I have got a pristine Voigtlander 75mm 2.5 LTM in a local dealer in very convenient conditions.
Today it was the first day with sun, so I went for a walk and in spite of the mist I bring my new old lens.
It is the first time I use a 75, so I am kind of not used to this "weird" focal length so that I have some of mixed feelings. It is definitely very light and small (the main reason I am interested in it). Very good manufacturing too. It seems solid and it is full metal. Also, definitedly with the sun in the frame it produces plenty of veiling.
Conditions being how they were, that is, hard light mist and so on, I could not find out more. My feeling is that it is inferior to the ZM 85.
Any thoughts about the lens? somebody is using it?
Best review I've found of it. I was interested in it and have played with RAW files from it, but no real interests anymore after the 75/1.9 came out, unless you really want less cat's or a different level of color/contrast.
Seem like a very well behaved mid-speed tele though. Not a very hard thing to produce, but pleasant anyway and handy.
I've had one for about 20 years, bought it to use mainly with a Leica IIII inherited, as a modern comparison to a 9cm Elmar. Also used on the M6ttl I had at the time. Since used occasionally on an Xpro2 and Xt3 .
It's a lovely little lens, I'm sure the newer ones might be 'better' but that's the way of things.
Taking the broader view, 75mm does something special. It bisects the troublesome 50 to 100mm focal length region, giving the lucky shooter a little of the best of both worlds. The industry has got this wrong for many decades now, except for Leica, who have it because they have less range to fill in.
50-85mm is too big. But 50-85-135 is not my idea of how to use short telephoto primes. 100mm is the right one for me, and it was very popular with Carl Zeiss back last century. Still waiting for the right one at present, most modern ones are huge f1.4 options.
Ever seen the inadequate DOF in 85mm landscapes below diffraction apertures, or wished for a little more bokeh than your 50mm, for street work? 75mm to the rescue. It also shapes faces very well, and this one is a beauty at it. It's great we see more Voigtlanders at 75mm now too.
I have got a pristine Voigtlander 75mm 2.5 LTM in a local dealer in very convenient conditions.
Today it was the first day with sun, so I went for a walk and in spite of the mist I bring my new old lens.
It is the first time I use a 75, so I am kind of not used to this "weird" focal length so that I have some of mixed feelings. It is definitely very light and small (the main reason I am interested in it). Very good manufacturing too. It seems solid and it is full metal. Also, definitedly with the sun in the frame it produces plenty of veiling.
Conditions being how they were, that is, hard light mist and so on, I could not find out more. My feeling is that it is inferior to the ZM 85.
Any thoughts about the lens? somebody is using it?
The Voigtlander 75mm Color-Heliar f/2.5 was introduced in 1999 and the Leica screw-mount version is portable, affordable and sharp with a 10-bladed aperture and excellent blur rendition. Although not officially a macro lens, it performs very nicely at close range using a stretch adapter or extension tubes. There is a very slight pincushion distortion which is easily addressed by the Adobe Camera Raw profile for this lens.
The lens shade is integrated into the design and the lens cap fits over the shade, making it even more portable in actual use. Weighing only 230g, it takes 43mm filters and with lens hood and cap is only 65mm long: less than the filter size of many modern designs. Even with the lens hood in place and an adapter attached, this lens fits in your pocket ! You can carry it for long periods of time.
Perhaps the weakest point of this lens is purple fringing under situations of extreme contrast, which can be corrected in an editing tool. It's not a perfect lens by modern standards but it's highly usable in most situations.
The 75mm focal length, at 1.5 X normal, is equivalent to the classic 225mm or 9-inch "portrait" lens on 4x5 film, or 450mm lens on 8x10.
