New lenses from Voigtlander - 40mm F2.8 M & LTM, 35/1.2 Z

  • CameraQuest commented
    10 hours ago


    You are shooting only on a Sony E ?the glass is optimized for Leica M sensors, which also works great on film.
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No, no, I'm using it pretty much only on film. I just stuck it on the Sony to see how it would work on that platform, expecting the usual differences due to the thicker glass over the sensor. I've also looked at it with the typical approach of putting a weak plano-convex lens in front.


qqphotos said:
Got my 40mm f/2.8 Heliar a couple weeks ago (thanks CameraQuest!). I posted a few notes on it elsewhere:
  • The field of view lines up right in between the 50/3.5 Heliar and the 35/2.5 Color Skopar and it's about the same field of view as the 40mm f/1.4 Nokton, and wider than the 1.2 Nokton.
  • I'm really picky about distortion and expected to find it annoying but it's not bad. There's not none but even the brick wall test looks pretty good, it's just some minor pincushion.
  • Lots of field curvature. Wide open, the plane of focus curves strongly backward away from the center of the frame, enough that it will definitely need to be compensated for when not focusing through the lens, if the subject isn't in the center.
  • There's quite a bit of light falloff in the corners below f/5.6. Easy enough to correct digitally, but it will be annoying for darkroom printing.
  • The far corners suffer a bit, especially on the Sony with it's thick filter stack, less so on film. But not terrible, and better than the 35 color skopar for instance.
  • It is contrasty and sharp in the great majority of the frame. It resists flare very well without much veiling flare or artifacts shooting toward light sources. With an extension tube it performs very nicely up close.
  • there's some lateral CA (purple fringing), it's easy to manage in lightroom, but on color slide film I think t it could be objectionable. Longitudinal CA is very mild and unobjectionable.
  • "onion rings" from the aspheric element are minimal, and defocused point sources are rendered as discs with slightly brightened edges, deforming into "lemons" toward the corners.
  • It's tiny, weighs nothing, and the ergonomics are about the same as the 35 Color-Skopar. It's a bit less weird than the collapsible Heliars in that you can twist the hood to adjust focus if you don't want to use the tab, without changing the aperture. But you still can't adjust the aperture without disturbing focus
  • It compelled me to find one of the rare Voigtlander 40mm shoe-mount viewfinders, which is lovely but costs nearly half as much as the lens.
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Street Portraits with:
The new Voigtländer 40mm f2.8 Heliar VM lens​

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Sony A7III - Voigtländer VM/E Close Focus Adapter
Voigtländer 40mm f2.8 Heliar VM lens
Yokohama, Japan - April, 2022
Images resized smaller than original​
 
There are now 4 small all black paint Voigtländer lenses with LTM: 50mm f/2.5, 40mm f/2.8, 28mm f/3.5 and 35mm f/1.7. The 35mm f2.5 in LTM is not all black. Am I right?

Erik.
 
Click image for larger version Name: image_115105.jpg Views: 3 Size: 353.2 KB ID: 4782966 My final set-up for the exquisite 40mm: I never cared for the vertical carry of the CL or M5...case from tporiginal.com. (A really well-made case for a song) I made the strap from leather sourced from my friend Jo Brooks in Australia ( https://www.instagram.com/alittlesatchel/ ). The kangaroo leather is strong, flexible & much thinner than the calf leather Erik likes on the Leica M original straps. The 40mm Heliar will essentially be glued to the CL, except for the occasional use of the 21mm.
 
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