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Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar Review

Fred Miranda
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p.16 #1 · p.16 #1 · Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar Review

hmzimelka wrote:
Here are some more M11 DNG samples. At this rate, I think I still prefer my Summicron-M.

Leica M11 with APO-Lanthar 50mm f/3.5 Type II (Uncoded)
ISO64, 1/750sec, f/5.6

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53981968951_66ae5b42c9_o.jpg

I think there are many great 50mm lenses out there, and I agree that the Leica 50mm f/2 Summicron is one of the best. However, there are several situations where the Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar performs better, which might not be covered in your tests but are significant differences between these lenses.

The Voigtlander lens can focus closer (LV), offering 0.45m or 0.35m depending on the version, compared to the 0.7m of the Leica. The Voigtlander handles flare better, which will be noticeable in backlit shots. For resolution and contrast, while the Leica is very good, the Voigtlander 50/3.5 APO-Lanthar is even better, especially in areas away from the center, though this might not show in your current comparison samples.

The Voigtlander lens does not cause frameline blockage, just like the Summicron. The APO design of the Voigtlander ensures no color errors. The Voigtlander also produces a flat field curvature, while the Summicron shows slight outward curvature. The Voigtlander produces defined sunstars starting at f/4, which you may prefer.

These differences might not matter for your photography style, and in that case, the 50mm f/2 Summicron could indeed be a better fit for you.

Sep 09, 2024 at 10:39 AM

rscheffler
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p.16 #2 · p.16 #2 · Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar Review

philip_pj wrote:
That's called content, Ron. It's unlikely that Cosina had in mind to produce a garden lens or material with monotone shades. I saw something similar with Jimmy Cheng the other day, the 'can't get the hood off' guy. He used his courtyard on which to base his pronouncements. I meant to post that one, here it is as an example of this behavior:

YT title:
'Voigtlander 50mm F2.2 Color-Skopar Review | Comparison With Leica Summicron and Summarit'

Many Leica reviewers and enthusiasts are prone to better/best assessments based on very little diversity of subject matter. And understandably people get used to a...Show more →

Call it whatever you want; you're entitled to your opinion. I find it extremely jarring the 'quality' of the focus transition in the outer zone of the 50/3.5 APO Lanthar compared to the Cron. I also saw the effect in some of Juha's images and the latest download link from @hmzimelka. I simply don't like the harshness of its outer zone OOF background character; the double-line effect. On-axis OOF background looks reasonable in comparison.

The APO Lanthar looks amazing in the plane of focus and not all images would suffer from harsh transition effects. The size/weight of the 50/3.5 APO is appealing but based on Fred's comparisons, I feel I would strongly prefer the additional versatility of the 50/2 APO Lanthar's speed and better outer zone smoothness. Less than 70cm MFD is low priority for me.

Sep 09, 2024 at 04:45 PM

hmzimelka
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p.16 #3 · p.16 #3 · Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar Review

I've added some more samples to the link I previously posted; These are infinity comparisons between the APO 50/3.5 and the Cron 50mm V.

Anybody can come to their own conclusions. My preference is for my Summicron. It has slightly wavier moustache field curvature than the APO, but the latter isn't perfectly flat. And finder blockage with the Summicron is about zero.

HERE is the link to the comparison These were just taken this morning from the stoep of my AirBnB.

Sep 10, 2024 at 03:41 AM

hmzimelka
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p.16 #4 · p.16 #4 · Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar Review

As for CA correction, the Summicron is pretty decent at comparable apertures. I'll post better comparisons when I get the chance and provide the DNG files too.

Sep 10, 2024 at 06:43 AM

Fred Miranda
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p.16 #5 · p.16 #5 · Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar Review

hmzimelka wrote:
As for CA correction, the Summicron is pretty decent at comparable apertures. I'll post better comparisons when I get the chance and provide the DNG files too.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53984965186_1d32c2b864_o.jpg

The 50/2 Summicron is definitely a great lens. When stopped down almost two stops to f/3.5, even my 60-year-old Leica 50/2 Summicron Rigid version performs comparably to both the CV 50/2 APO and the CV 50/3.5 APO lenses at the center (The CV 50/3.5 APO is wide open though). In terms of longitudinal chromatic aberration, including purple fringing at the focus zone, the f/2 lenses perform well when stopped down. In fact, slower lenses are usually well corrected even without an apochromatic design, such as the CV 50/3.5 Heliar.

