This lens has been in my posession for a while. A lens that is kept in absolutely pristine condition.
After some intermittent use, I found this lens a very special one.
You might say that the maximum aperture of this lens is only f4.
However, this lens is so much smaller than any lenses I own with similar focal length. The lens is totally made of metal with low weight. Beautiful lens for a lens collector.
F4 allows me to manual focus a lot easier for distant subjects. The images are crispy and sharp from corner to corner. The bokeh is also pleasant typically from Apo version of Voigtlander lenses.
Lloyd Chambers tested the Voigtlander against the Leica 180 2.8 APO. The Voigtlander was only by a small margin less than the Leica but far better than anything else (including the Nikon 180/2.8 and Nikon 70-200). It is a heck of a lens for the money (and I am glad I have one ).
how odd... it's a very high contrast and well corrected lens with a very sharp plane of focus and very diffuse out of focus areas, stands to reason that it would be easy to focus. You sure your viewfinder is properly calibrated and shimmed?
IDURITA wrote:
How to adapt this lens to a Canon EOS 5D ? Is their also an AF confirm adapter available ?
Obviously this lens can be purchased new ?
I have a Nikon-F mount version that I use with a Nikon to EOS focus-confirmation adapter, although I more often use the finder image to focus than the focus-confirmation light.
I bought my 180 new from Stephen Gandy's CameraQuest, but they haven't had any for about a year. I don't know where you could find a new one now; maybe eBay.
P.S. it's "focus confirmation", not "AF confirmation".
The Eg-S like the 1 series Ec-S and 5D's Ee-S while having very fine micro-prism structures are darker (~2 stops IIRC, maybe less) than stock screens; and at F4-5.6 this may be causing an issue for some. I use the Ec-CIV in my 1Ds2 and it works very well at slow apertures for lenses like my 180/4 APO.
You sure your viewfinder is properly calibrated and shimmed?Pretty certain. I haven't worked out an easy test for this (if you know of one, give me a heads up), but I have little trouble focusing other lenses, such as the Rokkor 58 1.2, which I had trouble focusing on my old 5D.
It's not that it's impossible to focus by eye. It's just not as easy as other, faster long lenses. It's more like a wide fast lens. There are reports around of other people finding it difficult, and I was aware of it before I got the lens, but its size/IQ make it worth the trouble. It's still worth mentioning, IMO, that it will be more difficult to focus than you might expect of a long lens.
The Eg-S like the 1 series Ec-S and 5D's Ee-S while having very fine micro-prism structures are darker
Yeah, it's a brightscreen treated EG-S, so it's about the same as a stock screen, give or take.
1) Am I right in assuming this lens does not work with an extender?
2) How come Voigtlander doesn't still make this lens which should be pretty popular since it has to compete only against the 200 f2.8L (which it beats in resolution and is also APO) and is cheaper than the very expensive Leica 180 APO 2.8? Wasn't this lens selling new for ~$600?
It'll work with an extender that doesn't have a protruding element, like the Kenko Teleplus Pro 300 and Tamron SP series, but it gets pretty slow. OTOH, I had great results with a Tamron SP 300/5.6 on Pentax film bodies, so the 180/4 + 1.4x TC would probably be quite good in bright light.
Cosina is pretty busy producing Carl Zeiss lenses right now. I don't think that high popularity on this forum translates into many sales, on a global scale. Any spare capacity at Cosina is probably being used up making the new Voigtlander (Bessa III) folding 67 film camera (too bad it's not digital ).
jcolwell wrote:
Any spare capacity at Cosina is probably being used up making the new Voigtlander (Bessa III) folding 67 film camera (too bad it's not digital ).
Well, the SL-II series are still in production. The 20 f/3.5 seems to be hitting my sweet spot right now.
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