Voigtlander SLR lenses

[dana pionek]

Hello,

 

Do any of you have any experience with the voightlander SLR lenses made by

Cosina - specifically the 90mm f3.5?

 

I had a couple of old cheap cosina lenses back in the day - nothing to write

home about. I understand that the voigtlander lenses are a pretty big jump up

in quality compared to the "budget" lenses that they normally pump out. Any

comments about build quality (how do they comare the the old pentax K

lenses?), durability, and optical quality, multicoating, etc?

 

I've been looking for a pentax mount 85mm portrait lens for a while but the

prices have gone insane as of late - assuming you can even find one. I

realize that the Voigtlander 90mm is not ideal due to the lens being limited

to f3.5 when fully opened, but it is better than nothing (and truthfully I

kind of like the idea of giving my money to a company that still supports film

based cameras - no slam intended on digital)

 

P.S. - If anybody would like to persuade me against buying the voigtlander by

offering to sell me a nice K85mm f1.8 I would definately be willing to listen

to their argument ;-P

 

Thanks,

Dana

[dan_kreithen]

I have experience with this lens in Nikon AI mount. It is an excellent lens, in SLR mount it is optically identical to the Leica M-mount version. Most reviews rate this lens better than any Leica 90mm lens except the very latest 90mm Elmarit-M and APO-Summicron (both very expensive, incredible optics). It is better than the legendary 105mm / f2.5 Nikkor, in my experience, but a bit slower (obviously). I have no experience with the Pentax equivalents, but I'll assume that they are roughly equal to the Nikkor. I don't think you'll be disappointed with this lens if you can live with the slow maximum aperture.

[robert_clark]

Why not get a tamron 90/2.5 macro. This is not only a superb macro lens, but also a great portrait lens and faster than the CV lens. The older ones are manual focus and very well made, the newer ones are autofocus (they may even have changed the maximum aperture to 2.8). They are reasonably priced and easily available secondhand. I sympathise over the 85/1.8 - scarcity madness.

[dan_kreithen]

A further word about build quality...the SL Voigtlander lenses are built solidly (in the manual-focus, all metal sense). Compared to just about any AF lens made these days (with the notable exception of the Pentax Limiteds) they are stellar. I would not worry about durability. They are multicoated, and perform very well. If you want a 90mm slower max aperture lens, it's hard to go wrong. No experience with the Tamron mentioned above, so not able to make a valid comparison.

[dougmiles]

Well, Dana, I?ve long had the K85 f/1.8 so have not been tempted by the Voigtlander 90 Lanthar. If it?s built as well as the 40mm Ultron, which I do have, then it?s up to K Pentax quality. I was pleased to find all controls rotate in the familiar Pentax direction, plus it wasn?t just K-mount, but KA mount! Everything works as smoothly as you?d like, and it performs first rate. The 90 has a reputation for excellent sharpness and contrast.

[dana pionek]

Thanks for the advice everybody,

 

I was all set to buy that Voigtlander (even phoned in my order at cameraquest) - unfortunately I just learned that the cosina factory just sold out late last week and there are no plans to resume production. Talk about your bad timing!

 

I thought about the tamron, but I already have a macro - my model is great at macro distance, but unspectacular at infinity. I have heard that the tamron is better than infinity than most, but I like more focus control at the longer distances than your average macro lens allows.

 

oh well - looks like I'm going to have to resume the eternal search for the elusive pentax 85/1.8. Maybe I'll pick up a pentax 100/2.8 or an old screwmount 105/2.8 to hold me over till I find the 85.

 

Thanks again,

Dana

[dougmiles]

"oh well - looks like I'm going to have to resume the eternal search for the elusive pentax 85/1.8."

 

Hi -- You might still find a Lanthar out there somewhere on some vendor's shelf. Or a used one... And there's the 85mm f/2 SMCP-M too.

 

Regarding the K85mm f/1.8, it's my opinion that this lens is wider than its nominal 85mm designation, and that might bring the also-hard-to-find 77mm Limited into your consideration as not being much different in angle of view.

 

Starting with a known focal length, Zeiss specs the 90mm Sonnar for Contax-G at 90.3mm focal length and 27 degrees angle of view. The old Pentax screw-mount 85mm f/1.9 Super Takumar spec says 28 deg angle. The K85mm f/1.8 has a 30 degree angle of view, and Pentax shows the 77mm f/1.8 Limited angle of view at 31.5 degrees.

 

So there's only half as much angle difference between the K85 and 77L as between the K85 and 90 Sonnar-G.

 

Hoping it's safe to assume the 77mm Limited is in fact very close to 77mm... The above leads me to suspect the K85 is nearer 81mm in actual focal length.