Voigtlander 50mm f/2 APO-Lanthar Aspherical for Sony Mirrorless
On the docket for evaluation over the next week or two is the Voigtlander 50mm f/2 APO-Lanthar Aspherical for Sony mirrorless. Coincidentallly, I also have the new Sigma FE 24-70mm f/2.8 DG DN Art, and it should be interesting to see how the zoom does at 50mm vs the prime.
The Voigtlander 50/2 APO checks all the boxes for optical performance along with an ideal size/weight for my own type of outdoor shooting. Its design is as close to ideal as I had long hoped Zeiss would produce—but Zeiss went the large/heavy f/1.4 route for both Milvus and Otus lineups, making for expensive and heavy/bulky lenses whic are great to shoot but a chore to carry.
- Sony E-Mount Lens/Full-Frame Format
- Aperture Range: f/2 to f/16
- Apochromatic Optical Design using 5 partial dispersion elements
- Two Aspherical Elements
- Manual Focus Design
- 12-blade manual diaphragm, stepless or 1/3 stop clicks
- Contacts Transfer EXIF Data
- Only 364 grams!
Voigtlander is on a roll with the Voigtlander FE NOKTON 21mm f/1.4 Aspherical, Voigtlander 65mm f/2 Macro APO Lanthar, Voigtlander 110mm f2.5 Macro APO-Lanthar, and now the 50/2 APO.
Is a 28mm or 35mm in the cards? That would be slick.
By luck I received two copies of the 50/2 APO. It’s always a plus to have two samples in case there is sample variation.
I purchased the Voigtlander 65mm f/2 Macro-APO-Lanthar Aspherical last fall, a rarity for me these days, but it is just too good a lens to pass up, and the sample I bought was as perfect a lens as I have encountered. I might end up doing the same for the 50/2 APO, assuming it performs similarly
Recommendations
Manual focus is not for everyone. But if it works for you, you cannot go wrong with the lenses below—and at$899 the Voigtlander 65mm may be the best price/performance you’ll find anywhere—it is one of the very best lenses available for Sony mirrorless.
$849 SAVE $150 = 15.0% Voigtlander 65mm f/2 MACRO APO-LANTHAR Aspherical IN STOCK in Lenses: Mirrorless
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Manual focus primes not your thing? I was incredibly impressed with the Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8 DG DN Art last fall, and I am hoping the Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 DG DN Art will perform similarly—but beware of sample variation issues with zooms of all brands.