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I purchased my Voigtlander 35mm SC f/1.4 from B&H for $629 USD. This lens is made by the Cosina company who makes all of the Voigtlander products and many other 35mm cameras and lenses in the past. This is an M-mount lens made for cameras like the Leica rangefinder system, and it carries a 43mm filter size. There are two seperate versions of this lens; the only way to differentiate between the two models is the markings around the front element. The model I purchased is the SC or single coated model, and the other version you can purchase is the MC or multicoated model. These two models carry the same cost, but the single coated model in theory should give a more classic rendition, and the multicoated model should produce less flare. The first thing I will say about this lens is that it is very attractive. Cosina packed a tremendous amount of lens in a very small package and this is very abundant when holding this lens in your hands. The Voigtlander 35mm SC f/1.4 weighs about 7oz with 8 elements in 6 groups squeezed inside of a 1.1" X 2.2" package. It is especially beautiful when paired with the Sony A7, which I highly recommend. The next thing that drew me towards this specific lens is the price. At $629 brand new there are almost no 35mm lenses with maximum aperture of f/1.4 anywhere near this price point. For example you can purchase a Sony Distagon T* 35mm f/1.4 for $1,498 or a Leica Summilux 35mm f/1.4 Aspherical for $4,995; this is not to say this lens is in the same league as these two lenses, but this is a good representation of most modern 35mm f/1.4 lenses. With this combination the Voigtlander 35mm f/1.4 was an obvious choice for very versatile everyday lens. |
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Build Quality
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The Voigtlander 35mm f/1.4 consists of entirely metal and glass which balances quite well on my A7 and Bessa R2. It has an extremely smooth focus throw, although it is very short like most rangefinder lenses. I do appreciate the large focus tab that protrudes from bottom of the focus ring; it makes manual focus smooth and precise. There is also two textured tabs on opposite sides of the aperture ring which makes changing apertures very easy. The aperture ring on the Voigtlander feels very tactile at each half stop. I find myself fiddling with the aperture and focus ring a lot while walking between shots simply for enjoyment. The Voigtlander 35mm f/1.4 has the build quality of a lens much more expensive than itself; it really adds to the overall aesthetic of this lens. It is a shame that many modern digital lenses no longer carry such a solid feel. Part of the beauty of this lenses and other lenses like it is the lack of automation. With a lens that is completely manually you never have to worry about parts going bad as long as you care for it properly. I'm confident that this lens will be around longer than myself and that it will be passed down for many years to come.
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Aperture
The Voigtlander 35mm f/1.4 has a very nice 10 blade aperture. It makes for nice circular bokeh circles at every aperture which should smooth out the bokeh a little better. Rangefinders usually have several bladed apertures compared to SLR lenses. This usually makes for nice out of focus areas even when stopping down. Older SLR lenses usually only have around 6-7 aperture blades which makes for a more hexagonal iris rather than circular. These things are all subjective, but typically smoother and circular bokeh is more desirable.
Image Quality/Sharpness
The image quality on the Voigtlander 35mm f/1.4 is nothing astonishing but for the price of this lens it is resonable. Some characteristics of the lens might seem undesirable, but I enjoy them. They remind me of an older lens from a time where CA, distortion, and flare were just part of every lens. The sharpness of this lens is reasonable and has good center sharpness through the aperture range, but the edge sharpness at the larger apertures are extremely soft. Below is a test to show the difference in sharpness throughout the range.
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At f/1.4 center sharpness is reasonable for a lens such as this. You will notice a moderate amount of purple fringing at 1:1 in the high contrast areas when shot wide open, but the fringing goes away when stopped down to f/2. The corner sharpness at f/1.4 is simply awful, and remains very poor until f/4 when it finally sharpens up. This lens performs very well at f/4 and up and best sharpness is achieved at f/8. The corner sharpness is worsen by the dramatic amount of vignetting seen at the wider apertures. The vignetting of this lens is a quality that I enjoy; it gives a dramatic feeling without any editing. This lens is part of Voigtlander's classic series and it represents that well. When shot wide open you will get tons of classic qualities, but when stopped down it performs very well. You will also notice the moderate amount of barrel distortion, but I don't find it too much of an issue because it is easily fixed in post production. I'm sure you can find a profile for this lens some where on the internet to fix some of the vignetting, distortion, and fringing issues, but personally I like them and find that they give this lens a little character.
