Cosina Japan has confirmed the discontinuation of six Voigtländer lenses across Nikon Z and Leica M (VM) mounts. The affected optics will remain available only until current stock is exhausted, marking the end of production for Japan.

Voigtländer, manufactured by Cosina, is known for its premium lenses that blend classic optical design with modern digital compatibility – especially striking in apochromatic sharpness and rendering.

The discontinuations appear to be a product line refinement and a shift towards updated versions. However, one optic was just launched in 2024: the 28mm f/1.5. 28mm f/1.5 Asph Type I from the vintage line.

Discontinued products

Nikon Z mount

• Voigtländer Nokton D23mm f/1.2
• Voigtländer Nokton D35mm f/1.2
• Voigtländer Nokton Macro Apo-Ultron D35mm f/2

Leica VM mount

• Voigtländer Nokton Vintage Line 28mm f/1.5 Asph Type I
• Voigtländer Nokton Color-Skopar 28mm f/2.8 Asph Type I
• Voigtländer Nokton Apo-Skopar 90mm f/2.8

The Type II versions of the Voigtländer Nokton Vintage Line 28mm f/1.5 and Color-Skopar 28mm f/2.8 remain in production and continue the lineup.

US + UK availability

While these Voigtländer lenses are still available at some US and UK retailers, their discontinuation in Japan typically signals that availability will gradually decline worldwide.

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The second lens in Zeiss's Otus range for mirrorless cameras is now confirmed for a September launch. The Zeiss Otus ML 85mm f/1.4 will go on sale in September - and we now have the full specification for this manual-focus portrait lens, which will be available in Canon RF, Nikon Z, and Sony FE mounts.

The Otus range has its origins as a high-quality options for DSLR cameras, but earlier this year Zeiss announced that it was at last going to produce Otus lenses in mirrorless lens. The first was the Zeiss Otus ML 50mm f/1.4 which we tested back in April. The Zeiss Otus ML 85mm was promised for later in the year - but at the time we didn't have a precise date for its launch, or detailed specifications.

The Otus ML 85mm f/1.4 will weigh between 1033g and 1061g (around 2.3lb) depending on which mount you get it in, and will measure between 105.7-109.7mm long, with a diameter of 87.9mm.

The lens is constructed from 15 elements in 11 groups, and uses a 10-bladed iris. It's minimum focusing distance is 0.8m (2.6ft), providing a maximum magnification ratio of 0.12x. There is a front-mounted 77mm filter ring.

Designed to use in a wide range of conditions, the lens has a blue sealing ring to protect the camera lens interface from dust and moisture, while additional seals provide protection against splashes. It claims to be able to function in environments ranging from -20°C to +55°C.

The  Zeiss Otus ML 85mm f/1.4 will go on sale in September for $2,999 / £2,350. That will make it significantly more expensive than Sony's own FE 85mm f/1.4 GM II lens, - despite not offering autofocus. And if you are Nikon or Canon users you can even get an 85mm f/1.2 autofocus lens for around the same price.

Using a tiny pancake lens can make a mirrorless camera feel more like a compact camera – and Leica M mount shooters will soon have another option to choose from. On February 14, Cosina announced the Voigtlander Color-Skopar 35mm f/3.5 Aspherical VM lens, a compact lens that only adds 14mm (.55 inches) from the lens mount and weighs just 99g (about 3.5 oz).

The lens is part of Cosina’s VM series, a line of manual focus optics designed for the full-frame Leica M mount. Like others in the series, the Voigtlander Color-Skopar 35mm f/3.5 is made from brass and includes a retro-styled focus scale.

But, at 14mm from the mount excluding the mount and hood, the lens is actually smaller than the average width of the index finger, which would make the typical focus ring problematic. Instead, a focusing lever aims to help photographers quickly adjust the focus while keeping the retro look and compact size.

The compact lens is constructed with six elements in four groups. Cosina says that the double-sided aspherical lens and three analogous partial dispersion glass elements help the optic capture sharp images. The 35mm lens uses ten aperture blades, with a range of f/3.5 to f/22.

The lens will be available in silver or black paint and includes a metal hood.

While Cosina did not share an exact release date, the company expects the lens to arrive in March, 2025. The company hasn’t shared international pricing data, but the ¥102,000 suggested retail price is roughly equivalent to $670 / £530 / AU$1,054.

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For more compact optics, browse the best pancake lenses or the best Leica M lenses. Or read why using a pancake lens and mirrorless camera may make more sense than buying a compact camera.

Cosina is set to release one of the first lenses of 2025 with its new Voigtländer Nokton 28mm f/1.5 Aspherical E-mount lens, offering a compact yet powerful option for full-frame Sony mirrorless camera users. Combining a fast aperture with a lightweight design, this lens promises to appeal to those who value portability without sacrificing optical quality.

The Nokton 28mm is a manual focus lens with a large maximum aperture of f/1.5, enabling excellent low-light performance, and creative control over depth of field. A 12-bladed aperture contributes to smooth, aesthetically pleasing bokeh, making it well-suited for a wide range of genres including portraiture, street photography, and creative close-up shots.

Despite its fast aperture, the lens measures just 55mm in length and weighs a lightweight 320g, which makes it highly portable and easy to carry around for long shooting sessions.

The Nokton 28mm f/1.5 is optically constructed of 10 elements in 8 groups, including aspherical lenses that help deliver sharp, high-quality images even when shooting wide open. These elements also aid in battling aberrations such as color fringing ensuring the full field of view remains sharp.

Although a manual lens, it features electronic contacts that allow for Exif data communication with Sony cameras. This ensures compatibility with in-body image stabilization (IBIS) on Sony models, using distance information for 5-axis shake reduction when shooting handheld. For photographers and videographers, this can help minimize motion blur, especially when working without a tripod.

Another key feature for videographers is the de-clickable aperture ring, which provides smooth, step-less aperture adjustments – a useful feature for those who need to avoid abrupt exposure shifts while filming. The addition of a well-textured, precision-engineered focus ring also promises smooth adjustments, even at wide apertures.

Regarding pricing, the Voigtländer Nokton 28mm f/1.5 Aspherical lens will retail for ¥143,000 (approximately $975 or £810) and is scheduled for release in January 2025.

While the Nokton 28mm f/1.5 offers a range of solid features, its manual focus design and premium price tag may leave some potential buyers questioning its value. Given the increasing demand for autofocus lenses, particularly in the Sony ecosystem, the absence of autofocus in a lens priced at almost $1,000 could be seen as a limitation. However, for manual focus enthusiasts or videographers seeking smooth aperture adjustments, it could still be a compelling option.

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Voigtländer is one of the oldest lens makers in the world making lenses in Germany since 1756. Since 1999 the Voigtlander name has been licensed for lenses and hand-crafted in Japan by optics specialist Cosina, and this new release signifies the 25th anniversary of the relationship.

The Voigtlander APO-Lanthar 50mm f/3.5 VM Limited is named after the vintage  Leica M-mount lenses the brand is known for and will be released in December 2024 for VM-mount for Leica rangefinders. The classic and compact design provides the perfect harmony of old and new with the aesthetic of a vintage manual focus lens with modern optical quality.

For those shooting with a Leica rangefinder, you'll be no stranger to the balance between mechanical craftsmanship and aesthetic beauty. The all-metal body is based on the classic rangefinder lenses popular in the 1950s, a heyday for the format and popularised in this period by street photographers worldwide. The textured metal provides a tactile analog feel when manually focusing, enabling precise and accurate adjustments.

The Apo-Lanthar 50mm is constructed of 8 lens elements in 6 groups, including lenses that eliminate various aberrations including axial chromatic aberration. Despite measuring just 52 x 45mm, the lens covers the full image circle of a full-frame 35mm sensor/film.

With the combination of 10 aperture blades and the 'rangefinder standard' aperture of f/3.5, this lens is capable of creating shallow depth of field, with subject separation and pleasing bokeh. The lens has a 0.45m minimum focusing distance.

The Voigtlander APO-Lanthar 50mm f/3.5 VM Limited lens is, as the latter part of the name might suggest, extremely limited in editions. The lens is available in three colors, olive, gray, and navy, with just 250 lenses available for each. The limited edition number is engraved on each lens which is also presented in a unique carry pouch in the corresponding colorway.

Cosina has stated that the lens is scheduled to release in December 2024, at the price of ￥125,000 which equates to around $800 / £650 / AU $1,250.

Check out our guides to the best Leica cameras and Leica M lenses, and with Black Friday just around the corner, our Black Friday camera Deals Hub!

The latest camera and lens sales data for August 2024 has been released by Japanese camera and lens manufacturers' trade body, Camera Imaging Products Association (CIPA). The monthly report shows that while the figures show a slight dip compared to July, they are up in terms of both volume (5.4%) and value (14.3%) compared to the year-to-date figures for the same period last year.

August is traditionally a slow month, whereas shipments tend to ramp up during September and October before tailing off at the end of the year. Only time will tell if the same is true this year.

The figures show that 750,206 cameras were shipped worldwide in August 2024. Of these, 511,530 were mirrorless cameras, 91,334 were DSLRs, and 147,342 were cameras with a built-in lens. The shipments had a combined value of ¥ 72 billion ($484.6m / £370.6m / AU$713.9m).

Poring over CIPA's data (you can see it for yourself here) shows that, interestingly, August had the highest shipments of the year to date for DSLRs, but everything else was below the peaks of 2024. Taking a cumulative view, however, DSLR units are down 20% compared to 2023, while mirrorless is up by 16% and fixed-lens cameras 8% up.

Despite shipping in greater numbers through most of the year so far, the lens data for August 2024 shows the number of units (896,627) dipping below the corresponding month for 2023 (961,218) and 2022 (931,408).

Based on this data, CIPA has revised its predicted shipments for 2024 to 5.89m interchangeable lens cameras (DSLRs and mirrorless combined), 1.52m compact cameras, and 9.57m lenses.

Note that these figures only represent shipments of cameras and lenses from Japanese manufacturers who are part of the CIPA organization – but that's most of the big players (Canon, Cosina, Fujifilm, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Sigma, Sony, Tamron, Tokina, Ricoh and Zeiss).

Take a look at our guides to the best mirrorless cameras, and the best compact cameras. We've also go guides to the best Fujifilm cameras, and the best retro cameras.

Japanese camera and lens maker trade body Camera Imaging Products Association (CIPA) has released its export figures for July, showing that 2024 camera and lens shipments to date are exceeding those from the past couple of years. And with over  half the year gone, this year promises to be significantly healthier than the preceding couple of years, should this trend continue. 

In fact, the figures for the month of July showed the strongest monthly worldwide shipments of both cameras and lenses so far, with the figures showing steady month-upon-month increases throughout the year, aside from a slight dip for June. With July 2024 showing an 8% increase over July 2023, the market is looking very healthy indeed. 

The figures show that 801,240 cameras were shipped in July 2024, compared to 741,743 in July 2023, and 725,994 for the same month in 2022. Of these, 630,128 were interchangeable lens cameras (that's mirrorless cameras and DSLRs combined) in 2024 compared with 592,646 (2023) and 556,176 (2022). 

Meanwhile, shipments of compact cameras totalled 171,112 for July 2024 – a massive 14% rise year on year. So that's more proof of the resurgence of these fixed-lens cameras. 

Delving a little deeper into CIPA's convoluted tables of stats, it's no great surprise to see that mirrorless camera sales are the main drivers in camera sales, no doubt buoyed by the recent launches of the Nikon Z6 III and Canon EOS R5 II, with a 12.9% increase over the same time last year. And equally unsurprisingly, DSLR sales continue to decline, with a near-25% decrease compared to 2023 – as the choice of DSLRs in the market continues to shrink.

Lens shipments are also showing an increase compared to the preceding years, with the July figures showing a total of 898,637 (2024), 866,038 (2023), and 862,336 (2022) lenses shipped. 

These figures only represent shipments of cameras and lenses originating in Japan – but then again, as the CIPA represents the main Japanese industry players (Canon, Cosina, Fujifilm, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Sigma, Sony, Tamron, Tokina, Ricoh and Zeiss) it's by far the vast majority of the traditional enthusiast camera market.

If the trend follows that of previous years, we would expect to see shipments continue to increase until the peak in September-October, before tailing off for the last couple of months of the year.

Take a look at our guides to the best mirrorless cameras, and the best compact cameras. 

We've also go guides to the best Fujifilm cameras, and the best retro cameras. 

Cosina, Voigtlander's parent company, has unveiled the new APO-Lanthar 50mm f/3.5 Type I/II. Two different variants of this interchangeable lens have been designed exclusively for the full-frame Leica M-mount under the Voigtlander brand. 

This manual focus lens is optimized for full-size M-mount sensors, boasting a sophisticated apochromatic design that eliminates various aberrations, including axial chromatic aberration.

This new lens aims for exceptional resolution and contrast reproduction. Its maximum aperture is f/3.5, reminiscent of traditional rangefinder camera lenses. Four of its eight elements, arranged in six groups, incorporate anomalous partial dispersion glass, ensuring uncompromised optical performance.

