Leica Super-Vario-Elmar-T F3.5-4.5/11-23mm ASPH.
The Super-Vario-Elmar-T was released together with the APO-Vario-Elmar T, and it covers the angle of view between ultrawide 17mm and natural 35mm in 35mm full frame. The minimum focus distance is 20cm, which is very short. Usually, wide lenses are more prone to vignetting and colorcast. So, I was curious about how this lens exclusively designed for the Leica T mount performs. I headed to Noto Peninsula and found that this lens does a great job.
( Photography / Text : T.Takahashi )
In Wajima. This bamboo fence made by arranging think bamboos is called "magaki" and it's designed to protect houses from winter wind from the Sea of Japan. The lens clearly defined each bamboo to the back. It has a slight vignetting, but it added to the 3D pop on this shot.
Despite the backlight, it reproduced the old wall of the house in the front realistically. The power lines are resolved delicately.
They are illuminations for the terrace. They work in fall and winter, so now they're off duty and don't look too beautiful. The bokeh is soft even though I zoomed out to the widest, thanks to the 20cm minimum focus distance. The soft rendition of the waves and clouds emphasizes the 3D quality of the focal plane.
An ultra wide lens could include the entire building. With a slight change of angle, you can get this wide feel. It has a slight distortion, but I think it's negligible. And, if it's overly corrected, it loses the 3D quality.
The famous Kenrokuen in Kanazawa. Although it doesn't have image stabilization, you can shoot confidently by raising ISO sensitivity. At the original image size, I could see each rope is defined with a great detail despite the dark situation. And, I love the tonal reproduction of the dim clouds on the deep ultramarine sky.
At ISO 1600 on the street. The noise is low and the white balancing is excellent despite the mixed light sources. And, shooting with the beautiful LCD screen on the Leica T was quite exciting.
The tele-end works great for everyday snapshots. If you don't make angles, you can shoot like a normal lens, too.
This wide zoom lens definitely expands your expression. The swallowing angle of view will come in handy when shooting vast scenes. And, Leica users will love the color tone, contrast, and tonal quality. The combination of this lens and the Leica T is a perfect subsystem supplementing the Leica M because you can leave all wide shots to this system. And, the appearance of the body with the lens mounted is so smart and stylish. Anyway, it's Leica and that's says it all.
( 2015.06.09 )