Voigtlander Macro APO-LANTHAR 110mm F/2.5 Lens for Sony E-Mount

I've always been intrigued by Voigtlander lenses. I do not have nor need a telephoto and/or macro lens since most of my photos are either UWA/WA landscape or 35mm/50mm for walking around town. I was just looking at the Sony 85mm and 90mm macro lenses to expand my focal range and came across the CV 110mm/f2.5 and instantly fell in love. However, being a beginner hobbyist, the manual focus aspect of it is a bit intimidating. After almost two weeks of thinking about this lens daily, I finally gave in to temptation and bought it. Wow! What a lens! It's a work of art and very well built. The focus ring rotates smoothly and precisely, quite a pleasure to use actually. I also tested it for decentering and it's a perfect lens, no issues whatsoever. The lens is super and evenly sharp corner to corner even wide open at f2.5. Electronic contacts flawlessly communicate with my Sony camera. Taking photos with this lens and manually focusing is a meditative experience, there's just you, the lens, and the frame.

The picture quality on this lens is amazing. The colors are deep and vibrant. Build quality is outstanding. The 110mm range is a very useful length.Macro photography with this lens requires a tripod or some sort of bracing if handheld, because it lacks image stabilization. My Sony 7rIII has “in body” stabilization, but it’s not adequate for a lens this heavy.

This is a terrific Macro lens, no visible CA even 1:1 wide open. The VERY long focus throw allows for easy manual focus up close including focus-ring focus stacking. That same long throw makes it not that great for non-Macro use; lots of good AF lenses out there in this range for that. But for Macro it's sharp and built like a tank. Do not buy this expecting it to be light, by the way -- it's heavy. But the performance is terrific.

For me, the most important aspect of any lens is its optical performance - and until stopped down to F4.0, this lens falls a bit short of my expectations. There is noticeable field curvature at F2.5, even at infinity (meaning that either the center or the corners of the image can be in critical focus, but not both at the same time). Also, the color fringing, while not atrocious, is rather obvious in many common shooting conditions. Granted, it is easily correctable in post-processing - but this is unacceptable for a lens claiming to be APO corrected. In order to compensate for both of these shortcomings, the lens must be stopped down to F4.0, where it achieves a top-notch performance - a bit late for my taste. The bokeh is barely average, cat-eye effect being rather obvious among other things, so much so, that this would not be the first lens I would grab for portraiture or other shallow focus applications. However, please keep in mind, that bokeh is a very subjective criterion, and other folks may find it to their liking in this case.The flare resistance of this lens is rather unremarkable and it will flare readily, if not shaded. Luckily, Voigtlander includes a nice metal lens shade in the package and if you buy the lens, you better use the shade at all times. The shade can not be reverse-mounted on the lens for transportation, since it is too narrow - and it has to be, since a larger diameter shade of the same length proved to be ineffective in preventing flare with this lens. Of course, the mounted lens shade increases the bulk of the lens even more.The rather average resistance to flare is somewhat mitigated by the rather high contrast of this lens. This, however, comes at the expense of mediocre micro-contrast, which, in my opinion, is a critically important quality of any macro and, even more so, portrait lens. While contrast can be easily increased in post-processing, if and when desired, decreasing the initially high contrast in post is much more difficult, if not impossible in my opinion.While the lens is assembled well and with tight tolerances, the materials, especially the external finish, are not as good as they should have been for the asking price. The exterior surface of the focusing ring scratches easily, even with most careful use. At the same time, the lens tends to be rather slippery and considering the sheer mass of this behemoth, I had a few very close calls in the field, where the lens almost slipped out of my hands.Speaking of the mass, this lens is big - HUGE! It feels, like it weighs more than the Sony A7RII camera on which I used it (no, I did not weigh it - I have better things to do with my time). The combination is very front-heavy and very uncomfortable from the get-go. The discomfort got only worse with time, especially, as the lens extended considerably for the close-focusing and macro applications. This is not something, you would want to hang on your neck for more than 30 min. tops. I felt fatigue in my neck after carrying it for 30 min.I love manual focus lenses, but this is 2019 out there and I tend to be rather intolerant of manual focus macro and telephoto lenses lacking internal focus, especially when this shortcoming comes in huge and excessively massive package. Let's face it - this lens is at least as heavy as the old Pentax 645 120mm F4 Macro 1:1 lens and when extended to 1:1 macro position, it is just as big. This is absolutely unacceptable, considering that this lens is built for the diminutive Sony FE mount cameras. Sorry, did I mention that the lens is HUGE and HEAVY?So, once you resign to live with mass and bulk, barely average flare resistance and mediocre micro-contrast, submit to the fact that this is effectively an F4.0 lens, if critical across-the-frame focus is desired, learn to hold the lens tight, lest it slips out of your hands and begin lifting weights regularly to compensate for mass and bulk - we have a winner! From F4 to F16 the optical performance of the lens leaves little to be desired (except for micro-contrast, of course).So, here you have it. I ended up returning the lens, since I could not live with all its shortcomings.

This lens is super sharp and even, exactly what I need for flat copy work with a Sony A7Riv and pixel shift. It delivers a 1500MB file and the resolution of the camera is not wasted. The sweet spot is f/8 with not much lost at 5.6 or 11. All stabilization is turned off and the manual focussing is precise.

Really great optically and very sharp...it really shines when subject is backlit or when shooting into the sun. Only downside is the weight and size when extended as it feels very unbalanced. If you dont need 1:1 the 65mm F2 is my favorite lens of all time, but this one is stellar as well.

Very sharp lens

This is by far the best macro lens that I have ever used. It beats the Tamron, Canon and Zeiss offerings I have used for years. The sharpness, contrast and brilliant. There's zero distortion. Build quality is peerless and focus ring is buttery. The manual focus may take practice if you are not used to it, so be patient. Makes a great portrait lens as well, but bokeh may not be the best. Enjoy