I have just received this lens and only used it for a few shots and have found it to be spectacular!

I pair this with my Sony FS5 for executive videos. Good bokeh, nice sharp image. Very easy to focus and use with a teleprompter.

Probably the highest ratio of performance to price for any M-mount lens.
https://jacktaka.com/voigtlander-50mm-f2

Stunning resolution.
Beautifully crafted.

This is one of those lenses that will surprise you in so many ways. Yes, it's Aspherical, it's APO, has FLE and its performance shows...I have a Leica 50 Summilux ASPH and it can go toe-to-toe with it...it is also magnificently built...and it's less than $1K. It's kind of bonkers how Cosina is able to produce such an exquisite lens at a (relatively) affordable price.

Does it have flaws? Yes, it does...it has stronger vignetting wide open than I would have liked...but that's fine with me for the most part. Its color signature is cooler than Leica's...but that's a matter of taste.

It's phenomenal on both the Leica M9 and Leica M9M that I use it on.

It doesn't come with a hood, though...and it's another $100 for it. Normally, I would find this very annoying...but I'll make an exception for this one as I don't think the lens needs it for flare resistance.

I use the on my M10R and it resolves all 40mp with ease. All the images I have produced with this lens have been beautiful. The depth of field fall off is buttery smooth. I also did not feel that f/2 was a hinderance when shooting in low light. I'd say if you have an M10R or M10 Monochrome that is capable of shooting in low light (or actually shoot in low light) you could get away with this lens no problem. If you do not have a Leica camera or any other camera that can shoot easily at high iso then maybe a faster lens is a better option. However, with the set up I have and the way I like to shoot this lens easily deserves a 5 star rating.

About a year ago I departed most of my Leica M lenses (50 APO, 28 Lux, 35 Lux) and just kept a beaten used SL1 and 24-90. That combo is enough for 90% of my needs. Recently I needed a smaller lens to bring with me for hiking, family gatherings ...etc. Rather than picking up the ultimate in my view 28 Lux, I wanted to keep the budget in check. My first pick is the most undervalued 35mm in my view, a used Zeiss Distagon 35 ZM. Talk about 3D rendering and color pop up. I wanted to pick up a 50mm, read about this upcoming Voigtlander APO. My alternative was Zeiss Sonar, a true piece of art with some issues. Pulled the trigger with VM APO, just to give it a shot. I also picked up a used optional lens hood LH13 (btw as a bonus, LH13 fits to ZM Distagon).  

50 VM Apo is an excellent lens! It is well built, clearly marked, focusing ring is smooth and fits/feels perfectly in my hand. I shoot at wide open at 2, really natural colors, very good details with my SL1. I am impressed with the bokeh at f2, normally VM lenses are not a match to Leica on this front but APO is close enough. For a lens for $1K, you cannot beat this. Really. It is right size, right price, right colors, right amount of sharpness. Very impressive lens which I plan to keep. Highly recommended.

Fantastic lens if you are enthusiastic about the trade off of a manual only lens versus the 2 to 3 times weight of auto-focus. The build and image quality is fantastic. Paired with the Sony Alpha a7R IV, this combination delivers so much more value and arguably very close IQ than the Leica SL2 and Leica lenses. I have terrible eye sight and yet despite that, manual focus is a breeze. It helps you slow down and concentrate on composition, and at the end of the day you don't feel like you've carried a boat anchor around.

This lens is simply mind blowing good. The review at Fred Miranda forums do not lie. Incredible sharpness, tonality and overall bite to the image....colors just pop.

Of course you have to love manual focus if you are buying this lens but let me reassure you that the manual focus is so smooth and such a joy to use. This lens you can take with you anywhere and use because the weight is next to nothing and the awesome focus peeking you can do with Sony makes it even easier to use.


I mainly got this as a landscape lens but I started using it for everything almost. It's just that good that makes you reach for it so often. The manual focus distance isn't that great but everything in lens design as compromises. This is not really a portrait lens but bokeh is pretty smooth overall at F/2. This lens gets really good starting at F/2.8 for landscapes and pe0ks around F/5.6 or so though for landscapes I am always at F/8-F/11. This CV reminds me in many ways of the sigma 40 1.4 art that is MUCH heavier than this so must say voigtlander did a really amazing job with this!

Highly recommended.

First photo attached is of the tiny Hooker's catchfly flower on forest floor and illustrates the macro possibility when augmented with a +5 Marumi Achromat filter. This was with a Bolt Dual Macro Flash (from B&H) on my 42mp a7Riii, ISO 200 @ f/16. Resolution is comparable to that of my best macro lenses and better than some.


Next photo is of the Neowise comet. I've posted the import, then the final edited crop, then an extreme center crop. Note the dark rock of the comet head! This was exposed on my 24mp a7iii at ISO 2000 and HDR merged with bracketing, f/2.0, bracketing centered at 2.5 shutter. The highly cropped image shows much more detail than I could obtain with a Tamron 70-180 @180mm @ f/2.8 on my a7Riii on an adjacent second tripod, though less cropped. Processing was with Topaz DeNoise and LrC.

Resolution of this new Voigtlander blows me away.

So this is a phenomenal lens which can image details at close focus and infinity, at f/2 and f/16, functions well with achromatic magnifying filters, and is compact and lightweight.


Though the cameras mentioned, the new Tamron, and the tripods and ball heads and the Bolt Dual Macro Flash are from B&H, my V'lander 50 was a demo I snapped up at discounted price from another source. I had been watching the B&H used inventory hoping to purchase from B&H.