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Vignetting
Vignetting on the Voigtlander is quite dramatic as you can see. I find that when shooting wide open with this lens the vignetting is so drastic that it actually throws off the overall exposure of the photo. Be aware that if you are using a matrix metering setting the camera will most likely over expose the image to compensate for vignetting. Vignetting becomes unnoticeable around f/4-5.6 and certainly won't be visible in normal images. Personally I enjoy the vignetting of this lens; it helps retain the classic quality without any post processing required, However, if you dislike vignetting you will definitely want to remove it in post processing. You will certainly notice vignetting in normal photos at f/1.4 and f/2. At f/2.8 and up unless you are looking for vignetting diligently you probably won't find it.
Flare
For a single coated lens this lens handles flare quite well. I actually struggled a lot attempting to get a good demonstration of flare with this lens. Even in this photo the flare is quite subtle, you can see an orange color cast in the center of the image and a little lower contrast, but this photo is entirely useable in my opinion. Even when I pointed the lens directly towards the sun the flare was very minor in my opinion. I could only imagine how well the multicoated version handles flare. This shows that modern lens coatings have come a long way and even modern single coated lenses perform very well in extreme conditions.
Bokeh
The bokeh on this lens is sort of distracting. Obviously bokeh quality is subjective, but I do find it to be a little jagged instead of buttery smooth. I wouldn't say that it is a strength of this lens, but it is quite easy to get blurred backgrounds with its large maximum aperture. The bokeh circles take on a oval shape around the edges due to coma, but I don't find it to be an issue. The 35mm focal length isn't really ideal for portraits, so the slightly distracting bokeh isn't really an issue with me. However, I do dislike the minimum focus distance of this lens. The Voigtlander focus from .7m - infinity, when trying to focus close to subjects you will immediately notice that you must stand a substantial distance to achieve the closest focus. Unfortunately, this is a common quality of rangefinder lenses, and this is due to the parallax error of rangefinders when shooting close up. Typically it is not as big of a deal, but when using a wide lens such as this it makes shooting close up quite difficult at times.
Focus Shift
For me the biggest issue with this lens is its very noticeable focus shift. I use this lens on both film and digital, but for awhile I simply couldn't get sharp photos with it on my Bessa R2. I found out quickly that this lens is notorious for having a focus shift problem. The photos below were shot on a tripod at f/1.4 then at f/2.8 without touching the focus ring. You can see that the image shot at f/2.8 is very visibly out of focus. On the Sony A7 this isn't really an issue as long as I remember to set the aperture prior to focusing, but when shooting on my rangfinder the lens is calibrated at f/1.4. When I shift the aperture somewhere else the focus on the rangfinder patch will no longer be correct. I found that when shooting at f/5.6 the focus shift becomes far less noticeable and after f/8 it goes away entirely, but f/2-f/4 it can very well ruin your image. If your intension is to use this lens on your nice film rangefinder or Leica M9, I would advise you to find another 35mm lens. The focus shift will really irritate you and give you many out of focus images.
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Conclusion
The Voigtlander 35mm f/1.4 SC is a great and beautiful lens on a mirrorless camera. It looks great and is unbelievably small for the maximum aperture and focal length of this lens. It also has great classic qualities that help to make images unique and somewhat vintage. If you are looking for a great general purpose or travel lens for your mirrorless kit and don't mind the vintage qualities, I suggest that you take a look at this lens. For the price and and build quality of this lens it is a great deal. However, if you are looking for a cheap M-mount lens for your newly found Leica, I suggest you look somewhere else. Even if your intention is to only shoot this lens at f/1.4, it will be quite difficult because Leica film cameras max out at 1/1000. I personally no longer use this lens on my Bessa R2 because I hate trying to working around the focus shift. Also, if you are looking for a cheap alternative to a Leica lens, I should remind you that this lens is no where near the quality of a Leica lens. It has issues and flaws, but this is part of what makes this lens great. In a world of completely automatic lenses and cameras; this is a refreshing change. I just wish that more companies would offer lenses such as this for people who don't need all the automation of modern lenses.
