Not really sure about all these claims about the Voigtländer's superiority. Who has done a side by side comparison of these two lenses under exact same conditions?
blnmen57 wrote:
The big advantages of the Sony FE 100/2.8 Macro GM OSS are the 11 rounded aperture blades for better bokeh, the fast autofocus, the first-class OSS, and the possibility of using Sony FE-TCs.
The Voigtländer APO-Lanthar 110/2.5 Macro has better mechanics, sharpness, color rendering, and better microcontrast.
You base your review on some heavily processed photos?!
Anyway IMO, those photos are mostly a reflection of the skills of the person behind the camera (his PP skills as well) than on the lens itself. Sony. The Voigtländer is a very good lens, I don't doubt it but I am convinced it has a unique magic. If you search for Voigtlander Macro Apo-Lanthar 110mm on Flickr, you will also find some mediocre photos taken with it.
Al Trujillo wrote:
When it was announced I asked myself if I wanted it and would it be something different than my CV 110mm? In the end I can't see giving up the special qualities the CV can create. No doubt the Sony is an excellent lens, just not worth a switch for me.
A review of CV 110mm images posted on Flickr further supports my personal decision:
A very important question: if you own all these lenses, why don't you prove your claims? Dave Sanders provided the opinion of a reviewer who tested these lenses in a fairly accurate way closely and published his review online. How about you? Where is your online review published?
By the way, one should not ignore sample variations. From personal experience I can attest, sometimes there is a great performance difference copy by copy. Example: I had two copies of Laowa 24mm Probe lenses of which one was particularly sharper than the other. I also had two copies of 35mm Sony Zeiss lenses and noticed quit a difference between the two. So it is expected that two people's conclusion might be different from each other.
blnmen57 wrote:
@Dave Sanders@
A very important question: do you personally own the Sony FE 100/2.8 Macro GM OSS and the Voigtländer APO-Lanthar 110/2.5 Macro?
Or are your statements based on personal assumptions?
I personally owned the Sony FE 90/2.8 Macro G OSS, and I personally own the Voigtländer APO-Lanthar 65/2.0 Macro and the Voigtländer APO-Lanthar 110/2.5 Macro, as well as the new Sony FE 100/2.8 Macro GM OSS.
For anyone who has this lens - how is the manual focusing? I would be coming over from a Voigtlander which has a very smooth long focus throw. In my experience manual focusing AF lenses is sometimes a little more art than science and would enjoy a perspective from somebody who has the lens and has used it in MF.
I have GM Macro 100/2.8 for a few months and Voigtlander Apo Lanthar 110/2.5 plus 65/2 for a few years.In the real life photography (and on the 24MPX,42MPX,50MPX and 61MPX FF sensors) it is visible to the trained eye that Sony has a slight edge over Voigtlanders in term of sharpness and microcontrast.Colour rendition is nice,but Voigtlanders render better to me.Manual focusing is very good ,for the AF lens,but Voigtlanders are better again here.
Over the last 37 years I used to have well over 100 dedicated macro lenses for FF (24x36mm,film/digital) and I dare to say that GM 100/2.8 is the sharpest I've ever had.Paradoxically it is to be seen not as much in macro work,but mostly when used as a regular short tele.
The MF hasn't changed from the 90G, which was always a step above most FBW lenses and better than any motor-driven SLR lens. Still, nothing beats a good manual lens like the CV for feel.
I have owned several macro lenses over the last 30 years including the incredible Nikon 200 f/4. I consider macro photography my favorite genre with wildlife photography being a close second. I take 12-15k macro images a year and have tried just about every setup out there. I switched to Sony about five years ago and owned the 90G which was great optically. Having said that, the 100GM is the most incredible lens I have ever used. I own the 300GM, 600GM and several other high dollar Sony lenses but this lens really stands out. Even with the 1.4TC the IQ is just incredible. I personally think Sony hit it out of the park with this lens.