The Type I version of the APO-Lanthar 50mm f/3.5 features a high-precision rangefinder interlocking mechanism, providing a smooth operation with its all-metal helicoid. Users can experience the traditional pleasure of focusing with a rangefinder, with a minimum shooting distance of 0.45m, extendable from 0.7m depending on the attached camera. 

The lens has a retro-style filter diameter of 34mm and is available in two exterior designs: a brass model with two-tone black paint and chrome (245g) and an aluminum model with matte black paint (150g). Both models come with a matching metal hood and cap.

The Type II version also includes a high-precision rangefinder interlocking mechanism. However, it has a minimum shooting distance of 0.35m, extendable from 0.7m, and a helicoid rotation angle of 300 degrees, providing flexibility in focusing. 

The lens also features a 39mm filter diameter and is available in two exterior designs: a silver brass model (250g) and a black-painted model partially made of aluminum (175g). The silver model includes a matching metal hood and matte-finished black metal cap, while the black model comes with a metal hood and cap painted in the same color as the body.

Both versions of the APO-Lanthar 50mm f/3.5 aim to deliver ultimate optical performance in a compact, stylish design inspired by mid-20th century rangefinder camera lenses.

These new Voigtlander lenses reflect the company’s dedication to combining classic design with modern optical technology, providing photographers with tools that are both aesthetically pleasing and functionally superior. The new APO-Lanthar 50mm f/3.5 Type I/II from Voigtlander will be available in August 2024, offering users a blend of vintage charm and cutting-edge performance.

Check out our guide to the best Leica M-mount lenses

For Leica shooters, the Voigtländer Nokton 75mm f/1.5 Aspherical has been a worthy option for portrait photographers looking for a fast and affordable prime. Cosina teased a while back that this lens would also be headed to Sony, Canon and Nikon mounts. Exactly one month ago today, the Canon RF mount got its big reveal – and now the Nikon Z mount is joining the party.

While slightly different in design to the Leica version, the Voigtländer Nokton 75mm f/1.5 Aspherical has seen a few physical tweaks for Canon and Nikon Z mounts to make the lens more of a cylindrical shape with fewer protruding parts, and in my opinion, is a big improvement.

The lens is capable of covering the full-size image circle for both full-frame (Nikon FX)  cameras and APS-C format (DX) cameras – although remember that Nikon DX cameras have a 1.5x crop factor that makes this lens equivalent to 112.5mm in full-frame terms, a focal length that might even make it more favorable to APS-C portrait shooters.

The Nokton 75mm f/1.5 is a manual focus and manual aperture lens, but comes equipped with electronic contacts and can communicate electronically with the camera body. 

As such, it provides EXIF information and can work in conjunction with in-body image stabilization (if your camera has it) as well as focusing support, such as focus peaking, so long as your camera's firmware is up to date. The focusing mechanism uses an all-metal helicoid unit that Cosina says has been machined and greased for a smooth and very high precision focusing experience.

The lens has a maximum aperture of f/1.5 and a minimum of f/32. Smaller apertures often see diminishing returns in quality, so it will be interesting to see how this lens performs. The lens is generously constructed with 12 aperture blades, which should make for a smoother bokeh, and is made up of 7 elements in 6 groups. You can see the full specs below.

The Voigtländer Nokton 75mm f/1.5 Aspherical lens for Nikon Z will cost ¥135,000 in Japan, which at the time of writing roughly converts to approximately $877 / £703 / AU$1,353.  The lens is scheduled to be released in May 2024.

For more great lens options for your Nikon camera check out our guide to the best Nikon Z lenses.

The once-famous Voigtländer brand has enjoyed a real resurgence under its Japanese parent company Cosina, and now sports a large line-up of premium quality manual focus lenses. The Nokton 75mm F1.5 is the latest addition, offering a fast maximum aperture and a short telephoto focal length in a compact design.

Canon has proved rather prickly about third party lenses for its RF mount mirrorless cameras but seems prepared to license lens designs that don’t conflict with its own lens range, and there’s certainly not much like the Nokton in the Canon line-up. While the best Canon RF lenses are very good indeed, they are also expensive.

You can’t always assume that older lens designs will work well on modern sensors, as we found when we tried the Voigtländer Color Skopar 35mm F2.5 on an EOS R8 body. However, the Nokton 75mm F1.5 has been designed specifically for full frame Canon RF cameras, so it’s not a generic optic that attaches via an adapter. Indeed, it boasts electronic contacts with the camera body to transmit EXIF and IBIS information (for RF bodies that have IBIS) and supports focus magnification, peaking and focus guide functions.

The Nokton uses a classic mechanical helicoid focus mechanism, and has an impressive 12-bladed diaphragm for smooth bokeh rendering. It has a manual aperture ring, but this can be de-clicked for filming, making this an old-school manual focus lens with some very modern touches.

Other specifications include a minimum focus distance of 0.5m, a minimum aperture of f/32 and a filter size of 62mm. The lens construction is 7 elements in 6 groups, including an aspheric element, and a dedicated lens hood is included.

Cosina says the Voigtländer Nokton 75mm F1.5 Aspherical RF should go on sale in April 2024 at a price of ¥135,000, which is about $906 / £711 / AU$1380.

CP+ is the biggest camera event in the world and CP+ 2024 kicks off tomorrow in Tokyo with many new camera and lens announcements expected. Ahead of the event, Cosina has given us a peek at several new Voigtlander lenses scheduled to be unveiled. 

The Voigtlander Nokton 75mm f/1.5 Aspherical is the first of the lenses with scheduled releases for Nikon Z, Canon RF, and Sony FE mount. Much like other Voightlander Nokton lenses, it will be entirely manual focus, but it does include electronic contacts enabling a discussion between camera and lens to aid with technical recordings such as EXIF data. Although compact and lightweight, the lens' large diameter covers the full-frame sensor and offers a wide f/1.5 aperture, which will certainly be appealing to portrait photographers.  

The 75mm focal length sits right in the zone of the best portrait lenses, and when coupled with the wide f/1.5 aperture at full-frame you can expect some seriously stunning images. We all know that a shallow depth of field and bokeh isn't a necessity for a great portrait but at f/1.5 the lens will enable great fall-off and subject separation, drawing attention to only the pin-sharp focused area.

The lens is configured with 7 elements in 6 groups and a 12-blade aperture which will make the bokeh deliciously spherical. Cosina states that this lens will be perfect for 'bokeh photography', and having read the specs I can see why, but I think that this lens may also be a valid option for videographers.

The other two lenses announced by Cosina are the Voigtlander Apo-Lanthar 50mm f/3.5 VM and the Voigtlander Color-Skopar 50mm f/2.2 VM. Both of these lenses are for full-frame VM mount. Voigtlander VM mount is designed especially for Lecia M series cameras and often features among the best Leica M lenses due to its retro and manual focus nature and delivers great optical performance at a more affordable entry point for Leica M users.

The Voigtlander Apo-Lanthar 50mm f/3.5 VM 'adopts an apochromatic design that brings the axial chromatic aberration of RGB, which makes up the three primary colors of light, as close to zero as possible'.

4 types of this lens will be available, each with different focus extension structures, materials, and exterior colors. This is the first time I have seen a single lens with 4 different build options, so I will be interested to see the official reveal at CP+ and how they all differ.

The Voigtlander Color-Skopar 50mm f/2.2 VM is a lightweight and compact lens that offers excellent optical performance, and Cosina states that even at wide-open performance remains consistent.

50mm is a classic focal length and has been used on M-mount cameras by some of the greatest photographers of all time, most notably Henri Cartier-Breeson. Cosina has recently announced a super-fast 50mm f/1.0 for Sony mirrorless, which is also expected to be on display at this year's CP+.

Further information about the lenses, their release dates, and the prices will all be unveiled at CP+ 2024. We have yet to test these lenses so can only speculate after reviewing the specification sheets, but I imagine like with most Voigtlander lenses you can expect bang for your buck!

Voigtlander offers great affordable options for lenses, for more information on budget-friendly equipment see our guides to the best cheap lenses, the best budget telephoto lenses, and the best Leica alternatives. 

Voigtlander is about to launch its fastest lens yet for the Sony mirrorless mount yet, with the announcement of its Nokton 50mm f/1 Aspherical lens. The new standard prime lens will be half a stop faster than Voigtlander's existing Nokton 50mm f/1.2, and Sony's own FE 50mm f/1.2 G Master.

The Japanese-made manual focus FE-mount lens will have an impressive 12-blade iris mechanism, which promises to deliver the sort of beautiful bokeh that such a lens is designed to deliver. Despite lacking autofocus, it equipped with electronic contacts, and can provide usage data in the image EXIF. Additionally, it has a built-in distance encoder that is compatible with the 5-axis in-body image stabilization in recent full-frame mirrorless cameras. It is also possible to magnify the image in the viewfinder by operating the focus ring, to precisely adjust the focus.

With an all-metal body, the lens has a 67mm filter ring and weighs in at 590g. The lens is constructed from nine elements in seven groups - including the use of a Ground Aspherical (GA) lens element that has enabled the construction of such a compact lens for one with such a wide maximum aperture.

For video users, the aperture ring has a click-switching mechanism for stepless and noiseless adjustment of the f/stop setting. The minimum focus is 0.45m.

It is not quite the fastest-ever lens produced for the Sony FE mount - that honor goes to the 50mm f/0.95 lenses produced by TTartisan and 7artisans.

Manufacturers Cosina tell us that the Voigtlander Nokton 50mm F1 Aspherical  is due to go on sale in March for ¥264,000 - equivalent of approximately $1,750/£1,400/AU$2,700 - and will come supplied with a metallic lens hood.

The Voigtländer 35 mm/1:2.5 Color Skopar P-Type II is a Leica M-mount rangefinder lens that can also be used on a host of mirrorless cameras via inexpensive ‘dumb’ mount adaptors. It was tested on a Sony A7 II and a Canon EOS R8, and the results were very different – more on that later!

The Voigtländer name is well known in photography, and Voigtländer lenses are now made by Cosina in Japan. They are not budget lenses. They are high-quality optics made for modern cameras. This one comes in a Leica M mount and would make a great lower-cost alternative to Leica lenses for fans of the red dot.

But the narrower lens mount and slightly longer flange distance of the M mount means you can get adaptors for today’s mirrorless bodies. We used adaptors from Urth. This 35 mm/1:2.5 Color Skopar P-Type II is a fully manual lens with no electronic connections, so it doesn’t need complex lens adaptors and works in just the same way on a mirrorless body as it would on a rangefinder.

The f/2.5 maximum aperture might seem a handicap, but how often do you need anything faster? Where the Color Skopar excels is its small size, the quality of its controls, and its manual focus and depth of field control – though there is one niggle to be aware of here.

It's not likely to make it onto our list of the best Sony lenses because it's both specialized and an acquired taste, but if you're looking for the best 35mm lenses with a real retro vibe, then it's right up there.

Voigtländer 35 mm/1:2.5 Color Skopar: specifications

Voigtländer 35 mm/1:2.5 Color Skopar: price and availability

At the time of writing, the Voigtländer 35 mm/1:2.5 Color Skopar P-Type II is on sale for around $429 / £398, which makes it rather cheaper than own-brand 35mm f/1.8 lenses but also, of course, rather slower in maximum aperture. It’s certainly not a cheap lens, but it does cost less than regular 35mm primes and is substantially smaller. It seems pretty widely available in the US, but while it's carried by many UK retailers, it may not always be in stock.

Voigtländer 35 mm/1:2.5 Color Skopar: design and handling

This is such a compact lens that it’s almost a little fiddly to handle. The manual aperture ring is at the front of the lens, whereas on most digital lenses, or those that have aperture rings, it’s closer to the camera body. The Voigtländer’s focus ring is where your fingers might be expecting to find the aperture ring, so it does need a little acclimatization. 

The aperture ring is perhaps a little light but has very positive click stops in half-stop increments – not the one-third stops of modern systems – while the focus ring is beautifully smooth and has a focus lever on the base. It is rangefinder coupled for use on genuine rangefinder-focused cameras, but this coupling is redundant when used on mirrorless cameras.

It is wonderful to have a long focus travel and a detailed focus scale, together with depth of field index marks for apertures from f/4 to f/22, as these make hyperfocal focusing and zone focusing a breeze. These are forgotten arts well worth rediscovering in the modern era.

But there is a problem. We did not test this lens on a Leica rangefinder body which is, perhaps, what it is mainly designed for, but using three different adaptors on two different bodies we did find a discrepancy between the infinity mark and infinity focus. You can’t just turn the focus ring to its hard stop at infinity and expect the lens to be focused at infinity. In practice, ‘real’ infinity is somewhere between the infinity and 5m marks.

Whether you blame lens adapters or the lens, if you intend using the Voigtländer 35 mm/1:2.5 Color Skopar P-Type II on a mirrorless camera, you should check the focus using the EVF or rear screen, ideally with magnification, or make allowances for any discrepancy in the distance scale.

Voigtländer 35 mm/1:2.5 Color Skopar: performance

This is a relatively simple lens in optical terms, but its performance proved surprisingly good. There is some softening of detail at the edges, even after stopping down, and our sample was a little softer on the right side than the left, which could be annoying.

