28mm APO Lanthar just arrived

[Stuart Richardson]

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I have only had it for a day or two, but so far I am very impressed. The performance is stunning. It is more compact than the 50mm APO Lanthar, the hood is a better design (it reverses), and the black ring around the front is preferable to the silver. The damping on the focus and aperture ring is perfect. The last Voigtlander 28mm I bought was the 28mm 1.9 Ultron V1 about twenty years ago. They have come a long way as a company. I tested it on my Leica M10M and on the SL2. I was happy to see that the performance did not suffer much, if at all, on the SL2 as compared to the M10M. 

The following image is taken wide open at f2. It is very sharp across the entire frame on 47mp. It only gets better stopping down (particularly with regards to vignetting. Bravo to Voigtlander for outdoing even Leica...I used to own the 28mm Summicron. First impressions suggest to me that is well beyond that lens. 

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[plexi]

Looks fantastic! I have several of the APO-Lanthars on my list. They are larger and heavier than the Leicas, but I can tolerate that compromise at 1/10th the price! 😊

[Stuart Richardson]

Truly. The price is definitely an advantage. I know this is pixel peeping, but I can't help but notice it still resolves all three of the electrical wires of the power lines in the corner of the image. Again, this is at f2 and 400%! 

 

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[osaf]

Thanks for the 1st impression @Stuart Richardson. I was wondering there was no discussion about this lens yet. 

[Sandokan]

Modern computers and machining have made lens designs and builds possible, which in the past would have been impossible with log tables (or slide rules) and hand crafting. I think we are reaching the pinnacle of optic designs, with manufacturers now constrained by how heavy the lens can be and glass technologies. I would love to know if glass doping technologies (to vary refractive index across the diameter) is possible, and then even the number of elements in a lens could be reduced. 

Where I think Leica and low volume producers have the edge, is precision engineering in metal of the mounts and focusing mechanisms, quality control and rejection of sub-par components. 

[costa43]

Looks superb from a technical viewpoint. Unless someone is brand loyal, this is the 28mm to go with for outright performance. My guess is we will see redesigned 35mm and 50mm APO Lanthars soon. 

[gammarART]

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The 28mm Apo Lanthar is the best manual focus 28mm M lens out there – when you focus on image quality (with a nice subtile charakter).
My only contra is the MFD: 0.5m are not that close with a 28mm focal length.

[Mahesh]

5 hours ago, Sandokan said:

Modern computers and machining have made lens designs and builds possible, which in the past would have been impossible with log tables (or slide rules) and hand crafting. I think we are reaching the pinnacle of optic designs, with manufacturers now constrained by how heavy the lens can be and glass technologies. I would love to know if glass doping technologies (to vary refractive index across the diameter) is possible, and then even the number of elements in a lens could be reduced. 

Where I think Leica and low volume producers have the edge, is precision engineering in metal of the mounts and focusing mechanisms, quality control and rejection of sub-par components. 

Not sure about quality control considering issues with M11, 35 FLE II, 35 reissue and so on.... I had a camera retailer ranting about issues with 35 FLE II

[Stuart Richardson]

I think anyone producing lenses for M mount can be considered low-volume. Leica  is large and well-funded compared to most of them. Their biggest advantage is their history and the fact that they can charge ten times more and people will pay it. I have a lot of Leica M lenses obtained over twenty five years or so, and I don’t think there is any important difference in fit and finish between them and the Zeiss ZM or Voigtlander APO Lanthars. There was definitely a difference in the earliest Voigtlander lenses. I don’t see it with the APO Lanthars. I do think it informs the designs though. Leica seems to favor more complicated floating element helicals, whereas I think Voigtlander tends to keep it more straightforward. For me that is an advantage. Both my 50mm 1.4 ASPH and 75mm APO had to be returned for adjustment because the focusing was rough.