Leica M, Review, solinon

Review: Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph

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Introduction

18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph on Leica M10

It doesn’t happen often that one of our readers reaches out and tells us he had his own lens made, but that is exactly what happened here. Not finding what he was looking for among the lenses already available, our reader Calvin from Hong Kong decided to had a lens made to his desires and have it manufactured in China. Of course I was interested to review it, so let’s have a look at this intriguing lens together!
Lens is being tested on 42mp Sony A7rII and 24mp Leica M10

Sample Images

18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Leica M10 | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | f/5.6 | Ai Denoise
18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Leica M10 | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | f/5.6 | Ai Denoise
18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Leica M10 | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | f/8.0
18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Leica M10 | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | f/5.6
18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Leica M10 | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | f/5.6
18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Leica M10 | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | f/5.6

Many of the Sample images in this review can be found in full resolution here.

Specifications

This Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph has the following specifications:

    • Diameter: 54 mm
    • Field of view: 100° (diagonally)
    • Length: 36 mm
    • Weight: 230g (without hood[11g] and caps)
    • Filter Diameter: 46 mm
    • Number of Aperture Blades: 5 (straight)
    • Elements/Groups: 9/7
    • Close Focusing Distance: 0.38 m
    • Maximum Magnification: 1:16
    • Mount: Leica M

buy from the official store for $444

Disclosure

This Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph was kindly provided by our reader and Discord member Calvin for review purposes. Thanks a lot!

Handling / Build Quality

18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph

As you will see when scrolling down a bit this Solinon 18mm 5.6 looks similar to the Voigtländer VM lenses as it uses almost the same colors for the markings. The markings on the lens barrel are also engraved and filled with paint whereas the writing on the front retention ring looks like it is only printed on.

The focus ring has a very nice and even resistance and travels 120° from the minimum focus distance of 0.38 m to infinity.

The aperture ring has half-stop click stops that are spaced equidistantly as it should be.

I found the rangefinder coupling to be accurate, but an 18mm 5.6 lens is also pretty forgiving here. It looks to me as if it would be user adjustable though.

  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Rangefinder blockage

The Solinon 18mm 5.6 brings up the 28/90mm frameline pair. There is a significant amount of rangefinder blockage with this lens, but if you are using this lens on a rangefinder camera without liveview you need an external finder for framing anyway.

18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph with hood attached on Leica M10

The lens ships with a small rectangular screw-on hood. The hood aligns perfectly here and it features a small cut-out to not block the rangefinder window as much.

18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Voigtländer VM 15mm 4.5 Super-Wide-Heliar II | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | Voigtländer VM 28mm 2.8 Color-Skopar

The Solinon 18mm 5.6 is a compact lens, but not as compact as some of Cosina’s Voigtländer lenses like e.g. the Voigtländer VM 15mm 4.5 Super-Wide-Heliar I/II or the Voigtländer VM 28mm 2.8 Color-Skopar.

18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph via adapters on Nikon Zf

Being an M-mount lens, you can adapt it to all kinds of mirrorless cameras.

Vignetting

light falloff

  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Sony A7rII, overcast sky shot through white tissue

To some of you an f/5.6 maximum aperture probably sounds slow and limiting, but sometimes there is more than meets the eye, and this is the case here.

The Solinon 18mm 5.6 shows 2.2 EV light falloff in the corners at all aperture settings. While not little, this is better than many of the competitors.

The Voigtländer VM 15mm 4.5 Super-Wide-Heliar II shows 3.7 EV at all apertures, the Funleader 18mm 8.0 even 3.9 EV, the Laowa 15mm 5.0 Cookie 2.9 EV at f/5.6. Only the much bigger Zeiss ZM 18mm 4.0 Distagon matches this Solinon at f/5.6.

So while the f/4.5 of the Voigtländer obviously sound better than the Solinon’s f/5.6, the Solinon actually lets in more light in the corners at f/5.6 than the Voigtländer at f/4.5. As both their vignetting figures don’t improve on stopping down, I definitely prefer the Solinon here, giving a more even exposure.

  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph

color cast

  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Sony A7rII, overcast sky shot through white tissue

Some of the older ultra wide angle lenses that had still been designed for film have color cast issues on digital cameras, especially so on the Leica M8 and M9 but still on the M10. The Voigtlander VM 15mm 4.5 II for example creates the infamous “italian flag” vignetting on Leica M cameras prior to the M11 and a blue/green cast on cameras with BSI sensor like most of the recent Sony cameras and the Leica M11.

The Solinon does not have such issues, there is hardly any color cast in the corners and I didn’t feel the need to correct it in any of the sample pictures in this review.

Sharpness

infinity (24mp Leica M10, 42mp Sony A7rII)

  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Leica M10 | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | f/11

With lenses that only offer a maximum aperture of f/5.6 it is important to me, that they show a good to very good performance at f/5.6, because – unless you are using a tripod – you will often not have a lot of room to stop the lens down further.

