Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f/2.0 SL II

The Voigtlander Ultron 40mm 2.0 SL II is a tiny pancake lens, about an inch long, that has excellent image quality with superb build and usability, but unusually these days the price is reasonable at around £380 inclusive in the UK, or £299 imported from Hong Kong. Comes with hood and a tiny screw in 'close-up' lens for detail shots.

It's particularly suited to street/travel walk-around use on a full-frame with the 40mm length occupying the 'just about right' area between 35mm and 50mm - likely means reduced distortion on portraits/groups but just about wide enough to be useful for scenes and architecture. Personally, I probably prefer wider ideally, but the lens has a number of attributes that mean I'm happy to accept the compromise and adapt.

Build is metal throughout with a beautifully accurate and responsive rubberised focus ring. Comparing this class of focus ring with a typical AF ring is like chalk and cheese. No slop at all. Of course, it's manual focus only but on the D700 there is no problem getting a quick focus given the excellent viewfinder and good focus confirm light. An AF lens will focus much quicker most times, but for street you can stick it at f/8.0 and let DOF take care of most situations. The lens is chipped so no problems using the camera metering system direct from the dial as with other lenses.

In terms of IQ the lens has exceptional sharpness, especially stopped down a tad, with close to Zeiss standard micro-contrast. Colour is extremely accurate in my opinion. Need for post-processing is absolutely minimal.

These kinds of primes are for a minority audience only as most obviously prefer AF. I actually prefer MF myself at these kinda short ranges. More enjoyable to use as I feel more engaged with the process of shooting.

These are some simple samples from the first dozen or shots I've taken with it (at my local pub!) Will post more when I find the time to go shoot again.

thanks, please put up your thoughts / review / comparison on this lens as well !

My friend has this lens. He got it as a light walk about lens. Seems pretty awesome. Easy to MF on a 5DII (I tried).

Pictures of the lens mounted on a body?

I think this is the US distributor, although you can get it from Adorama as well for $450 in the US with the EF mount. It has electric contacts and according to the reviewer, you control the aperture via the dial like all other EF lenses. So you should be able to hold down the AF button and then manually focus the lens. If the image is in focus over the AF point you pick, then you should get a confirmation green dot on the viewfinder, which will help with MF'ing the lens.
http://www.cameraquest​.com/Voigt_SL2.htm
http://theonlinephotog​rapher.typepad.com …te-mike-quoting-sall.html

It's an interesting lens, I wish it was cheaper so I can justify buying it on a whim as I already have a normal zoom, 35mm f2, and 50mm f1.8. So getting another lens to cover a 40mm length is tough to justify for me.

We also had a little talk about it here.
http://lashooters.org …890&highlight=v​oigtlander

Would also like to see more images from this lens too.

Neato!

I love this lens. It never ceases to amaze me whenever I use it. Most recently for some product shots at work (with the included close-up lens)...

-Mike

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Hi, my first day with the lens, from the Oslofjord, Norway

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Sweet ... unfortunately, I'm probably going to sell mine because I've sold my D700 and need to reinvest in a long lens ahead of my next safari in July. It's fantastic with a FF body and for me at least just too narrow for walkaround on a crop D300s. It's a great lens.

I just ordered this lens, and I can't wait for it to arrive.

I had the Canon 50mm f1.8 II back when I had a Rebel XT, and did not care for it much. AF on the 50 was horrible, and the MF ring left much to be desired. And since the XT did not have Live View, that wasn't an option either. I tried the I version (metal mount), and it was better but something just didn't "click" with me.

I've been considering the Sigma 30mm that a lot of folks seem to like. But something about this Voigtlander intrigues me. I find that I only use my Canon 85mm f1.8 when I am more carefully composing the shot (opposed to when I'm using my Sigma 17-50 while chasing the kids around). So I think I'll use THIS lens in the same manner, where I will slow down and take my time with things.

I especially like the compactness of the pancake design. Even with my 17-50 on the camera, it draws attention sometimes. I think the compactness of this Voigtlander will help keep a lower profile, which would be good for street photography. I also wonder if my 50D and this lens would be allowed into a Disney on Ice event since the profile of the lens is so small.

As there are so few posts in this thread, it looks like I'll be joining a rather small club. But that's ok, as I followed the crowd on the 50mm f1.8 II and didn't like it.

Wow.

Good luck with it jim, it really is super sweet.

I still have mine. Can't quite come around to selling it yet.

any more photos or comments?

Not so sure I will like a manual focus lens but this does look intriguing. I seriously need a small lens, this looks like it could be fun.

Someone just PM'd me and asked me for a few samples of my lens and I thought since I threw some together already, I might as well post them here also.

These are not meant to be the best pictures or even considered art at all. These are just a few that I had that I thought showed the quality of this lens in a range of conditions and settings.

A friend f2.0