Voigtlander 40mm f/2 Ultron Opinions?

[Derek of Venango]

Great Airy and thanks.

Lens arrived this morning. Haven't played with it yet but build is awesome and like Birna's experience the scalloped focus ring IS buttery smooth! 

[Danulon]

I own the SL II. Focussing ring stiff, but smoothening after some use. Excellent compact walk around lens. Wouldn't reccomend to use it on bigger cams, though, too small. ;-)


Concerning lens generations:
SL I = w/o cpu
SL II = w/ cpu
SL IIs = afaik same as SL II, just with "retro" look similar to Nikkor AI.


Something special with my sample:
I own several Zeiss ZF.2 lenses (= w/ cpu), the VC SL II 40 mm f/2 and the VC SL II 90 mm f/3.5.
All other lenses are treated like AI-P lenses by my cams, i.e. advanced metering modes like the high light mode in more modern Nikon DSLRs are not supported - of all the manual non Nikon lenses the 40 mm SL II is the only one supporting all metering modes of my D750.

[Derek of Venango]

Interesting, I haven't noticed/explored the lack of highlight metering with the Zeiss 25mm f/2.8 or VC 40mm. Thanks Danulon, I'll have to investigate.

[Danulon]

Interesting, I haven't noticed/explored the lack of highlight metering with the Zeiss 25mm f/2.8 or VC 40mm. Thanks Danulon, I'll have to investigate.

I had a mail conversation with Zeiss technical support.
In short: All non-Nikkor lenses with cpu are treated like AI-P lenses. And AI-P lenses don't support more advanced metering modes.
I tried several Zeiss ZF.2 samples (Zeiss 21 mm, Zeiss 25 mm 2.8, Zeiss 28 mm, Zeiss 35 mm 2.0, Zeiss 50 mm 2.0, Zeiss 135 mm) and two Voigtländer SL II (40 mm and 90 mm).
It did not work as by the Zeiss information - only exception being the 40 mm.
My guess is that by some coincidence that one lens uses a cpu also in use by Nikon.

[Derek of Venango]

True indeed. Today I needed both lens' for work ... yes the VC SL II Ultron 40mm works perfectly in Highlight meter mode and the Zeiss, well not!

+1 Voigtlander!

[Hugh_3170]

Danulon's discovery about the Voigtländer SL-II 40mm lens CPU providing full compatibility with the advanced Nikon metering modes, raises a couple of questions for me.

Firstly will Zeiss and Voigtländer provide firmware updates for their CPUs? 

Secondly will the Voigtländer SL-II 40mm operate the green focus light on the Z6/Z7 cameras?  Anyone know?

[Birna Rørslett]

---light ??
Secondly will the Voigtländer SL-II 40mm operate the green focus light on the Z6/Z7 cameras?  Anyone know?

It most certainly does. The 58/1.4 CV SL.2 does not.

By the  way, 45/2.8 Ai-P Nikkor also triggers the "green"light.

[Øivind Tøien]

It most certainly does. The 58/1.4 CV SL.2 does not.

By the  way, 45/2.8 Ai-P Nikkor also triggers the "green"light.

What about your chipped 55mm f/2.8 micro? That would be similar max aperture/focal length as the AF 55mm f/2.8 micro. That could tell us if the bodies in question is looking for a familiar lens. (Added: On further thought then the 58mm f/1.4 should also have been accepted?)

Hmm, may be I should not have re-chipped my 28mm which had the 45mm chip   ? (Actually I do not care about the green dot). However it is strange if the 40mm register as a 40mm in exif and still is accepted.

I do not see any advanced metering modes on my D500 (AFS 12-24mm f/4 mounted; the only option I see is face detection option for exposure/metering). Is that only on D850 and Z bodies?

[Birna Rørslett]

Whatever identification protocol Nikon is using here to determine whether a lens is "worthy" of triggering the green light, it cannot rely on simply matching focal length and some fixed aperture. That would prevent the "green light" feature to work with new lenses unless the camera's firmware is updated, a measure step unthinkable for Nikon. Lenses that vary focal length and/or effective aperture would cause a hellish lot of matching issues as well. There must be some hidden code in the lens identification as presented to the camera.

Some  AF/AFD lenses (AF Micro 105/2.8, AFD 35-70/2.8 ) I have tried via the FTZ evidently are unable to get a "green light", however the AFD 14/2.8 does? . My two Ai-P lenses (45/2.8 and 500/4P) on the other hand show the 'green light' as does the Voigtländer 40/2 SL.2.

I am none the wiser. Maybe there is a bug in the Z-camera's handling of focus peaking that is manifested by the confusing and inconsistent treatmeant of red/green focus confirmation?