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Fashionable digicam lenses lack the soul of the classics. Sure, most are sharp and colourful, and lots of are weather-sealed. However, they usually reduce the flare that provides character. The Voigtlander 110mm f2.5 APO-Lanthar Macro is the lens for the photographer who desires to carry again that basic soul, with out giving up on trendy sharpness. One have a look at the outside of this lens, and it’s clear it pays homage to movie SLR lenses.
Obtainable in Sony E-Mount, the Voigtlander 110mm f2.5 brings a basic really feel to trendy mirrorless our bodies. But, it does so with out smudging sharpness. That’s a recipe for fulfillment on a system recognized for its technical achievements. Sadly, the lens doesn’t retain the fashionable weather-sealing that retains mud and light-weight rain out. However, the mix of sharpness and character could also be sufficient for some photographers to miss that.
The Huge Image
The Voigtlander 110mm f2.5 virtually finds the right stability between basic and trendy. It appears improbable with a classically-inspired steel construct. And, after all, the photographs ooze character, bokeh, and sharpness. Digital contacts make taking pictures a bit simpler, regardless of the shortage of an autofocus motor.
That stability is nearly excellent; there are only a few issues that bothered me about this lens. The primary of which is that it’s not weather-sealed and so mud may cause points. The second is that the lens modifications size because it focuses, so composition additionally modifications barely as a result of the lens is transferring.
The combo of sharpness and character with a basic construct makes the 110 my favourite out of the three Voigtlander lenses I’ve tried to date. However, the shortage of weather-sealing and inside focus dampens the thrill a bit. Subsequently, I’m giving the Voigtlander 110mm f2.5 4 out of 5 stars.
Professionals
Lovely steel construct
Traditional feel and look
Loads of bokeh (although not fairly spherical)
Flare that’s stuffed with character
Nonetheless very sharp, even towards the sides
Has digital contact with the digicam
Cons
Not inside focusing (lens modifications size because it focuses)
Not climate sealed
Handbook focus solely
Gear Used
I used the Voigtlander 110mm f2.5 with the Sony a7 IV. The lens had a transparent B&W model protecting filter. Each the lens and digicam physique had been rented from Lensrentals.
Improvements
The Voigtlander 110mm f2.5 might appear like a basic lens, but it surely was particularly designed for Sony’s E Mount cameras. The design of this lens focuses on minimizing aberration and creating detailed 1:1 reproductions.
Ergonomics
The Voigtlander 110mm f2.5 Macro has a really basic exterior. It appears extra just like the lens on my garage-sale discover Pentax K1000 than a lens made for a contemporary Sony physique. That basic look is available in half from a steel construct, which makes the lens a hefty 1.7 kilos. About 4 inches lengthy when saved, the lens modifications size because it focuses, with two extra sections unfolding from the entrance. At its minimal focus distance, it’s round twice so long as when targeted to infinity.
Closest to the mount, simply earlier than the barrel widens, is a slender aperture ring. The ring clicks properly from f2.5 to f22. Its slender dimension makes it a bit tougher to search out at first, however adjusting the aperture turns into second nature with some use.
Many of the lens barrel is occupied by the main target ring. A smaller part of that barrel has a patterned texture to it. A depth of area scale is etched into the barrel, the small dimension displaying simply how slender the depth of area is on a 110mm full body lens.
On the entrance of the lens, the APO-Lanthar title is etched into the highest of the barrel, with the complete lens title on the entrance. It accepts 58mm filters.
Construct High quality
A part of this lens’ basic look is the steel construct. That’s going to assist the lens face up to bumps and scrapes. This lens might be going to look simply as lovely and stylish after years of use.
However, whereas the steel construct appears powerful on the surface, there’s nothing to forestall mud from increase inside. The lens isn’t weather-sealed. That’s regarding notably with the best way that the lens expands in three items. Getting mud in right here might be problematic. So, it’s not a lens I might carry to the seaside on a windy day.
Whereas testing this lens, I skilled a bizarre glitch with in-body stabilization. The digicam vibrated for a number of seconds, feeling much like taking pictures with my smartphone and having a name are available whereas on silent mode. Our analysis indicated there was doubtless a difficulty with the lens speaking with the digicam’s in-body stabilization. We theorized that both adjusting the stabilization settings particular to the lens’ focal size as a substitute of the automated setting or cleansing the digital contacts would repair the problem. After manually setting the picture stabilization system to 105mm (a 110mm setting wasn’t accessible), I didn’t expertise the problem once more. And after round an hour with out one other difficulty, I cleaned the lens contacts simply to make certain.
Focusing
The Voigtlander 110mm f2.5 is handbook focus solely. And, as a 110mm full-frame lens, the depth of area is fairly slender. Fortunately, the lens has digital contacts with the digicam, permitting metadata to be saved and the main target peaking and magnification to be robotically triggered when turning the main target ring. Focusing the lens does take some persistence and trial and error, however with focus peaking or magnification, it isn’t terribly tough.
That macro within the title isn’t a misnomer; this lens has a 1:1 replica ratio. It may focus from about 1.1 toes from the lens, however the lens modifications size because it focuses. Once I wished that true 1:1, I discovered it best to show the lens to the closest focus level, then bodily transfer the digicam till the topic is in focus.
Ease of Use
As a result of the size of the lens modifications as the main target modifications, there’s a small change in composition because the lens focuses. That may make it difficult if there are distractions on the sides of the body. You will have to maneuver in nearer after focusing. This then, after all, means re-focusing.
