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

Christoph Breitkopf writes:
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.

It's a good thing I measured this, because you are right,
and I'm wrong. I overlooked that the Voigtlander focuses
down to 1:1, and the MF Micro-Nikkors just to 1:2. That makes
up for the extra full focusing turn of the Voigtlander.

To get a value that is independant from the
focal length, it is better to measure the
angle between infinity and some fixed multiple
of the focal length. 20x is a good value, for which
angles between 50° and 170° are ok, and between
70° and 120° best for most people.
Here are the angles between infinity and 20x focal
length for some lenses:

150° Pentax Super-Takumar 3.5/135
146° Leica Elmarit-R 2.8/180
120° Nikkor AI 2/85
104° Zeiss Sonnar T* 2.8/180
95° Nikkor K 1.8/85
90° Nikkor AI 3.5/135
80° Nikkor AI 1.2/50
72° Nikkor AI 2.8/180 (non-ED, ED is just slightly different)
72° Nikkor AI 2.5/105 (the AI-S has a shorter focusing throw)
60° Nikon Series E 2.8/135
40° Nikkor AI-S 2.8/28
40° Vivitar 2.8/100 Macro
34° Micro-Nikkor-P 3.5/55
32° Micro-Nikkor 4/105
27° Voigtländer 2.5/125 Macro

So the Apo-Lanthar has the shortes focus throw of the lenses
I measured. I'm sure there are thill shorter throws in some
zoom and especially AF lenses, though.

Regards,
Chris

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

David Kilpatrick wrote:


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.

Picking a few nits he
The old Lanthar is a three element design and the Skopar four (and a
well-deserved reputation as the best of the Tessars)...

Chris

Chris Loffredo wrote:

David Kilpatrick wrote:


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.


Picking a few nits he
The old Lanthar is a three element design and the Skopar four (and a
well-deserved reputation as the best of the Tessars)...

Chris


A triplet isn't the same as a three-element - two of the elements in the
Skopar are cemented, it's still a triplet.

The original Lanthar is a large format lens of very old vintage.

David