Which Voigtlander 35mm to choose?

[junix]

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I use a lot the Voigtlander 35/1.4 SC II for B&W film.. and I like the lens so much that I will probably add one Voigtlander 35/1.4 MC II for digital.

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[intangiblethings]

Of the 35mm lenses I've owned, the one I was quickest to get rid of was the 35mm f/2.5 ii. I just never felt like it was particularly enticing. Beyond the small footprint, it just felt basic. Had the 35mm f/1.4 ii launched at the time, I would have probably gone with that over the f/2.5 ii. I previously had the the 35mm f/1.4 i and despite its shortcomings still felt a bit more interesting. 

[Life By Stills]

Hi everyone,

How are you all doing? Hope everyone is well. Apologies for not getting back sooner - work got a bit busy, but I have finally made a decision and bought myself a new 35mm lens. Although a disclaimer before I let you all know my answer - I was warned by a friend that Leica has its fair share of fanboys and girls who may find it offensive if you disagree with their opinions. I didn’t get that idea from any of you who have replied to me (and I certainly haven’t met any before, but I think I can imagine that being the case with some people), but in the interest of keeping the peace, I want to make it absolutely clear that what I am stating is just my personal subjective opinion, which no one should view as invalidating their own choice of gear! Also, my observations are based on the copies which I tested, and so may vary from your own experiences depending on copy variance (not sure how much there is in reality, but am adding this as part of the disclaimer!).

Now with that out of the way, and in the hope that it may help some members in the future, I want to report that I went to a shop which had the following in stock which I was able to play with:

• Leica 35mm Summicron-M f/2
• Zeiss 35mm f/2 Biogon
• Voigtlander 35mm f/2 Apo-Lanthar
• Voigtlander 35mm f/2 Ultron I and Ultron II

I did make enquiries about the Voigtlander 35mm f/1.4 Nokton II, but the staff at the shop explained in a bit more detail about the glow, and showed me some samples, and I decided it wasn’t really for me, and so I just stuck with the f/2 lenses to test.

I started off with the Zeiss, with which I was already really impressed. The Cron came up next and I found actually that the Zeiss seemed to have a teeny teeny teeny teeny bit more contrast in the middle, but the Cron was better towards the edges and corners wide open at f/2. I say the Zeiss seemed to have a bit more contrast, but it wasn’t exactly a gulf - probably something I only spotted because I was making a point of pixel peeping in testing the lenses. I don’t think I would actually be able to identify the differences in a blind test though as the difference isn’t quite that noticeable, and even when pixel peeping, the difference was only very slight!

Both the Zeiss and the Cron I found had a kind of glow around high contrast areas towards the corner wide open, but the Cron was better. I don’t know how best to describe the glow - maybe it’s as if you duplicated a highlighted section and then added some gaussian blur to it - that kind of diffused glow. Resolution seemed to be there, but just that there was a bit of that “gaussian blur” look to it. Cron was noticeably better than Zeiss in respect, noticeable without necessary going too deep into a pixel peep experience.

I got the Apo-Lanthar out and put it back straight away. Having tried the Zeiss and the Cron, I already knew when picking up the Apo-Lanthar that it wasn’t for what I needed. That’s not to say the IQ isn’t good - I just was put off by the feel, size, and the balance of it on the M10-R. That is not to say that it’s a big lens - it’s certainly A LOT smaller than say the SL’s Apo primes - but for what I am looking for, it is just a bit bigger than I’d like.

I tried the Ultron II first, and I found that it was around as sharp as the Cron, with maybe a bit more resolution than the Cron in the corner. Also, I found that the Ultron II got rid of “gaussian blur” glow which the Zeiss and Cron exhibited towards the corner. I did find that the Ultron II had a bit of stiction when turning the focus ring. The copy I played with exhibited the stiction towards the middle of the focus range in both directions. The Ultron I performed the same optically, and focused without the stiction. Although it was smooth, it clearly was not smooth on the Cron or Zeiss level. You can still fine focus, but you just need to remember that you need to push it a bit more than the Cron or Zeiss if that is what you’re used to.

In relation to the Zeiss, Cron, and Ultron I and II which I tested, I did not notice any focus shift when stopping down which affected the focus of what I had been focusing on, although I was shooting inside a shop, and therefore I don’t know whether focus shift would be noticed at infinity when stopping down.