Regarding rendering smoothness at the transition, the focus transition typically smooths out when stopping a lens down a bit, so the f/2 lenses stopped to f/3.5 will have an advantage if that’s something you care about. The CV 50/3.5 APO-Lanthar is a more specialized lens and excels in certain aspects compared to the Leica, as I mentioned in my previous post.

Although I did compare the CV 50mm f/3.5 APO to the CV 50/2 APO, I feel it's not really a fair comparison due to their maximum aperture difference and being compared at f/3.5 where the CV 50/3.5 is wide open. I found the Heliar comparison more interesting, especially since their rendering is nearly the same.

Sep 10, 2024 at 09:59 AM

rscheffler
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p.16 #6 · p.16 #6 · Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar Review

Fred Miranda wrote:
Regarding rendering smoothness at the transition, the focus transition typically smooths out when stopping a lens down a bit, so the f/2 lenses stopped to f/3.5 will have an advantage if that’s something you care about. The CV 50/3.5 APO-Lanthar is a more specialized lens and excels in certain aspects compared to the Leica, as I mentioned in my previous post.

Although I did compare the CV 50mm f/3.5 APO to the CV 50/2 APO, I feel it's not really a fair comparison due to their maximum aperture difference and being compared at f/3.5 where the CV 50/3.5 is wide...Show more →

That is true and I would have to give more thought to how I would probably use the 50/3.5 APO most of the time. And I think that would be stopped down to f/5.6-f/8 for walk around snaps where the focus transition 'problem' I'm seeing likely won't be a frequent concern. Stopped down this much, as suggested, pretty much any 50 will be good. Perhaps this is why I'm a bit unhappy with what I see from it wide open, because wide open is actually a 'stopped down' aperture value I'd use with faster 50s. But given my likely use range, do I even need another 50? (This from someone who believes you can never have enough 50s.

)

I guess the appeal with the 50/3.5 APO is size/weight, though it's also not *that* small. I could instead go with the new 50/2.2 that is shorter, less expensive and likely get similar stopped down performance (though I also don't like its wider open focus transition and background characteristics).

Sep 10, 2024 at 02:48 PM

itai195
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p.16 #7 · p.16 #7 · Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar Review

The 50/2.2 has a clearer value proposition to me – it's just size above all. The 50/3.5 APO seems like more of a compromise. Personally, I'm sticking with my 50/2 APO for now – other than the fact there are now smaller lenses available, there's not much it can't do for me.

Sep 10, 2024 at 05:08 PM

hanay78
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p.16 #8 · p.16 #8 · Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar Review

I have Cron IV. I got it because it was smaller and lighter than version V. I like the rendering of the lens. But the flare and ghosting are no good at all in the Cron, at least in my opinion. I was thinking about changing to version V, for better coatings, but then I show this review, https://gear.vogelius.se/-reviews/leica-summicron-50/index.html and I knew they were comparable in their behavior. I am curious, about your real word comparisons if you include the sun in the frame.

hmzimelka wrote:

As for CA correction, the Summicron is pretty decent at comparable apertures. I'll post better comparisons when I get the chance and provide the DNG files too.


	https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53984965186_1d32c2b864_o.jpg

Sep 11, 2024 at 04:00 AM

hmzimelka
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p.16 #9 · p.16 #9 · Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar Review

I'll see what I can do for comparisons, but any Voigtlander lens is going to be much better than the Cron with regard to flare. My observations over the last years with the Cron V is that it's not terrible when light sources are in-frame, but where it buckles is when strong light sources are outside of the frame.

Sep 11, 2024 at 08:00 AM

hanay78
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p.16 #10 · p.16 #10 · Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar Review

My cron is very bad regarding any concentrated light spot: public lights, the sun, the moon... all of them a drama with this lens.

