Zeiss 85mm f/4 vs Voigtlander 90mm f/2.8 APO

[Tessar.]

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10 hours ago, TeeBee said:

I prefer to buy a brand new lens for peace of mind. I called the Leica store in Sydney and figured they have 90mm Summilux f/2 in stock (11884). I rarely use this focal length, so I'm trying to justify the cost. I might consider that as my last resort if it is truly worth its cost in terms of performance. 🙂 

Fair enough.  I hardly ever use a long lens and only infrequently a 50 so I wouldn't want to spend that much (Summicron) and the M-Rokkor is about a tenth of the price.  I would definitely budget to buy a decent external optical viewfinder too if I was using a 90 for landscape.  I don't like live view, so would need something optical, as the frame lines for 90 fov in the camera vf are tiny.

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[lct]

FWIW there are two versions of Rokkor 90/4, the earlier one for Minolta CL, which is a clone of the Elmar-C 90/4 for Leica CL with different filters, and the later one for Minolta CLE which sports the same filters but has not the sloped focus cam of the CL version. I have no personal experience with the CL version but the Elmar-C 90/4 is a favorite of mine with a bit more flare than the Rokkor CLE version (pic) i would advise preferably for this reason.

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[JTLeica]

The lens to get in my opinion is the 75mm Summarit. The 2.5 and 2.4 are the same, get either. It’s significantly sharper than the 90 summarit, it’s as sharp and maybe even sharper than my APO 90 M lens at half the size, well not really but it feels like half the size.

Personally, this is the lens to get. Crop to 90, and as it’s sharper than the 90 you are not losing much. Also, in terms of sharpness, it’s probably better than both the 90 macro elmar and 85 Zeiss you aren’t losing much. The Zeiss is nice but it’s larger than you think and slow and has frame lines that don’t match.

The macro is nice too, but I felt odd using it in any kind of rain due to the construction. 

But I like the 75 summarit, it is sharper than the lot of these 

Edited August 19, 2024 by JTLeica

[costa43]

I rarely shoot 90mm but I enjoy one for travel or headshots now and again so I picked up a Minolta 90mm f4 Rokkor for around 180Euro. It's perfect to me. Sharp, nice fall off, no issues. 

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[evikne]

2 hours ago, costa43 said:

I rarely shoot 90mm but I enjoy one for travel or headshots now and again so I picked up a Minolta 90mm f4 Rokkor for around 180Euro. It's perfect to me. Sharp, nice fall off, no issues. 

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Very nice! Love the processing too.

[sinjun]

I tried the Voigtlander 90mm f/2.8 APO and liked everything about it other than that its rangefinder calibration was out. I've come across someone else reporting similar on the internet, so it seems something to beware of.

[duoenboge]

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Zeiss 4/85  f=4

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Voigtlaender 2.8/90   f=2.8

 

Voigtlaender 2.8/90   f=4

[duoenboge]

Zeiss 4/85   f=4

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Voigtlaender 2.8/90   f=2.8

 

Voigtlaender 2.8/90    f=4

[duoenboge]

In my opinion both lenses manage difficult light conditions well. The Voigtlaender has a much nicer boke at aperture 2.8 and 4 as the Zeiss at f=4.  Both are sharp enough.

 

[TeeBee]

On 8/18/2024 at 5:55 AM, Tessar. said:

Fair enough.  I hardly ever use a long lens and only infrequently a 50 so I wouldn't want to spend that much (Summicron) and the M-Rokkor is about a tenth of the price.  I would definitely budget to buy a decent external optical viewfinder too if I was using a 90 for landscape.  I don't like live view, so would need something optical, as the frame lines for 90 fov in the camera vf are tiny.

Pardon me for the delayed response. It's no fun working full-time and studying full-time. True, 90mm is less than ideal without an external viewfinder. I use that focal length occasionally and thought of buying one. Eventually, I bought the Voigtlander 90mm f/2.8. It's a nice lens, sharp enough for my needs, and I think that's a keeper for me. 

 

On 8/21/2024 at 6:44 AM, duoenboge said:

In my opinion both lenses manage difficult light conditions well. The Voigtlaender has a much nicer boke at aperture 2.8 and 4 as the Zeiss at f=4.  Both are sharp enough.

 

Yes, I wanted to buy either of the lenses brand new. I found it difficult to source a new Zeiss Tele Tessar, so I bought the Voigtlander 90mm f/2.8. It's an excellent lens, and I like its colours and bokeh straight from the camera. 

