Voigtlander 50mm F2 Heliar Experience?

[ronald_breeze]

Anyone out there own and use the Voigtlander 50mm F2 collapsible Heliar that is being touted as equal to

Leica quality? The lens is considerably less that the Leica Elmar but is the build quality and image quality

up to par? Any pics or links would be helpful. Owners and users only please and thanks in advance.

[cardy_chung]

I have one. Bought it last year. Compared that with ALL the Summicron 50mm's (except the 1969 Summicron which I don't have) and other 50mm's (like the Nikkor 50/1.4, Canon 50/1.4, Nokton 50/1.5, f2.8's, f3.5's, etc), under side-by-side tripod & cable release tests, using ASA 100 with a fine grain developer. Probably have tested it on no less than 5 to 6 rolls (there are only 36 shots on a roll, so it take many rolls to get a fair idea comparing to all the other lenses).

 

It is an EXCELLENT lens. But I find it hard to induct it into the Hall of Hame :

 

1. It's not light. At approx. 250g, the current version summicron without built-in hood (even with the external hood added), and the current Elmar 50/2.8, are much lighter.

 

2. It's not small. It only collaps into the mount by 10-11mm ! Even collapsed, it still sticks out fair a bit.

 

3. You cannot use push-on caps. The voigtlander lens cap is VERY thick and it add to the length of the lens by almost 2 filter-rim thick ! (Whereas with the Leica 39mm caps, it almost add nothing to the length of the lens).

 

4. I don't like the hood. While it's very effective, but it does not reverse and it adds further length to the lens.

 

5. Optically, it is EXCELLENT, but not "superb" as in the case of the current Summicron. In fact wide open at f2, it's performance it more like the DR Summicron, but with higher vignetting (the vignetting is on about the same level as the current Summicron, but remember the current Summicron has higher vignetting than the DR). At f5.6, of course there is very little difference between the Heliar 50/2, current Summicron and the DR 50/2. Also bare in mind this is a HIGH CONTRAST lens.

 

But it does look very good and it's a modern collapsible. Just don't except it to be as good as the current Summicron. But lastly, perhaps the best of all, the handling is SUPERB (I would rank the current Summicron only as VERY GOOD in this respect).

 

It's confusing isn't it ? In stock market terms, if I was a stock broker, I would rate it as HOLD (instead of SELL, but I'm not recommending a BUY either). That's why I am hanging on to mine.

 

Cheers

[charlie lemay]

I love mine and think the build quality and ergonomics are second to none. I've never

understood the value of collapsible lenses and find them a nuisance in practice, so I just

leave mine extended. It has it's own signature, different from my DR and just before

current Summicron, which I like very much.<div></div>

[john_shriver]

The vignetting is probably at least partly due to the small rear exit pupil forced by the collapsible design. There's a reason that the M mount is larger in diameter than the LTM mount, and there's a reason that Leica redesigned the Summicron to not be collapsible.

[larry h-l]

Excellent build quality, feels very solid, but is heavy. Corners of images fall off extensively at

f2. Beautiful color saturation. The lack of a tab bothers me, I put a cable tie on the focus

ring.

I use it, but have to say that I reach for the collapsible 'cron more oftern.

[kivis]

<p>Fits just right on my Leica M9. I also had a late model 'Cron 50/2 and eventually sold it. The CV 50/2 is that good IMHO.</p>