For the past 10 days or so, I’ve been with Leica CL with Leica M lens while Leica M10 is taking a long rest. I couldn’t tell much difference in terms of image equality difference between Leica M10 vs Leica CL with both Leica M lens mounted. One disadvantage I noticed with Leica CL is it doesn’t support an optical viewfinder which I am now used to with Leica M10. Focus peaking seems easy at first glance but Leica M10’s focus through optical viewfinder is much easier and accurate. Other than that I am very happy with Leica CL.
Leica M lens provides sharp image while Voigtlander Nokton 35mm provides old lens feeling. So I tested with Voigtlander Nokton 35mm F/1.4.
With wide open aperture at 1.4 is too soft, so I used 2.0 or 2.8 instead. Normally with Leica M lens, even if you shoot bright light directly, light doesn’t spread yet with old lens it does.(Voigtlander is modern lens but it has Leica old lens characteristics.)
Also with old lens, with open aperture (small number than 4), four corners are not so sharp even it’s within focus range)
From aperture number at 4 and over, it gets sharp.
If you like soft image, Voigtlander 35mm can be your best companion. Don’t get me wrong. it gets pretty sharp over aperture number 4 or higher. Also it’s a lot lighter than Leica M lens. Especially compared with Summilux lens, it’s smaller and lighter, so if you want to travel light, this is the best option! (Pricing standpoint, it’s reasonably inexpensive.)
Normally I like sharp image from Leica M lens but sometimes, I miss soft feeling from old lenses. I am glad Voigtlander 35mm can provide similar results.
Voigtlander Nokton 35mm lens has been my favorite lens way back when I used Fujifilm X-Pro2 as my main camera (before Leica M)
Check out this article about X-Pro2 with Voigltander Nokton 35mm F/1.4 Combination. Click here.