It’s Sunday night and I just received an e-mail from LensRental.com reminding me that I need to return the lens or call for an extension. As I type, the lens is safely packed away and will be shipped tomorrow.
Overall, I can speak very highly of LensRental.com. The rental was a breeze; it was packed very well and the lens was in top shape, very well cared for.
As for the lens itself, it was a decent lens. I think that it lacked the contrast punch of the Summicron, but this is easily corrected with sliders and such. It’s large aperture, f/1.1 didn’t amaze me as much as I thought it would. Sure, it could gather about 1 1/3 more stops of light than my current 50 mm, but that wasn’t quite enough, for me, to offset the disadvantages of the lens, especially given how I use the lens. The disadvantages were:
1. Comparatively heavy.
2. Large and conspicuous.
3. Seriously encroaches into the view finder.
The advantages:
1. Great light gathering ability.
2. Feels well built.
3. Operates smoothly.
I didn’t really make and comparisons on bokeh, as with the rangefinder, I generally shoot at f/8 or f/11, but I did want to try this lens, even though I had to shoot counter to what I usually do with a rangefinder.
It was a great experience, the rental. It was a nice way to try a $1,000 lens for $6 USD per day. So, had I considered buying this lens, the final answer would be no. Your mileage may vary, though. If you do lots of night shots, you might find yourself wanting this lens.
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IMO, with the images shared during this evaluation I can’t see the Voigtlander lens made a great impact. They were as usual fine images, but for me there wasn’t one that shouted “this was an image which could not be made with the Summicron 50mm.”
Now my judgement on this may be a little questionable because I’m use to seeing scanned shots from the M6 and many of these were from the M9, which I’m sure your still getting use to — plus I’m a SLR digital guy who shoots mostly color.
The advantages you listed were things I’d expect from any lens with these specs at this cost point and for me are far outweighed by the disadvantages.
Paul, renting, a great way to try before you buy which could certainly prevent buyers remorse. I may give it a shot someday. I’d love to try the Nikon 85mm f/1.4.
I couldn’t agree more, Earl. Certainly, comparing digital M9 shots to scanned M6 shots is not comparing apples to apples. However, I was able to compare M9 to M9 using both lenses. As you mentioned, there was nothing in the photos that I took that said: I have to have this lens. As a matter of fact, they were all a little less contrasty, less crisp.
It was a great rental experience. I suggest, highly, that you give renting a try. I see that they have one for rental @ $10/day for a 7-day rental. http://www.lensrentals.com/rent/nikon/lenses/normal-range/nikon-85mm-f1.4g-af-s. Might be interesting to rent one and do a project with it.
$1,700 is a lot of money to have buyer’s remorse. LOL
I never gave renting a thought ’till your posts, Paul. But it sounds like a great way to to try new equipment.
The extra 1 1/3 stop might be worth the investment on an SLR in very low light. I could have used something like this last week on a project.
Hey, Ken. I had thought about renting, but didn’t really get around to it until I read Chris’ post about his rental experience. That was enough impetus to get me to try it and I’m glad that I did. I’m just paying it forward.
As for the 1 1/3 stops, it is a lot of light, I suppose, but it all depends on how you usually use your camera. If you’re shooting low light level stuff all of the time, it might be worth the investment, but if it is just every so often, then a rental is the way to go. You can rent for as little as 4 days, so it’s a pretty small investment and you get the shots that you want and get to keep most of your $$$
The rental opportunities appear fairly amazing. That was the big thing that I got from your posts on this experience. My eye is not keen enough to have evaluated the usefulness of the particular lens you chose to rent, but I certainly enjoyed reading about your experience.
I was more impressed with the rental company than the lens.