Voigtländer 90mm f/3.5 APO-Lanthar

Esox lucius · Expire: 2011-11-18

Boring test shots, yes!

0.5m close focus, this is at 0.6m

original size http://www.flickr.com/photos/mureena/4060461859/in/set-72157622577496153

Cloudy weather, still excellent color contrast.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mureena/4060469473/in/set-72157622577496153/

Just a hint of vignetting ( perhaps half an f-stop) wide open.

This is 100% crop of previous photo, exposed wide open. Sharp enough?
Zero CA as well.

Front and rear bokeh wide open

Flare resistance

Kobayashi-san, arigatoo-gozaimasu.

patrickh · Expire: 2011-11-18

Thanks for more and creative samples of this fab lens. One of my personal favourites for a long time now.

patrickh

kds315* · Expire: 2021-03-09

Great to see (again) the proof how fantastic that lens is!
(..and glad to know that I just got another from Japan...)

trifox · Expire: 2014-05-29

The results are .... fantastic!!!

I'd wish to have one in my hands one day..!!

Thanks for sharing..

tf

Esox lucius · Expire: 2011-11-18

Time to update the lens samples topic

You can find most of these in large size here http://www.flickr.com/photos/mureena/tags/90mmf35/

Heavy overcast day and I desaturated the photo somewhat, other than that it is as shot, at f/5.6

f/8

f/5.6

Now that I've owned and used the lens for six months, I feel like adding some more user comments. There's no denying that modern pro AF lenses are excellent tools for just about any job, but what they have in versatility they lack in feel and build quality (and add in size!). I've probably been spoiled by the build quality and "feel" of my Zeiss Planar 85/1.4 ZF and the three APO-Lanthar sisters. Sure, I'd take a motorized AF lens any day if I am shooting a wedding documentary, but for any other job I prefer a better corrected manual focus lens.

A bonus of the build quality is also design: this lens looks darn good, just like the Zeiss Z line of modern SLR lenses. It is very compact in size, which is highly appreciated both in everyday use as well as travel.

Just like the SL 180/4 APO-Lanthar and SL 125/2.5 Macro APO-Lanthar, the 90/3.5 is geared for smooth and very precise close focusing control. They are all officially named Close Focus for a reason. While it is true that the gearing thus is sensitive for focusing errors near infinity, I find it unjustified to blame a manual focus lens design for what in reality is user induced errors. The APO-Lanthars are tele focal lengths, DoF is thin and that itself is not very forgiving to focusing errors. The last nail in the hard to focus at infinity reputation's coffin is that I can enjoy focus confirm indicator on every Nikon SLR/DSLR I can buy, which enables me to lock focus accurately even with a smaller crop-sensor viewfinder.

Probably the nicest thing about the 90/3.5 is the every aperture usable performance. I may add that usable is an understatement, it is very good to excellent wide open to smallest aperture. This is rare for most lenses, I have experienced this previously only on a handful of Leica M-series glass. I think it was Björn Rörslett who commented on the 125/2.5 that performance is so good that you can set the lens at any aperture without sacrificing technical quality in images. This is a feature shared by all of the APO-Lanthars - darn sharp at every aperture, minimal to none geometric distortion and free of colour aberrations. What more can you ask from a lens?

You can ask bokeh, which in the case of the 90/3.5 is smooth and beautiful. While both this and the 180/4 are slow aperture lenses, the near focusing ability and magnification ratio enables you utilize bokeh effect just as well (or better) than with faster lenses that won't focus as close.

Colour and fingerprint. The 90/3.5 follows an Asian-style preference for saturated colors and micro-contrast. Zeiss colors, saturated, call it whatever you like: There is something very special to how it paints colour, I can't really explain it better. Flower lovers will love this lens.

One can argue whether you need performance of this quality. Certainly for web use it is overkill to invest money in these rare discontinued Voigtländer SL series lenses. But... I just printed two dozen 60x90cm art prints for my exhibition, and in the process filtered about 6 000 candidates that I decided not to print. You really don't see the real performance of lenses until you print your photos LARGE. You really don't need this level of optical quality until you print LARGE.

I have quite a few lenses to choose from, but the following lenses really shine when they're subjected to the most technical quality demanding output I can produce: print D3 files in size 60x90cm. The optical quality center to corner is so good that I would need a D3x to explore how much detail the following lenses actually can draw.

Nikkor 50/1.4 Ai-S
Nikkor 105/2.5 Ai
Voigtländer SL 90/3.5 APO-Lanthar
Voigtländer SL 125/2.5 Macro APO-Lanthar
Voigtländer SL 180/4 APO-Lanthar
Zeiss Planar T* 85/1.4 ZF

If you have the money, buy the newer SL II version and print your shots at the largest size your sensor allows you. You will be amazed by how great this lens is, at any aperture.

trifox · Expire: 2014-05-29

amen!

tf

F16SUNSHINE · Expire: 2011-11-18

Great samples and nice description.
I really enjoy the 90mm FL and th AL90 is great for it's size also.
If The 125 came along I might take one but I think the 90 would be used more often for me.
The speed is seldom to be an issue and in those cases I would want a f1.4 rather than the f2.5 of the 125.
The light weight of the 90 is truly one of it's virtues.

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

trifox · Expire: 2014-05-29

ok, ok, ok .. it's a great lens ...

I can not go more than few meters - the lens has FD mount and I use it with EOS 5D MkII just attached with my hand when taking a shot ...

I was thinking about conversion but I think it's not necessary to do so when considering to buy macro adapter FD-EOS.

Some sample from yesterday ..

#1

#2

#3

#4

tf

Esox lucius · Expire: 2011-11-18

Wow Stan! Your technique in these shots is... Outstandig handling with a difficult combo. I sure hope you can convert it, your results speak for themselves. The last one in particular is gorgeous, it shows very nice transition to out-of-focus areas.

trifox · Expire: 2014-05-29

thanks, thanks!

the real pain is - mounting the lens at the right place -
but I have found the technique how to manipulate with the lens.

1.step -- I turn it at infinity before placing to the camera - from this point, it's easy to get to the right focus - the problem with aperture is not an issue - of course - always wide open Smile

2.step - focusing ... I do focusing with my -- ehhm - little finger .. Cool