Voigtlander Macro, APO Lanthar 65 f2 ASPH

[tommiejeep]

Any Sony shooters thinking about this lens?   I do not expect it will be available anywhere in India (the last Voigtlander Dealer stopped importing a year or so ago) .  Will be interesting to see how it stacks up against the earlier, and how it sells.  I am happy with my up-dated VM lenses but those are quite small and lightweight by comparison.  Would love to hear from anyone buying/using.
Cheers,
Tom

[Dr Klaus Schmitt]

Hevn't seen anyone using this one here, surprising it is...

[longzoom]

Any Sony shooters thinking about this lens?   I do not expect it will be available anywhere in India (the last Voigtlander Dealer stopped importing a year or so ago) .  Will be interesting to see how it stacks up against the earlier, and how it sells.  I am happy with my up-dated VM lenses but those are quite small and lightweight by comparison.  Would love to hear from anyone buying/using.
Cheers,
Tom

So far I did not try it, Tom, but do really wonder what it is for.  Half-size macro, what mean for contemporary lens it will be perfect to infinity, but a bit short for portraiture, as for me, of course. To judge it by the images already  posted, the lens profoundly makes it own space among the best lenses on the market. But, again, you do not know what PP was really done to the its files. Sorry it is for E only, yeah, indeed... LZ

[Oskar O]

Will certainly be interested to read a bit more about it when it gets wider circulation, there are some promising signs about it. I'm not a big fan of the focal length and size though, but can work around them. Still, this is a very competitive space, especially since the Zeiss Makro-Planar 50/2 works very well on a Sony.

[Roland Vink]

I like the slightly longer than standard focal length, it is strange there are so few lenses between 50 and 85mm. It is short enough that it can be used as standard lens, but gives a bit more space for full length and upper body portraits. Outside of portraiture, I don't really mind which focal length as long as I can frame the subject how I want - there is nothing special about 50mm or 51.6mm or 85mm. For macro it also gives a very useful increase in working distance compared to 50-55mm macro lenses, while being easier to hand-hold than the 100mm class of macro lenses.

Compared to the Zeiss 50/2 macro, overall it is a bit longer and heavier but otherwise the two lenses are similar - same filter size, max aperture and 1:2 magnification. If it were available for Nikon I'd choose it over the Zeiss, mainly due to the longer focal length.

[longzoom]

Sigma should update their 70/2.8 macro. Optically this one is really brilliant, but terribly outdated mechanically. If they make 75/2.0 1:2 OS, I am sold... LZ

[pluton]

I like that it seems to be reasonably priced, assuming the expected apo- or near-apo performance.
I was getting excited until I saw that it has a full manual aperture.
That's probably a deal killer for many/most potential stills users, but of course won't be a hindrance to cinema shooters.

[Dr Klaus Schmitt]

https://www.dpreview.com/news/4849329692/voigtlander-says-new-65mm-f2-e-mount-macro-is-one-of-its-finest-lenses-ever


Has just been released about that lens...

[Michael Erlewine]

Compared to the Zeiss 50/2 macro, overall it is a bit longer and heavier but otherwise the two lenses are similar - same filter size, max aperture and 1:2 magnification. If it were available for Nikon I'd choose it over the Zeiss, mainly due to the longer focal length.

I would choose it because it hopefully is much better corrected than the Zeiss 50/2 macro, which is poor.

[Roland Vink]

Some user impressions here:
https://www.dpreview.com/articles/9305738638/voigtlander-65mm-f2-macro-apo-lanthar-sample-gallery-and-user-impressions

[jhinkey]

Any Sony shooters thinking about this lens?   I do not expect it will be available anywhere in India (the last Voigtlander Dealer stopped importing a year or so ago) .  Will be interesting to see how it stacks up against the earlier, and how it sells.  I am happy with my up-dated VM lenses but those are quite small and lightweight by comparison.  Would love to hear from anyone buying/using.
Cheers,
Tom

It's a bit of a weird focal length for me, however I like ~2x FL ratios between my primes, so it would work well with:
15/4.5 CV
35/2.8 Sony
65/2 CV
125/2.5 CV

would need to get the last two on that list for my A7RII.

[typestar]

For all of you interested in the Voigtländer Macro Apo 65 mm,

Phillip Reeve shows his conclusion since 2 days here:

https://phillipreeve.net/blog/voigtlander-65-f2-apo-macro-review/

and here he shows more pictorial results:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/96189377@N08/sets/72157685259275700

best wishes:

Christian

[Roland Vink]

Looks like an excellent lens. The only real optical issue is some flare. It would be nicer with curved aperture blades so the background blurs are rounder instead of polygonal. I don't mind if the opening becomes more straight-edged on stopping down, bokeh is less important at smaller apertures and that's where you are more likely to want the sun-star effect.

[jhinkey]

Looks like an excellent lens. The only real optical issue is some flare. It would be nicer with curved aperture blades so the background blurs are rounder instead of polygonal. I don't mind if the opening becomes more straight-edged on stopping down, bokeh is less important at smaller apertures and that's where you are more likely to want the sun-star effect.

Is the degree of flare caused by the fundamental optical design or choices on coatings/optical materials (or both)? 
I.e., could they have greatly reduced the flare if they had the best AR coatings on all elements for extra production cost vs. some reduced degree of AR coatings on elements for reduced cost?  Or is it more complicated than that?

- J

[Roland Vink]

It's both. Improved coatings will certainly help to reduce reflections from lens surfaces. The best coating is nano-coating since it eliminates reflections almost completely, but these are fragile and expensive, so they are only applied to selected internal lens surfaces where they will make the most difference. Reducing reflections from one surface which would otherwise be a major source of flare or ghosting can make a big difference since it also eliminates secondary reflections from other lens surfaces which could reduce contrast etc.

However, some lens designs are simply more prone to flare than others. For example a rear-facing concave lens could easily focus light reflected from the sensor back onto the sensor, producing one of those flare blobs of light you sometimes see. The spacing and curvature of lenses can make a big difference. I am sure lens designers take this carefully into consideration, but it could be a trade-off between a lens with better resolution, field curvature, distortion, and less/more flare.