Voigtlander Heliar-Hyper Wide 10mm f/5.6 Aspherical Lens for Leica M

This lens is ground-breaking, and a lot of fun to use. It of course isn't the sharpest lens into the corners at this wide of a focal length, but I get satisfactory results when stopped down to f/9.5. And as always, CameraQuest delivered the lens incredibly fast!

At first, I was very cautious, because I thought there was contact between the rear lens element and the shutter in my M9. Actually, no, there wasn't. When I made some test photographs and looked at them on the LCD screen, I thought they were too dark. What I was seeing, were the raw (dng) files. After processing the raw images in DXO, it was like seeing magic. This lens is incredible. It opens up a whole new way of seeing. If you opt not to purchase the 10mm viewfinder that attaches to the camera's hot shoe, don't feel so bad. Just use any other wide-angle viewfinder, like a 28mm or 18mm, and you can learn to mentally approximate the total "experience" of a 10mm field of view. You won't be disappointed. I am able to focus as close as 1.5 feet (maybe closer) to the subject, which yields some very interesting perspectives. Be forewarned, though, that your rangefinder focusing patch (on the M9) will be inoperable. Reason being, I do believe, is the fact that the depth of field is quite encompassing. Just use the distance scale and estimate your subject's distance. You won't fail, because of the d.o.f. that a super-wide lens like this one will give you. This lens is also available for the Sony E mount cameras. I chose the Leica M-Mount, so I can use it on my M9 and Sony camera with Leica-M adapter. Either way, you cannot go wrong. This is one lens that you will be happy with, especially for travel and landscapes.