Do you find that tip on the focusing tab unscrews itself with use?
Not Desmolicious, but the tip of the focusing tab did drop off on my 40/2.8 VM pretty soon after I got the lens. I was pressing it too many times in the early days of playing with the lens I guess. There was some kind of spring mechanism inside and I think it might be possible to fix if all the parts were intact but the tip dropped onto a train station platform and I never found that part afterwards, might have rolled off down to the tracks. Anyway, afterwards I just use the lens without the tip and I removed the spring mechanism and the parts that would work with the infinity locking system and the focusing mechanism works just as nicely and there is no infinity lock happening anymore which is a benefit in a way.
Anyway, given these choices I would go for the Type II lens (since it's lighter, focuses closer and doesn't have the limitation of aperture mechanism rotating together with the focus ring).
p.3 #3 · New Cosina Voigtländer 28/2.8 VM and LTM lens got announced!
Considering that the 28/2.8 Skopar is offered in ltm like the 40/2.8 Heliar, infinity lock and all, I wouldn't be surprised if the new 28 Skopar rendering is in the same "classic" realm as the 40 Heliar, rather than that of the 28/2 Ultron II...
An aside, the 35/1.7 Ultron ltm has (at least) two versions, one with haze, one without. The one without evidence of haze (to date) has scalloped knurling on the focus ring. The other version has blunt knurling. There's a thread about it somewhere on RFF. Have both, like both.
p.3 #4 · New Cosina Voigtländer 28/2.8 VM and LTM lens got announced!
mapgraphs wrote:
Considering that the 28/2.8 Skopar is offered in ltm like the 40/2.8 Heliar, infinity lock and all, I wouldn't be surprised if the new 28 Skopar rendering is in the same "classic" realm as the 40 Heliar, rather than that of the 28/2 Ultron II...
An aside, the 35/1.7 Ultron ltm has (at least) two versions, one with haze, one without. The one without evidence of haze (to date) has scalloped knurling on the focus ring. The other version has blunt knurling. There's a thread about it somewhere on RFF. Have both, like both.
Cosina mentions it in the product videos and in some of the marketing materials that their aim was to keep the same IQ as 28/2 Ultron II but in a smaller package thanks to f2.8 aperture, so I think it should not be in the more classic realm with these.
p.3 #5 · New Cosina Voigtländer 28/2.8 VM and LTM lens got announced!
Juha Kannisto wrote:
Cosina mentions it in the product videos and in some of the marketing materials that their aim was to keep the same IQ as 28/2 Ultron II but in a smaller package thanks to f2.8 aperture, so I think it should not be in the more classic realm with these.
I'd read the marketing blurb to mean that the Skopar will have the same level of excellence, applied to the Skopar, as the Ultron has in relation to previous Ultrons. It is being released as a Skopar not as a f/2.8 Ultron. I think it's just marketing speak... I have all three 28 Ultrons, the ltm 1.9, the f/2 M, and the f/2 version II. The f/1.9 Ultron ltm is every bit as impressive as the f/2 version II. Version I of the f/2 is probably the more staid version... ; - )
p.3 #6 · New Cosina Voigtländer 28/2.8 VM and LTM lens got announced!
mapgraphs wrote:
I'd read the marketing blurb to mean that the Skopar will have the same level of excellence, applied to the Skopar, as the Ultron has in relation to previous Ultrons. It is being released as a Skopar not as a f/2.8 Ultron. I think it's just marketing speak... I have all three 28 Ultrons, the ltm 1.9, the f/2 M, and the f/2 version II. The f/1.9 Ultron ltm is every bit as impressive as the f/2 version II. Version I of the f/2 is probably the more staid version... ; - )
(Color-)Skopar and Ultron are just Cosina's lens naming conventions based on aperture spec though, they can't release an f2.8 lens as Ultron since by definition Ultron is between >f1.5 and <=f2 and the slower range including f2.8 would be called Skopar, unless they call it something else based on the optical design (like Heliar or APO-Lanthar etc.).
I think the 28/3.5 Color-Skopar is also as impressive lens as the Ultrons, especially the ones from the same era. I have 2 copies of the 28/3.5 LTM and 28/1.9 and the 28/2 II currently. Used to have the 28/2 v1 as well but I sold it as it was not my favorite one. 28/3.5 has more field curvature on Sony though but otherwise it has very appealing IQ.
