Voigtlander announces new portrait prime for Canon RF and Nikon Z cameras

Cosina, the company behind the Voigtlander brand, has announced a new portrait prime for Canon RF and Nikon Z cameras. The PORTRAIT HELIAR 75mm F1.8 is a large-aperture, manual-focus, medium-telephoto lens that we've already seen in Sony E-mount guise, but which will now be made available to Canon and Nikon mirrorless shooters. The standout feature of the PORTRAIT HELIAR 75mm F1.8 is its spherical aberration control ring, which enables you to control bokeh quality in out-of-focus areas.

To quote the (translated) press release:

"Changes in spherical aberration occur when the aperture is opened or closed, but by operating the control ring with a new mechanism, you can enjoy bokeh depictions with an unprecedented range. In an image with insufficient correction, the center of focus becomes unclear (soft focus) and flare occurs in the highlights. Background bokeh is depicted with a gentle curve. In contrast, in an image with overcorrection, the center of focus remains and background bokeh is hard (bubble bokeh)."

Varying spherical aberration like this can cause unwanted focus movement, but Voigtlander has addressed this by incorporating a mechanism that offsets any focus deviation by changing the spacing between lens groups in conjunction with the control ring.

Though manual focus, the PORTRAIT HELIAR 75mm F1.8 does have electronic contacts to enable EXIF data recording, and it supports in-body image stabilization and focus assist functions.

The 70.0 x 86.0mm lens barrel is of an all-metal design that weighs 570-580g, depending on the mount. The focus ring is said to have a "silky, greased feel": on the RF mount version of the lens this and mechanical aperture ring both feature a knurled texture, whereas the Z mount lens has control rings finished with straight grooves.

The Voigtlander PORTRAIT HELIAR 75mm F1.8 will go on sale in February, priced at ¥150,000. An official US RRP has yet to be announced, but the existing E-mount version of the lens has a list price of $999, so we'd expect the new Canon and Nikon variants to be priced similarly.