But while there is some visible vignetting, you might want to leave it in because it’s part of this lens’s very interesting character and can often improve the picture. We were expecting some chromatic aberration and perhaps distortion, but there’s precious little of either.

That was using a Sony A7 II body. We also tried this lens on a Canon EOS R8, this time via a Leica M to Canon RF adapter, and got a very different outcome. 

One of the issues with vintage lens designs is that they were originally made for film, which is very tolerant of high angles of incidence where the image strikes the edges of the frame. It turns out our EOS R8’s sensor is not. Towards the edges of the frame it produced a strong magenta shift that effectively makes the images from this lens unusable for color work – though you might get away with it if you use the Voigtländer on an APS-C Canon RF mount camera.

We didn’t expect to see a difference like that between two full frame mirrorless cameras. On this showing, we would certainly try out other older lens designs on a Sony body (and have done), but we won’t rush to repeat this experiment with the Canon.

So there are some drawbacks and pitfalls with this lens, and it can take a little while to get the hang of it and get the most from it.

But it’s worth it. The edge definition might not be great and there is some moderate corner shading, but the center sharpness is pretty spectacular, and the relatively simple optics give a level of contrast and punchiness you don’t normally see with a modern lens. If you want to recreate the look of old transparency film, maybe you should forget about so-called film simulations but look at what lenses like this do instead.

Voigtländer 35 mm/1:2.5 Color Skopar: verdict

The Voigtländer 35 mm/1:2.5 Color Skopar P-Type II is about as different as you can get to a modern digital lens, though for photographers who started out in film it will also be a reminder about how simple and effective lenses used to be.

You can zone focus perfectly well with this lens, though do check and make allowances for any discrepancies in the distance scale if you’re using it with an adapter. It’s also capable of extremely sharp results if you focus precisely – though this takes a little more time and effort than autofocus, so this is not exactly a point and shoot lens.

What this lens lacks in edge to edge sharpness it makes up for with superb centre sharpness, high contrast and a character that you don’t really see with modern lenses. With the Voigtländer 35 mm/1:2.5 Color Skopar P-Type II, the handling and the look of the images are everything.

Voigtländer 35 mm/1:2.5 Color Skopar: alternatives

The Voigtländer Color-Skopar 18mm f/2.8 Aspherical X-mount is scheduled for release in February 2024, and will only be available for the Fujifilm X-mount cameras. The lens is manual focus and 'implements an optical system optimized for the image sensor of Fujifilm X system cameras' such as the Fujifilm X-T5 and the Fujifilm X-S20. 

This all-metal manual focus pancake lens measures just 23.5mm from the lens mount and weighs only 115g, making it extremely lightweight and compact. This is to be expected from a lens type named pancake but in this instance, the tiny form boasts many key features that would make this an exceptionally capable lens for street and travel photography - not to mention a lot of fun!  

Comprised of 7 elements in 5 groups and 10 aperture blades the 18mm offers a max aperture of f/2.8. The 10 aperture blades allow the aperture hole to become more spherical, enabling natural out-of-focus areas that render smooth rounded bokeh. The mechanical aperture ring is also connected to the opening and closing of the blades, and with 1/3 step clicks, 'you can enjoy the feeling of directly operating the mechanism'.

The 18mm focal length is the equivalent of 28mm on full-frame, a favorite amongst landscape, street, and travel photographers as it enables capture of a wide scene.

Other noteworthy features include a minimum focusing distance of just 0.17m, a focus ring lever for precise adjustments, and electronic contacts for information communication between lens and body. This last point is not a feature on all manual focus lenses but is a useful inclusion. As long as the camera in use has updated firmware, it will be able to detect 'Exif data, focus check, shooting distance linked display, and certain models also support in-body image stabilization'.

Even though limited to MF, this lens has all the hallmarks of a classic. With MF, mechanical aperture ring, and focus lever, harken back to an analog shooting experience. If placed upon the retro-style body of some of the X Series cameras, it could be a great alternative to a Leica M11 or if used in conjunction with the outstanding Fujifilm film simulations even a Leica M6!

The Voigtländer Color-Skopar 18mm f/2.8 Aspherical X-mount from Cosina will be released in February 2024 for the price of ¥88,000 which roughly converts to $600 | £475 | AU$900. 

See our guides for more information on the best Leica camera alternatives, the best Fujifilm lenses, and the best lenses for travel photography. 

After the launch of the Nikon Z9 in 2022, it was hard to see how it could possibly top that in 2023 – and yet it did. The Z8 borrows a lot of the tech from the Z9, so it’s not exactly a new camera as such, but it’s definitely a new concept – a ‘baby’ Z9 with almost all the power of Nikon’s flagship pro camera.

But that wasn’t the end of. Rumors were also circulating around a ‘full frame Nikon Z fc’ using the same combination of retro Nikon styling and modern digital technologies. The rumors were true. What’s more, the Nikon Zf took a step forward in build quality and finesse, a grown up alternative to the pretty but plasticky Nikon Z fc.

We didn’t just get two new full frame Nikon Z cameras – we also got a positive deluge of new lenses, both from Nikon and from third-party lens makers. We were especially pleased to see Nikon’s Z DX cameras get some support with a new ultra-wide power zoom and a fast prime.

So let’s go on a little trip through 2023 to see how Nikon’s year unfolded…

January 2023

Nikon has been spoiling us with new Z-mount cameras, but what about lenses? 2023 gets off to a fast start for Nikon fans with a development announcement for two new lenses – which could hardly be more different. The Nikkor Z 85mm f/1.2 S will be a hefty portrait prime with a super-fast maximum aperture for pro users, while the dinky little Nikkor Z 26mm f/2.8 pancake lens will be an ultra-portable low cost prime ideal for travel or street photography.

There are more lenses in the pipeline, this time from legendary lens brand Voigtländer. The Voigtländer Nokton 50mm f/1 will be an ultra-fast ‘nifty fifty’, not quite as fast as Nikon’s 58mm f/0.95 Noct but a fraction of the size. The Voigtländer Super-Weide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 Aspherical, meanwhile, looks like a very handy wide prime lens for landscapes and interiors.

Otherwise, it’s a month of firmware updates. With firmware version 2.40, the Nikon Z50 gets eye-detect AF for video, while four of Nikon’s super-telephoto lenses get a version 1.10 update to add control customization features – the Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S, Nikkor Z 600mm f/4 TC VR S, Nikkor Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S and Nikkor Z 400mm f/4.5 VR S. There’s even a Nikon D850 firmware update, six years after this camera was first launched.

Still in retro-land, we publish our Nikon FE review, a classic 35mm SLR from the 1980s and surely the inspiration behind the Nikon Z fc. We also check out the best lenses for the Nikon D800, a ground-breaking camera in its time and still an effective professional tool today.

February 2023

Lenses are still in the news in February as patents emerge for three new Nikon Phase Fresnel lens designs, including a 400mm f/4.5, 600mm f/5.6 and 1000mm f/8. PF lenses use special optical elements to reduce size and weight and control aberrations. A lot can happen between patent registrations and actual product launches, but there’s more definite news from Sigma, which announces Nikkor Z versions of three lenses – the 16mm, 30mm and 56mm f/1.4 Contemporary primes. These are APS-C/DX format lenses, which will be music to the ears of Nikon Z30, Z40 and Z fc owners.

The BIG news for February, though, is that Nikon wants us to save the date – March 25th – for a major announcement? Could this be the much anticipated Nikon Z8? If so, this could be the camera launch of the year, not just from Nikon but from ANYONE.

March 2023

While everyone was buzzing with rumors of a Nikon Z8, another rumor dropped as a Nikon exec revealed there could be a retro themed full frame version of the Nikon Z fc. Indeed, we hear that this new camera is already in development.

We also get our hands on one of the new Nikkor Z lenses announced in January – Matthew Richards posts his Nikon Z 26mm f/2.8 review and comes away impressed. Editor James Artaius is even more impressed by the 125x optical zoom of the Nikon P1000 bridge camera. It’s a tiny sensor in a huge camera, but you can’t argue with the magnification. Giant US retailer B&H, meanwhile, shares its list of the top-selling Nikon Z lenses in 2022.

So what about Nikon’s ‘save the date’? We had to wait until the following month to release the news we’d all been waiting for.

April 2023

First, some rumors, leaks and lenses. Speculation about the Nikon Z8 is rife and what looks like a major Nikon Z8 leak reveals some key details. The story about a full frame Z fc isn’t going away, either, though there are other contenders.

While we wait for the Z8, Nikon announces the Nikon Z DX 12-28mm f/3.5-5.6 PZ VR, an ultra-wide power-zoom for its APS-C/DX Nikkor Z cameras. About time too, we say. This could prove as important for this end of the market as the Z8 will be for pros. And Matthew Richards’ Nikon Z 85mm f/1.2 S review has the definitive verdict on the pro portrait lens first announced in January. 

But then we get the main event – the Nikon Z8 launch. Or do we? NO! It’s a countdown timer for May 10th. Oh, come ON.

May 2023

At last! The Nikon Z8 is finally, officially, announced. The new Nikon is everything we hoped and more. Nikon says customers wanted a ‘baby’ Z9, and that’s what they’ve got, but packed with power and features, including a stacked 45MP sensor and – amazingly – 8K 60p video. We got our hands on a sample for our Nikon Z8 review and we were not disappointed. The Z8 takes the same bold step as the Z9, already Nikon’s best-selling flagship camera since the D3, in ditching a mechanical shutter completely.

In other news (yes, there was other Nikon news in May), the Nikkor Z DX 24mm f/1.7 is announced as a much-needed fast prime lens for Nikon’s DX format Z-mount cameras, and independent lens maker 7artisans drops a budget 24mm f/1.4 APS-C lens at a hard-to-believe price.

June 2023

The Nikon Z8 launch has had quite an impact. We report how the Nikon Z8 is “is smashing across Japan like Godzilla”, though let’s not forget about the Nikon Z9 either. As we compare the specs of the Nikon Z8 vs Z9 (and the Nikon Z8 vs D850, just to include Nikon’s legendary pro DSLR), Nikon releases a clever Nikon Z9 Auto Capture firmware update with a bunch of other enhancements too.

The speed of both the Nikon Z8 and Z9 makes them top-flight sports and wildlife cameras, so the new Nikkor Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR super-telephoto zoom looks the perfect match, right? Actually, though, this is more of a ‘consumer’ lens priced to be within reach for enthusiasts, not just pros, and it’s been on the Nikon lens roadmap for a while.

If the 180-600mm is just a little too long, Nikon also launches a new Nikkor Z 70-180mm f/2.8 constant aperture zoom that has the same maximum aperture as the S-line 70-200mm pro lens, but is smaller, cheaper and lighter. We also get to review the Nikkor Z DX 12-28mm f/3.5-5.6 PZ VR ultra-wide zoom for Nikon Z DX format cameras.

July 2023

Are we never satisfied? No sooner have we got over the arrival of the amazing Nikon Z8 than we’re looking ahead to the next launch. The rumors of a new full frame Nikon Z fc, reportedly "about as ergonomic as a brick", are gaining momentum. This prompts us to revisit our Nikon Df review, Nikon’s retro-themed full frame DSLR which, in view of today’s resurgence in interest in retro cameras, was probably just a few years ahead of its time. DSLRs do still have a big fan base, including N-Photo magazine’s Mike Harris, who buys a Nikon D850, while the author of this very article (ahem) picked up a used D800 and loves it.

Meanwhile, it seems as if every month brings more Nikon lens news. This time it’s the announcement of a super-fast Tamron 35-150mm f/2-2.8 Di III VXD zoom and a very interesting looking Viltrox 75mm f/1.2 AF telephoto prime. This is an APS-C lens, so it’s equivalent to around 112.5mm in full frame camera terms. It’s not just ridiculously fast, but has autofocus too. Also, we publish our full Nikon Z DX 24mm f/1.7 review, Nikon’s very handy-looking fast prime lens for the Z30, Z50 and Z fc.

August 2023

Everything goes quiet in August. We find out that the Nikon’s full frame retro camera is definitely coming as the Nikon Japan website accidentally listed the Nikon Zf ahead of its launch, and the Nikon Z8 scoops the EISA Camera of the Year award. And remember Nikon’s announcement of its new low-cost constant-aperture telephoto zoom? We get a sample for our Nikon Z 70-180mm f/2.8 review – and we like it a lot. 

September 2023

It’s here! The Nikon Zf is launched, and Reviews Editor Gareth Bevan already thinks it’s the true successor to the Nikon FM2. Key specs include a full frame 24MP sensor, external shutter speed and ISO dials and superior build quality to the Nikon Z fc. But what are the other differences? Our Nikon Zf vs Z fc comparison spells them out.

There’s more. Nikon announces a new Nikon Z 135mm f/1.8 S Plena lens, its first ‘signature’ lens since the Noct. So what does ‘Plena’ actually mean? Is it some obscure optical design, a new method of construction, a special physical property? None of the above. It’s kind of based around the idea of ‘plenty’, and for a 135mm lens, an f/1.8 maximum aperture is certainly ‘plenty’.

And swapping plenty of bokeh for plenty of reach, we get to review the Nikon Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR, the first affordable super-telephoto for the Nikon Z system. We say ‘affordable’, but probably only for the keenest enthusiasts.

