New Voigtlander 35mm f1.5 Type I and II announced

[mheine]

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vor 32 Minuten schrieb Al Brown:

Thank you for the wonderful photos from Munich. They sum up the essence of the lens nicely, at least part of my field of work & use.
What I am still struggling to see is whether this lens has any character at all, or is it just a plain Jane nice clean poppy piece of glass like their Ultron 28/2 II or Zeiss 35 Distagon... (nothing wrong with that tho, just to see who the lens is for).

Oh thank you - you're welcome! 

I would say it has as much character as any other modern lens --> almost none! I didn't get glows, nor busy bokeh or any other "character defining flaws". As I'm struggling with the M system at the moment - not sure if I will keep it - I was hoping that this lens can push my love I had for the camera again. But I think I won't keep it because the lens is "too good" and it reminds me too much of any other sharp / "flawless" lens. That's why I will probably stick to my "Leica M vibes" setup: Nokton 35mm f1.4 & Sonnar 50mm f1.5.

Long story short:
If you want a very compact, lightweight, sharp and modern lens --> get it! I think it is the best package you can get for the money. It can easily compete with the Distagon and Summilux in my eyes and costs way less than those two.

 

vor 2 Stunden schrieb romaing:

No offense but people will put 4k euros on a Leica lens reissue (the steel rim), which will be consider as bad for any over brand at 1.4... But it's some "beatifull glow" because it's a Leica lens

I assume this CV will sharpen quickly when closing (it looks pretty good at 2 and great at 2.8 on FM review).

Word!

And I have to say: It is unbelievable sharp at f1.5 - as said I didn't touch the sharpness, normally I would make them softer. The Distagon gave me lots of problems on some portraits because of the sharpness, especially hair.

 

vor 3 Stunden schrieb eyeheartny:

Considering how many people want a film like look from digital cameras, and how film is often just a bit softer than high res digital, and considering how popular diffusion filters are, a bit of organic softness is likely a selling point for a lot of folks. Especially for taking pics of people, tack sharpness isn’t always desirable. Minor softening is super flattering and combined with a higher contrast lens coating can create a really nice look like the recent images shared here. 

Oh yes! That's why I love the Zeiss Sonnar / Nokton 35mm f1.4 - after so many lens I have tried, they fit the best for the look you described.

[Product Details]

More about Voigtlander 35 mm F1.5 Nokton Aspherical

Available at Amazon and B&H Photo Video

[S Maclean]

I shared these images before when talking about the CV Nokton 35 mm 1.2.

 

outstanding sharpness and contrast and beautiful and smooth out of focus areas. It renders like a 50 or 90

 

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[Fred Miranda]

20 hours ago, hdmesa said:

An expected result as it does not have a floating lens element design like the Leica 35 1.4 FLE / FLE II or the Zeiss 35 1.4.

The benefit for some will be what they consider a more natural and desirable rendering wide open.

It's not super sharp at long distance either, so the lack of the floating system does not tell the full story. The new CV 35/1.5 Nokton is sharp enough wide open but it does not perform at the same level as the Zeiss 35/1.4 ZM or Leica 35/1.4 FLE.

I've owned the Zeiss 35/1.4 ZM for years and it outperforms all other fast 35mm M lenses in the market but it's considerably larger/heavier. One lens that came closer to the ZM is the discontinued CV 35/1.7 Ultron but it's a slower lens.

[sdk]

20 minutes ago, Fred Miranda said:

It's not super sharp at long distance either, so the lack of the floating system does not tell the full story. The new CV 35/1.5 Nokton is sharp enough wide open but it does not perform at the same level as the Zeiss 35/1.4 ZM or Leica 35/1.4 FLE.

I've owned the Zeiss 35/1.4 ZM for years and it outperforms all other fast 35mm M lenses in the market but it's considerably larger/heavier. One lens that came closer to the ZM is the discontinued CV 35/1.7 Ultron but it's a slower lens.

I have done some casual comparisons to the ZM 35mm/1.4 and Voigtlander 35mm/2 Apo Lanthar VM on M11. I agree with Fred's comments The Voigtlander 35mm/1.5 VM is not really as good as either of the bigger lenses wide open, or at infinity. My copy of the 35mm/1.5 seems to have a LOT of focus shift at close range (c. 1 meter), even more than the 35mm/2 Apo sibling lens. Overall the Apo seems the best of the three, with the Zeiss coming in second. The 35mm/1.5 VM seems like it may be best for middle distance for street and group photography. Landscapists, those looking for max resolution, like myself, would be better off with the Zeiss or the Apo.

[fotomas]

vor einer Stunde schrieb sdk:

I have done some casual comparisons to the ZM 35mm/1.4 and Voigtlander 35mm/2 Apo Lanthar VM on M11.

Can you show us  some results?

[sdk]

2 minutes ago, fotomas said:

Can you show us  some results?

I can do the c. 1M close focus results some time. I want to redo infinity tests on tripod. It may be a few days, as I am busy with other stuff.

Edited December 5, 2022 by sdk

[mheine]

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vor 1 Stunde schrieb sdk:

I have done some casual comparisons to the ZM 35mm/1.4 and Voigtlander 35mm/2 Apo Lanthar VM on M11. I agree with Fred's comments The Voigtlander 35mm/1.5 VM is not really as good as either of the bigger lenses wide open, or at infinity. My copy of the 35mm/1.5 seems to have a LOT of focus shift at close range (c. 1 meter), even more than the 35mm/2 Apo sibling lens. Overall the Apo seems the best of the three, with the Zeiss coming in second. The 35mm/1.5 VM seems like it may be best for middle distance for street and group photography. Landscapists, those looking for max resolution, like myself, would be better off with the Zeiss or the Apo.