 

Now, I need to decide on a 50mm f/2 lens for landscapes and architecture. I already have the Zeiss Classic Sonnar 50mm f/1.5 ZM, and I love it. I read a few reviews of the Voigtlander 50mm f/2 APO Lanthar. I'm still trying to convince myself on the Voigtlander over the Zeiss Planar 50mm f/2. 🙂  

[JTLeica]

8 minutes ago, TeeBee said:

Pardon me for the delayed response. It's no fun working full-time and studying full-time. True, 90mm is less than ideal without an external viewfinder. I use that focal length occasionally and thought of buying one. Eventually, I bought the Voigtlander 90mm f/2.8. It's a nice lens, sharp enough for my needs, and I think that's a keeper for me. 

 

Yes, I wanted to buy either of the lenses brand new. I found it difficult to source a new Zeiss Tele Tessar, so I bought the Voigtlander 90mm f/2.8. It's an excellent lens, and I like its colours and bokeh straight from the camera. 

 

Now, I need to decide on a 50mm f/2 lens for landscapes and architecture. I already have the Zeiss Classic Sonnar 50mm f/1.5 ZM, and I love it. I read a few reviews of the Voigtlander 50mm f/2 APO Lanthar. I'm still trying to convince myself on the Voigtlander over the Zeiss Planar 50mm f/2. 🙂  

If your budget won’t stretch to a Leica APO the Vougtlander APO is great, it’s razor sharp. Better than the zeiss

[TeeBee]

22 hours ago, JTLeica said:

If your budget won’t stretch to a Leica APO the Vougtlander APO is great, it’s razor sharp. Better than the zeiss

Good point. Is there a significant difference between the Leica 50mm f/2 APO vs the Voigtlander 50mm f/2 APO? The difference seems insignificant, adding the cost to the equation. I hope to get the 50mm f/1.4 Summilux, although I already own the Zeiss Classic Sonnar 50mm f/1.5. 🙂 

[JTLeica]

1 hour ago, TeeBee said:

Good point. Is there a significant difference between the Leica 50mm f/2 APO vs the Voigtlander 50mm f/2 APO? The difference seems insignificant, adding the cost to the equation. I hope to get the 50mm f/1.4 Summilux, although I already own the Zeiss Classic Sonnar 50mm f/1.5. 🙂 

From what I have seen and I have both lenses, the APO summicron is a more even lens across the frame, it’s better in the corners at wider apertures. It actually appears as though the Voigt is high resolving in the middle but it’s not it’s just higher contrast. Probably coatings doing that.

The Leica does handle purple fringing significantly better though 

[lct]

The Leica 50/2 apo is smaller than its CV counterpart but the Leica 50/1.4 v2 or v3 are bigger than the ZM 50/1.5. The latter has more focus shift though. Hard to find a 50/1.4 that compact, besides the CV 50/1.5 v2 but the latter, at least my SC version, has more color fringing.

[duoenboge]

Am 23.8.2024 um 17:11 schrieb TeeBee:

...

Now, I need to decide on a 50mm f/2 lens for landscapes and architecture. I already have the Zeiss Classic Sonnar 50mm f/1.5 ZM, and I love it. I read a few reviews of the Voigtlander 50mm f/2 APO Lanthar. I'm still trying to convince myself on the Voigtlander over the Zeiss Planar 50mm f/2. 🙂  

I have both. I bought the Planar simply so I could take photos with a Planar from time to time. My weakness for tradition. It is very handy, light and significantly smaller than the APO Lanthar 50mm. But it has chromatic errors. The Voigtländer is super sharp and almost without chromatic errors. I compared it with the APO-Summicron 50mm. In terms of sharpness, both are the same for me, the Summicron was better with the chromatic aberrations but only in one very special case: black writing on very white paper with a lot of light. The chromatic aberrations from the Zeis are easy to remove in the post today. The sharpness of the Lanthar is outstanding, however. The Voigtländer is still good in terms of size and weight (in contrast to the Lanthar 35mm) and I like the circular aperture at 2.8 and 5.6 and the nearly  impeccable perfect construction.

[TeeBee]

9 hours ago, lct said:

The Leica 50/2 apo is smaller than its CV counterpart but the Leica 50/1.4 v2 or v3 are bigger than the ZM 50/1.5. The latter has more focus shift though. Hard to find a 50/1.4 that compact, besides the CV 50/1.5 v2 but the latter, at least my SC version, has more color fringing.

