January 3, 2021

Ultron and Trioplan Play covid-19: day 286 | US: GA | info | act

Today is the first sunny day since receiving my Ultron 1.8/21. I took advantage of the situation and snapped a couple of photos with the Leica SL around the house. I am amazed by the rich color reproduction, the three-dimensionality, and sharpness of this lens. Notice that there is no flare shooting directly in to the sun. I am very impressed, and I will be using this lens pretty exclusively for the foreseeable future. I also know there will be more Voigtländer lenses in my future.

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Then I started messing around with the Trioplan 2.8/100. I’ve been disappointed in this lens lately, and I figured I might like it better stopped down. I tried some experiments and got a couple of good shots, but when I added the Rotolight into the mix—wow! That extra light is just what I needed. Here are some samples with two Buddhas, and the Rotolight is camera-left on all.

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  f/2.8

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  f/4

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  f/5.6

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  f/2.8

Only at f/2.8 do we get the magic Trioplan soap-bubble bokeh, evident in the last image. Be sure to enlarge each photo for the full effect. I did sharpen each of these a bit in post. Not bad.

Finally, when Henry and Autumn got home, I had to do a few more shots with the Trioplan. Golden Hour was upon us, so I got my underutilized reflector and we all headed outside. Henry is a bit fidgety, so I didn’t feel like I got anything. I’m happy to report that I was wrong.

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These are all taken at f/2.8 with some sharpening and minor tweaking in post. Again, click to embiggen—they really don’t look too special as small images. Maybe I’ll hold on to the Trioplan a bit longer. This makes me also want to get a couple more vintage lens, like a Leica Summitar 2/50 that Matt Osborne touts.

Leica Camera and Lens Information

📷: Leica M8 (09/2022–) • Leica M (Typ 262) (01/2017–12/2020) • Leica SL (Typ 601) (12/2020–). Leica Lenses: Leica Summicron-M 2/50 (Typ IV) • Leica Summicron-M 2/35mm ASPH (Typ V). Other Lenses: Asahi Super-Takumar 1.4/50 8-Element • Asahi Super-Takumar 1.8/55 • Asahi Super-Takumar 2.5/135 • Canon 1.4/50 LTM Helios 44m-4 2/58 • Industar 61 2.8/55 • Jupiter-8 2/50 • Jupiter-9 2/85 • Konica Hexinon AR 1.8/40 • Meyer-Optik Görlitz Trioplan 2.8/100 • Olympus Zuiko 2.8/24 • Olympus Zuiko 2.8/28 • Olympus Zuiko 1.8/50 • Olympus Zuiko 2/85 • Vivitar 2.8/28 • Voigtländer Nokton Classic 1.4/40 MC • Voigtländer Ultron 1.8/21 • Voigtländer Ultron 2/28. Processed with Capture One Pro.