October 2023

Our Nikon Zf review goes live, and reviews ed Gareth Bevan is smitten by its retro looks and modern specs. It sparks a wave of nostalgia from the DCW crew. The Editor of Australian Camera Magazine Paul Burrows says “the Nikon Zf brings back memories of my love affair with the Nikon FM2… and I am being seduced once again”, but Gareth is more cautious, musing that “testing the Nikon Zf has made me rethink if I want a digital Canon AE-1”. 

Incidentally, if you’re put off by the cost of the new Nikkor Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR we reviewed in September, take a look at the new Tamron 150-500mm F/5-6.7 Di III VC VXD. It will offer most of the reach but at half the price. Nikon is watching your cash for you too, by announcing a new Nikkor Z 600mm f/6.3 VR S super-telephoto that’s cheaper and lighter than the f/4 pro version – though still expensive by any ordinary standards.

November 2023

November brought no new launches but an important anniversary – 2023 marks 90 years of Nikkor lenses. The Nikkor brand name actually appeared in 1932, and has since been used across Nikon’s lens portfolio right through to the present day and its Nikkor Z lenses. We reviewed two of its latest offerings. Our Nikkor Z 135mm f/1.8 S Plena review confirmed what we expected all along – razor-sharp resolution and fabulous bokeh. Our Nikkor Z 600mm f/6.3 VR S review, meanwhile, left us impressed by its optical quality and light weight, but with mixed feelings about its f/6.3 maximum aperture and stiff price.

December 2023

Perhaps we should call this the year of the super-telephoto? We post a story on Nikon's "monster of zooms", its 30-year-old Zoom-Nikkor 1200-1700mm f/5.6-8P IF-ED. It’s a five minute walk just to put the lens cap back on!

There certainly seems to have been an explosion of interest in telephotos in and around the Nikon Z ecosystem. But is there a cheaper and more convenient alternative to super-expensive super-tele lenses? We round off 2023 with a review of the Nikon Z Teleconverter TC-1.4x and Nikon Z Teleconverter TC-2.0x, which fit between a (compatible) telephoto and the camera body to provide 1.4x and 2x magnification respectively. What’s more, Lab Manager and lens tester Ben Andrews checks Nikon’s claim that the TC-1.4x and TC-2.0x don’t adversely affect image quality. Can this really be true?

So that’s it for Nikon in 2023. It’s been a wild ride, and we don’t even know what’s round the corner in 2024.

2023 has been a blockbuster year of amazing photos, new technology, and blockbuster camera releases – but how much do you really remember about it? Our  quiz of the year will test you out with 10 fun multiple-choice questions. How well will you do?

And remember: no Googling!

Want to know what you scored? Find out on the answers page…

• Now try our other photo quizzes

The answers to the 2023 Photo Quiz

Answers

1. c   Leica’s Sofort 2 records a digital image, as well as producing a print

2. d   The Zf is Nikon’s new retro-style full-frame mirrorless camera

3. c   The Sony A9 III’s top shutter speed is 1/80,000 sec

4. b   Sigma started making lenses for Nikon Z in 2023

5. d   Adobe’s text-to-image AI tech is Firefly

6. c   A blue-blooded crab featured in the winning photo for Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2023

7. b   The DSLR that shoots only in black and white is the K-3 Mark III Monochrome from Pentax

8. d   The compact that went viral on TikTok in 2023 was Fujifilm’s X100V

9. c   GoPro ditched GPS in the Hero12 Black

10. d   The company behind the Plena lens is Nikon

How did you do?

10 points - You're a photo mastermind

8-9 points - Fantastic, you’re a photo brainiac

6-7 points - Really good score

4-5 points - Respectable, but no cigar

2-3 points - We'll keep your score secret

0-1 points - Epic fail

• Now try our previous photo quizzes

We’ve seen some interesting lenses from 7Artisans but this one is particularly intriguing. The 7Artisans 18 mm F6.3 Mark II Ultra Thin was launched in February, in a range of mount options for APS-C and MFT cameras. It’s probably the thinnest and cheapest pancake lens that we’ve ever seen, and we’ve seen quite a few. So beat the winter blues without blowing your budget. The tiny 7artisans 18 mm F6.3 Mark II Ultra Thin weighs in at just 58g, is barely bigger than a camera body cap and only costs around $59 / £49 / AU$85.

It’s no pancake lens but another downsized delight was announced in the diminutive form of the Canon RF 24-50mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM. And speaking of RF mount, Cosina stated that its new Voigtländer Nokton 50mm f/1 would be the fastest lens for Canon cameras.

We’ve always been impressed with Sigma’s 50mm Art lenses so it was good news that a new edition for mirrorless cameras was on the way, in the shape of the Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG DN Art in Sony E and Leica L mount. And speaking of impressive, Leica bolstered its SL System range with the announcement of the Summicron-SL 35mm f/2 ASPH and a Summicron-SL 50mm f/2 ASPH. Meanwhile, Sony tempted us with the launch of its new 50mm F1.4 G Master lens.

There was big news that Sigma was finally making lenses in Nikon Z mount. In the detail though, they turned out to be a trio of APS-C format 16mm, 30mm and 56mm f/1.4 Contemporary lenses that had already been released in other mount options. And if the devil is in the detail, the OM System M.Zuiko 90mm f/3.5 Macro IS Pro will certainly seek him out. With a bit of trickery, you can get up to 8x effective macro magnification.

Good news for Fujifilm X system shooters was that new lenses were on the horizon, in the shapes of the Tamron 11-20mm f/2.8 Di III-A RXD and the Samyang/Rokinon 75mm f/1.8 AF. On a more bizarre note, we brought new of a new Lensbaby Double Glass II Optic that comes with drop-in shaped apertures for creative effects.

February’s reviews kicked off with a brace of budget-friendly Canon wide-angle lenses, namely the Canon RF 15-30mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM and Canon RF 24mm f/1.8 Macro IS STM. For a more standard perspective, we tested the Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG DN Art and Sony FE 50mm f/1.4 GM that we’d dovered in news, earlier in the month. We also reviewed the Leica 28mm Summilux-M f/1.4 ASPH. and, for movie buffs, the Irix Cine 150mm T3.0 Tele.

Cosina has announced the release of the Voigtländer Nokton 40mm f/1.2 Aspherical for Canon RF-mount cameras – offering a big aperture standard prime, for much less than Canon's own version.

Of course, Canon has still not opened up the RF lens mount for any third-party manufacturer to use Canon's autofocus, so the Nokton 40mm lens is a fully manual focus affair. As is the aperture, which is controlled by a de-clicked step-less manual aperture ring.

However, there is a silver lining, the Nokton lens does have the appropriate contacts to connect to the camera electronically, so it will be possible to use the usual focus peaking, enlarged display, and focus guide assists to help nail that tricky manual focus, especially at the super wide apertures this lens is capable of. The lens can also manually focus down to 0.3m.

The Nokon 40mm can also work in conjunction with the camera to record EXIF data, and if your Canon EOS R body has in-body image stabilization, it will also work with this Nokton lens (or any manual focus lens for that matter, but worth mentioning).

The lens configuration uses double-sided aspherical lenses for two of the eight elements in six groups, which enables the lens to produce what Cosina claims is the perfect optical performance that doesn't rely on any in-camera corrections, which is handy, as Canon restricts those to only first-party lenses anyway.

It is the second lens that Voigtländer has made for the Canon RF, with the new Nokton 40mm joining the existing Nokton 50mm f/1.0, which is already on sale.

The 40mm lens is the perfect general-purpose angle, suitable for landscapes, street scenes, and environmental portraits, and still life. The f/1.2 aperture is made up of a rounded 10-blade diaphragm and should allow the lens to achieve a very shallow depth of field, so it should make for some impressive creative shots or low-light image quality.

The lens has an all-metal construction although while durability is mentioned, there is no official mention of weather sealing. Previous Voigtländer lenses have been exceptionally nice to hold, featuring a timeless look.

The 40mm f/1.2 lens has a planned release date of January 2024, and although there is no official US or UK pricing yet, in Japan, the Voigtländer Nokton 40mm F1.2 Aspherical will cost ¥132,000, which is around $930 Stateside, which seems like a very reasonable cost considering the aperture and optical quality promised.

Read more: you can find more of the best Canon RF lenses in our guide or check out our top picks for the best Canon camera.

Two new wallet-friendly (friendlier) Leica lenses have been announced by the new brand Thypoch. 

Thypoch is a new company that made its debut this year at Photopia Hamburg and Salon de la Photo in Paris. Nearly one month after the first appearance at the events, Thypoch is officially launching its first series of full-frame lenses, and for the Leica M mount no less! They are designed to fit with the timeless feel of the M mount rangefinder cameras, and provide this by its manual focus and considered design. 

• See our list of best Leica M lenses

The two lenses set for release by Thypoch are named Simera, after the Greek word for today. They will be 28mm and 35mm and both have a maximum aperture of an extremely attractive f/1.4! To add further to the impressive sounding lenses they will be available at just $699. This will place the Thypoch lenses in a similar place in the market as the Voigtlander lenses. But how do they match up?

Unfortunately, we do not have the lenses in for testing as yet, however, the specs, sample images, and trailer all look promising. The image quality looks fantastic, boasting a large aperture of f/1.4 and a 14-blade diaphragm for soft and dreamy bokeh. 

The release mentions the offering of stunning visuals that are perfect for storytelling, and after watching the trailer, I am inclined to agree. Also, a combination of aspherical elements and distinctive optics design remove chromatic aberration and keep corner quality high. 

Other features of note include, a minimum focusing distance for the 35mm and 28mm is 0.45m and 0.4m respectively, a click and de-click option for the focus ring enabling smooth operation for both stills and video, and resistance at 0.7 meters on the focus ring to mark a need for a switch to EVF to assure focus accuracy. 

Thypoch is a company passionate about timeless manual focus lenses, which is why they have created for the Leica M mount. In the press release for the lens, it states its aim is to "support its users to explore boundless ways of personal expression via authentic images in assorted themes, i.e. street photography, portraits, landscape, fine art shooting, etc".

The Simera 35mm and 28mm are available in black or silver and are both priced at $699 (around £575) with a box and a square hood included. The 35mm is available now and the 28mm will start shipping mid December. 

Sigma has started a live feed to a special launch event on its YouTube channel, scheduled to start on Thursday October 05 at 08:00 EST / 12:00 GMT / 22:00 AEST. The event has led to a lot of speculation as to what could be presented, with many hoping to see new lenses for their desired cameras. 

Earlier this year the manufacturer announced two new lenses for Fujifilm's X-mount, the Sigma 23mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary and the Sigma 00-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS Contemporary – the latter being the first Sigma telephoto zoom created for the mount. This has led many Fujifilm fans to question whether this announcement will provide them with any new lenses.

Another possibility could be the launch of a Canon RF or full-frame Nikon Z-mount lens, which Sigma has yet to add to its extensive catalog. With Canon opening doors to third-party lens manufacturers for their RF system, albeit on a case-by-case basis, could we possibly see the first Sigma lens for the RF mount announced? The release of the Nokton 50mm f/1 from Cosina on the EOS R system may have opened the doors to more third-party collaborations.

Nikon mirrorless users will also have some opinions over the announcements. Sigma, at present, only offers three lenses for the Z-mount and they are only for APS-C. A full-frame Z-mount lens would be big news for Nikon users, as it could open the door to an extensive lens lineup.

I personally have used Sigma lenses for many years on my DSLR cameras, and I have loved the Art and Contemporary lines. Sigma produces quality lenses at a price point lower than that of native optics, providing more accessibility to lower f-stops and great glass. This may be why some companies are less quick in allowing Sigma to make lenses for their systems. 

On a selfish note, I would love to see Sigma contribute to the best Fujifilm GF lenses. It has yet to venture into the world of medium format and, with the increase in popularity and accessibility, more and more people would benefit from more affordable lenses.

The possibilities are endless at this point – maybe we'll even get an update on the foveon sensor camera. We will all have to tune in next week to get our answers!

Will Sigma add to the best Canon RF lenses for the first time? Maybe it will continue challenging the best Nikon Z lenses available, or tread more familiar territory by adding to the best Sony lenses and best L-Mount lenses.

The invention of the camera is usually attributed to Frenchman Louis Daguerre - who was first to announce his invention in 1839, and gave his name to the first popular form of photograph – the Daguerreotype.

The invention of the Daguerreotype was officially announced by François Arago, secretary of the French Academy of Sciences on January 07 1839. Full details were revealed on 18 August that year. The news caused great public excitement.

The process enabled positive images of great detail and clarity to be recorded by a camera containing copper plates coated in iodized silver. Exposure times outdoors could be as little as ten minutes. The latent images were developed by exposure to mercury vapor and then fixed by a strong salt solution.

Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre was also also an artist, theater designer and inventor of the diorama. Full details of the process were given as a gift, ‘free to the world’, except in Great Britain, where a patent was filed by Daguerre’s agent.

Daguerre was given a lifetime annual pension of 6,000 francs for his generosity - and his business partner, Isidore Niépce (son of Joseph Nicéphore Niépce - who is widely credited as the inventor of photography, and who had collaborated with Daguerre) was awarded a pension of 4,000 francs. 

