CP+ 2017: Hands-on with new Voigtländer E-mount primes
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Voigtländer announced three new lenses at this year’s CP+ show in Yokohama, for the Sony E Mount. We’re at the show, and we made our way to the Voigtländer booth earlier to take a closer look at the Nokton classic 35mm F1.4, Nokton 40mm F1.2, and Macro APO-Lanthar 65mm F2 (pictured above).
CP+ 2017: Hands-on with new Voigtländer E-mount primes
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This is the Macro APO-Lanthar 65mm F2, which like all Voigtländer primes, is finished to a very high standard. A physical aperture ring with well-placed 1/3EV detents is positioned – rangefinder style – at the far end of the lens, and a broad, knurled focusing ring further back, towards the camera. The red, green and blue flashes are a nod to the older and much sought-after 125/2.5 APO-Lanthar.
CP+ 2017: Hands-on with new Voigtländer E-mount primes
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Electrical contacts communicate EXIF to the camera body, which is a big advantage in manual lenses.
CP+ 2017: Hands-on with new Voigtländer E-mount primes
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At its minimum focusing distance, the 62mm can achieve a maximum magnification of 1:2. Not quite ‘true’ macro, but not bad. As you can see though, despite its modest focal length, the lens extends considerable when in its near-macro focus range.
CP+ 2017: Hands-on with new Voigtländer E-mount primes
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At infinity on the other hand, it’s a pleasantly compact short telephoto prime.
CP+ 2017: Hands-on with new Voigtländer E-mount primes
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The Macro APO-Lanthar 65mm F2 Aspherical was announced at Photokina 2016 as a concept, but is now moving towards production. Pricing and availability has yet to be confirmed.
CP+ 2017: Hands-on with new Voigtländer E-mount primes
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Here is the Nokton 40mm F1.2 Aspherical – a fast, ‘normal’ prime lens for the Sony E mount. Cosmetically similar to the 65mm macro, the 40mm is more compact, obviously much brighter lens.
CP+ 2017: Hands-on with new Voigtländer E-mount primes
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The fastest 40mm ever made for full frame (in case you’ve been waiting for one) the 40mm Nokton is based on an older VM (Leica M) mount lens, but has been ‘optimized’ for Sony E mount.
CP+ 2017: Hands-on with new Voigtländer E-mount primes
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Again, electrical contacts ensure that EXIF information is recorded to the camera. According to Voigtländer’s (slightly imprecisely translated) press release, the 40mm Nokton features a ‘weak aperture stop click release mechanism’ for smooth, clickless aperture progression in video shooting. Full disclosure – we couldn’t figure out how to engage it, but it’s been a very long day.
CP+ 2017: Hands-on with new Voigtländer E-mount primes
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A close focusing distance of 40cm isn’t amazing, but that’s one of the tradeoffs of such a fast maximum aperture. Again, pricing and availability of the 40mm Nokton has yet to be confirmed, but we’ll update this story if and when the information becomes available.
CP+ 2017: Hands-on with new Voigtländer E-mount primes
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Another design adapted from an older lens, the Nokton classic 35mm F1.4 is an E-mount version of the M-mount Nokton that Voigtländer has been selling for some time. This lens was only on show under glass, so we didn’t get to handle it. We’d expect it to be built to the same high standard as the older M-mount version though.
CP+ 2017: Hands-on with new Voigtländer E-mount primes
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Another view of the Nokton 35mm, showing off its minimalist design.
CP+ 2017: Hands-on with new Voigtländer E-mount primes
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Again, in the rangefinder style, the Nokton classic features a slim aperture ring positioned at the front of the lens. A broad focusing ring makes up most of the lens’s length.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)