Voigtlander 125mm F/2.5 APO-Lanthar Macro Anyone?

Voigtlander 125mm F/2.5 APO-Lanthar Macro



I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this lens? Has anyone
taken a look at it?



I am thinking about getting it in OM for use on an E-1. It looks like the
MTF curve is awesome to 10mm. and the diagonal is 18mm for the E-1. It also
looks like it has a tiny throw (from 2m to infinity), which would make it
the first truly fast focusing lens for non-macro usage, I have ever used (if
I buy it). It would also equate to a 2:1 macro without extensions tubes
(hmmm. 25mm extension tube could be interesting).



In general, I am wondering about quality, flare, contrast, build and
usability. I am also wondering if Lanthar lenses age well? Some rare
earth elements don't (see yellow glass Olympus lenses).



Thanks all!



Robert Meyers

"Robert Meyers" writes:
I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this lens? Has anyone
taken a look at it?

I've written about this before, see message ID


I am thinking about getting it in OM for use on an E-1. It looks like the
MTF curve is awesome to 10mm. and the diagonal is 18mm for the E-1. It also
looks like it has a tiny throw (from 2m to infinity), which would make it
the first truly fast focusing lens for non-macro usage, I have ever used (if
I buy it).

Certainly not. In contrast to many other macro lenses (the Nikkors
for example), the Macro-Lanthar takes 2 or three full rotations
from close focus to infinity. So the focus throw is closer to normal
portrait lenses.

Regards,
Chris

--
Bokeh test images: http://www.bokeh.de/en/bokeh_images.html

Robert Meyers wrote:


In general, I am wondering about quality, flare, contrast, build and
usability. I am also wondering if Lanthar lenses age well? Some rare
earth elements don't (see yellow glass Olympus lenses).



It's an incredible lens - I have not used it but I have published
results from it.

As for lanthanum glass ageing badly, I am not entirely sure whether the
Apo-Lanthar actually uses it - the name is simply a derivation from
Voigtlander's old name for a rare earth glass Tessar derivative (Skopar
was their triplet derivative and Heliar seemed to get used for anything
from large format oldies to modern Gauss fast lenses). I suspect Cosina
just used the name, because any real Apo-Lanthar would have been a
process camera lens in the past.

But plenty of rare earth glasses survive for decades without turning
yellow - are you wanting the lens to outlive you?

David

"Christoph Breitkopf" wrote in message
...
"Robert Meyers" writes:
I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this lens? Has anyone
taken a look at it?

I've written about this before, see message ID


I am thinking about getting it in OM for use on an E-1. It looks like
the
MTF curve is awesome to 10mm. and the diagonal is 18mm for the E-1. It
also
looks like it has a tiny throw (from 2m to infinity), which would make
it
the first truly fast focusing lens for non-macro usage, I have ever used
(if
I buy it).

Certainly not. In contrast to many other macro lenses (the Nikkors
for example), the Macro-Lanthar takes 2 or three full rotations
from close focus to infinity. So the focus throw is closer to normal
portrait lenses.

Thanks!

But "Certainly not." what? Will do an id search in the groups.

Robert Meyers

"Robert Meyers" writes:
Certainly not. In contrast to many other macro lenses (the Nikkors
for example), the Macro-Lanthar takes 2 or three full rotations
from close focus to infinity. So the focus throw is closer to normal
portrait lenses.

Thanks!

But "Certainly not." what? Will do an id search in the groups.

It does certainly not have a tiny focus throw in that range.
The Micro Nikkors do, though.

Regards,
Chris

--
Bokeh test images: http://www.bokeh.de/en/bokeh_images.html

"Christoph Breitkopf" wrote in message
...
"Robert Meyers" writes:
Certainly not. In contrast to many other macro lenses (the Nikkors
for example), the Macro-Lanthar takes 2 or three full rotations
from close focus to infinity. So the focus throw is closer to normal
portrait lenses.

Thanks!

But "Certainly not." what? Will do an id search in the groups.

It does certainly not have a tiny focus throw in that range.
The Micro Nikkors do, though.

Ah. I had thought the throw was short from 2m to infinity (not macro to
infinity though). This is actually a long throw?

Thanks!

"Robert Meyers" writes:
It does certainly not have a tiny focus throw in that range.
The Micro Nikkors do, though.

Ah. I had thought the throw was short from 2m to infinity (not macro to
infinity though). This is actually a long throw?

It is long compared to some (most?) other macro lenses, but
likely somewhat shorter than non-macro lenses.

I'll check this at home, and report exact numbers here.

Regards,
Chris

--
Bokeh test images: http://www.bokeh.de/en/bokeh_images.html

"Christoph Breitkopf" wrote in message
...
"Robert Meyers" writes:
It does certainly not have a tiny focus throw in that range.
The Micro Nikkors do, though.

Ah. I had thought the throw was short from 2m to infinity (not macro to
infinity though). This is actually a long throw?

It is long compared to some (most?) other macro lenses, but
likely somewhat shorter than non-macro lenses.

I'll check this at home, and report exact numbers here.

Thanks!

"Christoph Breitkopf" wrote in message
...
"Robert Meyers" writes:
It does certainly not have a tiny focus throw in that range.
The Micro Nikkors do, though.

Ah. I had thought the throw was short from 2m to infinity (not macro to
infinity though). This is actually a long throw?

It is long compared to some (most?) other macro lenses, but
likely somewhat shorter than non-macro lenses.

I'll check this at home, and report exact numbers here.

As an aside, I am wanting to utilize this lens when it gets a little dark in
the place of my 50-200mm F2.8-3.5, for motorsports as well as a macro. It
ends up with a FOV or 250mm with it's f-Stop of 2.5. Very good speed.

Thanks!

In rec.photo.equipment.35mm Robert Meyers wrote:

As an aside, I am wanting to utilize this lens when it gets a little dark
in the place of my 50-200mm F2.8-3.5, for motorsports as well as a macro.
It ends up with a FOV or 250mm with it's f-Stop of 2.5. Very good speed.

Can you buy this lens in the USA? Neither Adorama nor B&H lists it now,
but I do remember it coming onto the market.