Daguerre had made his first successful experiment in 1837, when he produced an indoor still-life study, The Artist’s Workshop. A year later he held a Paris exhibition of daguerreotypes including Boulevard du Temple, Paris (1838). This famous street scene contains the first recorded image of a human being: a man having his shoes shined, who was therefore standing still long enough to appear on the plate. 

Positive and negative: Henry Fox Talbot

Daguerre may have got beaten to unveiling the first camera. Across the channel in England had also been experimenting with creating permanent photographic images with a camera.

William Henry Fox Talbot first developed his method of ‘photogenic drawing’ in 1834, and the following year successfully recorded a negative image on translucent waxed paper sensitized with silver chloride. 

This initial ‘calotype’ (sometimes called a ‘talbotype’) showed a latticed window at his home, Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire. It was made with his small homemade ‘mousetrap’ camera and the exposure would have been an hour or more. By contact-printing the paper negative it produced, Talbot could then produce multiple positive images. 

In response to Daguerre’s announcement, Talbot showed examples of his images at the Royal Society on  January 25 1839. The following year he refined his process so that instead of fully developing the image in-camera, he only produced a faint latent image after one or two minutes’ exposure. This image was then shielded from light and chemically developed with gallic acid. His calotype process was officially announced in 1841.

There were advantages and disadvantages to both the Daguerreotype and calotype. The Daguerreotype process produced a finely detailed image, but it was unique; if you wanted more than one copy it had to be re-photographed using another camera. The calotype was less detailed, due to the fibers in the paper, but produced a negative which could be used to reproduce as many positive images as required. 

Daguerreotypes became the method of choice for most people working in the new profession of photography. They remained popular until the early 1860s, partly because Talbot’s patent licenses cost up to £300 per year (over $46,000 / £40,000 in today’s money) for professionals to use.

Talbot’s positive-negative process, while less widespread, went on to form the basis for photography until late in the 20th Century and the advent of digital imaging. However, both calotype and daguerreotype were soon consigned to history by refinements and innovations in the photographic process.

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You often get cine lenses sold in sets, but rarely at this price or with these specifications. The headline spec is the T1.0 maximum aperture, shared across all three lenses, for excellent low-light capability and shallow depth of field even with APS-C/Super35 cameras.

While APS-C might seem a poor relation to full frame cameras in the photography world, in filmmaking the Super35/APS-C format is alive and kicking and used widely. These Super35 cine lenses have also arrived at just the right time, as Sony, Nikon, Fujifilm and Canon are all beefing up their APS-C filmmaking credentials. Some of the best cine cameras and best cameras for filmmaking use the APS-C/Super35 format, such as the Sony A6700, Fujifilm X-H2S and Canon EOS R7.

These new lenses are available individually at $499 each – that's about £392/AU$770 – but they're also sold as a boxed set for $1299 (about £1020/AU$2006). Why? Because the best cine lenses are often used in sets by filmmakers who need to swap out lenses without also having to make adjustments to their rigs, matte boxes and focus pullers. These lenses don't just share the same pretty exceptional maximum aperture, they also have identical dimensions, filter sizes and aperture/focus throws.

Mitakon 20mm S35 T1.0 specifications

Sensor Size: APS-C
Focal Length: 20mm (30mm equiv)
Maximum Aperture: T1.0
Minimum Aperture: T16
Aperture Throw: 60°
Focus Throw: 270°
Construction: 13 elements in 8 groups
Aperture Blades: 9
Angle of View: 72°
Minimum Focusing Distance: 0.31m
Filter Thread: 77mm
Size: 88 x 93mm
Weight: 730g
Mounts: Sony E, Nikon Z, Fuji X, Canon RF

Mitakon 35mm S35 T1.0 specifications

Sensor Size: APS-C
Focal Length: 35mm (50mm equiv)
Maximum Aperture: T1.0
Minimum Aperture: T16
Aperture Throw: 60°
Focus Throw: 270°
Construction: 11 elements in 8 groups
Aperture Blades: 9
Angle of View: 43.5°
Minimum Focusing Distance: 0.36m
Filter Thread: 77mm
Size: 88 x 93mm
Weight: 640g
Mounts: Sony E, Nikon Z, Fuji X, Canon RF

Mitakon 50mm S35 T1.0 specifications

Sensor Size: APS-C
Focal Length: 50mm (75mm equiv)
Maximum Aperture: T1.0
Minimum Aperture: T16
Aperture Throw: 60°
Focus Throw: 270°
Construction: 11 elements in 8 groups
Aperture Blades: 9
Angle of View: 33.5°
Minimum Focusing Distance: 0.62m
Filter Thread: 77mm
Size: 88 x 93mm
Weight: 820g
Mounts: Sony E, Nikon Z, Fuji X, Canon RF

Mitakon claims the 9-bladed aperture rings will give a 'silky soft bokeh' and that the new lenses exhibit low levels of focus breathing. The SpeedMaster 20mm/35mm/50mm S35 T1 cine lenses are available now, both individually and as a set.

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Cosina launches Nokton 50mm f/1.2 for Fujifilm X-mount cameras

Fujifilm makes its own ultra-fast 50mm lens, the XF 50mm f/1.0 R WR, but this is a pretty big lens and has a price tag to match. If you only want an ultra-fast 75mm equivalent lens occasionally, the Voigtlander Nokton 50mm F1.2 could be a more appealing buy.

It doesn't have the autofocus of the Fujifilm lens, but it is considerably smaller and lighter, with a length of just 49mm and a weight of 290g. Made by Cosina, the Nokton 50mm F1.2 has the construction of a classic mechanical lens, including metal helicoid focus and a direct mechanical aperture ring, but it also incorporates modern electronics for data communication between the lens and the camera body.

Many of the best Fujifilm lenses are primes, but while these often mirror the retro styling and operation of classic lenses, they are modern digital optics. The Nokton 50mm F1.2 approaches this from the opposite direction, offering classic mechanical construction wth the advantages of digital lens-body communication.

This means the lens can transmit EXIF data, offers focus check and distance display and provides information for the camera's in-body stabilization and parallax info (for X-Pro models). Some older X-mount cameras won't support this data transfer but all current models do with the latest firmware updates, and you can check a full compatibility list on the Cosina Nokton 50mm F1.2 web page (use your browser's translation feature).

The Nokton 50mm F1.2 uses a sophisticated optical construction consisting of 9 elements in 8 groups and does not rely on any in-camera corrections. It has a 12-bladed aperture ring for circular bokeh, and a minimum focus distance of 0.39m. The filter size is a modest 58mm, despite the wide maximum aperture.

Nokton 50mm F1.2 specifications

Focal length: 50mm (Full size conversion: 75mm)
Minimum aperture: F16
Lens configuration: 9 elements in 8 groups
Angle of view: 32.5°
Aperture blades: 12
Minimum shooting distance: 0.39m
Filter size: 58mm
Width x length: 63.9 × 49.0mm

The Nokton 50mm F1.2 will go on sale in September 2023 at an anticipated retail price of ¥100,000, which is about US$690 / £540 / AU$1060.

See our guide to the best Fujifilm lenses, and our recommendations for the best lenses for the Fujifilm X-T4

Voigtlander has launched a new, super-fast lens exclusively for Fujifilm X-mount cameras. The Voigtlander NOKTON 35mm f/0.9 is a manual focus lens, but is equipped with electronic contacts for camera-lens communication that enables IBIS (in compatible cameras), parallax correction, and the recording of lens EXIF data.

The aperture diaphragm is comprised of a whopping 12 blades, which when combined with the huge f/0.9 diaphragm diameter should mean bokeh is about as soft as it gets.

Despite the huge aperture, Voigtlander has managed to keep the lens very compact at 64.9mm long, with a 72.7mm diameter, and an overall weight of 492g. Contrast this to a lens like the Nikon Z 58mm 0.95 Noct (admittedly a full-frame lens, but one with a similar effective focal length, maximum aperture, and manual-only focussing) which is more than four times heavier than the NOKTON 35mm f/0.9, and 153mm long.

To maintain the best possible optical performance, the lens incorporates a ground aspherical front element, and a double-sided aspherical element further back. According to Voigtlander, the use of ground aspherical - rather than the more common molded aspherical - elements means the glass has a higher melting point during manufacture, and therefore can be shaped to a higher refractive index, thereby improving image sharpness. The overall optical stack consists of 10 elements in 8 groups, mounted within an all-metal lens barrel.

Voigtlander claims the focus ring has an "accurate feel", which is more necessity than nicety with a lens this fast. Set the aperture wide open at f/0.9 and depth of field will be extremely shallow, even though the lens's focal length isn't particularly long. For accurate manual focussing, a long-travel focus ring is a must, otherwise you risk sailing right through the focal plane with just a few millimetres of focus ring rotation. Minimum focus distance is 0.35m, and filter size is 62mm.

Where most third-party lenses like this are built with a selection of different mount options, Voigtlander states that the NOKTON 35mm F0.9 has been designed exclusively for X mount.

The Voigtlander 35mm f0.9 NOKTON is available to pre-order now, with an RRP of £1,199, and availability slated for August. US pricing has yet to be revealed.

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Cosina has announced that it is about to launch its fourth manual-focus prime lens for the Fujifilm X-mount range of mirrorless cameras. The Voigtländer ULTRON 27mm F2 gives an effective focal length of a 40mm standard lens, once the 1.5x crop factor of the Fujifilm APS-C sensors.

The traditional design of the Voiglander lenses are perfectly in keeping with the retro design used by many of the Fujifilm X-mount models. And the new 27mm f/2 is a particularly small prime that will appeal to those wanting to travel light. There is a choice of either a black or silver finish - to help you match the lens to the finish of your camera body.

Although the lens does not offer autofocus, it does provide electronic contacts to communicate with the camera body. We are told that "In addition to Exif information, focus check, and shooting distance linked display, certain models also support in-body image stabilization and parallax correction through the combination of a body that supports telecommunications and the latest firmware." Compatible models are the Fujifilm X-H2, X-H2s, X-T5, X-T4, X-T3, X-T2, X-Pro3, X-H1, X-T30 II, X-T30, and X-E4 (see Cosina website for firmware requirements)

The lens boasts a traditional depth of field scale - suitable for calculating the hyperfocal distance - and benefits from having ten diaphragm blades, which promises great looking bokeh. The lens offers one-third stop aperture clicks from f/2 down to f/22.

Other Voigtlander Fujifilm-fit lenses available, following their launch last year, are the NOKTON 23mm F1.2 Aspherical, NOKTON 35mm F1.2, and MACRO APO-ULTRON 35mm F2.

Specifications

Mount: Fujilm X
Full frame: No
Autofocus: No
Image stabilization: No
Lens construction: 6 elements in 4 groups
Angle of view: 53.7°
Diaphragm blades: 10
Minimum aperture: f/22
Minimum focusing distance: 0.25m
Maximum magnification ratio: 1:6.7
Filter size: 43mm
Dimensions: 59.3×23.5mm
Weight: 120g

Pricing and availability

Voigtländer ULTRON 27mm F2 X-mount will go on sale in June and is expected to sell for ¥73,000 (around $540 / £430). The lens is supplied with a dedicated dome-shaped screw-in lens hood (although this is black, even if you choose the silver-finish version of the lens).

See also our guide to the best Fujifilm lenses, and our pick of the best Fujifilm cameras.

Lens maker Meike has announced a new 85mm f/1.4 autofocus lens that will come in Sony E, Nikon Z, and Leica L mounts, and do our eyes deceive us – Canon RF mount!

The Canon has a well-documented history of blocking any third-party lens manufacturer from making autofocus lenses for the RF mount, after getting its lawyers to step in when Samyang/Rokinon and Viltrox both tried their luck. In those cases, both companies were forced to cease production of their respective RF mount lenses before they got into the hands of consumers.

• Read More: best Canon portrait lenses

Meike thinks it might have a better chance, and is claiming that its 85mm f/1.4 lens is "approved" by Canon. Canon has no official approvals labels or markings, so at the moment, we are not sure what Meike is using to back up its claim. Canon has also chosen to so far not publically comment on the Meike lens, for better or for worse. 

The only other third-party lens that Canon has publically "approved" so far is the Cosina Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f/1 Aspherical, however, this is a manual focus lens. There are other manual focus lenses from third-party brands such as Venus Optics, it's Laowa lenses have managed to skirt past Canon's legal team, although neither have they been officially endorsed by Canon.

Meike is not the most well-known lens brand, but the Hong Kong based company has been steadily releasing cine and stills lenses for cameras for the past several years, where it rose in the public consciousness with its affordable Mirco Four Thirds glass. It is not the first company you would think would get official "approval" from Canon, but maybe they believe they have less to lose by Canon scuppering their plans.

With the recent news that Sigma and Tamron are outselling first-party lens makers, there is definitely a booming market for a broader range of options for camera glass. Canon is the only major manufacturer to hold out on not allowing third-party manufacturers to make lenses for its mirrorless mount. Nikon was the latest to give in the last few months, and now a surge of new lenses has started to appear for the Z mount, it will be interesting to see how long Canon can hold out.