With my above report, I decided to go with the Ultron I. I am not fussed with the stick or the tab, so it didn’t really bother me, but the smoother focus was key to my choice over Ultron I or II. I went with Ultron I (not II) because of how it seems to be quite like the Cron, but better into the edges and corners - BUT without the stiction of the Ultron II.

But I am still on the lookout for a 35mm f/2.5 Summarit-M though haha.

I hope the above will be of some help to people trying to work out which 35mm to pick up.

Many thanks for surviving my rambling reply haha.

 

Edited March 22, 2022 by Life By Stills

[Jeff S]

As I linked earlier, you can add yourself to this list, unfortunately.  

 

But also to the list of those favoring the rendering of the Ultron over the Summicron ASPH, as also linked earlier.

Jeff

[Life By Stills]

10 minutes ago, Jeff S said:

As I linked earlier, you can add yourself to this list, unfortunately.  

 

But also to the list of those favoring the rendering of the Ultron over the Summicron ASPH, as also linked earlier.

Jeff

Haha yes, quite. I’ll add myself to the list in having experienced that stiction in the shop. Picked up the Ultron I instead of the II for that reason.

[Life By Stills]

On 3/21/2022 at 2:16 AM, rramesh said:

If you are willing to try 40mm, Voigtlander has recently announced a really cool looking Heliar 40mm f/2.8 in M and LTM mounts.

https://petapixel.com/2022/02/15/cosina-unveils-voigtlander-heliar-40mm-f-2-8-for-l39-and-vm-mount/

 

Sorry I didn't get back to you on this suggestion, @rramesh. It peaked my interest, although it doesn't seem to be on sale yet - but will definitely keep a look out for it! I was speaking to one of the guys at my local Leica store who was interested in picking one up to try as well!

[Adam Bonn]

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11 hours ago, Life By Stills said:

 I was warned by a friend that Leica has its fair share of fanboys and girls who may find it offensive if you disagree with their opinions.

To be fair I think for every single rabid fanboy (eg Mac never has bugs or crashes etc) there’s about 50 folks saying that ALL fans of that brand are like that

congrats on the lens, I have a Voigtlander 35/1.7 - looks even a mother would struggle to love, massive vignette wide open, but quite small and optically really very nice

I also have a summarit 35, great ergonomics and size, but mine had a ridiculously easy to turn aperture and focus ring (neither would be where I left them) - a bodge and a re-grease cured it. 

The summarit has quite a lot of distortion (adobe profile resolves it, C1 profile doesn’t), isn’t overly sharp in the corners (quite possibly because they’re being distortion  corrected by LR).  

When I need a small, light reliable lens in plentiful light that works great as a F4+ walkabout lens the ‘35 rit is my go too

[Life By Stills]

1 hour ago, Adam Bonn said:

I also have a summarit 35

Just wondering which Summarit do you have? The 2.5 or the 2.4?

[Adam Bonn]

17 minutes ago, Life By Stills said:

Just wondering which Summarit do you have? The 2.5 or the 2.4?

2.4

which is handy because like my 50 lux, 90 rit, CV35/1.7 and ZM21/2.8 it has a 46mm filter thread!
 

 

[Life By Stills]

19 hours ago, Life By Stills said:

Hi everyone,

How are you all doing? Hope everyone is well. Apologies for not getting back sooner - work got a bit busy, but I have finally made a decision and bought myself a new 35mm lens. Although a disclaimer before I let you all know my answer - I was warned by a friend that Leica has its fair share of fanboys and girls who may find it offensive if you disagree with their opinions. I didn’t get that idea from any of you who have replied to me (and I certainly haven’t met any before, but I think I can imagine that being the case with some people), but in the interest of keeping the peace, I want to make it absolutely clear that what I am stating is just my personal subjective opinion, which no one should view as invalidating their own choice of gear! Also, my observations are based on the copies which I tested, and so may vary from your own experiences depending on copy variance (not sure how much there is in reality, but am adding this as part of the disclaimer!).

