Cosina announces 4 new fast prime lenses for Nikon Z and Fujifilm X mount
posted Friday, February 25, 2022 at 5:00 PM EDT
Cosina has announced four new Voigtländer lenses, including three for Nikon Z mount and one for Fujifilm X mount. Two of the Z lenses are full-frame primes, whereas the other two lenses are designed for APS-C image sensors.
Looking first at the full-frame lenses, there are two new APO-Lanthar primes, the Voigtlander APO-Lanthar 35mm F2 Aspherical and the APO-Lanthar 50mm F2 Aspherical. These lenses already exist as E-mount optics, although their exterior designs differ slightly from the new Z versions. The two new lenses are also similar to one another in terms of overall size. The 35mm lens is 70.4mm (2.77") long and weighs 360 grams (12.7 ounces). The 50mm lens is slightly shorter at 64.3mm (2.53"), and it weighs 347 g (12.24 oz.). Both lenses have a 52mm filter thread.
The manual focus lenses share similar designs, too. They each feature a wide focus ring – the lenses are manual – and have a ridged aperture control ring near the front of the lens barrel. The focus ring includes depth of field markers. Naturally, the two lenses utilize slightly different optical formulas. The 35mm lens features 11 lens elements in 9 groups, and the 50mm lens has 10 elements in 8 groups. Both lenses utilize an apochromatic, hence the 'APO' in their names, a design that promises to suppress chromatic aberrations. Both lenses also include a 12-bladed circular aperture diaphragm.
Despite being manual lenses, they maintain electronic communication with Z cameras, allowing for full recording of EXIF data. The APO-Lanthar 35mm F2 can focus as close as 0.35 m (1.14'), and the 50mm F2 lens can focus as close as 0.45 m (1.48'). This results in maximum reproduction ratios of 1:6.77 and 1:6.46, respectively.
Release date and pricing information is not yet available. However, looking at the similar E mount lenses as a reference point, you can expect the premium Voigtländer lenses to each cost a bit over $1,000.
The two new Voigtländer APS-C lenses are a pair of similar 23mm prime lenses, the Voigtländer Nokton 23mm F1.2 Aspherical for Z and X mount. and the I say similar because they feature the same internal design but look different than one another. The Nikon Z version features the same style of focus ring as the two full-frame Z lenses but includes an aperture ring near the lens mount and has a silver accent, looking more old school, like the older Voigtländer Nokton 58mm F1.4 SL II S lens for DSLR cameras. The X mount version looks features an all-black design with red accents and an aperture ring near the front of the lens.
Inside, both lenses share a design, featuring 10 lens elements across half a dozen groups and a 12-bladed circular aperture diaphragm. The manual lenses focus as close as 0.18 m (0.6'), resulting in a max reproduction ratio of 1:4.9. The lenses weigh slightly different amounts but are both lightweight. The Z version weighs 240 g (8.46 oz.), and the X version weighs 214 g (7.55 oz.). They're essentially the same length, right around 45mm (1.77"), although the X version is slightly shorter. Both lenses include a 46mm filter thread.
There's no information on pricing. By the way, this is Voigtländer's second lens designed for X mount, following the Nokton 35mm F1.2. That lens is $759.
In addition to the four new Voigtländer lenses, Cosina also announced the VM-E Close Focus Adapter II for Sony E mount. It's an updated version of the original adapter that allows photographers to adapt VM and ZM lenses to full-frame Sony E mount cameras. The adapter includes a 4mm helicoid feeding stroke. The adapter is 50 g lighter than the previous iteration and offers improved usability thanks to a redesigned grip.
(Via Photo Rumors)