p.1 #1 · Older Voigtländer screw-mount lenses without haze
After returning to Leica for the third time, I decided to limit myself to Barnack-style camears, a IIIC and a IIIG, and LTM-lenses. I've got some Leitz, som Nikkor and some Voigtländer.
From Voigtländer I have the Super Wide Heliar 15mm, Snapshot-skopar 25mm and Color skopar 35mm, all of them great little lenses with clear glass. But I bought and returned the Ultron 35/1.7, Color-Heliar 75mm & APO_Lanthar 90mm, because all three had haze. Is that typical for those constructions? In the case of the Ultron 35mm it seems like thats the case, but the APO-Lanthar, was that only bad luck? The lenses where used and bought in the nordic countries which are not hot or humid places.
Which models are safe? My brother also have the Super Wide Heliar 15mm and Color skopar 35mm, and the 21mm, none of them has any haze....
p.1 #2 · Older Voigtländer screw-mount lenses without haze
Like you, I have the SW Heliar 15/4.5 ASPH LTM and Snapshot-Skopar 25/4 MC LTM. They are both clear. My longer LTM lenses are Canon S 35/2, S 50/1.4 II, and S 100/3.5 III LTM. They are also clear.
p.1 #5 · Older Voigtländer screw-mount lenses without haze
I have a haze free 21mm F4 and haze free 50mm F1.5, but I also have a hazy middle element 50mm F1.5. (I bought the hazy 50mm because the body of the lens was in far better shape than my rough black 50mm F1.5.
The hazy silver one came from a Thailand that I bought on ebay. Its one removable element that is the issue, which makes me wonder if it worth seeing if anything can be done to fix it.
p.1 #6 · Older Voigtländer screw-mount lenses without haze
None of my older LTM glass has any haze - but I bought these > 10 years ago. It seems to get harder now to find them as in great condition as when I bought them. Instead I experienced more often some minor kind of delamination. This can occur with lenses this old! My > 80 years old Leica Summitar 50/2.0 LTM lens has some minor delamination spots not visible in the taken image.
p.1 #9 · Older Voigtländer screw-mount lenses without haze
ottokbre wrote:
I second this. Sort of a hefty lens on a Leica III but the survival rate on the 50/1.4 is much higher than the 1.8 Canons.
I both have the Canon 50/1.4 and 50/1.2 LTM lenses. They both behave very differently regarding bokeh. I love the one from the 50/1.2 lens - this lens has nothing in common with the much newer Canon 50/1.2 L EF DSLR-based lens which I also own. Ironically, the older Canon 50/1.2 LTM lens is sharper wide open in the center than the newer EF lens (which has always been the main known culprit of the EF version).
I have two good copies of the LTM lenses - but it took me three attempts to get a good copy of the 50/1.2 LTM.
p.1 #10 · Older Voigtländer screw-mount lenses without haze
I think those older Voigtländer LTM lenses got haze from whatever lubricant was used on the aperture blades. I searched for a long time to get a 35/2.5 Color-Skopar without haze; most of the listings mentioned a slight haze. Mine is still haze-free after 3-4 years of frequent use but I suspect it's only a matter of time.
Earlier this year I picked up the rare and expensive Voigtländer 50/2 Heliar mainly because I wanted to use it on a trip along with my 25/4 Snapshot Skopar and share filters between the lenses...they both take 39mm filters. No haze on that lens and it's really nice. Reviews mention some focus shift but I haven't noticed it on film.
My hunch is that all of the older models are susceptible to haze, and the ones that are clear are the ones that probably weren't used very much. So you're safer with the newer models (Voigtländer still makes a few LTM lenses today, including the 28mm Color-Skopar -- I thought you had that lens but maybe you sold it?).