Now with that out of the way, and in the hope that it may help some members in the future, I want to report that I went to a shop which had the following in stock which I was able to play with:

• Leica 35mm Summicron-M f/2
• Zeiss 35mm f/2 Biogon
• Voigtlander 35mm f/2 Apo-Lanthar
• Voigtlander 35mm f/2 Ultron I and Ultron II

I did make enquiries about the Voigtlander 35mm f/1.4 Nokton II, but the staff at the shop explained in a bit more detail about the glow, and showed me some samples, and I decided it wasn’t really for me, and so I just stuck with the f/2 lenses to test.

I started off with the Zeiss, with which I was already really impressed. The Cron came up next and I found actually that the Zeiss seemed to have a teeny teeny teeny teeny bit more contrast in the middle, but the Cron was better towards the edges and corners wide open at f/2. I say the Zeiss seemed to have a bit more contrast, but it wasn’t exactly a gulf - probably something I only spotted because I was making a point of pixel peeping in testing the lenses. I don’t think I would actually be able to identify the differences in a blind test though as the difference isn’t quite that noticeable, and even when pixel peeping, the difference was only very slight!

Both the Zeiss and the Cron I found had a kind of glow around high contrast areas towards the corner wide open, but the Cron was better. I don’t know how best to describe the glow - maybe it’s as if you duplicated a highlighted section and then added some gaussian blur to it - that kind of diffused glow. Resolution seemed to be there, but just that there was a bit of that “gaussian blur” look to it. Cron was noticeably better than Zeiss in respect, noticeable without necessary going too deep into a pixel peep experience.

I got the Apo-Lanthar out and put it back straight away. Having tried the Zeiss and the Cron, I already knew when picking up the Apo-Lanthar that it wasn’t for what I needed. That’s not to say the IQ isn’t good - I just was put off by the feel, size, and the balance of it on the M10-R. That is not to say that it’s a big lens - it’s certainly A LOT smaller than say the SL’s Apo primes - but for what I am looking for, it is just a bit bigger than I’d like.

I tried the Ultron II first, and I found that it was around as sharp as the Cron, with maybe a bit more resolution than the Cron in the corner. Also, I found that the Ultron II got rid of “gaussian blur” glow which the Zeiss and Cron exhibited towards the corner. I did find that the Ultron II had a bit of stiction when turning the focus ring. The copy I played with exhibited the stiction towards the middle of the focus range in both directions. The Ultron I performed the same optically, and focused without the stiction. Although it was smooth, it clearly was not smooth on the Cron or Zeiss level. You can still fine focus, but you just need to remember that you need to push it a bit more than the Cron or Zeiss if that is what you’re used to.

In relation to the Zeiss, Cron, and Ultron I and II which I tested, I did not notice any focus shift when stopping down which affected the focus of what I had been focusing on, although I was shooting inside a shop, and therefore I don’t know whether focus shift would be noticed at infinity when stopping down.

With my above report, I decided to go with the Ultron I. I am not fussed with the stick or the tab, so it didn’t really bother me, but the smoother focus was key to my choice over Ultron I or II. I went with Ultron I (not II) because of how it seems to be quite like the Cron, but better into the edges and corners - BUT without the stiction of the Ultron II.

But I am still on the lookout for a 35mm f/2.5 Summarit-M though haha.

I hope the above will be of some help to people trying to work out which 35mm to pick up.

Many thanks for surviving my rambling reply haha.

 

Also, just wanted to add that having seen a few more samples shot with the 35mm f/1.4 Nokton II, I'm putting it on my shopping list for the future. Won't be the next lens I buy (eyeing up a 28mm or 21mm at the moment), but certainly would love to add it to the collection for some glowing wide angle portrait shots.

Edited March 23, 2022 by Life By Stills

[Dennis]

49 minutes ago, Life By Stills said:

Also, just wanted to add that having seen a few more samples shot with the 35mm f/1.4 Nokton II..... but certainly would love to add it to the collection for some glowing wide angle portrait shots.

The glow is lovely, but wide open only. At f2 95% disappears. At f4 and f8, it's the same than your Ultron I. Some samples of the Nokton 35/1.4II MC, for your records, at different f/stops

f1.4

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

f2

f4

f8

 

Edited March 23, 2022 by Dennis

[Life By Stills]

6 hours ago, Dennis said:

The glow is lovely, but wide open only. At f2 95% disappears. At f4 and f8, it's the same than your Ultron I. Some samples of the Nokton 35/1.4II MC, for your records, at different f/stops

f1.4

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

f2

f4

f8

 

Amazing! Thanks for these shots, @Dennis. They're lovely!

