Juha Kannisto wrote:
Cosina announced their new lenses (under development) that will be shown at CP+ in the Voigtländer Lens list in this Post (under Voigtländer link):
There is one new lens for E-mount in the list, but no further details yet:
PORTRAIT HELIAR 75mm F1.8
Nothing new is listed for Z or RF or X mounts, but according to their updated Zeiss lens list for CP+ they'll have both Otus 50/1.4 and 85/1.4 at CP+ available to be tried at their counter on all 3 mounts E/Z/RF.
Other new lenses are all for VM:
APO-LANTHAR 28mm F2 Aspherical (VM)
NOKTON 35mm F1.2 IV (VM)
NOKTON 40mm F1.2 II (VM)
NOKTON 50mm F1.2 II (VM)
Already officially announced:
COLOR-SKOPAR 35mm F3.5 SV (VM)
COLOR-SKOPAR 35mm F3.5 BK (VM)...Show more →
Wow! Sadly, although I'm increasingly keen on older Leica lenses, I could be sorely tempted by three of these ....
Yes, some kind of SA ring like several MS-Optics lenses have. It looks like it will produce some quite strong aberration effects I'll certainly buy that one as it's in E-mount. Looking forward to trying it at CP+
Yay an APO-Lanthar 28mm! I‘ll 100% get one for Z mount once it’s out, to accompany the 50mm.
I was worried they wouldn’t release lenses under the Voigtländer brand this time because they did the announcement for the Zeiss Otus lenses. Glad we got a bunch of new stuff for CV as well.
The 28 Ultron is so good across the image, starting wide open. Curious how this one compares. Looks to be about the same size as the 28 Nokton. Wonder if a major focus was on E/Z mount bodies, where this APO will perform much better than the Ultron
We knew the 1.2 lenses were coming at some point, hopefully a big focus is doing whatever they can around size
Here is an auto-translation of the “product introduction” text for the VM Nokton 50mm f/1.2 II. There is similar text for the 35mm IV. Note the point about there being a link to more detail from Thursday.
Voigtlander NOKTON 50mm F1.2 Aspherical II VM is a large-diameter standard lens. The successor model of the NOKTON 50mm F1.2 Aspherical, which was discontinued in 2024, has been lightened and the tip bayonnet has been blackened. ( Link to the special page of the site)
See in detail
※You can click from 2/27.
And here is the text for the 28mm APO. Does this, I wonder, imply that Cosina regard it as higher performing than the 35mm APO? (I’m not sure whether they would count 35mm as being wide-angle.)
The Voigtlander APO-LANTHAR 28mm F2 Aspherical VM Mount is the highest performance wide-angle lens in the history of Voigtlander, and is an extremely high-performance lens optimized for full-size M-mount sensors. The apochromatic design brings the axial chromatic aberration of RGB, which constitutes the three primary colors of light, as close to zero as possible, thoroughly eliminating various aberrations while pursuing the ultimate performance in terms of resolution and contrast reproduction. (Link to special page on the website)
Feb 25, 2025 at 06:20 AM
Steve Spencer Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: Off
What an interesting set of lenses from Cosina. Some unexpected, some expected, but in general what I see as some nice developments. Let's start with the unexpected, a 28 f/2 APO for Leica M mount. As Ron says this looks a little chunky but a 28 f/2 APO lens is something that even Leica has not yet provided for Leica M mount and it doesn't look that much bigger than their 35 f/2 APO. It is a little smaller than the new f/1.2 Noktons, which of course we don't know the exact size of, but as a 28mm lens will block the viewfinder a fair bit. I would estimate, however, that it will weigh less than 350g and be less than 60mm in diameter and shorter than 55mm.
Then there is the 75 f/1.8 Heliar for Sony E-mount that has no precedent on E mount. Cosina has mostly made Noktons, APO-Lanthars, and ultra wide Heliars, for Sony E-mount, so I see this what appears to be a character oriented 75 f/1.8 as an interesting development. I suppose it is a little like the 35 f/1.4 Nokton that is also a character oriented lens. It will be interesting to see if Sony E mount users take to this new 75mm.
