Voigtländer is one of my favorite lens brands after Nikon. I bought my first Voigtländer lens in 2015, it was the Nokton 58mm f/1.4 SL II N which I paired along with my Nikon D7100. Shortly after that I also bought the Color-Skopar 28mm f/2.8 Aspherical SL II and I love both ever since. I loved the all metal design, that made these lenses look premium as compared to Nikon's F-Mount G lenses. The only downside was these lenses are manual focus only, but I was willing to accept that in exchange for a great built quality, great image quality and a smaller foot print. Voigtländer SL lenses (lenses specifically designed for SLR cameras) are optically superb, but they're currently produced and marketed by the Japanese company Cosina. While Voigtländer had a heavy focus on SL lenses in the early 2000s, as of today their main focus are lenses for Sony's E-mount. At its peak there were 10 SL lenses for Nikon's SL mount, but right now there are only two in production. Lenses for other SLR mounts by companies like Pentax and Canon are completely discontinued. There's a vibrant market for second hand lenses on eBay, so it's still possible to get minty versions of most lenses listed in this post, especially from Japan. Due to great quality and durability, these lenses are still looking great today and will be for the foreseeable time.
Voigtländer store in Taipei, close to Beimen (North Gate).I divided this list into two parts: Regular lenses and special lenses. The later are non-retrofocus and very hard to find today. All the images were found on eBay and mixed into collages. The lenses are sorted primarily by focal length.
REGULAR LENSES
All of these lenses are manual focus lenses with CPU on board, so when you use them on Nikon's DSLRs the camera will electronically manage the aperture (you have to set the aperture to the smallest value, usually f/22) and meter as well. The camera will also register EXIF data properly, so all you need to do is learn how to focus manually.
1. Color-Skopar 20mm f/3.5
Voigtländer Color-Skopar 20mm f/3.5 Aspherical SL II
Launched: Oct 2009
Status: Discontinued
Price on eBay: 400-600 USD (depending on condition, Sep 2019)
Weight: 202g
Length: 28.8mm
Filter size: 52mm
Focusing: Manual
Closest focus distance: 0.20m
Material: Metal
Aperture range: f/3.5 - f/22
Aperture blades: 9
Lens hood: LH20-N (screw-in)
2. Color-Skopar 28mm f/2.8
Voigtländer Color-Skopar 28mm f/2.8 Aspherical SL II
Launched: Oct 2009
Status: Discontinued
Price on eBay: 550-700 USD (not easy to find, Sep 2019)
Weight: 180g
Length: 24.5mm
Filter size: 52mm
Focusing: Manual
Closest focus distance: 0.22m
Material: Metal
Aperture range: f/2.8 - f/22
Aperture blades: 9
Lens hood: LH-28N
3. Ultron 40mm f/2
Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 Aspherical SL
Launched: Apr 2002
Status: Discontinued
Price on eBay: 350-400 USD (Sep 2019)
Weight: 255g
Length: 29.5mm
Filter size: 52mm
Focusing: Manual
Closest focus distance: 0.4m
Material: Metal
Aperture range: f/2.0 - f/16
Aperture blades: 9
Lens hood: LH40-D, LH40-S
Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL Aspherical II
Launched: Nov 2007
Status: Discontinued
Price on eBay: 400-450 USD (Sep 2019)
Weight: 180g
Length: 24.5mm
Filter size: 52mm
Focusing: Manual
Closest focus distance: 0.38m
Material: Metal
Aperture range: f/2.0 - f/22
Aperture blades: 9
Lens hood: LH40-N
Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL Aspherical II S
Launched: Aug 2017
Status: In Production
Official MSRP: 489 USD (B&H)
Weight: 260g
Length: 37.5mm
Filter size: 52mm
Focusing: Manual
Closest focus distance: 0.25m
Material: Metal
Aperture range: f/2.0 - f/22
Aperture blades: 9
Lens hood: LH40-II S
4. Nokton 58mm f/1.4
Tokyo Kogaku Auto-Topcor 58mm f/1.4
Launched: Dec 2003
Status: Discontinued
Price on eBay: 900-1000 USD (Sep 2019)
Weight: 305g
Length: 47.5mm
Filter size: 58mm
Focusing: Manual
Closest focus distance: 0.45m
Material: Metal
Aperture range: f/1.4 - f/16
Aperture blades: 9
Lens hood: Not available
Voigtländer Nokton 58mm f/1.4 SL II
Launched: Nov 2007
Status: Discontinued
Price on eBay: 350-450 USD (Sep 2019)
Weight: 320g
Length: 47.5mm
Filter size: 58mm
