Thank you Fred for kindly sharing your test results of your Voigtlander 35mm Apo Lanthars (FE)...most appreciated - Its a wonderful lens!
This afternoons snaps on a walkabout around the back streets of Looe, Cornwall (A7R4 + 35mm Apo-Lanthar FE)
In terms of number of images seen, different light/climate, subject matter, focus distances etc., we are getting dangerously close to the stage where many people might be forced to conclude that this is a fine lens. There may still be time to turn back the tide, but the window of opportunity is closing.
Maybe....it left on a truck this afternoon, maybe 8 miles from my house. By rights it should be going to my post office...but a few weeks ago I had one go to the city about half an hour to the east....then it came back.....then it went to my post office.
So who knows? At this point it's going to get here when it gets here.
rji2goleez wrote:
Still? Perhaps tomorrow? So sorry Tim!
I have recieved mine today. But, sorry to say, I have already returned it. Not sharp til f 2.8. Not even at centre. But better at f4 in the corners than Freds first one was.
So if anybody is doing statistics of good and bad copies, put this one in the negative corner.
One nice small thing: The lens hood has a 58mm filter thread on frontside.
GartenMoorriem wrote:
I have recieved mine today. But, sorry to say, I have already returned it. Not sharp til f 2.8. Not even at centre. But better at f4 in the corners than Freds first one was.
So if anybody is doing statistics of good and bad copies, put this one in the negative corner.
One nice small thing: The lens hood has a 58mm filter thread on frontside.
Wow, sorry to hear that. I haven't done rigorous testing but I find my copy very sharp wide open. Hopefully, this is an anomaly and you get a better second copy.
Hope you noted the serial number before sending back.
It is a rather unusual case indeed.
GartenMoorriem wrote:
I have recieved mine today. But, sorry to say, I have already returned it. Not sharp til f 2.8. Not even at centre. But better at f4 in the corners than Freds first one was.
So if anybody is doing statistics of good and bad copies, put this one in the negative corner.
One nice small thing: The lens hood has a 58mm filter thread on frontside.
The Voigtlander 35mm f/2 APO' specular highlights inner structure is a little busy and outlining is noticeable wide open. There are traces of onion pattern but it would be hard to see it in real world images.
The aperture mechanism is very clever because it's possible to achieve round specular highlights wide open, f/2.8, f/5.6 and f/16.
Here is a sequence showing what to expect at center from specular highlights from f/2 until f/5.6 in third stops increments:
Wow, given my very limited knowledge I wasn't aware it was possible to get perfect round bokeh ball at non consecutive stop increments. Thanks for the amazing and detailed review Fred.
leicamera wrote:
Thank you Fred for kindly sharing your test results of your Voigtlander 35mm Apo Lanthars (FE)...most appreciated - Its a wonderful lens!
This afternoons snaps on a walkabout around the back streets of Looe, Cornwall (A7R4 + 35mm Apo-Lanthar FE)
Unlike Leica who believe in range standardisation in SL along with a common range look, Cosina view each lens as having its own identity, so each of them tend to be individualised, maybe macros excepted. Soon some of us will have both the 50/2 and the 35/2 APOs so it will be very interesting to see what differences there are between them.
Will the dynamic duo have very different characters or, to paraphrase Carl von Clausewitz, will the 35/2 be a 50/2 by different means, a mere wider angle of view? Designs are somewhat different inside their general style. They would maybe not want to stray too far from the successful 50/2 though.
Some interesting things there. This one hits home.
"Voigtlander does a spectacularly crude job of marketing its lenses, all while hiding its light under a bushel basket—you have to work at it to glean information about their new lenses. I guess I’m glad they pay engineers instead of marketing bozos writing hyperbolic product descriptions.."
It's part of their character not to do so, this is an eccentric company in a humdrum corporate industry, made up of companies very eager to blow their own horns.
Some interesting things there. This one hits home.
"Voigtlander does a spectacularly crude job of marketing its lenses, all while hiding its light under a bushel basket—you have to work at it to glean information about their new lenses. I guess I’m glad they pay engineers instead of marketing bozos writing hyperbolic product descriptions.."
It's part of their character not to do so, this is an eccentric company in a humdrum corporate industry, made up of companies very eager to blow their own horns.
I never understood that terrible website. Everytime I try to view something of interest it asks me to subscribe to view it. Which is laughable considering what's available for free online these days, but it doesn't help that the website looks like it's straight out 2003.
Anyways.... This lens is looking very promising so far (better than I expected!). Sigma announcing a new 35mm 1.4 shortly definitely complicates things though :-)
Some interesting things there. This one hits home.
"Voigtlander does a spectacularly crude job of marketing its lenses, all while hiding its light under a bushel basket—you have to work at it to glean information about their new lenses. I guess I’m glad they pay engineers instead of marketing bozos writing hyperbolic product descriptions.."
It's part of their character not to do so, this is an eccentric company in a humdrum corporate industry, made up of companies very eager to blow their own horns.
tsdevine wrote:
From a landscape shooting perspective, I think my Tamron could give both of these lenses a run for the money. The Sigma looks really good from a rendering perspective, at least against the CV. I could see me picking it up as my general AF/rendering/jack of all trades lens. That leaves the CV up against my Tamron. The MF experience will be worlds better with the CV, but I think the Tamron will hold up (or be better at some apertures) from an image perspective.
Yeah, the Tamron is sharp at wide apertures, but really jumps at f/5.6. My comments were back when I was seeing samples from Fred's first copy of the CV 35....after seeing the results from the second copy, it's going to be really, really hard to beat the CV 35. We'll see how close the Tamron cat get....I think at f/5.6 and smaller apertures it has a better chance to have a good showing.
I will shoot a comparison, I just need the right light and weather....which seems to be hard to get in April. The weather pattern may be changing mid next week.