Canon previously let third-party manufacturers make glass for its EF DSLR mount and for its first attempt at mirrorless, the EF-M mount. It is unclear why Canon is so resistant to other companies making lenses for its RF-mount cameras. Some have suggested it is a financial strategy to protect its own lens revenues, while others have suggested that Canon is seeking to protect consumers from shoddy third-party lenses.

However, when some third-party lenses are as good or even better than first-party efforts, and camera companies like Fujifilm praising third-party lenses for improving their camera systems and pleasing customers, it is getting harder for Canon to justify its position.

Find out more about the latest from Canon with our guides to the best Canon lenses, the best Canon RF lenses, and the best Canon cameras.

Legacy lens maker Cosina is launching a new super-fast lens for the Canon RF mount under its Voigtlander brand – the NOKTON 50mm f/1.0 Aspherical. With a staggering aperture of f/1.0, it is just wide enough to squeak onto our list of the fastest lenses ever. 

Previously, the fastest lens for Canon RF shooters has been the eye-wateringly expensive Canon RF 50mm f/1.2L USM, so it is very exciting to have a new, hopefully more affordable, and much more compact option for those who want the most extreme depth of field and bokeh. 

Canon has not made its own lens this fast since the EF 50mm f/1.0L USM, released in September 1989. And although there have been rumblings that Canon might be preparing to launch an RF 60mm lens with a super-fast f/1.0 aperture, this is still just a very early speculation, so for the time being will have to make good with third-party glass. Although Canon is not making this easy by locking down its lens mount to outside development.

Voigtlander lenses are very well respected amongst photographers who enjoy manual focus lenses with vintage styling, especially for classic rangefinder cameras. Cocina has been in the business for over sixty-four years perfecting its lensmaking techniques. Cosina NOKTON lenses are typically very well built with a solid metal lens construction akin to those you would find on classic film cameras or today's premium cameras from companies like Leica. 

Exhibited at last week's CP+ trade expo, the NOKTON 50mm f/1.0 Aspherical for RF mount, will be manual focus only but will include electrical contacts to communicate with EOS R series cameras for capturing relevant EXIF data for use in organizing images. The aperture is also manually controlled by an aperture ring on the lens, and Cosina has included focus markings on the lens barrel for guided manual focusing.

The NOKTON 50mm f/1.0 Aspherical lens has nine elements in seven groups, as well as a twelve-bladed aperture offering smooth focus fall-off and rounded bokeh balls, with the aperture ranging from f/1 to f/16. The lens measures 64mm in length and 79.3mm in diameter and it weighs 650g, the lens will also feature a front filter thread with a size of 67mm.

If you are interested in more fast 50mm primes, then you can read more in our guide to the best 50mm lenses. You can also check out the best Canon RF lenses and the best Canon portrait lenses.

Update - April 4, 2023
The new Voigtlander NOKTON 55mm f/1.2 SLIIs will go on sale in May, we are now told by manufacturers Cosina. The lens will retail for 88,000 Yen (around $665 / $530). The compatible LH-55s lens hood however is not included, and we cost an additional 5,500 Yen ($42 / £35).

Original story - February 21, 2023
Praise be to the camera gods, as it seems we have been blessed with a photographic miracle. That's right, in the face of a seemingly omnipotent force towards mirrorless domination, Voigtlander has come amongst us with a new lens... for good old DSLRs!

Don't get too excited though. You can forget about cutting-edge stabilization systems or lightning-fast autofocus tech - the 'new' Voigtlander NOKTON 55mm f/1.2 SLIIs lens looks like it belongs firmly in 1983, not 2023. Designed for Nikon F-mount DSLRs, it's styled both in line with Voigtlander's signature retro aesthetic, but is also modelled unashamedly on period NIKKOR lenses like the Nikon 50mm f/1.4 AI-s from the early 1980s.

Despite its large f/1.2 maximum aperture, the lens weighs just 365g and is also compact at 48.1mm long, with a 69mm diameter. The optical stack is said to consist of 7 elements in 6 groups, though we don't yet know if any of these are aspherical or low dispersion elements.

The most detail that's been revealed is on the specific mount type that the lens uses. Sure, the basic coupling is Nikon F-mount, but specifically this is based on Nikon's AI-s mount - the F-mount variant that preceded AF (and later AF-S and AF-P variations). This makes sense as the Voigtlander lens is manual focus only, but it does have electrical contacts to facilitate aperture control from the camera body, as well as automatic exposure metering. Consequently the NOKTON 55mm f/1.2 SLIIs should be compatible with modern Nikon DSLRs as well as much older F-mount film SLR cameras.

The new lens is one of five new optics launched at CP+ 2023 (February 23-26 in Yokohama, Japan). These include Voigtlander’s first Canon RF mount lens – the NOKTON 50mm F1 Aspherical RF-mount – as well as a trio of Fujifilm X-mount optics, one of which is lenses a super-fast 35mm f/0.9 lens. Pricing and availability of these lenses and the new F-mount lens have yet to be revealed.

Story credit: Nikon Rumors

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Is it Christmas come early, or late? Either way, CP+ 2023 – the biggest camera and imaging event of the year – is taking place in Japan tomorrow from February 23-26. 

After three successive years of being a virtual-only event, following its 11th hour cancellation in 2020 as the COVID pandemic broke out, CP+ 2023 will finally return to its home at the Pacifico Yokohama convention center in Yokohama, Japan. 

All the major players including Canon, Sony, Nikon, Fujifilm, OM System, Sigma and many more will be in attendance to show off their latest products – as well as announce new ones. 

While traditionally the event was the platform for manufacturers to make their big announcements, a number of camera reveals from the likes of Canon and Panasonic have already taken place – but this is still set to be a significant event in terms for announcements and first looks. 

What is CP+ 2023?

Organized by CIPA, the Camera & Imaging Products Association – the body that certifies things like the number of shots you get from a single battery charge, or the number of stops of compensation on image stabilization – CP+ is the biggest camera and photo imaging show in the world. 

Historically it has been a launchpad for the major manufacturers to launch their big products for the year ahead. It is also an event where new technologies, innovative projects and concept cameras are showcased. 

According to the organizer, "the theme for this year's event is 'I found a new me.' By meeting new friends, having new experiences, and being exposed to cameras and photographs, you will begin to discover yourself and enjoy self-expression that you have not noticed before. We aim to create such opportunities."

What we expect at CP+ 2023

Sigma lenses

With the beans already having been spilled, it seems almost a certainty that Sigma will launch three well-leaked lenses in Yokohama (though there are rumblings they might be revealed in March).

First up we have a pair of prime lenses for full-frame cameras: the Sigma 17mm f/4 DG DN Contemporary and Sigma 50mm f/2 DG DN Contemporary, both for Sony E and Leica L mounts. 

Not to be left out, APS-C shooters will be receiving a fast 35mm equivalent, in the form of the Sigma 23mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary lens for Leica L mount, Sony E mount and Fujifilm X mount.

• Report: Leaked specs for new Sigma lenses: 17mm, 23mm and 50mm

Voigtländer lenses – including Canon RF and DSLR!

Cosina confirmed that it will be unveiling four new lenses, including its first ever lens for the Canon EOS R system. It is likely that all four optics will come under the Voigtländer brand. 

First we have the Nokton 50mm f/1 Aspherical for Canon RF mount, which is described as "with electrical contacts" – meaning it won't be a 'dumb' lens, and will be able to communicate aperture and EXIF information, but don't go expecting a third party RF autofocus lens. This is modeled after the existing Nikon Z and Leica M versions.

Then there will be two optics for Fujifilm's APS-C system X-mount system. We have the super-fast Nokton 35mm f/0.9 Aspherical and the compact Ultron 27mm f/2  pancake lens, both of which are brand-new designs.

Finally, DSLR shooters rejoice! Cosina will also debut the high-speed Nokton 55mm f/1.2 SLIIS for Nikon F mount, complete with electronic contacts and exposure meter interlocking claws (see full story).

Tamron 11-20mm f/2.8 for Fujifilm X mount

Initially expected to be revealed at CP+ 2023, Tamron surprised us with a sneaky development announcement a couple of days early – but the full announcement could well take place in Japan.

Already available for Sony E, the Tamron 11-20mm F/2.8 Di III-A RXD is now coming to the X mount – where it will be Tamron's fourth lens for the Fujifilm APS-C mirrorless system.

• Full story: Tamron opens up 11-20mm f/2.8 wide zoom to Fujifilm X-photographers

Sigma Foveon sensor update

After promising its 60.9MP Foveon sensor camera for 2020, Sigma has faced nothing but roadblocks and obstacles – to the point that it scrapped the entire project, fired its sensor manufacturer, and started from scratch in 2021. 

Then, in 2022, Sigma promised that its new Foveon X3 sensor (if not a camera to go with it) would arrive "this year". Obviously, however, it did not.

Now 4 years after its announcement, could CP+ 2023 be the place we finally see the latest Foveon come to fruition? We expect an update on its progress (or lack thereof), if nothing else – though an X3-powered successor to the Sigma fp and Sigma fp L would be a nice surprise! 

Nikon Z8

This one is a bit of a long shot, as it is expected that the Nikon Z8 will be launched in March or April. But Nikon is known to drop development announcements ahead of full reveals of its new products – as was the case with the Nikon Z9, among other notables.

What do we expect of the Z9? Well, it's being pitched as a Sony A7R V-beater and is thought to be Nikon's long-gestating high-resolution model with a 61MP sensor. 

Full frame Sony ZV camera

This one is a bit of a long shot, as it's rumored that this camera won't be revealed until March… but it would make sense for Sony to make an announcement on the camera world's biggest stage. 

Sony is said to be prepping an announcement for a new member of its ZV line of vlogging-oriented cameras – but unlike previous models like the Sony ZV-E10, this one will possess a full frame sensor. How will it differ from the Sony A7C? Hopefully we won't have to wait long to find out!

• Report: Sony's next camera will be… not the one you expect

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UPDATE: Cosina has officially announced the Voigtländer Nokton 50mm f/1 and the Voigtländer Super-Weide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 Aspherical lens for Nikon Z mount, as well as the Voigtländer Ultron 75mm f/1.9 SC and MC versions for Leica M Mount. 

Both the new 75mm lenses are comprised of 7 elements in 5 groups, 3 of which use anomalous partial dispersion glass. For a 75mm lens it's pretty compact at just 54.1mm in length, making it super portable and great for traveling or hiking with. An all-metal helicoid unit is processed and adjusted with high precision and high-quality grease to achieve just the right amount of torque. Both lenses have an RRP of ¥100,000 (approximately $779 / £637 / AU$1,117).

The Nokton 50mm f/1 aspherical lens is the brightest f/1 lens in the Voigtländer range of full-frame interchangeable lenses. Manufactured in-house, it uses a GA (grinded aspherical) lens to achieve a tighter style, it has electronic contacts to communicate between the lens and camera body, a 12-bladed diaphragm, and a price of ¥240,000 ($1,869 / £1,530 / AU$2,683).

Finally, the Heliar 15mm f/4.5 lens will have a 110° angle of view with very little distortion, ensuring sharp images from corner to corner. It has a minimum focusing distance of 0.13m and despite being so wide is still compatible with square filters. With a filter thread of 58mm, filters can be attached without a special adapter and the flower-shaped hood is removable with a flat-head screwdriver. It's priced at ¥118,000 ($918 / £752 / AU$1,318).

…

ORIGINAL STORY (Jan 15 2023): Japanese lens manufacturer Cosina is set to announce four new Voigtländer lenses for Nikon Z and Leica M mount – including a super fast 50mm f/1 prime for Nikon shooters. 

While there are a couple of slightly faster lenses available for the Nikon Z mount, including the Mitakon Speedmaster 50mm f/0.95 and the 7Artisans 50mm f/0.95, we have a sneaking suspicion that the Voigtländer Nokton 50mm f/1 Aspherical lens will perform much better, if the Voigtländer 50mm f/1.1 VM is anything to go by. 

• Check out the best 50mm lenses for Nikon, Leica, Canon, Sony et al

The second Nikon lens to be announced, according to a report by Asobinet, will be a super-wide angle Voigtländer Heliar 15mm f/4.5 Aspherical lens. Previous Heliar lenses, such as the Voigtlander 50mm f/1.5 for Leica M mount, have benefitted from a retro-looking design, a single-coated front element designed to reproduce classic color tones, and a knurled diamond pattern etched into the focus ring for easy holding – so we could expect to see these features in the latest wide angle. 

For those who shoot with a Leica M system, such as the Leica M11 or Leica M6, there are two lenses of the same focal length but in two different versions: a Voigtlander Ultron 75mm f/1.9 SC VM and a Voigtlander Ultron 75mm f/1.9 MC VM. 

You might be thinking, "Wait, they're the same lens!" They are slightly different; while the SC variant has a single coating on the front element, the MC version has a multi-coating that gives a neutral color rendering that we are used to from most model lenses. Which you go for is entirely down to the look you personally like the most. 

If you're looking for tip-top glass for your camera, check out our guides to the best Nikon Z lenses and the best Leica M lenses.