Focusing: Manual
Closest focus distance: 0.45m
Material: Metal
Aperture range: f/1.4 - f/16
Aperture blades: 9
Lens hood: LH-58
Voigtländer Nokton 58mm f/1.4 SL II N
Launched: Apr 2012
Status: Discontinued
Price on eBay: 350-450 USD (Sep 2019)
Weight: 320g
Length: 47.5mm
Filter size: 58mm
Focusing: Manual
Closest focus distance: 0.45m
Material: Metal
Aperture range: f/1.4 - f/16
Aperture blades: 9
Lens hood: LH-58N
Voigtländer Nokton 58mm f/1.4 SL II S
Launched: Sep 2016
Status: In production
Official MSRP: 599 USD (B&H)
Weight: 320g
Length: 45.5mm
Filter size: 52mm
Focusing: Manual
Closest focus distance: 0.45m
Material: Metal
Aperture range: f/1.4 - f/16
Aperture blades: 9
Lens hood: LH-58S
5. Color-Heliar 75mm f/2.5
Voigtländer Color-Heliar 75mm f/2.5 SL
Launched: May 2001
Status: Discontinued
Price on eBay: 550-600 USD (Sep 2019)
Weight: 250g
Length: 40.2mm
Filter size: 49mm
Focusing: Manual
Closest focus distance: 0.7m
Material: Metal
Aperture range: f/2.5 - f/22
Aperture blades: 9
Lens hood: LH-75
6. APO-Lanthar 90mm f/3.5
Voigtländer APO-Lanthar 90mm f/3.5 SL
Launched: Feb 2002
Status: Discontinued
Price on eBay: 480-550 USD (Sep 2019)
Weight: 390g
Length: 57.6mm
Filter size: 49mm
Focusing: Manual
Closest focus distance: 0.5m
Material: Metal
Aperture range: f/3.5 - f/22
Aperture blades: 9
Lens hood: LH-75
Voigtländer APO-Lanthar 90mm f/3.5 SL II
Launched: Feb 2010
Status: Discontinued
Price on eBay: 550-750 USD (not easy to find, Sep 2019)
Weight: 320g
Length: 48.2mm
Filter size: 52mm
Focusing: Manual
Closest focus distance: 0.5m
Material: Metal
Aperture range: f/3.5 - f/22
Aperture blades: 9
Lens hood: Not available
7. Macro APO-Lanthar 125mm f/2.5
Voigtländer Macro APO-Lanthar 125mm f/2.5 SL
Launched: May 2001
Status: Discontinued
Price on eBay: 1900-2100 USD (not easy to find, Sep 2019)
Weight: 690g
Length: 88.2mm
Filter size: 58mm
Focusing: Manual
Closest focus distance: 0.38m
Material: Metal
Aperture range: f/2.5 - f/22
Aperture blades: 9
Lens hood: LH-75
8. APO-Lanthar 180mm f/4
Voigtländer APO-Lanthar 180mm f/4 SL
Launched: Aug 2003
Status: Discontinued
Price on eBay: 900 USD and above (not easy to find, Sep 2019)
Weight: 485g
Length: 79mm
Filter size: 49mm
Focusing: Manual
Closest focus distance: 1.2m
Material: Metal
Aperture range: f/4.0 - f/22
Aperture blades: 9
Lens hood: LH75, LH-75S
SPECIAL LENSES (NON-RETROFOCUS)
These lenses are really rare and had a special design. You could only use them when camera was in the mirror-up mode. You'd stick the lens inside the camera's throat towards the sensor. Since you would not be able to use a viewfinder anymore, you had to install a separate one on the hot shoe. This was certainly a very unique way of shooting.
1. Ultra Wide-Heliar 12mm f/5.6
Voigtländer Ultra Wide-Heliar 12mm f/5.6 Aspherical SL
Launched: August 2003
Status: Discontinued
Price on eBay: Not available
Weight: 200g
Length: 16.2mm
Filter size: No filter thread
Focusing: Manual
Closest focus distance: 0.3m
Material: Metal
Aperture range: f/5.6 - f/22
Aperture blades: 9
Lens hood: Not available
2. Super Wide-Heliar 15mm f/4.5
Voigtländer Super Wide-Heliar 15mm f/4.5 Aspherical SL
Launched: August 2003
Status: Discontinued
Price on eBay: Not available
Weight: 150g
Length: 12.8mm
Filter size: No filter thread
Focusing: Manual
Closest focus distance: 0.3m
Material: Metal
Aperture range: f/4.5 - f/22
Aperture blades: 10
Lens hood: Not available
I love Voigtländer lenses, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI love these lenses! I had the 40mm Ultron, the 2nd version, and it was awesome. Unfortunately I had to sell it as I was short on cash. I also tried the 58 f/1.4 and I was amazed. If I wasn't broke, I would snag some of these for sure.
ReplyDeleteI love these lenses. I have the 12mm, 20mm, 28mm, 40mm, 58mm , 75mm and 90mm. I am going to Taipei later this year. Do you ever see them (e.g. 125mm or 180mm) in the second hand market there?
ReplyDeleteI have not spotted these in any shop, but I usually prefer to buy these lenses via eBay, and look for Japanese sellers. The condition is usually really good.
DeleteGreat post! Please follow me back.
ReplyDelete