The one thing I don’t like about the Ultron is that 0.5m close focus. Unfortunately for me is here in the Skopar too. But I can live with it
I understand it can be a problem for rangefinder coupling purposes. For my purposes (I only use the lenses adapted to mirrorless) it's always better the closer they can focus so 0.5m is better than 0.7m in my view, but I'd like the lenses to be able to focus even closer if possible. There is the option of using close focus adapter for that though.
p.3 #9 · New Cosina Voigtländer 28/2.8 VM and LTM lens got announced!
M_Wales wrote:
I have the 28/2 Ultron II and it is a great little lens and just picked up the 35/2 Ultron II and it is even smaller with 8 elements also..
I absolutely love using these two Ultron lenses for shooting. Including the CV 75/1.9 Ultron in the mix creates a remarkably compact RF system without costing a fortune. However, the recently introduced CV 28/2.8 Color-Skopar is even more compact and has an incredible aesthetic appeal. I'm honestly torn on what to do next. It's a delightful dilemma! 😄
The one thing I don’t like about the Ultron is that 0.5m close focus. Unfortunately for me is here in the Skopar too. But I can live with it
I have already given feedback to Cosina regarding this matter. It would be beneficial if they could incorporate a mechanism on future lenses to indicate when we are focusing at distances closer than 0.7m. However, it seems like implementing such a feature may be more complex than I initially anticipated.
p.3 #11 · New Cosina Voigtländer 28/2.8 VM and LTM lens got announced!
Juha Kannisto wrote:
(Color-)Skopar and Ultron are just Cosina's lens naming conventions based on aperture spec...
My understanding is that the Skopar is based on a Tessar derived formula (four elements in three groups), Color-Skopar is a coated variant. Ultron and Nokton are supposedly based on the Schneider-Kreuznach asymmetric Double-Gauss Xenon. As for speed designations, the Heliar can be found anywhere from f/5.6 to f/1.5.
p.3 #12 · New Cosina Voigtländer 28/2.8 VM and LTM lens got announced!
Juha Kannisto wrote:
Cosina put out 2 YouTube videos (in Japanese) about these new 28/2.8 lenses as well:
The actual content starts after 30s on both. First there is a generic Cosina trailer.
Thank you, Juha, for sharing these videos! They provide a detailed overview of the different styles and mounts. I must say, the Type II seems to be a more practical option in terms of functionality, but the Type I has a truly beautiful design reminiscent of lenses from the 1950s. It's made of brass and comes in black paint or silver chrome, and surprisingly, it's cheaper than the Type II with its anodized finish (93,500 compared to 89,100). However, it's important to note that the brass Type I is considerably heavier, weighing 143g compared to only 106g of the Type II.
For those who don't like the 0.5m minimum focusing distance when using a RF (rangefinder), the Type I offers a minimum focusing distance of 0.7m, making it more practical. However, having a closer focusing distance can also be advantageous for live view shooting.
p.3 #13 · New Cosina Voigtländer 28/2.8 VM and LTM lens got announced!
mapgraphs wrote:
My understanding is that the Skopar is based on a Tessar derived formula (four elements in three groups), Color-Skopar is a coated variant. Ultron and Nokton are supposedly based on the Schneider-Kreuznach asymmetric Double-Gauss Xenon. As for speed designations, the Heliar can be found anywhere from f/5.6 to f/1.5.
I think that would be the origin of the lens naming convention as used by the original Voigtländer company. As far as I know, Cosina uses the naming convention on their own way and they have a lot of variation in optical designs and focal lengths between the lenses that use Nokton, Ultron and Skopar naming conventions. The definition on this page seems almost exactly as I understand it but it omits some aperture values that they've used in their most recent lenses):
NOKTON – represents super-fast lenses with speed from 0.95 to 1.5
ULTRON – represents very fast lenses with speed from 1.7 & 2
COLOR-SKOPAR – fast lenses with speed from 2.5 to 3.5
APO-LANTHAR / SKOPAR – apochromatic lenses are designed to achieve acute axial correction by getting all 3 colors i.e. RGB corrected to remove aberrations, fringing etc. Additionally, the design is optimized to ensure minimal deviation of the colors across the entire aperture range. APO lenses have extremely low dispersion exhibiting lowest possible diffraction that makes bordering lines between two colors very distinct & sharp. With Macro & Close up shots in mid-tele distances, such correction is a boon. The Skopar lenses denote the speed of the APO lens
HELIAR – is a simple, yet a very clever grouping of glass elements in a lens specially designed for portrait & landscape photography. Usually they are 5 or 6 elements in 3 groups. We always feel that all Heliar lenses are special & must never be missed in your selection criteria.
