Cosina/Voigtlander Heliar 40/2.8

[Abbazz]

The 40/2.8 Heliar is a strange lens: it's a contemporary lens (released in 2015), which is only available in Leica M bayonet but is not usable on a Leica camera... The lens, made by Cosina in its Japan factory, has no helicoid nor any other contraption that would allow to adjust its focus. It is therefore destined to be used on mirrorless cameras with a sufficiently short registration in order to use an adapter with a built-in helicoid to mount the lens and allow it to focus. I use it on a Sony A7II or A6000 with a Yeenon "Close-Up" Leica M-Sony FE adapter, which allows the lens to focus to approximately 0.45m. I also use it with a Techart Pro adapter, which allows autofocus.

The lens has a classic Heliar/Dynar formula (5 element / 3 group) tweaked with modern glass and coatings. It delivers very punchy colors and nice bokeh (it can be a bit busy sometimes but is usually much nicer than the 40/1.4 Nokton or 40/2.0 Summicron).

Here are a few samples, from the least days of Summer in Wellington (click on any picture to see it full size):

1. A7 F/11 Refurbish


2. A7 F/11 Big Splash


3. A7 F/11 Walk By


4. A7 F/2.8 Lichen


5. A7 F/2.8 Summer Leaves


6. A7 F/4.0 White Flowers


7. A7 F/4.0 Hydrangea


8. A6000 F/2.8 The Bird - Tribute to Luis


9. A6000 F/2.8 Melancholy


Cheers!

Abbazz

[kds315*]

Wonderful to see you here again Sebastien!!
I hope you and your family enjoy living in New Zealand!
Great lens and great presentation!

[Abbazz]

[kryss]

Nice lens,expensive?

[tb_a]

[kryss]

AOK if you already own the naked 40mm,otherwise you would surely buy the Nokton..

[Abbazz]

I am not sure it would be a good idea to acquire the Nokton 40/1.4 over the Heliar 40/2.8 lens only because the former seems cheaper (in fact, the Heliar is the cheaper lens if you already have a close focus adapter).

The truth is that the Heliar is a much sharper lens than the Nokton. Wide open, the Nokton exhibits a huge field curvature, with OK resolution in the center of the frame and blurry image borders. At F/2.8, the corners are still pretty bad and the image only becomes really sharp over the whole field at F/9. The Heliar is already pretty sharp over the whole field at F/2.8, with only a bit of softness in the corners. If you close the aperture further down, it becomes sharper than the Nokton not only in the center of the frame, but also right to the very corners of the image.

Here are two pictures taken at F/2.8 with the Heliar and with the Nokton (sorry for the boring pictures but it is raining here and I had to do with what I had at hand):

1. Heliar at F/2.8


2. Nokton at F/2.8


You can see that the Heliar has a slightly wider field of view and more vignetting.

Now, if you look at the corners at 100%, you will see that the Heliar is indeed sharper.

1. Heliar top left corner


2. Nokton top left corner


3. Heliar top right corner


4. Nokton top right corner


Of course, the Nokton is an F/1.4 lens, while the Heliar is only an F/2.8 lens, so they have different uses. That's why I have both lenses.

So it all depends on what type of images you shoot: the Heliar will be more appropriate for landscape or architecture (it also has less distortion), while the Nokton will be better suited for low light photography, portrait, snapshots and family pictures.

Cheers!

Abbazz