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 p.9 #5 · Voigtlander 28mm f/2 APO-Lanthar Review | |
junglialoh wrote:
In Japan, the price is ￥126,720 that is USD$866.38
with Tariff, the price is $996.34 so about $995 or 999
As Juha noted, that is the tax-inclusive price. If you were to visit Japan as a tourist, you'd pay ￥115,200, which is about US $780 (similar to the South Korean price).
$999 is what it would have been with past administrations, but now with the tariffs and extra 'padding' I agree with Juha you're probably looking at around $1200. It won't be less than the recently refreshed f/1.2 trio that significantly increased in price (in the USA).
This also provides some buffer for future 'sales' periods after the initial adopter premium.
Steve Spencer wrote:
I think this tradeoff between finder blockage and vignetting is always a tough issue and especially at 28mm where the frame lines cover pretty much the whole viewfinder and either you block the finder quite a bit or you are going to get pretty heavy vignetting. Personally, I switched from the VM 28 f/2 ultron II to the Leica M 28 f/2 summicron (version 1) even though the Voigtlander was a bit sharper, because the Leica has noticeably lower vignetting. It isn't the darkening of the outer part of the image that bothers me as much as the effect the vignetting has on the bokeh in the outer part of the frame increasing the depth of field there. I found the VM 28 f/2 Ultron II had noticeably more depth of field at f/2 in the outer part of the frame than the 28 summicron. I think there is no way around this tradeoff for 28mm lenses, but the VM 28 f/2 APO certainly has quite a bit of blockage, but what comes with that is an outer zone that is much less affected by vignetting. As Rustybug often says, you got to "pick your poison," and with VM lenses you can pick either poison but you can't get a lens with no blockage and little issues with vignetting....Show more →
I completely agree and the tradeoff with the VM 28/2 APO is that it's a long lens for an M-mount 28 (like the 35 APO and the VM 35/1.7 before it, which I still have and use). My beef with the 28 APO is less the length than the front end diameter, which IMO could have been reduced ~1cm without impacting mechanical or optical vignetting, which would have reduced VF blockage. But it would result in an ugly lens out of line with Cosina's established APO Lanthar aesthetics.
Also completely agree about the 28 Cron v1. It was my first M mount 28 and I probably should have just left it at that, but no.... 
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freaklikeme wrote:
I'm not sure how you can come to that conclusion when it's likely the highest performing 28 for the M-mount, but obviously suffers on a stock Sony. The M-mount is Cosina's bread and butter for Voigtlander lenses. There are certainly more mirrorless shooters in the world, but only a fraction of us are willing to accept a manual lens. Everyone who picks up an M is a manual shooter, and, between digital and film, there's a healthier base than ever. Until that changes, I expect Cosina to make the mount it's top priority. Mirrorless shooters get whatever they think will sell and what translates well. This lens probably falls into that category, but I doubt it will get ported over without tweaks.
Neither Leica nor Cosina have been shy about eating chunks of the VF when it suits their design goals. And we may be approaching a time when that's going to be a secondary concern for both companies, assuming Leica is serious about integrating an EVF in the M cameras, either as a separate offering (which would be dumb, but wouldn't surprise me) or as a hybrid integrated into the optical VF (much smarter, especially if they can improve on Fuji's implementation). ...Show more →
I should have clarified that what I meant by 'made for mirrorless' referred to the physical design of the lens. It's a large lens for rangefinder users, but small for mirrorless user. It 'only' needs optical optimization for mirrorless, which will happen when it's eventually released in mirrorless mounts.
Leica makes large lenses but puts a lot more effort into minimizing VF blockage when possible. For example again, Leica's 35 Cron APO ASPH is much shorter than the VM 35 APO. 35mm is arguably *the* M focal length and users who are going to pay for a 35mm Leica want everything to be just right with the user experience, which includes minimizing VF blockage. With Voigtlander you're buying it either because it's a lot less expensive than a Leica and sometimes have to accept the size compromise, or you prioritize optical performance above the user experience. This is where I'm on the fence about the VM 28 APO. I very much appreciate that it is the best technically performing 28mm natively available for use on a Leica M camera. But I'm also somewhat picky about the M user experience, which I actually value over many technical aspects (otherwise I probably wouldn't be a Leica user). Therefore while the 28 APO is unmatched, at the stopped down aperture values I typically use with 28mm, other smaller more viewfinder friendly options are close enough. Since the user experience is a high priority, I'll probably stay with a small 28 and accept the tradeoff in optical performance.
Fred Miranda wrote:
but the good news is that Japan seems to have received a 15% tariff instead of 25%.
Yeah, but that is still more than the current 10%, which was more than the previous 0%....
I shouldn't care since I'm in Canada, but some brands are apparently adjusting prices here to better align with the US price increases... 
At least this doesn't appear to be the case with our Voigtlander distributor.
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