The next lens to be released by Cosina is a Voigtländer Nokton 23mm f/1.2 for the Fujifilm X Mount. 

This is the second X-Mount lens that Cosina has released, following the launch of the Voigtländer Nokton 35mm f/1.2 in September 2021. The initial announcement came as welcome news for people who use cameras such as the Fujifilm X-T4 or Fujifilm X-S10, who have long wanted more lenses with the ability to shoot at such wide apertures. 

• These are the best Fujifilm cameras

Designed exclusively for the X-mount systems, the Voigtländer Nokton 23mm f/1.2 adopts an all-metal helicoid unit. It's been adjusted with high precision and lubricated with high-quality grease so it has just the right amount of torque. 

This makes focusing extremely smooth and it means fine focal adjustments can be made, which is necessary when shooting at f/1.2. When compared to a full-frame sensor it would be equivalent to a 35mm lens, which makes it the perfect focal length for street photography.

Using only high-quality optical glass, it consists of ten elements in six groups, including one double-sided aspherical lens and two anomalous partially dispersed glass elements. Even when shooting wide open, it's said to have excellent resolution and sharp in-focus areas. 

In order to ensure reliable communications between the lens and body, the optic is equipped with electronic contacts so that users can access EXIF information and use features such as focus checking, shooting distance interlocking display and in-body image stabilization. It has a 12-bladed diaphragm that allows for rounded, uniform bokeh and a natural focus falloff.

With a small minimum focusing distance of 0.18 meters you can get pretty close to what you’re shooting, which exaggerates the bokeh effect even more. It also means that you can take really detailed, creative shots with really blurred out-of-focus areas. It weighs just 214g, measures 59.3 x 43.8mm and has a 63.2° angle of view.

It’s expected the lens will be available to buy in April for ¥ 90,000, which is roughly equivalent to $760 / £581 / AU$1049 from retailers such as B&H Photo, Wex and Amazon.

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It looks like Cosina will be releasing another lens for Nikon Z mount and Fujifilm X mount APS-C cameras – a Voigtländer Nokton 23mm f/1.2. This will be the First Z mount lens and the second X mount lens developed by Cosina following the launch of the Voigtländer Nokton 35mm f/1.2 last year. 

It’s expected that as with the previous Fujifilm lens, it will have electronics contacts that enable it to transfer EXIF data and use features such as image stabilization, focus magnifier and distance display. Certain functions such as parallax compensation will only be possible with the Fujifilm X-Pro 3 body and it’s worth noting that the Fujifilm X-E3 isn’t yet supported at all. 

• Read more: Best Fujifilm lenses

According to Fujifilm Rumors, Cosina is sticking with Fujifilm’s vintage aesthetic with the lens said to include a clickable aperture dial as well as a focus ring. No information has been released yet on its optical configuration but we could expect it to be quite similar to that of the Voigtländer Nokton 35mm f/1.2 which has 12 aperture blades, 8 elements in 6 groups, a maximum aperture of f/1.2 and a minimum aperture of f/16. As a general rule of thumb, the more aperture blades a camera has, the more high-quality it will be and the bokeh it produces will be more pleasing to the eye. 

When looking at a side-by-side comparison of the 23mm and the 35mm Nokton lenses, they look almost identical in size so we can expect they will be pretty similar in weight too. The Voigtländer Nokton 35mm f1/2 weighs just 196g so it wouldn’t be too out there to assume the 23mm will weigh around the same. 

There’s been no mention of a launch date and as yet, no official specifications have been released – we can only speculate. For anyone who shoots mostly with manual focus, it would be a great addition to your kit, especially if you primarily shoot with prime lenses. Voigtländer is known for its high-quality build standard and ability to produce beautifully sharp images from corner to corner so we can expect the same level of craftsmanship from the latest lens.

For anyone who shoots with the Nikon Z fc or Nikon Z50 this will surely come as welcome news as the number of lenses available for these systems is still quite limited although, thankfully, improving. 

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It looks like Cosina may have one or more new Voigtländer lenses to announce at the CP+ imaging show in February. CP+ takes place in Japan and is the world's largest camera and video equipment show, with other exhibitors this year including Canon, Fujifilm, Nikon, OM System (Olympus) and Sony. 

Cosina hasn’t announced what lenses it will be exhibiting but in its CP+ bio, it has stated that there will be new products on show. "Voigtländer and Zeiss ZM & DSLR lenses will be exhibited at the Cosina booth. We will touch and try products and exhibit new products that will be released in the future."

• Read more: Best lenses of 2021

The latest Voigtländer lenses announced were the 90mm f/2.8 SLII-S Apo-Skopar lens for Nikon F mount and the 90mm f/2.8 VM Apo-Skopar Lens for Sony E mount. While the 90mm Nikon lens is designed with a vintage aesthetic in mind, it delivers modern functionality, high-quality images and is available in either silver or black. 

If you’re after a high-performance lens for your full-frame Sony camera, the Voigtländer 90mm promises sharp, color-rich imagery thanks to its newly designed optical system. It’s compact and extremely portable, weighing just 250g. The fully metal body is rigid and durable and like the Nikon lens, is available in black or silver. Both the Nikon and Sony 90mm lenses are now available to preorder from B&H in the US or Wex Photo Video in the UK. 

Voigtländer was founded in 1756 in Vienna, Austria by Johann Christoph Voigtländer. Although today it only exists as a trademark, it’s no wonder the optical image quality of its lenses is so good; with over 250 years of experience in lens and camera manufacturing, it’s one of the oldest brands in the game. 

Renowned for creating metal-bodied, SLR-style lenses for modern cameras, Voigtländer is one of the better third-party brands, delivering quality products but at an affordable price. Whatever lens is released at CP+ you can be sure it'll have the same exceptional build quality and deliver high-quality images just like all its other lenses. 

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Japanese lens manufacturer Cosina has just announced it will release a Voigtlander Color-Skopar 28mm f/2.8 SL IIS Aspherical lens for Nikon AI-S mount in October 2021. 

The all-metal, wide-angle prime will be made up of 7 elements in 6 groups using double-sided aspherical lenses. It promises to offer sharp image quality from corner to corner and precision operation. It has an angle of view of 74.8 degrees, features 9 aperture blades and has a minimum shooting distance of 0.15m.

Read more: Best vintage lenses

The Voigtlander Color-Skopar 28mm f/2.8 SL IIS is a manual focus lens that enables reliable focus operation by adopting an all-metal helicoid (spiral) unit. It has been processed and adjusted with high precision to ensure the focus ring has the perfect amount of torque so that it's easy to make fine focus adjustments.

Inspired by vintage lenses, its design is a homage to interchangeable SLR lenses of the 1960s, featuring a silver rim, color–coded aperture numbers and a black, metal casing. Weighing only 205g with a dimension of 66.3 x 32.8mm, it’s a small, discrete lens that looks as though it could be perfect for travel or street photography. You can purchase the lens in 2 color variations, either with a black front ring or a silver front ring.

It’s marketed as being a Nikon AI-S mount lens, but this new piece of glass can fit onto any Nikon F mount body, including old analogue models such as the Nikon FM2 and DSLRs such as the Nikon D850. Ai simply means that it features an automatic maximum aperture indexing system, which is a mechanical system used to link the lens to the camera’s exposure system.

It’s worth noting that while the lens can be mounted on all Nikon F mount bodies, entry-level models such as the Nikon D3300 or Nikon D7200 don’t have the aperture feelers to catch the lens so you’ll lose the light metering feature. 

Cosina expects the lens to be available in October 2021 for an RRP of ¥65,000 or roughly £430 / $594 / AU$810. The LH-28 IIS lens hood will be available to buy separately in January 2021 for an additional ¥5,000 or approximately £33 / $46 / AU$62. 

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Japanese lens manufacturer Cosina has just released a Voigtlander Nokton 35mm f/1.2 X-mount lens exclusively for Fujifilm. Originally planned to be released in August, its launch was postponed due to the demand for preorders.

This fast prime could be a popular choice amongst Fujifilm photographers looking for a more affordable wide-aperture lens than the Fujifilm 56mm f/1.2. Cosina promises the lens will provide corner–to–corner sharpness and suppress color casts. 

Read more: Best Fujifilm lenses

This new piece of glass is made up of eight elements in six groups in an almost symmetrical, Double-Gauss layout, which helps reduce optical aberrations over a large focal plane. It has 12 aperture blades for smooth, rounded bokeh, a minimum focus distance of 0.3 meters and a front filter size of 46mm. This 35mm lens is equivalent to a 53mm lens on a full-frame camera. It's small and lightweight, weighing only 196g and has a diameter of 59.6mm x 39.8mm. 

To allow for full communication between the camera body and lens, the lens is equipped with electronic contacts that enable it to process EXIF information, focus check and so it can be used with Fujifilm in-body stabilization. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work with older models such as the Fujifilm X-Pro2 or Fujifilm X-T20, so it's worth checking the compatibility first.

The Nokton 35mm f/1.2 is a fully manual lens that uses an all-metal helicoid unit that gives the lens just the right amount of torque to enable smooth operation. Like most Fujifilm X lenses, the aperture is controlled via an aperture ring on the lens and has one-third step clicks for precise control. 

With such a wide aperture, this lens is designed to excel in low light conditions. The shallow depth of field enables the user to play around with subject-background separation and create eye-catching images. 

The Voigtlander Nokton 35mm f/1.2 is now available to buy from camera retailers for an RRP of £599 in the UK and $649 in the US. 

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Japanese lens company Cosina recently announced the release of the Voigtlander 50mm f/1.5 Heliar Classic for VM Mount. Built with a classic design in mind, this modern lens is made to feature the optic quality of a retro lens with purposeful aberrations and beautiful bokeh. 

Made up of six elements in three groups, this Heliar derived lens features a maximum aperture of f/1.5 and a minimum aperture of f/16, making it the perfect choice for Leica M users who want something a little different. The Heliar lens was developed in 1900 for Voigtlander by Dr. Hans Harting. Originally it consisted of five elements in a symmetrical pattern but in 1902 the design was updated to reduce astigmatism, the curvature of field, and coma flare.

Read More: Leica M-10 review 

The modern Voigtlander 50mm f/1.5 produces various aberrations and abstract bokeh you would not expect to see from a contemporary lens. Cosina says “The remaining coma flare and the single coating finish on the lens give an extremely unique aperture-opening depiction.”

The vintage appearance of this lens includes an all-metal focus ring, knurled with a diamond pattern made using a special cutting tool to improve operability. This is designed to help prevent slipping in the rotation and optical axis while adding to its high-end appearance.

The Voigtlander 50mm f/1.5 is a manual focus lens that adopts an all-metal helicoid unit that has been processed and adjusted with high precision. This results in an appropriate amount of torque and a smooth focus ring that enables the user to make fine focus adjustments. 

Unlike most modern lenses, the Voigtlander Heliar 50mm f/1.5 doesn’t have a multi-coated front element. Instead, Cosina opted for a single-coated lens that is designed to reproduce the classic color tone that was popular before multi-coating became the norm. Single-coated lenses filter out less of the reflected light which is why we end up seeing a different tone than in lenses that have multi-coatings for different wavelengths of light.

This latest addition to the Leica M mount lineup also supports full-frame 35mm format with its generous image circle and bayonet mount. It will be available to buy from September for approximately: £595 / $818 / AU$1131 (converted from Yen). 

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We previously reported that Voigtländer was about to start making lenses for Fujifilm X-mount cameras, and this has now been confirmed by the brand’s owner, Cosina. This ultra-fast prime lens should arrive some time in August.

Voigtländer is a legendary German brand now owned by Japanese company Cosina, but which still boasts classic lens designs and manufacturing techniques. In fact Voigtländer lenses seem to be gaining in popularity rather than declining and are now widely available from major camera retailers.

This is the first time, however, that Voigtländer has made a lens for the Fujifilm X-mount system. In truth, Fujifilm already makes a wide selection of rather good fast prime lenses of its own, but this new Voigtländer does push back the boundaries for maximum aperture (Fujifilm’s fastest equivalent is a much bigger 35mm f/1.4) as well as offering a vintage look and feel that might go especially well with the Fujifilm X-Pro3, for example.

Voigtländer Nokton 35mm F1.2 X mount key features

The standout feature of this lens is obviously its F1.2 maximum aperture – and the fact that it’s been achieved with such a physically small lens. Much of this can be attributed to having manual focus only and no autofocus. Autofocus lenses are larger in order to accommodate AF drives and motors, and optical designs with movable ‘focus groups’.

Manual focusing is simpler than it sounds, thanks to mirrorless camera design, which makes it easy to magnify the view for ultra-precise focusing and is 100% accurate as it uses the sensor itself for the viewing image.

The Nokton 35mm F1.2 X has an old-school helicoid mechanical focus ring, but it also has electronic contacts for communication with the camera body, which Voigtländer says conveys “Exif information, focus check, and shooting distance interlocking display, certain models also support in-body image stabilization and parallax correction”.

There’s also a physical aperture ring, which should tie in nicely with Fujifilm’s own XF lens designed, and it has a long and detailed focus distance scale with depth of field index markings – an extremely useful feature missing on almost all modern lenses.