Utilizing the Voigtlander 110mm f2.5 wasn’t as simple as utilizing the Voigtlander 10mm f5.6 I just lately examined just because the 110mm has a narrower margin for error. The 110mm, the f2.5, the macro capabilities, and the full-frame sensor on the digicam physique work collectively to create a reasonably slender depth of area. Taking pictures large open, you may breathe mistaken and find yourself out of focus. Fortunately, you may nonetheless get delicate backgrounds when stepping the aperture down, particularly when taking pictures at a 1:1 ratio.
Handbook focus lenses are by no means as easy to make use of as autofocus lenses. The depth of area makes this explicit lens a bit tougher. Nevertheless, if there may be one sort of lens I might purchase as a handbook focus lens it’s a macro. Until you’re photographing bugs, most macro topics aren’t going wherever whilst you take the time to focus. In lots of situations when up shut, handbook focus will be extra exact than deciding on an autofocus level.
Picture High quality
The previous couple of handbook focus lenses I examined for Sony E Mount had been excessive on character and low on technical perfection. However, the Voigtlander 110mm f2.5 seamlessly blends character with sharpness. The lens captures loads of bokeh and delightful flare, but edges are sharp and chromatic aberration is tough to search out. The Sony system tends to swing fairly laborious towards technical accuracy. However, the Voigtlander 110mm brings a refreshing splash of character with out destroying the sharpness that usually attracts photographers to Sony within the first place.
Bokeh
The Voigtlander doesn’t should be shot wide-open to create bokeh. The 1:1 macro capabilities, 110mm focal size, and full body sensor create a lot bokeh that, even at f11, close-up photographs could have delicate backgrounds. That is the type of lens that may usually create strong shade backgrounds. I spent lots of time at f5.6, which is a cheerful medium of soppy backgrounds but focus that’s simple to attain.
The form of the lens aperture
The Form of the bokeh
Whereas the backgrounds soften like ice cream on a Texas sidewalk, factors of sunshine aren’t completely spherical. There are many aperture blades, however the edges are flat, not rounded. That creates a bokeh that’s decagon formed. The bokeh balls are extra rounded in the direction of the middle, extra cat-eyed on the edges. If a majority of the background is bokeh balls, that impact makes the background seem to swirl a bit.
Colour Rendition
With this lens, colours span the gamut between true-to-life to softer hues. In case you shoot with the narrowest depth of area, the colours really feel delicate as do the backgrounds. Flare will lighten these colours, however not in an excessive means. A fast repair with the dehaze slider can create consistency between photos with flare and pictures with out.
Most of my photographs didn’t have detectable chromatic aberration. I did discover some occasional purple fringing across the strongest flares. However, these had been laborious to detect when seen at one hundred pc. The extra widespread downside was a purple flare that affected the tone of the entire picture. That is simply one thing to bear in mind: adjusting the angle of the lens barely can as a substitute seize a extra favorable flare.
Lens Character
Character is constructed partially from that sturdy bokeh. And taking pictures towards the sunshine will add much more. The lens will get some good ghosting dots and rainbow flare when directed towards the solar. Small changes enable the flare to go from rainbows to purple and delicate. Once I shot this lens in a moist greenhouse, the flare appeared virtually as if it had been created with a delicate focus filter. Outdoors that humid atmosphere, flare turned extra like delicate blooms than starburst streaks. The Voigtlander 110mm f2.5 additionally didn’t create a distracting quantity of vignetting or barrel distortion.
Sharpness
I can often inform instantly when handbook focus lenses aren’t sharp on the edges as a result of focus peaking will fail to select up topics on the edges. That’s not the case right here. I believe even photographers usually accustomed to Sony’s high-end lenses are going to be blissful right here. The picture of the cactus above was shot at f2.5. But, the spikes current within the focal airplane are very sharp in each senses of the phrase.
Additional Picture Samples
From day one, The Phoblographer has been large on transparency with our viewers. Nothing from this evaluation is sponsored. Additional, plenty of of us will put up critiques and present plenty of modifying within the photographs. The issue then turns into that anybody and everybody can do the identical factor. They’re not displaying what the lens can do. So we now have a piece in our Additional Picture Samples space to indicate edited and unedited photographs. From this, you may make a choice for your self.
Unedited
Edited
Who Ought to Purchase It?
If you’d like character with out sacrificing sharpness and don’t thoughts taking time to manually focus or sometimes clear your sensor and lens contacts, then purchase this lens. The Voigtlander creates lovely macro photos, appears nice, and is a pleasure to make use of.
If you wish to take macro photographs on the seaside or within the desert, hold in search of one thing that’s weather-sealed. The exterior focusing design goes to make the Voigtlander 110mm f2.5 extra inclined to mud.
Tech Specs
Lensrentals lists the next specs for the Voigtlander 110mm f2.5 APO-Lanthar Macro:
Angle of View: 22.6°
Aperture Blades: 10
Autofocus: Handbook Focus Solely
Model: Voigtlander
Compatibility: Full Body
Diameter: 3.1”
Filter Dimension: 58.0mm
Focal Size: 110.0-110.0
Focus Sort: Handbook Focus
Teams/Components: 12/14
Hood Included: Sure
Picture Stabilization: No
Merchandise Sort: Lens
Size: 3.9”
Lens Sort: Telephoto and Macro
Macro Copy Ratio: 1:1
Max Aperture: 2.5
Most Magnification: 1x
Minimal Aperture: 22.0
Minimal Focusing Distance: 1.1 toes
Mount: Sony E
Weight: 1.7 lbs.
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