the unofficial Cosina-Voigtlander User Community

Hi all,<br /><br />I&#039;ve committed to picking up a new R4M and need to choose between the CV 21/4 or the 25/4 (at least at first, anyway). As an eyeglass wearer I was pleasantly surprised to find that I can actually see the 21mm frame lines (unlike the 40mm on the R3M). So now it’s just down to picking which wide to start with. My usage ranges from a lot of casual shooting with my family ... (kids everywhere) ... which is a prime reason that I&#039;d like something wider than my 35 Summicron, to an on again/off again project that works through various street shooting approaches in New York City. I&#039;d say that I&#039;m probably shooting 85% black + white these days, primarily Tri-X. Also, I do a lot of low light work but figure I&#039;ll suffer out the F4 issue by either pushing (or just switching back to something faster) and I&#039;m particularly excited for the immense depth of field that both lenses offer. Suggestions are welcome...<br />

If you&#039;re going to use it as a &quot;normal&quot; lens on your R4, I&#039;d get the 25. The wider (or narrower) the focal length, the more specific the usage.<br /><br />If you&#039;re going to use the R4 in tandem with an R3+35/40, then I&#039;d go for a 21. In fact, my carry around kit today was a R2a with a 50/1.5 mounted and 21/4 Skopar Classic in my pocket.

Thanks again, Brian<br /><br />I am working a 40/1.4 these days and am currently shelving my 35/2 (I need a little shake up so I&#039;ve decided to switch around my lensing). I just looked through your site, can you point out any specific examples of the 21 and 25 in your portfolios? I like the work very much.

Thanks for the kind words&nbsp; <br /><br />Use the search function (top-right link). Searching for &quot;[glow=red,2,300]25/4[/glow]&quot; will bring up 10 results (be sure to click the &quot;show all 10&quot; button) and searching for &quot;[glow=red,2,300]21/4[/glow]&quot; will bring up 4 photos.<br /><br />Of them, quick samples:<br /><br />21/4 Skopar:<br /><br />25/4 Skopar:<br /><br /><br /><br />There are some more examples in there if you search. Hope this Helps

alright, that&#039;s hugely helpful. I&#039;m going for th RM4_24/4 combo. I&#039;m in New York City and my office is 5 blocks from Photo Village so I can act on this pretty quickly (like tomorrow). <br /><br />Regarding the site: I love your search info, that&#039;s amazingly organized. I really like the feel of the L.A. airport images ... the tone and contrast are just right and I like the mix of close up and pull back POV as well. Of course, one can&#039;t help but think Winogrand when looking at airport imagry but I think you could be kind of on to something there ... Also, there&#039;s one image from the Taiwan Street series that feels like part of the reason that I&#039;m excited to start shooting wide. It&#039;s the &quot;Fruit Vendor, Min Sheng Daymarket&quot; image. I&#039;m going to start shooting on the street again here in NYC and want to work on conveying the density, volume, and insanely close proximity of bodies everywhere. I&#039;m hoping the 24/4 will cut it but suspect that I&#039;ll probably try and squeeze into my budget a 21/4 soon as well.

QUOTE:
<br />alright, that&#039;s hugely helpful. I&#039;m going for th RM4_24/4 combo. I&#039;m in New York City and my office is 5 blocks from Photo Village so I can act on this pretty quickly (like tomorrow).

<br />remember to share your results here&nbsp; ;D<br /><br />

QUOTE:
Regarding the site: I love your search info, that&#039;s amazingly organized. I really like the feel of the L.A. airport images ... the tone and contrast are just right and I like the mix of close up and pull back POV as well. Of course, one can&#039;t help but think Winogrand when looking at airport imagry but I think you could be kind of on to something there ... Also, there&#039;s one image from the Taiwan Street series that feels like part of the reason that I&#039;m excited to start shooting wide. It&#039;s the &quot;Fruit Vendor, Min Sheng Daymarket&quot; image. I&#039;m going to start shooting on the street again here in NYC and want to work on conveying the density, volume, and insanely close proximity of bodies everywhere. I&#039;m hoping the 24/4 will cut it but suspect that I&#039;ll probably try and squeeze into my budget a 21/4 soon as well.

Thanks! I love the codebase (Gallery v2.2) and the functionality &amp; flexibility it allows. Plus, it&#039;s opensource&nbsp; . I have a dedicated server (located in Texas) so I was able to configure everything to get the best out of it.<br /><br />Also, thanks for the kind words on my photos. All the inside LAX shots were with a Bessa L and 25/4...just point &amp; shoot while I was pushing my twins around in the stroller. The L/25 combo is perfect for simplicity. I wrote a review of the Bessa L &amp; Skopar combo on this website here based on the LAX shots.<br /><br />The other image you mentioned (the fruit vendor) was taken just last week just a couple of blocks down the street from my apartment in Taipei. It was with a 28/1.9 Ultron, which is my favorite lens for street shooting...use something a little wide and get in close. To me it comes closer to the view of actually being there.<br /><br />Thanks again&nbsp;