Leica M (Typ 240): Voigtländer 15mm f/4.5 III versus Leica Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 versus Leica Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8

Archive

Note: In December 2019, I sold my Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 Type III lens because of the fuzzy edges that Voigtländer did not acknowledge. I am therefore no longer able to answer questions about this lens.

On these pages you can find my first personal experiences with the lenses at the Leica M (Typ 240) and more. This page is devoted to the Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 III, Leitz Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 ASPH., and the Leica Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8 ASPH. lenses, which are all wide-angle lenses with focal lengths, ranging from 15 mm to 24 mm.

Introduction

On this page, I present comparison photos that were taken with my current widest lenses. For the 21 mm and 24 mm lenses, I took both lenses with me on a walk and stood exactly at the same location when I shot the photos. Of course, they are not as "identical" as possible, since I did not use a tripod. Two days later, I took the 15 mm lens with me on the same walk, but, of course, I did not remember where exactly I took the photos with the other two lenses. Thus, the shots provide an impression of the differences between the lenses, but this is not a serious comparison of the lenses. Nevertheless, you may find this page useful...

For more photos see the pages for the respective lenses.

Photos: Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 III (left), Leica Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 ASPH. (center), and Leica Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8 ASPH. lens (right) for comparison

Body with Lens Attached

For more photos see the pages for the respective lenses.

Photos: Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 III (left), Leica Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 ASPH. (center), and Leica Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8 ASPH. lens (right) for comparison

Some Technical Data

Data	Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 III	Leica Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 SPH.	Leica Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8 SPH.
Model number	Type III	11135	11648
Focal length	15 mm	21 (21.3) mm	24 (24.5) mm
Angle of view (35mm film)	110° diagonal	92° diagonal	84° diagonal
Maximum aperture	4.5	2.8	3.8
f-stop range	4.5-22	2.8-16	3.8-16
Number of iris blades	10	8	9 (not specified by Leica)
Number of lenses/groups	11/9	9/7	8/6
Shortest distance	0.5 m (0.7...inf)	0.7 m	0.7 m
Weight	247 g	317 g / 300 g / 318 g	260 g / 239 g
Length	55.2 mm	58 mm / 46 mm	56.6 mm / 40.6 mm
Maximum diameter	64.8 mm	58 mm	53 mm
Filter thread	58 mm	55 mm	46 mm (E46)
Lens hood, hood cap	integrated	12592 (rectangular hood), 14041 (hood cap)	12465 (rectangular hood)
Smallest object field / magnification	1106 x 737 mm / 1:31 (Voigtländer)	1.044 mm x 696 mm / 1:29 (Leica), 1123 x 749 mm / 1:31 (calculated), 1050 mm / 1:29.3 (from photo)	922 mm x 615 mm / 1:25.6 (Leica), 976 mm x 651 mm / 1:27.1 (calculated), 920 mm / 1:25.7 (from photo)

Sample Images

Same Places, Same Time for Two Lenses, Similar Places Two Days Later for the Third Lens...

The following photos were taken on a walk with the 21 mm and 24 mm lenses and on another walk two days later with the 15 mm lens (January 2017).

For the Elmarit-M and the Elmar-M, "Lens Detection" was set to "Automatic", and the lens was correctly selected. For the Super Wide Heliar, "Lens Detection" was set to "Off".


Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 III	Leica Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 ASPH.	Leica Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8 ASPH.

Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 III	Leica Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 ASPH.	Leica Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8 ASPH.

Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 III	Leica Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 ASPH.	Leica Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8 ASPH.

Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 III	Leica Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 ASPH.	Leica Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8 ASPH.

Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 III	Leica Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 ASPH.	Leica Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8 ASPH.

Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 III	Leica Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 ASPH.	Leica Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8 ASPH.

Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 III	Leica Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 ASPH.	Leica Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8 ASPH.

Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 III	Leica Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 ASPH.	Leica Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8 ASPH.

Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 III	Leica Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 ASPH.	Leica Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8 ASPH.

Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 III	Leica Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 ASPH.	Leica Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8 ASPH.

Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 III	Leica Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 ASPH.	Leica Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8 ASPH.

Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 III	Leica Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 ASPH.	Leica Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8 ASPH.

Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 III	Leica Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 ASPH.	Leica Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8 ASPH.

Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 III	Leica Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 ASPH.	Leica Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8 ASPH.

Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 III	Leica Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 ASPH.	Leica Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8 ASPH.

Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 III	Leica Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 ASPH.	Leica Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8 ASPH.

Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 III	Leica Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 ASPH.	Leica Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8 ASPH.

Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 III	Leica Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 ASPH. at f/8	Leica Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8 ASPH.

Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 III	Leica Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 ASPH.	Leica Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8 ASPH.

Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 III	Leica Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 ASPH.	Leica Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8 ASPH.

Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 III	Leica Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 ASPH.	Leica Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8 ASPH.

Conclusions

Disclaimer: I am not a lens expert who sees marked differences between various Leica and/or other lenses. I can check for soft corners, find differences in color rendition, and, in rare cases, may discover a "3D look", but that's all. Please regard therefore my conclusions as the verdict of a "layman".

Overall, this page is not intended as a comparison page for the three lenses. I just show how the lenses look and how they look at the Leica M (Typ 240), present their technical data, and last, but not least, present untouched photos taken with the lenses, which show more or less the same motifs. So feel free to download the original photos to make up your own mind.

There are obvious differences in how the lenses render sun stars - here the newer Elmar-M is the "king" thanks to its larger number of aperture blades. This newer lens is also a bit more resistant against flare than the other two lenses when you shot directly into the sun.