Photography is life, for as long as I can remember I have been freezing moments in time for all to see. I stumbled upon my first proper camera on my travels through Shinjuku in Japan. I had heard about a giant camera/electronics store called Yodobashi. I had been using a really old Canon point & shoot camera. This camera was not built for how I used it but it did such a great job and was always reliable. So while I was standing in Yodobashi I thought it was about time to upgrade my camera. It was there that I purchased one of my first proper cameras.
Fast forward to 2018.
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I got into rangefinder photography late into the game. Up until a year ago I was shooting with a range of different DSLR and mirrorless cameras. But nowadays I prefer the slower more methodical and deliberate work flow of my Leica M240.
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Now when it comes to rangefinder lenses I am still learning the ropes. But I had been using some adapted Voigtlander lenses on my various camera bodies. I absolutely love the all metal bodies, compact size, colour rendition and clarity of the optics. Naturally when I saw that Voigtlander had released a brand new 21mm f3.5 vintage line lens I had to go check it out. A quick train ride down to City Hall and a short walk to Riceball photography and I had the little gem of a lens in my hand.
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Riceball photography were so nice to let me mount the lens to my M240 and go shooting in the street for a quick test. During my short street test I absolutely fell in love with this mini lens. Impossibly sharp and oh so compact, the Voigtlander has been officially melded onto my Leica permanently.
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Google the specs and you will find that the ultra-wide Voigtlander Color-Skopar 21mm f/3.5 Aspherical Vintage Line VM contains 9 elements in 8 groups, aspheric lens surface, a 39mm filter thread and a 10-bladed aperture for super silky out-of-focus background action. In short, the lens is amazing.
Another pleasant discovery was the fact that I didn’t need to assign a lens profile – it just worked perfectly, straight out of the box.
I did try to assign the Leica 21mm 2.8 profile just to test but there wasn’t any advantage or noticeable change in my eyes.
![](https://www.35mmc.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/L1007373_1600px-1024x684.jpg)
I’ll be shooting more and more with lens over the coming months so if you would like to see more then follow my Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hotshotstudio01/
Thanks for reading
John
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hotshotstudio01/
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Simon on 5 Frames with the new Voigtlander Color-Skopar Vintage Line 21mm f/3.5 – By John Scott
Comment posted: 22/02/2019
Comment posted: 22/02/2019
Simon Kimber on 5 Frames with the new Voigtlander Color-Skopar Vintage Line 21mm f/3.5 – By John Scott
Comment posted: 04/03/2019