Here this actually is the case. On the Leica M10 this Solinon 18mm 5.6 shows an even and very good across frame performance from its maximum aperture.

The Funleader 18mm 8.0 “Cap Lens” – despite being one stop slower – didn’t show an impressive performance in this category. The Zeiss ZM 18mm 4.0 also needs to be stopped down to f/8.0 to show a performance similar to this Solinon at f/5.6 and same is true for the Voigtlander VM 15mm 4.5 II. The Laowa 15mm 5.0 Cookie shows a good performance from f/5.0, but the corners never look as good as they do here.

On the Sony A7rII the Solinon looks worse in the corners compared to the Leica M10, as was to be expected because of its thicker filter stack. Good news is, due to the deep depth of field it only takes stopping down to f/8.0 for it to perform as well on the Sony as it does on the Leica.

close (0.38 m, 1:16)

  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Sony A7rII | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | 100% crops from center

In the M-mount world the closest focusing ultra wide angle lenses are currently being produced by Laowa. The Laowa 15mm 2.0 offers a minimum focus distance of 0.15 m and the Laowa 15mm 5.0 Cookie of 0.14 m. The Funleader 18mm 8.0 cap lens offers 0.3 m, the Voigtländer 15mm 4.5 SWH II/III as well as the Zeiss ZM 18mm 4.0 Distagon offer 0.5 m.

This Solinon 18mm 5.6 offers 0.38 m and in the center the performance is really good from f/5.6. Being a unit focus lens there is some field curvature at closer distances, so this isn’t a great choice for taking pictures of small flat objects. Not that I know who would do that with an 18mm lens…

Flare resistance

As always evaluating flare is a complex matter since you can get any lens to look bad if you push it hard enough and a slight change of scenario can affect results a lot.

  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Leica M10 | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | f/5.6

Apart from a specific position with the sun in the corner of the frame this is a pretty good performance.

  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Leica M10 | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | f/11

Stopped down the performance is very similar. Considering many lenses from new manufacturers struggle in this category, this was a positive surprise.

The only issues I encountered in the field were these small rainbow artefacts in the corners in very dark environments:

18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Leica M10 | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | f/5.6 | Ai Denoise

At the end of the day, I found this Solinon 18mm 5.6 to have a better flare resistance than the Zeiss ZM 18mm 4.0 Distagon, the Laowa 15mm 5.0 Cookie and the Voigtländer VM 15mm 4.5 SWH II – quite the achievement.

Coma

  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Leica M10 | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | 100% crops from extreme corner

At f/5.6 I see a low amount of Coma, by stopping down to f/8.0 it is gone. The amount of Coma is similar to what I have seen from the Voigtländer VM 15mm 4.5 SWH II and lower than what I have seen from the Laowa 15mm 5.0 Cookie. The Zeiss ZM 18mm 4.0 looks worse at f/4.0, but slightly better at f/5.6.

Distortion

18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Leica M10 | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | f/5.6

The Solinon 18mm 5.6 shows hardly any distortion. Good news for those, that also want to use this lens on an analogue camera.

Sunstars

  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
  • 18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Leica M10 | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | 33% crops

Similar to many of Laowa’s ultra wide angle lenses, this Solinon 18mm 5.6 features an aperture diaphragm made of 5 straight aperture blades which leads to very distinct sunstars. Already at f/5.6 the opening is five-cornered, which means this lens already creates sunstars at f/5.6.

18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Leica M10 | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | f/11

Chromatic Aberrations

lateral

I did not see any lateral CA.

longitudinal

As this is a very wide and rather slow lens longitudinal CA (loCA) are nothing to worry about either.

Conclusion

good

  • very good across frame sharpness at infinity from f/5.6
  • CA correction
  • very low distortion
  • flare resistance
  • distinct sunstars
  • build quality and handling
  • small size and low weight
 average

  • vignetting
  • coma correction
 not good

  •  

Whenever a lens shows up from an unknown manufacturer I am skeptical. And when we are dealing with a slow lens, I am even more skeptical, because you always expect them to perform well from their maximum aperture, but usually they don’t (looking at you, Funleader 18mm 8.0 “Cap Lens”, Brightin Star 23mm 5.6 and 7Artisans 28mm 5.6).

This Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph is a different story though. It actually performs very well from f/5.6, it has reasonable amounts of vignetting – better than the compact yet slow Voigtländer ultra wide angle lenses – and even the flare resistance is pretty good.

The price to pay for the good performance is obviously that the maximum aperture is limited to f/5.6. The comparably low vignetting figures redeem it a bit though, as personally I prefer using an f/5.6 lens with 2.2 EV vignetting over an f/4.5 lens with almost 4 EV. Still, this is obivously not your lens for taking pictures without a tripod during blue hour or in dimly lit interiors.

Also the build quality is nice. The rectangular screw-on hood aligns perfectly (something you only rarely encounter), the focus ring has a perfect resistance and the aperture ring equidistantly spaced click stops, as it should be.

