Voigtländer APO-Lanthars discontinued

[SNJops]

For those who are thinking of buying a Voigtländer APO-Lanthar for Z mount Cosina have announced they are being discontinued.

フォクトレンダー APO-LANTHAR 50mm F2 Aspherical Z-mount 生産終了のお知らせ - 株式会社コシナ

平素はコシナ製品をご愛用いただきまして、誠にありがとうございます。 本日コシナは、フォクトレンダーAPO-LA […]

www.cosina.co.jp

フォクトレンダー APO-LANTHAR 35mm F2 Aspherical Z-mount 生産終了のお知らせ - 株式会社コシナ

平素はコシナ製品をご愛用いただきまして、誠にありがとうございます。 本日コシナは、フォクトレンダーAPO-LA […]

www.cosina.co.jp

 

[Peter3579]

That's strange. They were only introduced 2-3 years ago.

 

[SNJops]

Probably didn’t sell very well, plus Cosina is a very small company as I understand it and they focus their efforts only on what is popular with customers.

 

[anotherMike]

Looks like I'll have to pick up the 50 apo before they're gone. Don't need one at the moment but this changes things....

 

[rcower]

Too bad. I picked up the 35mm right after the Zf arrived, it’s a nice piece of glass.

 

[AlanWatson]

I read an article by Thom on this type of thing last year. To quote a couple of excerpts:

Cosina doesn’t tend to keep lenses in production indefinitely. They absolutely will cut off production and move to making something else at some point. This has been true for as long as I’ve tracked them (long back into the F-mount).

This appears to be Cosina’s unique approach to the lens business: they have limited manufacturing and parts availability, so they produce a lens specification for a short period, then discontinue production of it to put something else into production.

So perhaps we should not be so surprised.

If I didn't already own the 40mm Nokton I'd probably buy the 35 APO now. But while those are quite different lenses in some respects they are also close enough that there are higher priorities for my lens budget.

There are other lenses that they don't currently make in Z mount that might interest me. So I can only hope that this discontinuation is to make way for some other Z releases.

 

[Dibyendu Majumdar]

That's a bit sad, although you can mount M-mount lenses on Z cameras.

When the 35mm APO came out for the M mount - I decided to buy the 35mm f1.2 II instead, as I thought for my purposes, the f1.2 lens probably performed as well as the APO when stopped down - and offered me additional flexibility due to its fast aperture. At the time Z mount version of the APO was not available.

 

[David Kieltyka]

Probably didn’t sell very well, plus Cosina is a very small company as I understand it and they focus their efforts only on what is popular with customers.

Yes, this is how they do things outside their main product line (M mount). The APOs may even have sold quite well for awhile but then dropped off.

Note: you can buy the M mount version of either lens plus a Techart adapter and get autofocus as part of the deal. The lenses won't be optimized for Z cameras but this shouldn't matter with the 50mm and may not with the 35mm either.

There are Voigtländer M lenses that have been around, unchanged, for ~20 years now. The 40mm f/1.4 and 35mm f/2.5 come to mind.

-Dave-

 

[Fazal Majid]

That’s unfortunate At least the 65z/2 Apo Macro Lanthar is still being sold

 

[HeavyDuty]

Hopefully this means they will free up capacity for a Z mount 21/1.4.

 

[yardcoyote]

I would very much like the 90mm f/2.8 in Z for my Zf.

 

[A Owens]

Forgive me if this shows ignorance, but size aside, is this lens materially better that the S 50mm 1.8?

 

[HeavyDuty]

Forgive me if this shows ignorance, but size aside, is this lens materially better that the S 50mm 1.8?

Different flavor. Much more of a vintage vibe if it’s typical of Voigtlander lenses.

 

[Dibyendu Majumdar]

Forgive me if this shows ignorance, but size aside, is this lens materially better that the S 50mm 1.8?

https://www.cameralabs.com/voigtlander-50mm-f2-apo-lanthar-review/

"The Voigtländer costs twice as much and does not even have auto-focus or weather sealing. But its optical performance produces even sharper and clearer shots than the Z-Nikkor. Only Bokeh is better from the Z-Nikkor than from the Voigtländer. So it’s up to you: If you value exceptional sharpness and clarity over the benefits of autofocus and a softer Bokeh you’re probably prepared to pay the price for the Voigtländer."

 

[Nebido]

Forgive me if this shows ignorance, but size aside, is this lens materially better that the S 50mm 1.8?

Different flavor. Much more of a vintage vibe if it’s typical of Voigtlander lenses.

This statement can only come from someone who has never held an Apo-Lanthar in their hands.
The Z-mount Apo-Lanthars I know from my own experience, 35/2 and 50/2, have a very modern rendering.
Actually the absolute opposite of vintage orientation.
There are different lens lines at Cosina/Voigtländer, including many older lens designs.

For decades, proven, unchanged basic lens designs, where this is true.
The Apo Lanthar series, however, uses a very modern lens design, which is bred for absolute maximum performance in the context of the key data (small lenses) of these lenses.
Accordingly, both are currently reference lenses for full-frame format in terms of the quality/value of the optical corrections and the resolution, clarity, contrast right up to the edges, even at maximum aperture.

I know this is a controversial point, but the color reproduction, saturation and gradation of the AL-Z lenses is already exceptional straight out of camera.