True, Sonnar's focus shift is annoyingly bad, but I love what it produces. I thought of buying the Leica ASPH 50 f/1.4 because I loved the colours straight from the camera. I never intended to purchase the Zeiss 50mm Sonnar, but I bought it because the focus tabs in the Leica are annoying. (Yes, I know many people would love to have it.) However, I wrote to Leica recently, and they agreed to take them off for A$265, so I'm considering buying the Leica ASPH 50mm f/1.4, the 2023 model. 

7 hours ago, duoenboge said:

I have both. I bought the Planar simply so I could take photos with a Planar from time to time. My weakness for tradition. It is very handy, light and significantly smaller than the APO Lanthar 50mm. But it has chromatic errors. The Voigtländer is super sharp and almost without chromatic errors. I compared it with the APO-Summicron 50mm. In terms of sharpness, both are the same for me, the Summicron was better with the chromatic aberrations but only in one very special case: black writing on very white paper with a lot of light. The chromatic aberrations from the Zeis are easy to remove in the post today. The sharpness of the Lanthar is outstanding, however. The Voigtländer is still good in terms of size and weight (in contrast to the Lanthar 35mm) and I like the circular aperture at 2.8 and 5.6 and the nearly  impeccable perfect construction.

I have four Zeiss ZM lenses and wanted to buy the Planar. I love the Zeiss's colours. However, the reviews I read indicated that the APO Lanthar is far better than the Zeiss Planar bar colour accuracy. Unfortunately, none of the stores in Brisbane have a copy to try them out, so my observations are purely based on the reviews, assuming they are accurate. There's another problem with the Zeiss: lack of availability. The Australian distributor doesn't stock any of the Zeiss lenses; they deliver lenses on demand. I need to place an order and wait for a month, two or maybe more. I spoke to the Zeiss distributor in Australia (CR Kennedy), and I was advised they cannot source a black 50mm Planar until this December. Finally, I placed an order for the APO Lanthar a few minutes ago.  🙂 

[duoenboge]

Congratulations! It's a top lens. I hope you will be hapy with it.
A piece of advice:
if you're looking for German lenses, you have to go to Japan. In Japan you can get everything, much better than here in Germany. It's unbelievable. 🤣

 

 

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[JTLeica]

On 8/25/2024 at 3:13 AM, TeeBee said:

True, Sonnar's focus shift is annoyingly bad, but I love what it produces. I thought of buying the Leica ASPH 50 f/1.4 because I loved the colours straight from the camera. I never intended to purchase the Zeiss 50mm Sonnar, but I bought it because the focus tabs in the Leica are annoying. (Yes, I know many people would love to have it.) However, I wrote to Leica recently, and they agreed to take them off for A$265, so I'm considering buying the Leica ASPH 50mm f/1.4, the 2023 model. 

I have four Zeiss ZM lenses and wanted to buy the Planar. I love the Zeiss's colours. However, the reviews I read indicated that the APO Lanthar is far better than the Zeiss Planar bar colour accuracy. Unfortunately, none of the stores in Brisbane have a copy to try them out, so my observations are purely based on the reviews, assuming they are accurate. There's another problem with the Zeiss: lack of availability. The Australian distributor doesn't stock any of the Zeiss lenses; they deliver lenses on demand. I need to place an order and wait for a month, two or maybe more. I spoke to the Zeiss distributor in Australia (CR Kennedy), and I was advised they cannot source a black 50mm Planar until this December. Finally, I placed an order for the APO Lanthar a few minutes ago.  🙂 

Nice. I just used it yesterday in fact and tested it against the apo from while on a hike. Very little between them. There is no other lens on the planet with better price to performance ratio

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Hallo,

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[TeeBee]

On 8/26/2024 at 8:38 AM, duoenboge said:

Congratulations! It's a top lens. I hope you will be hapy with it.
A piece of advice:
if you're looking for German lenses, you have to go to Japan. In Japan you can get everything, much better than here in Germany. It's unbelievable. 🤣

Thanks! I received the lens today. I didn't get to use it today, but hopefully this weekend. The last time I visited Germany, I used a Sony Mirrorless and planned to buy Zeiss Loxia lenses. I was proven wrong, as I couldn't find any in stock. I was on a waiting list for several months to eventually buy them in Australia. 😀

 

On 8/26/2024 at 3:32 PM, JTLeica said:

Nice. I just used it yesterday in fact and tested it against the apo from while on a hike. Very little between them. There is no other lens on the planet with better price to performance ratio

Yes, true. Due to my biases towards Zeiss products, I was leaning towards the Zeiss Planar. It took a lot of convincing to buy the Voigtlander APO. 🙂