The new f/1.2 35, 40, & 50 mm lenses are pretty expected, as it was clear the old versions were being discontinued and it would be hard to imagine them not being replaced. Still what these lenses will be like is an interesting question to me. I think both the 28 f/1.5, and 75 f/1.5 have been strong offerings and I would like to see these lenses have a nice upgrade. I would think that a bit better control of CA without taking away from the nice bokeh of these lenses would be a very interesting enhancement. It is also a very interesting question about whether all of the four new M mount lenses will be brought to other mounts. I think they all would be very interesting on other mounts too.
Of course we knew the Otus lenses were coming, but these too are, IMO, an interesting development for those of us who like manual focus lenses.
Steve Spencer wrote:
What an interesting set of lenses from Cosina. Some unexpected, some expected, but in general what I see as some nice developments. Let's start with the unexpected, a 28 f/2 APO for Leica M mount. As Ron says this looks a little chunky but a 28 f/2 APO lens is something that even Leica has not yet provided for Leica M mount and it doesn't look that much bigger than their 35 f/2 APO. It is a little smaller than the new f/1.2 Noktons, which of course we don't know the exact size of, but as a 28mm lens will block the viewfinder a fair bit. I would estimate, however, that it will weigh less than 350g and be less than 60mm in diameter and shorter than 55mm.
Then there is the 75 f/1.8 Heliar for Sony E-mount that has no precedent on E mount. Cosina has mostly made Noktons, APO-Lanthars, and ultra wide Heliars, for Sony E-mount, so I see this what appears to be a character oriented 75 f/1.8 as an interesting development. I suppose it is a little like the 35 f/1.4 Nokton that is also a character oriented lens. It will be interesting to see if Sony E mount users take to this new 75mm.
The new f/1.2 35, 40, & 50 mm lenses are pretty expected, as it was clear the old versions were being discontinued and it would be hard to imagine them not being replaced. Still what these lenses will be like is an interesting question to me. I think both the 28 f/1.5, and 75 f/1.5 have been strong offerings and I would like to see these lenses have a nice upgrade. I would think that a bit better control of CA without taking away from the nice bokeh of these lenses would be a very interesting enhancement. It is also a very interesting question about whether all of the four new M mount lenses will be brought to other mounts. I think they all would be very interesting on other mounts too.
Of course we knew the Otus lenses were coming, but these too are, IMO, an interesting development for those of us who like manual focus lenses....Show more →
Steve Spencer wrote:
The new f/1.2 35, 40, & 50 mm lenses are pretty expected, as it was clear the old versions were being discontinued and it would be hard to imagine them not being replaced. Still what these lenses will be like is an interesting question to me. I think both the 28 f/1.5, and 75 f/1.5 have been strong offerings and I would like to see these lenses have a nice upgrade. I would think that a bit better control of CA without taking away from the nice bokeh of these lenses would be a very interesting enhancement. It is also a very interesting question about whether all of the four new M mount lenses will be brought to other mounts. I think they all would be very interesting on other mounts too....Show more →
Nice comments.
I’m on the fence about the 28mm APO, because of the size but also because the Ultron is so good.
Concerning the part of your post that I quoted:
I could be very tempted by the 35mm and 50mm f/1.2s. The big question for me is whether the optics have changed (and, if so, how). The only things explicitly mentioned in the text that I posted above are a reduction in weight and the blackening of the front. So if we take that at face value, it may imply that there are no other changes. I hope that isn’t the case, though.
Feb 25, 2025 at 07:19 AM
Steve Spencer Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: Off
I’m on the fence about the 28mm APO, because of the size but also because the Ultron is so good.