Do you happen to know if the 40mm Nokton renders in the same way? It might be that I get the 40mm just so I'm not doubling up so much on the 35mm. Plus would be nice to see the difference between shots with 40 and not just 35 all the time lol.

[Dennis]

8 minutes ago, Life By Stills said:

Amazing! Thanks for these shots, @Dennis. They're lovely!

Do you happen to know if the 40mm Nokton renders in the same way? It might be that I get the 40mm just so I'm not doubling up so much on the 35mm. Plus would be nice to see the difference between shots with 40 and not just 35 all the time lol.

Thank you! No experience w/ 40/1.4. I believe it suffers a bit from focus shift, while 35/1.4II has a more modern IQ, but again, it's just what I heard somewhere. I know a few people here have the 40, but many more have the Nokton 35. It's really a unique lens. I never considered the 40mm before it because it brings the 50mm frame lines. There is a way to change the flange, but it's too much to do 🙂 At least for me. While the new-upcoming 40/2.8 has two versions (VM and LTM) and w/ an adapter, one can choose between 35 and 50 FL. But it's 2.8. Not sure if it fits your needs.

 

 

[Life By Stills]

13 minutes ago, Dennis said:

Not sure if it fits your needs.

In terms of "need", I think the 35mm f/2 Ultron I covers that for my work. Anything else is just for pleasure haha.

[PhongNguyen0196]

I have the Nokton 35mm F/1.4 MC II and here is mine experience with it so far. It renders images with semi-vintage look, which I really like. But the big problem with it is the vignetting. Sometimes to the point that it is unusable at 1.4 so you might have to close it down to 2.8. From 4-5.6 it is quite sharp. So basically, you are not really getting the 1.4 at all. I don’t mind that to be honest, but if I did find any ultron f/2, I would have get that instead. I don’t look for perfection on my photos so all of its shortcomings are fine and in many way, into my liking except the vignetting, one scenario where 1.4 is good is when you take portraits indoor with dime light, the images are fascinating as vignettes get it more interesting.

[LCL999]

Replying to Life By Stills

"If you were to take an M out and about to chase after protesters, which Voigtlander 35mm would you go for and why? I’d like to open the floor to your genuine personal opinions to give me some more ideas. Would also be good to hear from people that have shot with other of the lenses so as to have a comparison. "

After some research I chose the f2.5 35mm Color-Skopar. For street photography imho the prime consideration was weight and size. This lens is almost a pancake. It protrudes 22mm (without lens hood) and weighs 134 grams. Nothing else comes close. Images are super sharp.

You don't need wide apertures for street work, and modern cameras like the M10 and M11 have so much resolution at high ISOs that there in no need for a fast lens.

 

[timo01]

Voigtländer Nokton „SC“ 🥰

[Life By Stills]

Hi all,

Hope you're all well. Apologies for not having been on more recently - things have been quite busy for work and I was asked if I wanted to go to Poland and Ukraine, so had to do some research!

I photographed some of the protests in the UK in the meantime taking place in support of Ukraine, and have uploaded some of the shots onto my IG. I would upload on here, but my shots even when scaled down are more than 2.44MB!!!

The colours coming out of that M10-R... *swoon*

If you're interested to have a look, you can find them at https://www.instagram.com/lifebystills. Let me know what you think of the M10-R rendering - I certainly notice the richness of the colours when compared to other cameras. ☺️

Just as a reminder - the M10-R shots were shot with the Voigtländer 35mm f/2 Ultron I. I might have to look at 28mm though as I did miss the wide berth my 28mm Q2 gives me!

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[Olaf_ZG]

I bought the nokton 1.4vc, mainly for bw but I love the output on the SL as well. It has glow. For personal need this might be ok, for journalism may be not. Depends on your needs. 
 

I wanted glow, as my old 50mm cron is glowing as well and I wanted a consistent look throughout my portfolio.

[kivis]

On 3/20/2022 at 6:10 PM, kivis said:

I tried them all. I went with the 35mm f/2 Ultron II  Black as it is for the best combo for value and performance.

Could not resist this new to me lens,

Voigtlander 35mm f/1.5 Black Asph Type I. Best non Leica lens I have ever owned.