That is a reason maybe to prefer a much cheaper lens the APO-Lanthar.

hmzimelka wrote:
I'll see what I can do for comparisons, but any Voigtlander lens is going to be much better than the Cron with regard to flare. My observations over the last years with the Cron V is that it's not terrible when light sources are in-frame, but where it buckles is when strong light sources are outside of the frame.

Sep 11, 2024 at 09:24 AM

hmzimelka
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p.16 #11 · p.16 #11 · Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar Review

hanay78 wrote:
My cron is very bad regarding any concentrated light spot: public lights, the sun, the moon... all of them a drama with this lens.

That is a reason maybe to prefer a much cheaper lens the APO-Lanthar.

That doesn't sound good. I find at least my cron quite usable when lights are in frame. Not nearly as good as Zeiss or Voigtlander. My gripes with my Cron V is these sneak-attack ghosts and flares from light sources outside the frame. They are unpredictable.

The example below is a mild example, but still enough to screw things up.

Sep 12, 2024 at 01:11 AM

hanay78
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p.16 #12 · p.16 #12 · Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar Review

This flares I did not see with the Cron IV. I did show UFO shapes internal reflections for every public light in blue hour photographs. I even posted them here to see if this was caused by some problem of my own lens. I had it serviced too. The coatings are not the strength of these lenses, a fact, considering their prize, kind of difficult to shallow... Colors are nice though

hmzimelka wrote:

That doesn't sound good. I find at least my cron quite usable when lights are in frame. Not nearly as good as Zeiss or Voigtlander. My gripes with my Cron V is these sneak-attack ghosts and flares from light sources outside the frame. They are unpredictable.

The example below is a mild example, but still enough to screw things up.


	https://www.martinzimelka.com/sample_images/Sneak-attack-flare---Cron-50.jpg

Sep 12, 2024 at 03:22 AM

hmzimelka
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p.16 #13 · p.16 #13 · Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar Review

Sorry I did not see your flares in this thread... where did you post that?
But you're right, the coatings are not a strong suite for the Cron...

Sep 12, 2024 at 04:41 AM

freddy_hayek
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p.16 #14 · p.16 #14 · Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar Review

https://www.martinzimelka.com/sample_images/Sneak-attack-flare---Cron-50.jpg

Wow. Were you visiting Mars on holiday?

Sep 12, 2024 at 07:31 AM

Fred Miranda
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p.16 #15 · p.16 #15 · Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar Review

Back to Quick Links

Samples 5

I went to my daughter's school open house yesterday and brought my M10-R and Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar. Knowing it would be a low-light environment, I saw it as a great opportunity to test the lens's performance at f/3.5. Here are a few samples:

LEICA M10-R Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar lens 50mm f/3.4 1/60s 3200 ISO 0.0 EV

LEICA M10-R Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar lens 50mm f/2.8 1/60s 400 ISO 0.0 EV

LEICA M10-R Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar lens 50mm f/2.8 1/60s 1000 ISO 0.0 EV

LEICA M10-R Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar lens 50mm f/4.0 1/60s 1250 ISO 0.0 EV

LEICA M10-R Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar lens 50mm f/2.0 1/90s 100 ISO 0.0 EV

LEICA M10-R Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar lens 50mm f/4.0 1/60s 4000 ISO 0.0 EV

Sep 13, 2024 at 05:44 PM

Luca101
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p.16 #16 · p.16 #16 · Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar Review

Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar is an impressive lens : overall rendering and sharpness.

Mount it on M9 for dim sum breakfast this morning and take a few pictures. 99.9% good. 0.1% I have question: find the Chinese characters on newspaper some are in purple colour ( not within focus area ) and some are in black colour ( within focus area ). Inside the restaurant is not under contrasting light.

20240914-L1004651 by Vincent Lo, 於 Flickr][url

Sep 14, 2024 at 12:41 AM

RustyBug
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p.16 #17 · p.16 #17 · Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar Review

Luca101 wrote:
Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar is an impressive lens : overall rendering and sharpness.

Mount it on M9 for dim sum breakfast this morning and take a few pictures. 99.9% good. 0.1% I have question: find the Chinese characters on newspaper some are in purple colour ( not within focus area ) and some are in black colour ( within focus area ). Inside the restaurant is not under contrasting light.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53992558927_df66218803_k.jpg 20240914-L1004651 by Vincent Lo, 於 Flickr][url

That purple lettering may not be a lens property ... it might be a lighting or AI=AR matter.

