Steve Spencer wrote: Knut. wrote: Ripolini wrote: Knut. wrote:
Somehow I always felt that the Apo Lanthars were built to a higher optical standard than the other Voigtländer lenses. Usually they also contain considerably more ED glas. But I may be wrong.
Any weight < 450g would be really attractive!
The f2.8 Apo Skopar is nice, but I was surprised by the amount of LOCA it shows. It is clearly visible at f2.8 as well as f4 and traces can even be seen at f5.6, despite the lens having 5 abnormal partial dispersion elements.
Suprisingly, the old Pentax A 1.4/85 has lower LOCA (visible at f1.4-f2.8, but gone by f4).
Well, the black lines in front of the zero line clearly show a purple tint, whereas the lines behind the zero line show a green tint. This is LOCA and it is definitely not gone by f5.6; other lenses show better LOCA correction (especially at f5.6 all lines should be black). Still having purple-green separation at this f-stop is not perfect LOCA correction (at least not on the level of the Apo Lanthars):
Compare this to the Voigtländer Apo Lanthar 35/f2 (a lens more difficult to correct, due to its wider angle):
- no LOCA can be seen even at f2.0:
Or another lens, the 85mm Sony GM II. LOCA is practically gone by f4:
I do think the 90 f/2.8 APO tests represent the performance of that lens well, however. The lens has low axial CA at f/2.8, but there is a little bit there and it doesn't clear up that much, but it does a little as you stop down.
I competely agree with this statement: It summarizes why I showed the pictures of Bastian.
The points I want to make are:
1) that the Voigtländer 90/f2.8 Apo shows some LOCA that does not completely clear up by f5.6 (I agree, it is not terrible), and
2) I personally believe that Voigtländer corrects the Apo Lanthars to a higher level than other lenses they produce and designate Apo.
My response was to Ripolini, who claimed that the Voigtländer 90/f2.8 has „negligible LoCA“ and who didn‘t understand my previous description of the 90/2.8.
As I showed with the pictures of Bastian, the 90/2.8 has some LOCA, that does not clear up even at f5.6,
and I believe that the Apo Lanthars are better corrected.
(But my experience is limited to the 28, 35, 50 and 65 Apo Lanthars, which I own).
I would be very interested in a 90mm Apo Lanthar, lighter than the macro-Apo Lanthars (65+110) with a LOCA correction similar to the Apo Lanthars I own. Personally I believe that the 90/f2.8 Apo, while being an excellent lens, does not have the same apochromatic correction as the other Apo Lanthars.
Feb 06, 2026 at 08:50 AM
Previous versions of Knut.'s message #16981620 « Cosina Voigtländer APO-Lanthar 28/2 lens for E-mount & Z-mount got announced! »
