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Rendering
I’ve always believed that the rendering quality of a lens is the most subjective aspect of a review. What I consider great rendering might not appeal to everyone, so the best approach is to share images taken at various distances and let you decide if you like the results.
Since Cosina released the lens's optical diagram, I've been quite intrigued by this design. Although combining Planar and Sonnar elements in a lens isn't new, it's never been done in a f/2.2 lens before, so I was curious to see the results.
To my eyes, the Voigtlander 50/2.2 Color-Skopar successfully captures the strengths of both designs. It incorporates aspects of the Sonnar design, making the lens compact, somewhat fast, and excellent at controlling color errors with high contrast and sharpness, while also providing aesthetically pleasing bokeh. On the other hand, it also exhibits low distortion and consistently high performance across the image field, features typical of Planar designs.
Voigtlander 50mm f/2.2 Color-Skopar optical design
This lens is compact, with low color aberration and low distortion. The absence of aspherical elements contributes to clean bokeh balls, enhancing the rendering. However, the transition zone is not as smooth as in many 50mm f/2 lenses, and there is some outlining in the specular highlights, which becomes more noticeable when focusing on subjects at mid and long distances, where blur no longer masks this effect. To me, Cosina has created a lens that appeals to those who appreciate smooth rendering at close and mid-range distances, while also satisfying those who prefer a bit more character and structure in the rendering at greater distances.
As I mentioned, it’s best to show this with images rather than words, so here they are:
Sample 1: At 0.8m (close-distance)
Full image resized
Focused area at 100% magnification
Rendering at 50% magnificaiton: Very smooth due to high amount of blur
Rendering at 50% magnificaiton: Very smooth due to high amount of blur