The newspaper has a bend in it and the purple lettering section is not in the same lighting as the other side. Also, look to the left at the backpack and there seems to be a slight WB diff from neutral. Look farther to the left corner and the LLC object color might be getting picked up by the AI=AR angle of the newspaper.

I say that because it is only in that section of the newspaper, whereas the section below it (different angle / bend) the lettering is still black, even though out of the focal plane. Every now and then, when lighting conditions are "transitioning" from warm > cool, there is a narrow overlap in transitional temp where sometimes that purple reveals itself.

Crank up the saturation to 100% and it can help reveal the lighting color nuances that are in play. Take note of the backpack again, and see the color of the backpack, and then the color of the backpack highlights. Likely, you are in a "mixed color" lighting environment, and you are seeing the effects of different color lighting being picked up from different angles, as well as the blending of warm / cool sources at given AI=AR.

Also, note the ornamental iron work in the background. See how much the color of the ironwork transitions through a color palette along the vertical metal. You know that the actual color of the metal is consist unto itself. However, it clearly transitions from cool to warm as you move upward. That must be a condition of the lighting as the mixed lighting blends, while the AI=AR transitions. Chair leg on the far left, etc.

Imo, that purple lettering isn't a lens issue.

HTH alleviates your concerns about that 0.1%.

100% saturation for lighting color analysis

Sep 14, 2024 at 06:35 AM

rscheffler
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p.16 #18 · p.16 #18 · Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar Review

It's possible that specific text on the page (the headline under the left photo) is actually printed in a different color than black. That is the only purple text I see and none of the other text around it is also purple. Nor do I see obvious LoCA in the chrome finish tea pots on the table, which IMO would be the most obvious sources for it.

Kent's point about angle of incidence/reflection is also relevant for the newspaper depending on the paper type. Traditional newsprint has a matte finish and the ink is absorbed into it, thus likely wouldn't be as reflective, but would still pick up some color from the surrounding reflected light/environment. Some newspapers use coated stock that has a sheen to it, and as a result, the ink does as well. This would be more likely to reflect the colors of the surrounding environment. And here it's possible that non-black text more readily reflects the color of the environment around it.

Sep 14, 2024 at 09:17 AM

Fred Miranda
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p.16 #19 · p.16 #19 · Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar Review

Here are a few more shots from my daughter's school open house two days ago:

I mostly shot at f/3.5. Using the rangefinder to capture moving subjects is much easier with a slower aperture and greater depth of field.

LEICA M10-R Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar lens 50mm f/2.8 1/60s 2000 ISO 0.0 EV

LEICA M10-R Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar lens 50mm f/1.2 1/2000s 100 ISO 0.0 EV

LEICA M10-R Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar lens 50mm f/2.8 1/250s 400 ISO 0.0 EV

LEICA M10-R Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar lens 50mm f/4.0 1/60s 1600 ISO 0.0 EV

LEICA M10-R Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar lens 50mm f/3.4 1/60s 3200 ISO 0.0 EV

f/5.6

LEICA M10-R Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar lens 50mm f/2.8 1/125s 100 ISO 0.0 EV

Through the classroom window

LEICA M10-R Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar lens 50mm f/2.4 1/60s 100 ISO 0.0 EV

LEICA M10-R Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar lens 50mm f/2.4 1/60s 6400 ISO 0.0 EV

Sep 14, 2024 at 06:36 PM

tunisia
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p.16 #20 · p.16 #20 · Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar Review

Fred Miranda wrote:
Here are a few more shots from my daughter's school open house two days ago:

I mostly shot at f/3.5. Using the rangefinder to capture moving subjects is much easier with a slower aperture and greater depth of field.

Hey Fred, great photos. I really like its rendering. A real mini version of the 50/2 apo. Also love your close-up shots. Very nice transition to out of focus.
Any idea when it will be released to CameraQuest or anywhere here for that matter?
Joe D

Sep 14, 2024 at 07:45 PM

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