What is your favorite Voigtlander that you can't see ever letting go of?
I had the 75/1.5 Nok, but let it go for the Leica 75/2.4 ... if I pick it up again, it'll probably be my contender for DCH. But, I might look to get it's little brother in a 50 instead, or the 40 or I really like the rendering of it.
RustyBug wrote:
What is your favorite Voigtlander that you can't see ever letting go of?
I had the 75/1.5 Nok, but let it go for the Leica 75/2.4 ... if I pick it up again, it'll probably be my contender for DCH. But, I might look to get it's little brother in a 50 instead, or the 40 or I really like the rendering of it.
So far I don't have a Voigtlander in this category. I do have my Lux 35mm FLE II, and my 21mm Super-Elmar in this category. I may swap out my 50mm Cron v5 for the latest edition of the 50 Lux some day and add that to the list.
The closest VM I have to that status is the 75 f/1.5 Nok due to its wide aperture rendering and colors. But, as you know I am getting the 90mm APO-Skopar for other duties.
RustyBug wrote:
What is your favorite Voigtlander that you can't see ever letting go of?
My top pick would be the Voigtlander 50/2 APO-Lanthar. It's my favorite because of its exceptional performance and minimal aberrations. Lately, I've also been enjoying using the latest Cosina 28mm lenses, particularly the newly released 28/1.5 aspherical. And in third place, the Voigtlander 35/1.4 Nokton is another lens I truly appreciate for its classic renderingg and distinct characteristics.
The Rollei 40mm 2.8 Sonnar. Fantastic near to flare free lens. And it counts in this Voigtlander thread because even though the lens says “made in Germany” the casing is identical to Voigtlander lenses of that era like my Color Skopar 50mm 2.5.
All my Voigtlander lenses are RF (50/1,40/1.2) or EF(20/3.5,40/1.2,40/2.0,90/3.5,125/2.3) the only one I would consider letting go is the 20 but it is a low consideration. As to a favourite I lean towards the 50/1 or 40/2. I sold the 40/2 when I had it in a Nikon mount but missed it so much I eventually bought it again in an EF mount.
Hope Voigltander continues to release more RF mounts.
The only Voigtlander I had in an M mount was the 2nd version of the 15. No longer have it. The Leica lenses I have for the Monochrom cover my needs but I would never say never on adding any more Leica M or Voigtlander M lenses.
The one that surprised me as being medium format-like was the APO-Lanthar 50/2. Great colour saturation, clarity, tonal gradations and superbly drawn muted tones. Sharpness is never loud but very high resolution, flat field, ground-breaking f2 image quality, small aperture excellence. I'll take the liberty of posting an example.
I used to have all in FE mount,yet reduced my collection to 10 only.Anyways - 110/2.5 Macro Apo Lanthar will be my first choice closely followed by 65/2 Macro Apo lanthar.50/2 Apo will get the third place.
I have a lot of Voigtländer lenses (currently 31, and I had 18 others before but traded them away as new preferred ones got released). They are across M/LTM and Sony E-mount & Fujifilm X-mounts. There's no single outstanding favorite but rather multiple favorites.
In M/LTM I'm currently liking the 28/2.8, 28/1.5, 50/1.5 Heliar Classic and 75/1.9 the most.
In E-mount it's 21/3.5, 35/1.4, 35/2 APO, 40/1.2 SE.
In X-mount it's 18/2.8, 27/2, 50/1.2.
I'm surprised no one mentioned the VM 35 1.7 Ultron. I use it with a 5m PCX on my nikon z6. Super sharp across the frame already at wide open with very smooth bokeh.
It's my favorite lens and imo one of the best lenses that Cosina ever made.
I have several CV lenses, and I don't intend to part with any of them even some have been replaced with newer versions in the meantime. Hard to pick an order which one I prefer most. Going on the amount of which I am using them, there are two lenses: CV 28/2.0 version I and the mentioned 75/1.5. The latter often replaces my 50 mm focal length if I just use these two lenses for a photo walk.
Closely followed in order of preference is my CV 21/1.8. I am using it often since I bought it new in 2016. I have never tried the newer f/1.4 version of this lens, but the nearly stop faster doesn't make a difference for my photography. I am using the CV 21/1.8 mostly between f/5.6 and f/11.
zhulinke wrote:
I'm surprised no one mentioned the VM 35 1.7 Ultron. I use it with a 5m PCX on my nikon z6. Super sharp across the frame already at wide open with very smooth bokeh.
It's my favorite lens and imo one of the best lenses that Cosina ever made.
The CV 35/1.7 Ultron was my first rangefinder lense. Great images, but the front half was prone to falling off:
I replaced it with the v1 35/1.4 Nokton which had very noticeable focus shift and barrel distortion.
Have any Cosina-Voigtlander lenses actually appreciated in value vs Mandler-era lenses?
The one with the front half problem was the 35/1.7 LTM, very different lens from the more recent 35/1.7 VM. I had both but I no longer have either one. The VM was a bit too difficult on Sony sensors and I didn't like the focus ring, otherwise it was great.
Some CV lenses are a bit more expensive in the 2nd hand market than they were as new (28/3.5 LTM for example) but I don't think there are any that go for really high prices.
If I had to pick one then probably the 50 APO. There is something about that level of correction that somewhat stands out against other lenses. Even when comparing stopped down against other 50s where they all are plenty sharp. I guess it’s the color correction that plays into this.
weatherproof wrote:
Have any Cosina-Voigtlander lenses actually appreciated in value vs Mandler-era lenses?
The CV 25/4.0 Snapshot-Skopar LTM lens has increased in used price from when I purchased it about 6 years ago. Got it online for less than $200 in excellent condition, now prices are around $300. But in general most LTM-era lenses have increased in price significantly in the past > 5 years: same counts for Canon and Nikkor LTM lenses for example.
But in general CV prices are not significantly increasing from the original purchase price. Most depreciate a bit especially when purchased as new copy. Therefore I wouldn't see CV lenses as "investment" but rather as items for usage (same is true for 7Artisans and TTArtisan lenses, too). If I travel and venture through some a bit more sketchy areas, I leave my Leica lenses at home and use my less expensive CV lenses instead. Defeats maybe a bit the purpose of having nice Leica/Leitz lenses, but I don't want to risk becoming a potential target with them.
I really like the rendering of it. 
or the Nokton 58/1.4 on FTZ