Reviewing this lens was a positive suprise.

buy from the official store for $444

Alternatives

Zeiss ZM 18mm 4.0 Distagon:
To my knowledge this was one of the earlier ZM lenses and it has long been discontinued. It features an all-spherical design which puts it at a disadvantage compared to the modern lenses with aspherical elements. I wasn’t super happy with this Zeiss’ performance at f/4.0, at f/5.6 this smaller and cheaper Solinon matches its performance, so deciding between these two I would go with the Solinon.
buy from ebay.com | ebay.de (affiliate links) for $1000

Leica 18mm 3.8 Super-Elmar:
I haven’t used this lens personally yet. According to its MTF graphs it should perform very well, but I don’t know about such things as vignetting and flare resistance.
buy from ebay.com | ebay.de (affiliate links) for $3000

Funleader 18mm 8.0 “Cap Lens”:
This is a tiny pancake lens, sadly its performance leaves a lot to be desired.
buy from ebay.com (affiliate link) for $140

Voigtländer VM 15mm 4.5 Super-Wide-Heliar Mark I/II and III:
The difference between 15 and 18mm is way bigger than it may sound to you. The Mark I/II has more issues with color cast but is a bit smaller whereas Mark III has less issues with color cast but is bigger than this Solinon. The faster aperture sounds nice on paper, but as these Voigtländer lenses have stronger vignetting I found that difference to be neglibile in the field.
buy Mark I/II used from ebay.com | ebay.de (affiliate links) for $300+ or Mark III new from B&H | ebay.com | ebay.de | amazon.com for $799

Laowa 15mm 5.0 “Cookie”:
This Solinon has a more even across frame performance at infinity, better flare resistance and less distortion as well as CA. The Laowa is even smaller, slightly cheaper and focuses closer. Pick depending on your needs and focal length preferences!
buy from manufacturer’s shop | B&H | ebay.com | amazon.com for $399 (affiliate links)

Further Sample Images

18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Leica M10 | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | f/8.0
18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Leica M10 | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | f/5.6
18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Leica M10 | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | f/5.6 | Ai Denoise
18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Leica M10 | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | f/5.6 | Ai Denoise
18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Leica M10 | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | f/5.6 | Ai Denoise
18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Leica M10 | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | f/5.6 | Ai Denoise
18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Leica M10 | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | f/5.6 | Ai Denoise
18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Leica M10 | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | f/5.6 | Ai Denoise
18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Leica M10 | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | f/5.6
18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Leica M10 | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | f/5.6
18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Leica M10 | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | f/5.6
18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Leica M10 | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | f/5.6
18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Leica M10 | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | f/11
18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Leica M10 | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | f/5.6
18mm 5.6 solinon calvin hong kong asph review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting cookie pancake compact m10 leica m11 m10r rangefinder
Leica M10 | Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph | f/11

Many of the sample images in this review can be found in full resolution here.

Further Reading

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BastianK

My name is Bastian and I am your expert here when it comes to ultra wide angle lenses, super fast portrait lenses (ranging from a 50mm f/0.95 to a 200mm f/1.8) and I also have reviewed way too many 35mm lenses. Don't ask me anything about macro or wildlife shooting though.

7 thoughts on “Review: Solinon 18mm 5.6 Asph”

  2. Too bad these things never really adapt that well to Sony. Though I guess I would probably go with a loxia 21mm or Batis 18mm before this

    Reply

    2. What I saw here tells me that it looks pretty good on Sony at F8, and perfectly usable wide open when every pixel is not critical (sometimes edge sharpness doesn’t matter, i.e. if there is only sky or other negative space).
      I usually use WA lenses stopped down to F8-F11 by default anyway, so it actually seems almost like a perfect lens.
      The only potential worry would be dealing with the seller in case of any issues with the lens. Other than that I love what I see. Low distortion means no resolution loss (after correction) in those areas you worry about, unlike with many native lenses. Relatively low vignetting also means lesser loss in the corners and edges after correction, a stop or two worth of added noise and consequential detail loss.
      Just some things to consider. As for the five times larger lenses, they hardly present the alternative for most potential buyers.

      Reply

  3. The link to full resolution photos goes to the wrong album – Voigtlander 12mm.

    Impressive lens! Low vignetting in a small package with not a huge front element. I’d like to know how they managed it – more about the optical design!

    Reply

  4. Thanks for the review, this looks like a very nice lens. I have one question, though: Is it just me or do the vertical lines in the distortion sample bend slightly inwards (making the center seem to bulge out). The lines on the borders are straight, ok, but going towards the center they seem to be just slightly bent to the inside. Maybe my mind plays a trick on me, but it’s actually something I’ve observed several times, when comparing lenses: They distort the image inside the frame differently. If this is at all true, it probably only happens when shooting fairly close subjects. This kind of distortion may help with a 3D impression too.

    Reply

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