Frederik0711
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letchhausen wrote:
I'll tag in with similar comments. I have the 65/35 Voigts. I find the Voigtlander lenses to have a special something that I haven't seen in other lenses. I've used various Sony, Sigma and Zeiss glass to no avail. It's like the Apo Lanthars are sharp across the field without being overly sharp. It has color rendition that reminds me of film. Perhaps some of the vignetting adds 3D body to things? Not sure, but I do love what I see. As a result, I only use these two lenses. I'm planning to get the 50mm as the "betweener" when I only want to take one lens with me. I'm not sure I would be shooting as much digital as I do if not for these lenses. Or I would be using vintage glass.
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I agree with every statement. The 50 is probably my favourite. I think the handling is just a bit more precise.
Previously, I owned one of each APO-Lanthar: 35, 50, 65 and 110. I sold all of them off, as I was spoilt by modern lenses; the many new GM primes and zooms.
Now, however, I don't care for autofocus, as I have no plans or desire for photographing people (there's nothing lesser about it, but it's just not for me).
Not that I have made a profession out of it, but I did consider doing so. If I were to, it would be abstracts of landscape, architecture, or wildlife (both mammals and insects). I do care for autofocus when photographing wildlife, where I use the Sony 200-600 G.
So, I've reacquired some manual focus lenses. As of now, my current kit consists of the following:
Laowa 9mm f/5.6 FF RL
Zeiss Loxia 21mm f/2.8 Distagon
Voigtländer 50mm f/2 APO-Lanthar
Leica 135mm f/4 Elmar
Laowa 25mm f/2.8 2.5-5x Ultra Macro
Laowa 85mm f/5.6 2x Ultra Macro APO
They all weight about 400 g (excluding the macros), which I find optimal on Sony's full-frame FE cameras. Both less or more are less balancing to me.
They all produce well-defined sunstars. The Laowa lacks some personality in handling and rendering, but the field of view makes up for it. I mostly convert the images to black and white as well.
I'm more a fan of Voigtländer haptics handling over Loxia, but they both render equally great.
The Leica is sharp for its age. It does produce noticeable amounts of fringing at times, though, and it's a little long. Still, it hits the sweet spot of image quality and rendering.
I just ordered the 35 APO from CameraQuest. It was an used copy for just $695. This is also the site where I ordered the 50 APO, last December. I did love both the 65 and 110, but I found them slightly cumbersome for what I used them for. They are slightly superior to the 35 and 50 in terms of correction.
Whenever I photograph macro, I use the Laowa 25 and 85 lenses, but I do miss having a general usage standard "close-focus" lens, that I will bring for both whole scenes and details. I often photograph abstracts of small details on buildings, close-up, where I find 1:2 is adequate.
I consider purchasing used copies of the CV 90 APO-Skopar and CV 180 APO as well, but I'm not sure. I might skip the 90, as I got the Laowa 85, which could double up as a small prime for 'scapes. It's not as great at infinity focus, and produce poor sunstars, though.
The Contax 35-70 and 100-300 lenses are also very tempting, and I consider a lightweight prime as well for some abstracts; Tamron SP 300, Canon FDn 300, Osawa 400 f/5.6 or Tamron 400 f/7.5. If I skip the 180 APO, I will probably get the SP 300, but if I do add the 180, I would probably gap it with one of the 400mm lenses instead. Not sure how they handle modern sensors, but they seem to get quite positive reviews, and I think they will be good at f/8-f/11. I won't bring all at once, of course. Different tools for different tasks.
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