---------------------------
I'm trying to find if Cosina themselves have any written material that explains their naming convention, but couldn't find it so far...
p.3 #14 · New Cosina Voigtländer 28/2.8 VM and LTM lens got announced!
Desmolicious wrote:
The v2 version obviously is meant to compete against the Elmarit Asph 28 v2, as the Ultron does against the Summicron.
Difference being the v2 actually looks very nice, while the Ultron is well, uggers (even though it is optically great).
Indeed but the Voigtlander goes even further in terms of compactness and weight. The new CV 28/2.8 Type II is 7mm shorter and much lighter than the already compact Elmarit Asph. (175 grams vs 106 grams)
p.3 #15 · New Cosina Voigtländer 28/2.8 VM and LTM lens got announced!
Juha Kannisto wrote:
Not Desmolicious, but the tip of the focusing tab did drop off on my 40/2.8 VM pretty soon after I got the lens. I was pressing it too many times in the early days of playing with the lens I guess. There was some kind of spring mechanism inside and I think it might be possible to fix if all the parts were intact but the tip dropped onto a train station platform and I never found that part afterwards, might have rolled off down to the tracks. Anyway, afterwards I just use the lens without the tip and I removed the spring mechanism and the parts that would work with the infinity locking system and the focusing mechanism works just as nicely and there is no infinity lock happening anymore which is a benefit in a way.
Anyway, given these choices I would go for the Type II lens (since it's lighter, focuses closer and doesn't have the limitation of aperture mechanism rotating together with the focus ring)....Show more →
I noticed there is a screw on the opposite side keeping it all together, so I may dab a little nail varnish on it. Red so people will think it is a Leica lens.
Normally I don’t like infinity locks but on this lens, on an M, it seems to be needed as a way to mount/dismount the lens. There is very little else to use, which is another reason why I’d pick the vII of the new 28.
p.3 #16 · New Cosina Voigtländer 28/2.8 VM and LTM lens got announced!
What a fun and stellar offering. The type 2 is SO tiny, when shown in comparison to the already tiny ultron. One starts to wonder about this vs a brightlin star/MS Optics in terms of performance vs size...I would choose this for my Pancake, personally, though honestly, the 28 ultron is already very compact, making it a luxury to ask for another lens at 28 that's compact-er.
p.3 #17 · New Cosina Voigtländer 28/2.8 VM and LTM lens got announced!
ashwinrao1 wrote:
What a fun and stellar offering. The type 2 is SO tiny, when shown in comparison to the already tiny ultron. One starts to wonder about this vs a brightlin star/MS Optics in terms of performance vs size...I would choose this for my Pancake, personally, though honestly, the 28 ultron is already very compact, making it a luxury to ask for another lens at 28 that's compact-er.
Good point but in terms of compactness, when it comes to the 28/1.7 Apoqualia, it's over a full stop faster, significantly shorter (10mm), and noticeably lighter (65 grams). We can't call it a high performing lens though.
p.3 #18 · New Cosina Voigtländer 28/2.8 VM and LTM lens got announced!
I love the optical performance of my 28mm Ultron vII, ergos and looks are not at the top of my list however. I really do like the looks and the ergonomics of this new 28 2.8 type II. Even though I usually shoot this FL between f/5.6 and f/8, I am not sure I would trade a full stop of light for the better looks and ergos. But since it is one of my favorite FLs I just might go for the better shooting experience. I guess I will wait until we get a full review, I try one myself to decide.
In any case, I am very happy to see that Cosina is still interested in creating lenses for the Leica M mount.
p.3 #19 · New Cosina Voigtländer 28/2.8 VM and LTM lens got announced!
Fred Miranda wrote:
I absolutely love using these two Ultron lenses for shooting. Including the CV 75/1.9 Ultron in the mix creates a remarkably compact RF system without costing a fortune. However, the recently introduced CV 28/2.8 Color-Skopar is even more compact and has an incredible aesthetic appeal. I'm honestly torn on what to do next. It's a delightful dilemma! 😄
Looking forward to your review Fred and your thoughts between the 3 28s...
p.3 #20 · New Cosina Voigtländer 28/2.8 VM and LTM lens got announced!
While I applaud the tiny size, one needs to be careful w such lenses so as to not accidentally get your fingers (or hair!) in the shot. Happened to me a few times with my Lomo Minitar and TTA 28 5.6.
I totally would take the size tradeoff w the understanding to watch out for this.
