You folks are talking about smaller and lighter Voigtlanders, and yes, that would be nice on my M11. Even the little 90mm Voigtlander is significantly smaller than my Leica APO 90. But where I wish Leica would spend a little effort is on the SL lenses. I feel like I'm carrying a shoulder-launched missile every time I carry the 24-90 or 90-280!
Yes, the 35 SL APO is a superb lens and not THAT large. But if you carry even of the APOs around it's a load. I'd love to see a series of 2.8 lenses that were significantly smaller. At least there are the Sigmas, which are excellent and much smaller (2.0 Contemporaries).
Then again, if they made them, I'd buy them and I'd be in the doghouse at home, again....
rscheffler wrote:
I agree that use of the M system should not prioritize sharpness above all, rather immersion in the environment with 'focus' on timing the critical moment, above all else. For that one does not need perfect focus, or the sharpest lens.
One side of me is screaming get the APO but I totally understand the point you make and I struggle with it.
I have the a 35mm Nokton Classic F1.4 and C-Biogon F2.8, the C-Biogon is probably the second sharpest 35mm M Mount lens after the APO Sunmicron/Lanthar.
I use the M for street, travel and family.
I prefer the images from the Nokton, they feel more organic and film like and I don’t notice/seem to care if focus is missed slightly.
I feel the Nokton and steel rim Summilux match the M perfectly. Compact, creative lenses wide open that are sharp enough and don’t need critical focus.
Stopped down they are plenty sharp and rangefinder/user accuracy is less important as DOF increases.
I was in my sister in laws coffee shop recently, took some photos with the Nokton and shared them. She shoots Fuji and Sony but said ‘Your pictures have soul’ maybe she was taking about my shooting style, the editing or maybe the little Nokton who knows…
Did I mention I still want the APO… perhaps one must try and get it out their system.
I visited Leitz Park at the end of May and they loaned me the APO 35mm together with the M11M. What an incredible combination. I will post some of the images that I shot with the combo when I visited Leitz Park. The image of the older gentleman looking toward the left side of the frame was edited to remove a person on the left side of the frame using generative fill.
I have to say that shooting with that combination was immensely enjoyable and I was very pleased with the resulting images.
LEICA M11 MonochromApo-Summicron-M 1:2/35 ASPH. lens35mmf/6.81/125s250 ISO0.0 EV
LEICA M11 MonochromApo-Summicron-M 1:2/35 ASPH. lens35mmf/5.61/160s400 ISO0.0 EV
LEICA M11 MonochromApo-Summicron-M 1:2/35 ASPH. lens35mmf/5.61/125s200 ISO0.0 EV
LEICA M11 MonochromApo-Summicron-M 1:2/35 ASPH. lens35mmf/3.41/40s3200 ISO0.0 EV
LEICA M11 MonochromApo-Summicron-M 1:2/35 ASPH. lens35mmf/2.41/125s1250 ISO0.0 EV
LEICA M11 MonochromApo-Summicron-M 1:2/35 ASPH. lens35mmf/4.81/125s640 ISO0.0 EV
LEICA M11 MonochromApo-Summicron-M 1:2/35 ASPH. lens35mmf/5.61/160s800 ISO0.0 EV
LEICA M11 MonochromApo-Summicron-M 1:2/35 ASPH. lens35mmf/8.01/100s3200 ISO0.0 EV
LEICA M11 MonochromApo-Summicron-M 1:2/35 ASPH. lens35mmf/4.01/125s2000 ISO0.0 EV
At $9K, this lens is rarely in stock. Either Leica is producing it in very small batches, or their branding and marketing are so strong that demand stays high. Optically, it's clearly an excellent lens but at the end of the day, it's still just a very well-corrected 35mm f/2.
Would still love to see an FM review of this lens, particularly against the VM 35 APO.
I feel like Cosina may have taken to heart some of the criticism about the 35's draw and applied it to the 28 APO. Given how Cosina operates, I wouldn't be surprised if there will eventually be a 35 APO v2.
rscheffler wrote:
Would still love to see an FM review of this lens, particularly against the VM 35 APO.
I feel like Cosina may have taken to heart some of the criticism about the 35's draw and applied it to the 28 APO. Given how Cosina operates, I wouldn't be surprised if there will eventually be a 35 APO v2.
I'm holding out for Cosina to release a more compact version of their 35 APO, something like a Voigtlander 35mm f/2 APO-Lanthar v2 similar in size or even more compact than to their newest 28mm!
Fred Miranda wrote:
At $9K, this lens is rarely in stock. Either Leica is producing it in very small batches, or their branding and marketing are so strong that demand stays high. Optically, it's clearly an excellent lens but at the end of the day, it's still just a very well-corrected 35mm f/2.
With some epic vignetting.
B&H had a used one a couple days ago. They must go fast, too, because it's gone.
I think it's doable without severe vignetting. Take the Leica 35mm f/2 APO, for example. It's only 40mm long, which is 10mm shorter than the Voigtlander 28mm f/2 APO-Lanthar. Voigtlander could definitely make a more compact 35/2 APO version. It might cost a bit more, but matching or even beating the 28mm APO in size seems within reach.
Fred Miranda wrote:
I think it's doable without severe vignetting. Take the Leica 35mm f/2 APO, for example. It's only 40mm long, which is 10mm shorter than the Voigtlander 28mm f/2 APO-Lanthar. Voigtlander could definitely make a more compact 35/2 APO version. It might cost a bit more, but matching or even beating the 28mm APO in size seems within reach.
I think you're right. It's just a matter of time. Look at the Nokton 35/1.2. The first version of that was big and heavy, but, eleven years after its release, we have the vIV that's 1.7cm shorter and 190g lighter with significantly better performance.
For anyone who is interested, AllGoodCamera in Hong Kong (authorized Leica dealer) has them on eBay brand new for $7599 and they cover the import fees.
For sure Cosina can do it. IMO it's just a question of price. There is a huge price gap between the VM 35 APO and the Leica for Cosina to potentially exploit (Zeiss seems uninterested and none of the Chinese brands other than LLL have built the market reputation to do so) but I imagine they would still face some challenges if they were to release a VM lens in the +/- $2K range.
Yes, they did it already with the 50/1, but it's an exotic super fast 50... a 'pedestrian' 35/2 in that range might be more challenging. Particularly given the price point of the existing APO Lanthars.
I'd be very interested to see what meaningful improvements Cosina could bring to the VM lineup if they were to create an upscale set of lenses in the $2K range. They have the credibility to do so and their lens designs have definitely improved considerably over the past ~10 years (along with everyone else). With all the recent Chinese brands crowding Voigtlander's lower end offerings, Cosina appears to have little choice other than to move more upscale and lean harder on their brand reputation.
