Voigtlander 15mm F4.5 Heliar III Review & Sample Images

The Voigtlander 15mm F4.5 lens is a Leica lens optimized for mirrorless digital sensors. This lens has an aperture of f4.5 to f22. It’s extremely small and light with full manual controls, making it an incredibly fun lens. Plus, it looks amazing.

I usually like to write what I like and don’t like about a lens, but there are very few things I don’t like about this lens. From a technical standpoint, it’s very sharp from corner to corner with little distortion. The lens is near perfect on an APS-C camera like the Fuji X-T1 and shoots at around 22.5mm (35mm comparable).

I imagine it would also pair very nicely with the Sony A6000 or one of their similar cameras.

Vignetting and chromatic aberrations are the main problems with a full-frame camera like the Sony A7r. But we’ll get into all that in this review.

Tongva Park – Sony A7rII – Voigtlander 15mm Heliar III – ISO 100, F8, 30sec

Voigtlander 15mm F4.5 Heliar III: Amazon

Be careful if you order this lens; you are not ordering version II or version I, and some sites do not specify. The way you can tell is the lens should have a ‘III’ written on the rim.

Technical Specs

– Aperture Range: F4.5 – F22
– One Aspherical Element
– 11 Elements in 9 Group
– Manual Focus
– Minimum Focus: 1.6′ / 50 cm
– Optimized For Digital Sensors
– Built-In Hood
– 10-Blade Round Aperture
– Filter Threads: 58mm
– No Weather Sealing

The focus ring is marked for both meters and feet, and the aperture ring is on the very front end of the lens.

The lens does accept a 58mm front filter. I like to keep one around; it helps weather seal the lens slightly, especially when shooting at the beach, where water and mist are in the air. However, I’ll take them off in a relatively calm area because they tend to catch some extra light, especially when shooting in the city.

Resolution

Voigtlander improved the corners and edges of this lens over version II. Sharpness is controlled very well from the center to the edges, which is impressive for a wide lens.

There are chromatic aberrations on edge detail that aren’t great. You can remove them in the post, but sometimes, you’re left with a highlighted white edge.

These resolution charts show it. The distortion is minor and easy to correct if necessary.

These were taken on the Sony A7r with the center and edges cropped into 100%.

I’ve tested many full-frame ultra-wide lenses, and these results are very good, especially considering their small size.

Diffraction

This is how the Voigtlander 15mm f4.5 Heliar III handles diffraction on the Fujifilm X-T1. These results should be similar to those of the Sony A7r since both cameras have nearly identical pixel pitches – assuming I put the A7r in APS-C crop mode or cropping in 100%.

F4.5-F8 is where you want to be on this lens.

If you were shooting on a Leica or Sony A7ii, you could easily get away with shooting at f11. With the Sony A7s, you could shoot up to f16 without a problem. With the new Sony A7rII, even F8 might start looking nasty.

Full Frame Vignetting Samples

Shot with the Sony A7r.

This might be some of the worst vignetting I’ve seen on a lens yet. Yes, you can correct it, but the color contrast tends to be strange when you start lifting exposure on the edges by several stops like this.

Some people like vignetting, and some don’t. I don’t mind it, but I prefer it to be less extreme.

Update: Adobe includes a lens profile for the Voigtlander 15mm Heliar III. Its vignetting and distortion correction are perfect!

I don’t have the Heliar II, but based on how that profile corrected vignetting, I’m assuming this new lens has slightly more control over vignetting than the older one.

This lens also shows a drastic improvement in edge and corner color shifts from other samples.

Corrected with Adobe Lightroom’s new Heliar III profile correction. It cleans up some of the chromatic aberrations as well.

APS-C Vignetting Samples

Shot with the Fujifilm X-T1.

Vignetting is well-controlled on this camera. This lens is better suited for APS-C. Overall, it has fewer problems when cropped, and I love it.

The Stars

This is my favorite part about this lens. It’s the only lens I have that gives me this awesome look. Usually, you have to shoot at f16 to f19 to get sun stars like this, but with this lens, you can get them even at f4.5.

You’ll also get it with street lamps, but they won’t be as bright and as long as when you point the thing right at the sun.

Adapting Leica M To Sony E

I used the Voigtlander Leica M and E-Mount adapter II to adapt this lens to the Sony E-mount.

The adapter is very solid and very well-built. No complaints.

I’m unsure about the difference between the adapter’s version I and II. I ordered mine from B&Hphoto, and it did not specify, so I got version II.

Adaptering Leica M to Fujifilm-X

The adapter I used to get this Leica Mount lens to work on my Fujifilm X-T1 was made by Fujifilm.

This adapter is nice because it automatically turns on “Shoot Without Lens.”

This allows the camera to pre-load any distortion, vignetting, or color corrections you’ve programmed into the specific lens.

The adapter is very solid and well-built. No complaints.

Voigtlander 15mm F4.5 Heliar III Review | Bottom Line

The lens has a few flaws: intense vignetting when full-frame and some chroma on intense highlights. But because of the lens’s size, weight, and price, those issues become very forgivable. The new Lightroom lens profile does a fantastic job of cleaning up most of them.

Voigtlander on the Fujifilm

I love this lens on my Fuji X-T1; it’s nearly perfect. It gives a field of view equivalent to 22mm. Manual controls make it fun to use; it’s extremely sharp with manageable chromatic aberrations. Vignetting and distortion are well-controlled, so you don’t need much post-correction.

If you’re considering buying this lens just for your Fujifilm camera, I’m not sure how it compares to the Fujinon XF 16mm lens. This lens is a few hundred dollars cheaper, but remember, you would still have to buy a Leica M to Fujifilm adapter. They can range from about 100 to 200 dollars. If all manual controls and build quality are your thing, this lens is for you.

Voigtlander on the Sony A7r

It’s still a good lens for a full-frame camera like the Sony A7r, and I’m amazed at its size.

Usually, when I shoot this wide, it’s for specific things like landscapes and architecture. Color shifts and sharpness are still very well controlled from corner to corner, something I wasn’t expecting. I’ll be using this now as my primary ultra-wide for my Sony.

Final Thoughts

There are very few options for an ultra-wide E-Mount prime at this price. There is an old Zeiss Distagon Leica M mount and a Samyang 14mm mount. But this lens is special because it’s tuned specifically for mirrorless digital cameras.

I like this lens more than my Samyang 14mm because the distortion issues on that lens are annoying. I’ve yet to try the Distagon. I’m sure Sony / Zeiss will release some new ultra-wide this year, but in the meantime, don’t ignore this lens. It’s a lot of fun; it’s small and works on most mirrorless cameras with the proper adapter. Plus, it will look sick on your camera!

Voigtlander 15mm F4.5 Heliar III Sample Image

Since I shoot on both Sony E and Fuji X systems, buying Leica Mount lenses makes sense.

I like the lens on my Fuji, so I’ll post sample images of both cameras.

The lens will also work great on Micro 4/3rds, but I’ve yet to test that. Unfortunately, you cannot adapt it to the Samsung NX without the power tools.

Sample Images – Sony A7r – Full Frame

These were shot around f8 to f11, ISO 100, with various shutters. All taken on a tripod.

Sample Images – Fujifilm X-T1 – APS-C

These were all shot between f5.6 and f8. A few were at f11, but I don’t remember going over f8 often.

These were all handheld except the long exposure shot,