The company is also keen to create high-quality bokeh, using a circular diaphragm composed of no fewer than 12 aperture blades – we’ve never heard of that many being used before.

The focal length of 35mm corresponds to approximately 53mm on a Fujifilm APS-C camera, so this is really more of a standard prime than a semi-wide ‘street’ lens.

Voigtländer Nokton 35mm F1.2 X mount specifications

Focal length: 35mm (53mm equivalent)
Maximum aperture: F1.2
Minimum aperture: F16
Lens configuration: 8 elements in 6 groups
Angle of view: 44 °
Diaphragm blades: 12
Minimum focus distance: 0.3m
Maximum magnification: 1:6.7
Filter size: 46mm
Diameter x length: 59.6 × 39.8mm
Weight: 196g
Electronic contacts: Yes

Voigtländer Nokton 35mm F1.2 X price and availability

Voigtländer says the Nokton 35mm F1.2 X will be available in August 2021, and is so far quoting an expected retail price of ¥ 78,000, which corresponds to around $708/£512 at current exchange rates.

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The first lens to arrive, according to Photo Rumors, is an X-mount version of the Voigtländer NOKTON 35mm f/1.2, a super-fast prime lens which would be equivalent to a 50mm lens on APS-C format Fujifilm cameras.

Voigtländer is one of the oldest and most respected names in camera history and now part of the Japanese Cosina group. It was one of the last companies to make film based ‘Bessa’ rangefinder film cameras, and while these are now longer made, the Voigtländer lens range is still very much alive. 

The new NOKTON 35mm f/1.2 might sound like an adaptation of the existing Voigtlander Nokton 35mm f/1.2 Leica M mount lens, but the first pictures show a very different, more compact and modern-looking design, and commenters have suggested that this may in fact be an APS-C format lens and not simply an existing full frame lens repackaged for a new mount.

The size of the lens in the photo certainly suggests an APS-C format optic – the full frame Nokton 35mm f/1.2 is considerably larger.

We have no more details about this lens at the moment, but Voigtländer lens are manual focus, so we would expect this to be an MF lens too.

Manual focus lenses might sound like an anachronism in a world of autofocus, but they have enjoyed a resurgence thanks to mirrorless cameras. Manual focusing on a digital display is now far more accurate than every it was with optical viewfinders, and some MF lenses like the recently-reviewed Laowa 10mm f/2 now have on-board chips to communicate with the camera electronically and trigger its focus zoom feature the moment you turn the focus ring on the lens.

We don’t know if the rumored Voigtlander NOKTON 35mm f/1.2 X-mount lens will have such a feature, but Photo Rumors does report Nokishita's claim that it will cost 76,800 yen (around $700) and will start shipping in August 2021.

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• Best Fujifilm lenses
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UPDATE 17/11: The Voigtlander Super Nokton 29mm f/0.8 Aspherical lens for Micro Four Thirds has been announced, officially making it the world's fastest photographic lens. While photographers will enjoy the beautiful depth of field that this lens will create (equivalent of f/1.6 on a full frame lens), the Voigtlander 29mm f/0.8 also features a stepless aperture ring that's perfect for videography. 

This lens has a minimum shooting distance of 0.37m and a focal length of 29mm, which is equivalent to 58mm in full frame terms. It weighs 703g and has a filter size of 62mm. Preorders for the Voigtlander Super Nokton 29mm f/0.8 Aspherical lens will open in December, with this super fast lens retailing for around $2,000. 

ORIGINAL STORY:

Buckle up your safety belt and hope that the airbags deploy – an f/0.8 lens is on the way from Voigtländer, and it will be the world's fastest lens currently in production.

There are plenty of lighting-fast lenses on the market, such as the Fujinon XF 50mm f/1.0 WR, Mitakon Speedmaster 50mm f/0.95, and of course Voigtländer's own existing range of f/0.95 lenses. However, the upcoming Voigtländer Super Nokton 29mm f/0.8 Aspherical will leave them all eating its dust. 

Yes there have been faster lenses in the past, like the Carl Zeiss Super-Q-Gigantar 40mm f/0.33 publicity stunt. However, the fastest lens you can actually buy today is the Kipon Ibelux 40mm f/0.85 Mark II – though it's hardly renowned for its quality.

The Voigtländer Super Nokton 29mm f/0.8 Aspherical, then, will be a hair faster than the Ibelux – and being that it's a Voigtländer optic, it's sure to possess better image quality as well. 

The lens was leaked by renowned Japanese rumor monger Nokishita, noting that it "will be announced soon" for the Micro Four Thirds mount – and the speed alone will surely make it a must-have lens for Olympus, Panasonic and Blackmagic users.

Of course, the rub is that while this aperture will give you f/0.8 of light gathering capability, the depth of field is dictated by the crop factor (as is the case on all crop sensors, whether they're Micro Four Thirds or APS-C). So just as you multiply the focal length by the x2 crop, you also multiply the aperture to get the equivalent depth of field. 

This means that the new lens will have an effective behavior of a 58mm f/1.6 optic, in 35mm / full frame terms (but, as noted, will still capture as much light as a true f/0.8 lens – only the depth of field is affected). 

Read more: 

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Feeling the need for speed? Yet another f/0.95 lens has been announced – this time by a company that has some pedigree in this niche category. The Voigtländer Nokton 60mm f/0.95 has been revealed for Micro Four Thirds systems.

This marks the fifth f/0.95 prime lens that the manufacturer has released (all for Micro Four Thirds), with the Voigtländer Nokton 60mm f/0.95 joining the 10.5mm, 17.5mm, 25mm and 42.5mm optics – all of which rank among the fastest lenses available on the market today.

Given the 2x crop of the Micro Four Thirds format, the becomes an equivalent 120mm lens in full-frame terms (and the existing lenses an equivalent 21mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm respectively). This gives Olympus, Panasonic and Blackmagic users a classic long portrait lens with extraordinary low light and depth of field properties.

• Read more: Best Micro Four Thirds lenses

The lens construction features 11 elements in 8 groups, with a pair of dispersion elements to reduce vignetting, and boasts 10 aperture blades for smooth bokeh. Its close-focusing distance is 34cm, with a magnification of 1:4 (an equivalent of 1:2 in full-frame terms), for light macro-light capability.

However, one of the headline features next to the super-wide aperture is the fact that the lens has a de-clicking mechanism. This means that the aperture can open and close silently, and it can operate steplessly for granular and gradual irising – both of which make it ideally suited to videography, giving filmmakers a very useful low light and shallow depth of field lens.

While it remains positively tiny compared to f/0.95 monsters like the Nikkor Z 58mm f/0.95 Noct, it is the largest and heaviest of these Voigtländer primes, measuring 87.7mm in length (with a 82.5mm diameter) and weighing in at 860g. 

The Voigtländer Nokton 60mm f/0.95 is set to go on sale in Japan in April for ¥145,000 ($1,313 / £1,012 / AU$1,963). We'll update with global pricing and release info as we receive it.

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What did you get for your 20th birthday – a special piece of jewelry? A car? A hangover? Well, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its Voigtländer Classic line, the manufacturer is releasing the Voigtländer 50mm f/2 APO-Lanthar lens exclusively for Sony E-mount cameras.

"The name APO-Lanthar is only awarded for particularly powerful lenses in the Voigtländer range," said the company in a translated release (tip of the hat to photoscala). 

• Read more: Best Sony lenses

"And with the new APO-Lanthar 50 mm F2.0 we are talking about a real masterpiece! The development goal was to provide the highest level of imaging performance without compromising on design. For this purpose almost all technically possible registers were drawn to ensure this top performance."

This sure-to-be stunning manual focus lens has eight groups and ten elements, including two aspheric and five with anomalous partial dispersion. Voigtländer also brags about an "integrated floating-focus system and an optical calculation that reduces chromatic aberrations to near zero ensure outstanding performance".

The Voigtländer 50mm f/2 APO-Lanthar has 12 aperture blades that possess "a special shape" (though that special shape seems to be "circular"), to create pleasing bokeh balls from light sources. The manual aperture ring clicks in 1/3-stop steps to its f/16 minimum, but it can be switched to clickless for video wok. 

The otherwise all-manual lens features electrical contacts, which means that settings can be captured in your EXIF data, and it's equipped with a distance encoder that makes it compatible with Sony's 5-axis image stabilization.

Weighing in at 364g and measuring 62.6mm in length, the optic has a 49mm filter thread and a minimum focusing distance of 45cm.

No release date or price has been confirmed, but Voigtländer glass doesn't come cheap so you might want to funnel off some of your Christmas budget if you've got your heart set on one.  

Read more: 

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Following its concept teaser at CP+ earlier this year, Voigtländer has now officially taken the wraps off the Nokton 21mm F1.4 Aspherical lens for Sony E-mount. A wide-angle, wide-aperture lens that promises Sony photographers a great deal of creative expression, the Voigtländer Nokton 21mm F1.4 Aspherical lens uses a floating design that, according to its makers, should ensure top-notch image quality at all focusing distances. Its minimum focus is a pleasingly tight 25cm.

Built-in electronic contacts specifically for Sony E-mount allow the lens to communicate with the camera, enabling the transfer of EXIF data and also allowing it to support in-body 5-axis image stabilisation.

The optical design incorporates 13 elements in 11 groups, and has been optimised specifically for the full-frame sensors of Sony’s Alpha 7 cameras. 

It’s manual-focus only, and has a 12-bladed diaphragm for the creation of smooth bokeh. The aperture-changing mechanism is also clickless and silent, making the lens a good choice for movie recording as well as stills. The lens weighs 560g and carries a filter thread of 62 mm

The Voigtländer Nokton 21mm F1.4 Aspherical lens is slated to be available from June 2019, and it carries an RRP of ¥ 165,000 (about £1180 or $1500). See the official website for more information on the lens. 

Read more:

Voigtländer Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 II VM – a Sony-shaped refresh for Leicas

Cosina announces new Voigtländer optics for Sony and Leica users

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Cosina has announced the Voigtländer Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 II VM, an updated version of the original lens for Leica M-mount cameras – though the update isn't quite as extensive as owners of the first lens may have hoped. 

An incredibly compact wide-angle lens with a large aperture, the Voigtländer Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 II VM marries the look, feel and rendering of classic lenses (hence its place in the Classic line) with the latest optical technology. 

In this case, that means a modest update that takes its cues from the previously released E-mount iteration of the lens. The new VM version, like the Sony before it, features a single modified element inside, which goes some way to correct spherical aberration.

While that should come as welcome news to users of the original lens, which certainly had issues with optical distortion, unfortunately that is the only internal upgrade – meaning that chromatic aberrations will likely be as frequent as they were in the first version.

That said, the new lens weighs in at just 189g – 11g lighter than its predecessor, and 73g less than the Sony version. It is also available with a choice of lens coatings, either multi-coating (MC) or single coating (SC) to reproduce classical color tones. 

Being that it's optically identical to the E-mount release, the Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 II VM should deliver the same performance; three-dimensional rendering with pleasant blur and bokeh, thanks to its ten aperture blades, and sharpness that's acceptably crisp without any risk of cutting glass. 

As a manual focus lens we expect the focus ring to be as pleasingly damped as its predecessor, and the inclusion of a focus lever for quick and precise operation is always a welcome feature. 

The Voigtländer Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 II VM will be available in June, with both the MC and SC versions selling for ¥75,000 (£565 / $735).

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Among the new announcements at CP+ in Yokohama, Japan, Cosina has announced three new Voigtländer-branded optics, two for Sony's E-mount and one for the Leica M system.

Let’s take a look at each in turn.

Nokton 50mm F1.2 Aspherical for Leica M

With a generous f/1.2 maximum aperture, the Nokton 50mm for Leica M mount should prove popular for portraits. 

Thanks to the 12-bladed aperture, Cosina promises attractively soft bokeh in the out-of-focus areas, while the short minimum focusing distance of 70cm allows photographers to get close to their subjects. 

The lens is constructed of eight elements in six groups, with two aspherical elements among these. It measures only 49mm in length, which makes it fairly compact, and it can accept filters with a 52mm thread diameter.

Color-Skopar 21mm F3.5 Aspherical for Sony E-mount 

A wide-angle prime for Sony’s E-mount cameras, the Color-Skopar 21mm has been optimised to produce a clean, high-quality images from edge to edge. 

Constructed of nine elements in eight groups, it uses a ten-bladed aperture and measures just 39.9mm in length. Cosina says the closest focusing distance of the lens will be just 20cm, allowing for extensive close-up possibilities, and it's also been designed with a filter thread of 52mm.

Macro Apo-Lanthar 110mm F2.5 for Sony E-mount 

Finally, we have another lens for Sony E-mount. As indicated by the name, this is a 'true' macro lens, with a 1:1 reproduction ratio, able to focus at a minimum distance of just 35cm. 

Cosina claims to have “thoroughly” eliminated optical issues such as chromatic aberrations, and the lens uses a floating structure to ensure optimal quality. It's constructed of 14 elements in 12 groups, and uses a 10-bladed diaphragm.

Pricing and availability for all three lenses is yet to be determined. In the meantime, keep an eye on the official website for announcements. 

Read more: 8 bizarre lenses you can use with DSLRs and mirrorless cameras