That‘s crazy because mine had no issues with focus shift. Maybe you just have a bad copy? Sorry to hear …

[hdmesa]

2 hours ago, Fred Miranda said:

It's not super sharp at long distance either, so the lack of the floating system does not tell the full story. The new CV 35/1.5 Nokton is sharp enough wide open but it does not perform at the same level as the Zeiss 35/1.4 ZM or Leica 35/1.4 FLE.

I've owned the Zeiss 35/1.4 ZM for years and it outperforms all other fast 35mm M lenses in the market but it's considerably larger/heavier. One lens that came closer to the ZM is the discontinued CV 35/1.7 Ultron but it's a slower lens.

For me, the CV 35 APO is the gold standard for landscape, so anything else 35mm only has to be fairly competent at infinity. Is it at least as good at infinity for landscape as the 35 1.2 III at ~f/5.6-8?

[Fred Miranda]

3 hours ago, mheine said:

That‘s crazy because mine had no issues with focus shift. Maybe you just have a bad copy? Sorry to hear …

I didn't see any significant focus shift either. I've tested the Voigtlander 35mm f/1.5 Nokton at many distances including infinity and ~1.2m:

https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1784972/1#shift

This could be lens variation. I tested 3 copies so far and they do not perform exactly the same. All three were well centered and calibrated with the rangefinder though.

[Fred Miranda]

2 hours ago, hdmesa said:

For me, the CV 35 APO is the gold standard for landscape, so anything else 35mm only has to be fairly competent at infinity. Is it at least as good at infinity for landscape as the 35 1.2 III at ~f/5.6-8?

 

2 hours ago, hdmesa said:

For me, the CV 35 APO is the gold standard for landscape, so anything else 35mm only has to be fairly competent at infinity. Is it at least as good at infinity for landscape as the 35 1.2 III at ~f/5.6-8?

For landscapes at f/5.6 and smaller apertures, all these fast 35mm lenses perform very similarly at infinity distance. I would not hesitate using the Leica FLE, Voigtlander APO or Zeiss Distagon. The new CV 35/1.5 is also outstanding stopped down and on top of that, it shows low distortion and great flare resistance. All good attributes for landscape photography.

[Fred Miranda]

15 minutes ago, Al Brown said:

I would say that for focus shift test you need to shoot into depth, not at flat tiles where DOF compensates when lens is stopped down and we cannot see what is going on front and back...

Hi Al,

It's a good point and a great test as well but when focusing on a flat subject with the rangefinder and then re-focusing each aperture with the help of live view for comparison, we can clearly detect focus shift at 100% mag.

[hmzimelka]

6 hours ago, Al Brown said:

I would say that for focus shift test you need to shoot into depth, not at flat tiles where DOF compensates when lens is stopped down and we cannot see what is going on front and back...

I agree, the FM test on a flat object took me by surprise when I first saw it... the subject didn't make sense for the test.

[Mahesh]

On 12/2/2022 at 9:37 PM, mheine said:

Had the opportunity to snap a few shots after work, unfortunately it's bad weather and it was freezing cold, so nothing special.
All of these were shot on f1.5 and M10 and I have to say: This lens feels like a mini Distagon (had the lens for three years), it's impressive how sharp it is and it seems to have less purple fringing to me but I'm not a lens expert for sure. 
 

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Amazing bokeh and thank you for posting portraits and the "model" to allow. 

 

 

 

[Fred Miranda]

13 hours ago, hmzimelka said:

I agree, the FM test on a flat object took me by surprise when I first saw it... the subject didn't make sense for the test.

Both focus shift test methods are valid to evaluate focus shift.

I usually test like this and get accurate results showing focus shift in lenses. If focus shift is detected, I then use the "depth method" with a ruler to find out the extent of the shift. Just to make sure, I have added this to the focus shift test: https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1784972/1#16108575

As before any focus shift would be negligible with real images with the Voigtlander 35mm f/1.5 Nokton.

[mheine]

vor 6 Stunden schrieb Mahesh:

 

Thank you! And no worries, it‘s my GF and she‘s cool with that! 🙂

[Dbrass]

How does this lens compared with the Ultron 2.0 and Nokton 1.4 ii on a film Leica M? I don’t like vignetting! 

[rramesh]

Voigtlander does provide a groove that can accept painted codes.

Yes, it is a modern design and is well corrected from what I am seeing from the samples. It should make a good pair with the Nokton 1.4 which is a vintage design with all its imperfections (character). One can buy both for half the price of a Summilux 35 ASPH.

[cboy]

Aesthetically its a nice looking lens but i do wish it didnt have a chrome ring for purposes of street. I thought they would do away with it since recent lens releases didnt have a chrome rings.

Does anyone know how much viewfinder blockage the voigtlander hood has. If only there was a finishing ring available haha. Horses for courses although. 

 

[rramesh]

5 minutes ago, cboy said:

Aesthetically its a nice looking lens but i do wish it didnt have a chrome ring for purposes of street. I thought they would do away with it since recent lens releases didnt have a chrome rings.

Does anyone know how much viewfinder blockage the voigtlander hood has. If only there was a finishing ring available haha. Horses for courses although. 

 

My solution to this is to either use a filter or step up rings. All my filters tend to be 46mm, so for a 39 or a 43, I just keep step-up rings handy. Since these are all black it does hide the shiny front. You can also use a filter ring without the glass.

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[Huss]

Fred's testing on fredmiranda.com does show a significant difference in sharpness/rendering and vignetting between the FLE and the new CV 35 1.5.

I'm sure he will contribute here shortly!