaced with another viewfinder with a crocked reticle. When I pointed this out to the retailer, he told me he sent me the best of the five in stock.

I am a little disappointed by Cosina/Voigtlander QC. I am also now back to the Lumix viewfinder.

Thanks. Unfortunately I returned the finder with my 21mm lens. I was having problems with the lens as well as it was focusing passed infinity. I decided to return them and get a Panasconic 20mm--which is a great match for my Olympus VF-1 17mm viewfinder.

Have you ever taken apart the 12mm cv viewfinder that comes with the ltm version of the lens? If I can get to the interior mask, I think I could alter it to match my 12mm lens. I did try to make a front mask, but it really is in the wrong place optically to work.

Unfortunately, the 12mm finder is a very different beast. You must be excited about the 15mm. Looking forward to some sample posts.