Steve Spencer
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 p.103 #7 · Voigtlander 50mm f/2 APO-Lanthar Review | |
MAubrey wrote:
Not so much unusual, as much as "of a different era". This new series of APO-Lanthars started with the 65mm and 110mm for Sony, then the 50mm and then the 35mm. The 35mm was the first APO-Lanthars to come out for both Leica and Sony E mounts the same year and the Leica 50 APO-Lanthars came out too. In that period before the pandemic, Cosina was going hard on Sony E mount. The f/1.2 lenses came out in both mounts. The 21mm f/1.4 Nokton came out in Sony first and then was only later released for Leica M with adjusted cell spacing for the thinner sensor stack. But since ~2022, Cosina has gone back to prioritizing Leica first....Show more →
I don't think this is an either or that it is either of a different era or unusual. I think it is both of a different era and unusual because it is of that different era.
Cosina has a fairly long history of designing lenses for Leica M, and they developed some lenses for DSLRs and even m4/3rds for quite some time. But around 2015/2016 they recognized that Sony E mount as a mirrorless FF camera offered new opportunities for their lenses and from that time until 2019 or so, they developed a number of lenses for Sony E mount including the 65 (in 2017) and 110 (in 2018) APO Macro Lanthars. In December of 2019 they introduced the 50 f/2 APO Lanthar for Sony E mount as the first non macro APO Lanthar for Sony E mount. Although this lens was well received there were no more Sony E mount lenses for over a year, perhaps because of the pandemic, but perhaps because they were rethinking their mirrorless strategy.
Regardless, the next Sony E mount lens was the 35 f/2 APO Lanthar which was introduced in April of 2021, almost a year and half after the 50 f/2 APO Lanthar. It was introduced at the same time as the Leica M version (well the Leica M version was released in March, so actually a month earlier, but essentially the same time). Also, in hindsight it is clear that Cosina was expanding their mirrorless offerings to other mounts at this time and in September of 2021 brought out their first Fuji X mount lens and within a year (April of 2022) brought out their first Nikon Z mount lens, to be followed eventually by Canon RF as well. So in this early 2020 period they paused Sony E mount production, but turned to broader mirrorless production for all the major mounts except the L mount alliance.
So, I would put the eras of production as:
Until 2015 or so: Film and DSLR lenses but an emphasis on Leica M
2015 or so until 2019 or so: recognition or mirrorless and a big expansion of Sony E mount lens with still a lot of Leica M production
2021 to present: Lots of Leica M production, but an expansion of mirrorless production to almost all mirrorless mounts
Despite these eras, I still think the 50 f/2 APO is unusual in that it was first built for Sony E mount and the ported to Leica M mount and is probably the only lens that was designed that way. All others were either designed for multiple mounts at the same time (e.g., the 35 f/2 APO Lanthar, I would put the 21 f/1.4 Nokton here as the two mount versions came out only 6 months apart), designed for only mirrorless (e.g., the APO Macros, and the 75 f/1.8 Heliar) or designed for Leica M and ported to mirrorless (e.g., 40 f/1.2, 35 f/1.4 Nokton; 15 f/4.5 Heliar, 75 f/1.5 Nokton) or designed only for Leica M (e.g., 35 f/3.5 Color Skopar, 50 f/3.5 APO Lanthar, 90 f/2 APO Lanthar, 75 f/1.9 Ultron).
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