In Praise of the Voigtlanders

[Michael Erlewine]

Over time, in day-to-day and actual use, I continue to be impressed by Voigtlander lenses. And I keep acquiring more and more of these Cosina/Voigtlander beauties, now made in Japan. That simple fact is they hold up in several ways, and I find myself reaching for them more of the time.

They are wonderfully made, many are very well corrected, even worth calling APO, sharp, and aside from classics like the 125nn APO-Lanther f/2.5, are relatively inexpensive. Each one is kind of a precious package. I don’t have all of them because some are not lenses I use a lot for my work, but here are some of the ones I actually use, and the ones I use the most are marked with an asterisk.


125 ** Voigtlander  125 F/2.5 Macro APO-Lanthar   
010 ** Voigtlander Heliar-Hyper Wide 10mm f/5.6 Aspherical Lens for Sony E
090 ** Voigtlander  APO_Lanthar 90mm f/3.5 SL
021   Voigtlander Nokton 21mm f/1.4 Aspherical Lens for Sony E
040    Voigtlander  40mm Ultron f/2.0 SL II       
050 ** Voigtlander APO-LANTHAR 50mm f/2 Aspherical Lens for Sony E
058    Voigtlander  58mm f/1.4 Nokton       
065 ** Voigtlander MACRO APO-LANTHAR 65mm f/2 Aspherical Lens for Sony E
090    Voigtlander  90mm f/3.5 SL II with Close-Up Lens
110 ** Voigtlander MACRO APO-LANTHAR 110mm f/2.5 Lens for Sony-E
180 ** Voigtlander 180mm  APO f/4     

Photo taken today using the Nikon Z7 with the Voigtlander 110mmMacro APO-Lanthar f/2 and the TechArt TZE-01 adapter

[Roland Vink]

I have the Voigtlander 40mm SL IIS - the one styled like a 1960s Nikkor-H 50/2. Very nice lens with sensible specs - not too slow or fast, compact, can focus close (1:4), optical performance is good and reasonably priced. I wish there were more lenses like it.

[John Geerts]

Yes lovely lenses.  At the moment I have the 90 and 180 APO Lanthar's , the 58mm Nokton and the 40/2 Ultron

They are a bit in the same category (and not only by appearance) like the Zeiss lenses  Distagon 25/2.8 and 35/2.

[Birna Rørslett]

Over time, some Voigtländers have accumulated:

15mm f/4.5  (F)
21mm f/4  (RF)
25mm f/4 SC (RF)
40mm f/2 SL.2 (F)
50mm f/1.5 (RF)
58mm f/1.4 Nokton (F)
75mm f/3.5 (RF)
90mm F/3.5 SL.2 (F)
3* CV 125/2.5 APO-Lanthar (F)
180mm f/4 SL.2 (F)

Hmm. More than I had thought initially. Oh well.

[tommiejeep]

Michael, love the subtleness of that image.  Great colours.
I really enjoy using my Voigt (2nd or 3rd string) lenses on my Sony bodies and the Z6.   Interesting, but after years of trying to find good copies of 125 2.5 and 180 f4 for Nikon, it now seems new lens prices have made them seem much more affordable  .   The new 65 and 110 are worthy of lens lust but a waste on my shooting (and abilities ) .

[Airy]

I've been using the 40/2 and 58/1.4 for years. They are not perfect:
- 40/2 has pronounced barrel distortion and is not ideal for night shots (halos...)
- 58/1.4 has low contrast at 1.4 (which may suit some kinds of pics, but...), while otherwise well-corrected
Both have in common fantastic handling, high center (at least) sharpness, neutral color, "popping" images, close focus ability, and are compact. These are excellent multi-purpose go-around lenses. An alternative to Zeiss when weight, bulk, and cost are an issue.
I have not come across their APO lenses so far (fortunately for my wallet).

[Fons Baerken]

Apo lenses 90/3.5, 125/2.5, 180/4
and 58/1.4 and 20mm f/3.5 a quite underrated little pancake lens, have been in my possession.
Its a shame that Sony bought Voigtländer for that 50mm f/2 apo from what i have seen is pretty amazing
beats the Leica.

[Bent Hjarbo]

Any experience with the Techart E-Z adapter?

[rosko]

I love the delicateness of this iris image ! Creamy bokeh and the black background enhances the subject.

I never saw, so far, a picture of the Z6/Z7 mounted with Sony mount lenses. So, I don't know what it looks like and I have no idea how it compares with  a Z6/Leica mount lens combo.

I own both apo 125 and 90mm SL (the last one was chipped in Scotland by Erik and Birna) and recently bought the C/V Color Heliar 75mm f/2.5 (L39 mount)  which is very light. i need to use it more before giving any opinion. the small issue is that the focus ring lacks gripping although the focusing is smooth and buttery. I put a rubber ring and it's better.

All of them are qualitative lenses.

[Michael Erlewine]

Any experience with the Techart E-Z adapter?

I use the TechArt TZE-01 on all my Voigtlander Sony E-mount lenses and they work (for me) perfectly and are essentially so small they are invisible.

[simsurace]

I never saw, so far, a picture of the Z6/Z7 mounted with Sony mount lenses. So, I don't know what it looks like and I have no idea how it compares with  a Z6/Leica mount lens combo.

Here is the 15/4.5 III with the E-mount adapter, one of the cheap ones, which is too short to be on the safe side and with which the lens focuses to infinity already at the 2m mark.
I haven‘t tested the lens extensively, but it seems to be quite a good one with character.

[rosko]

Many thanks, Simone for this image.

The Sony E mount system is pretty the same (only 2mm difference of register between Z mount and E mount).

So the E system is a right choice as they are recent lenses.

[the solitaire]

Cosina - Voigtlander makes one lens that really keeps drawing my attention. I even went to Dusseldorf a few years ago to try one in person.
Back then, I decided that even though the lens was nice, it wasn't nicer then any of the lenses I owned at the time, so I did not buy it.

This lens is the 58mm f1,4. I'm still not 100% certain I would buy one today, if I were to try it on mycamera. I might however, which is why I keep being fascinated by this lens.

[Airy]

The 58/1.4 is not an exceptional lens like the 125/2.5 APO.

It has no outstanding feature.

It has, however, an outstanding combination of nice features (size, weight, handling, corrections, close focus, sharpness, max aperture, resistance to flare, etc.), and that makes it desirable. The Zeiss 50/2 Milvus is significantly better, but it fails in the categories size & weight.

[Krishna Kodukula]

My first Voigtlander, the 58/1.4. Minimal or no PP...