The only thing that might trigger vintage vibes in an Apo-Lanthar, away from the operating concept MF/Aperture ring, is the pronounced vignetting wide open, but this can also be found in other modern lens designs.

Both are among the highest quality optically corrected lenses in terms of any aberrations with the exception of vignetting.

It's a flat-field lens which additionally gives you outstanding MFD performance, thanks to it's floating group design, very modern and fully equipped.
So here, too, the absolute opposite of vintage, where I usually have massive deficits from SA to severe color aberrations, field curvature, coma smearing and much more.
Both lenses also set new standards @ f/2 in terms of resolution, fine resolution, clarity and contrast right up to the outermost edges.

This is very contrary to what you find with vintage lenses or lenses with such an orientation.

___

Final Thoughts:

The Voigtlander 35mm f/2 APO-Lanthar is one of the best 35mm lenses ever produced!

https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1695782/17/

Final Thoughts:

Small but mighty Voigtlander 50mm f/2 APO-Lanthar is one of the best 50mm lenses on the market!

https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1625777/#chapter12

 

[Fazal Majid]

Forgive me if this shows ignorance, but size aside, is this lens materially better that the S 50mm 1.8?

Different flavor. Much more of a vintage vibe if it’s typical of Voigtlander lenses.

The VM-mount Apo-Lanthar 50/2 competes with Leica’s superlative $9000 Apo-Summicron-M ASPH, so yes.

 

[kenw]

Forgive me if this shows ignorance, but size aside, is this lens materially better that the S 50mm 1.8?

Different flavor. Much more of a vintage vibe if it’s typical of Voigtlander lenses.

This statement can only come from someone who has never held an Apo-Lanthar in their hands.
The Z-mount Apo-Lanthars I know from my own experience, 35/2 and 50/2, have a very modern rendering.
Actually the absolute opposite of vintage orientation.

Yep, this exactly.

Which is the risk of throwing out "if it's typical" kind of advice about something you haven't held. Voigt has a few different lines as you say. The APOs are modern and insanely sharp.

 

[kenw]

Forgive me if this shows ignorance, but size aside, is this lens materially better that the S 50mm 1.8?

Direct comparison here:

Voigtlander 50mm f2 APO-Lanthar review | Cameralabs

www.cameralabs.com

It actually is sharper across the field compared to the 50/1.8Z, which is incredible given just how good the 50/1.8Z is.

Of course on the other hand, the 50/1.8Z provides AF and very slightly wider maximum aperture for a lower price.

You really can't go wrong with either lens and it is more down to how you balance priorities. Personally I think the 50/1.8Z is probably the "right" lens for far more people than the APO 50/2 is, but that still would leave a whole bunch of people who would prefer the APO 50/2.

 

[HeavyDuty]

Forgive me if this shows ignorance, but size aside, is this lens materially better that the S 50mm 1.8?

Different flavor. Much more of a vintage vibe if it’s typical of Voigtlander lenses.

This statement can only come from someone who has never held an Apo-Lanthar in their hands.
The Z-mount Apo-Lanthars I know from my own experience, 35/2 and 50/2, have a very modern rendering.
Actually the absolute opposite of vintage orientation.
There are different lens lines at Cosina/Voigtländer, including many older lens designs.

For decades, proven, unchanged basic lens designs, where this is true.
The Apo Lanthar series, however, uses a very modern lens design, which is bred for absolute maximum performance in the context of the key data (small lenses) of these lenses.
Accordingly, both are currently reference lenses for full-frame format in terms of the quality/value of the optical corrections and the resolution, clarity, contrast right up to the edges, even at maximum aperture.

I know this is a controversial point, but the color reproduction, saturation and gradation of the AL-Z lenses is already exceptional straight out of camera.

The only thing that might trigger vintage vibes in an Apo-Lanthar, away from the operating concept MF/Aperture ring, is the pronounced vignetting wide open, but this can also be found in other modern lens designs.

Both are among the highest quality optically corrected lenses in terms of any aberrations with the exception of vignetting.

It's a flat-field lens which additionally gives you outstanding MFD performance, thanks to it's floating group design, very modern and fully equipped.
So here, too, the absolute opposite of vintage, where I usually have massive deficits from SA to severe color aberrations, field curvature, coma smearing and much more.
Both lenses also set new standards @ f/2 in terms of resolution, fine resolution, clarity and contrast right up to the outermost edges.

This is very contrary to what you find with vintage lenses or lenses with such an orientation.

___

Final Thoughts:

The Voigtlander 35mm f/2 APO-Lanthar is one of the best 35mm lenses ever produced!

https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1695782/17/

Final Thoughts:

Small but mighty Voigtlander 50mm f/2 APO-Lanthar is one of the best 50mm lenses on the market!

https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1625777/#chapter12

Interesting - more like my Leica M ASPH lenses, then. All of my Voigtlanders over the years have been classic inspired designs, which is why I stated what I did - if they were typical Voigtlanders.

 

[RBIV]

I would very much like the 90mm f/2.8 in Z for my Zf.

If they could only produce this lens in a Z mount -- obviously a bit more in diameter, but hopefully as small in length and width ... yes tempting.

But frankly, as long as we're wishing. I'd rather that Nikon give us a small SE 75 f/2 or even a small 85 f/2.8. I'd buy either.