Concerning the part of your post that I quoted:
I could be very tempted by the 35mm and 50mm f/1.2s. The big question for me is whether the optics have changed (and, if so, how). The only things explicitly mentioned in the text that I posted above are a reduction in weight and the blackening of the front. So if we take that at face value, it may imply that there are no other changes. I hope that isn’t the case, though....Show more →
We will see. The 35 Nokton III and 50 Nokton both have 12 bladed apertures, while the 40 Nokton has the older 10 bladed aperture. I would be surprised if the new 40 Nokton II doesn't at least have that upgrade to 12 aperture blades. The 35 Noktons have gotten smaller with each new generation, so that the new one is smaller is not surprising, but each generation has also had a revision of the optical formula. Let's hope these follow that pattern. I liked the old version, but I do think an upgrade to compete with lenses from other manufacturers would make sense. I also think that the 40mm, at least, is likely to be brought to E, Z, and RF mounts if it is a revision at all as all three mounts have this lens and personally I would love to see the 35mm brought to mirrorless mounts as I would be interested in this lens over a 40mm, but Cosina may think 35 and 40 mm are so close for mirrorless that it might not be worth developing both for these mounts.
Double checking previous info about those VM lenses, it doesn't look like much of anything significant is being changed about the optical formulae, the only note being that the 35mm ƒ/1.2 has listed "7 elements in 9 groups" vs "9 elements in 7 groups" on the MK III. It could honestly just be someone mixing up elements and groups in the marketing materials, because I see with the MK II it's 8 elements and 6 groups, so a clear numerical difference in the grouping itself. Perhaps they're planning on just changing a couple of the elements' optical glass type to general low dispersion in order to reduce chromatic aberration, but that would be optimistic, I think. We'll definitely see!
Stargenx wrote:
Double checking previous info about those VM lenses, it doesn't look like much of anything significant is being changed about the optical formulae, the only note being that the 35mm ƒ/1.2 has listed "7 elements in 9 groups" vs "9 elements in 7 groups" on the MK III. It could honestly just be someone mixing up elements and groups in the marketing materials, because I see with the MK II it's 6 elements and 8 groups, so a clear numerical difference in the grouping itself. Perhaps they're planning on just changing a couple of the elements' optical glass type to general low dispersion in order to reduce chromatic aberration, but that would be optimistic, I think. We'll definitely see!...Show more →
Well, 7 elements in 9 groups is obviously wrong as you can't have more groups than elements, so that is a mistake. It is also always hard to know what to do with marking materials as they are designed to sound good and not necessarily reflect changes in the product. I am sure we will get the new lens diagrams from Cosina soon (probably in the next few days) and we will know if they changed the optical formula or not.
All the new Nokton lenses have the exact same number of lens elements & groups as the previous versions (8/6 for the 50mm 1.2 and 40mm 1.2 and 9/7 for the 35mm 1.2). The 35mm and 50mm have 12 aperture blades, but the 40mm oddly still has 10.
It looks like this might just be a new housing with the same optics inside.
fjablo wrote:
All the new Nokton lenses have the exact same number of lens elements & groups as the previous versions (8/6 for the 50mm 1.2 and 40mm 1.2 and 9/7 for the 35mm 1.2). The 35mm and 50mm have 12 aperture blades, but the 40mm oddly still has 10.
It looks like this might just be a new housing with the same optics inside.
Yes, I think they are optically identical. Cosina mentioned on the product introduction video that those 3 are a minor update, keeping same optical performance as previous versions. The main update seems to be lighter weight, silver front rings replaced with black and new accessory hoods that can mounted in reverse too.
Andrew CD wrote:
Does this, I wonder, imply that Cosina regard [the 28mm APO] as higher performing than the 35mm APO? (I’m not sure whether they would count 35mm as being wide-angle.)
The Voigtlander APO-LANTHAR 28mm F2 Aspherical VM Mount is the highest performance wide-angle lens in the history of Voigtlander, and is an extremely high-performance lens optimized for full-size M-mount sensors.
Cosina touted the 35mm APO-Lanthar as "highest performance semi wide-angle lens in Voigtländer history".
Andrew CD wrote:
The Voigtlander APO-LANTHAR 28mm F2 Aspherical VM Mount is the highest performance wide-angle lens in the history of Voigtlander, and is an extremely high-performance lens optimized for full-size M-mount sensors. The apochromatic design brings the axial chromatic aberration of RGB, which constitutes the three primary colors of light, as close to zero as possible, thoroughly eliminating various aberrations while pursuing the ultimate performance in terms of resolution and contrast reproduction.
