I bought the Voigtlander APO-LANTHAR 50mm F2 at Shinjuku Map Camera on his last trip back to Tokyo. Today, I’d like to show you some of the photos I’ve taken with this lens.
When I take portraits for work, I usually use an autofocus lens, but this Voigtlander APO-LANTHAR 50mm F2 Aspherical lens is a manual focus lens, so I have to focus manually by turning the focus ring. The lens is a manual focus lens, so it’s necessary to focus manually by turning the focus ring.
There are three main reasons why I bought a lens that can’t autofocus.
- I wanted to experience what Kocina claims is “the best performing lens in Voigtlander’s history”.
- I wanted to enjoy the experience of manual focus lenses, where you have to focus manually and carefully.
- I wanted a compact, lightweight 50 mm lens, designed exclusively for street photography.
As for the first point, according to Koshina, the lens “employs an apochromatic design that minimizes axial chromatic aberration of RGB, the three primary colors of light, to near zero,” and it seems that axial and lateral chromatic aberrations are thoroughly suppressed. The photo above was taken from inside a car while driving around Yuigahama, focusing at infinity.
As for point 2, I purchased this lens not for photographing people for work, but only for taking snapshots in the street, so I judged that there would be no problem even with manual focus. I also wanted to experience what I could never experience with an autofocus lens, which is to manually turn the focus ring and carefully adjust the focus. As one would expect from a Koshina helicoid, it is smooth but not too light, with a pleasant torque feel, and the feel is excellent!
As for the 3., it is a fairly compact and lightweight lens with a maximum diameter of 62.6 mm and an overall length of 61.3 mm and weighs 364 grams. Compared to the Sony GM, which I usually use for work, it weighs about half as much, so it is a lens that I actively want to use when I want to take casual street snapshots.
Realizing the power of the apochromatic design lens at the Shibuya Scramble Crossing
Unlike Paris in winter, when the weather is damp and humid, Tokyo in winter is dry and pleasantly sunny, and my depressed mood is quickly lifted! When I went to the Shibuya Scramble Crossing, I was able to take high-contrast photos, showing the power of the APO-LANTHAR 50mm F2 with its apochromatic design.
A lens that faithfully reproduces colors as seen by the eye while providing excellent images with minimal distortion
When I saw this photo, which faithfully reproduces the colorful Yushima-jinja Shrine and the cloudless clear sky as I saw it, it was confirmed as my favorite snapshot lens. The high dynamic range of the lens is also very appealing, with a crisp, high-contrast finish and no dark areas that are smashed.
Shooting portraits with a manual focus lens takes some training, but the results are perfect!
To be honest, it is not easy to take pictures of moving people in manual focus, but with careful training, you will be able to increase your success rate. If it is too difficult to shoot at the maximum aperture of f/2, it is relatively easy to focus by stopping down to about f/5.6. The Sony Alpha mirrorless camera I use can take advantage of the focus magnification function, so it will help you take the picture perfectly.
Shooting from a slightly off-center position with a wide aperture also works well for table photos.
The minimum focus distance is 0.45m, so it may not be suitable for taking table photos while sitting down at cafes, etc. However, if there is space to stand up, you can take great food photos by narrowing the focus a little.
Capability of depicting a melancholy retro atmosphere
I took this APO-LANTHAR 50mm F2 lens to the Edo-Tokyo Open-Air Architectural Museum in Koganei Park, where a New Year’s rice cake pounding event was being held. It is a lens with extremely high resolution, but it produces photos with a moist finish rather than a crisp, hard expression, so it works well for retro atmospheres and female portraits.
Try taking portraits using glass reflections in between coffee breaks.
When I was looking at Google Maps, I found a roasting coffee shop that was popular in my parents’ neighborhood, and I took a coffee break and tried my hand at photographing people.
It is especially beautiful when photographing hard materials such as metal and glass!
This lens is good at expressing moist skin in female portraits, but it is actually also very good at expressing hard materials such as metal and glass. It achieves conflicting expressions at a high level, so you will want to use it in a variety of situations.
Golden Fuji photographed from Tokyo at sunset
Living in Paris, I never get to see mountains, so when I come back to Japan, I am impressed by the fact that I can see mountains in the distance from anywhere. The photo above is Golden Fuji taken at sunset from the outskirts of Tokyo.
Tokyo Tower with a 50mm standard lens with an angle of view close to the naked eye.
When I first started photography, I liked to take portraits with a 35mm lens with a large background, but gradually I came to prefer medium telephoto and telephoto lenses between 85 and 180mm. I think it would be ideal if I could cover the focal length range of 35 to 180 mm for city snaps, but the reality is that it is difficult to enjoy city snaps because large lenses are too heavy and exhausting. In addition, bright zoom lenses are huge in size, making them look bulky and unsuitable for taking snapshots of passersby on the street. In such a situation, the APO-LANTHAR 50mm F2 compact lens comes in handy.
Since it is a bright F2 lens, shooting night scenes in bright city centers is a piece of cake!
Most zoom lenses have an aperture of f/2.8 or more, but there are many single-focal length lenses that are much brighter, so they are easy to use for night photography. It is easy to get enough light, especially in urban skyscrapers, so the APO-LANTHAR 50mm, which can be set to an aperture of F2, is no problem at all.
Although it has zero drawbacks, the APO-LANTHAR 50mm F2 is an ideal street snapshot lens
If I were to mention any drawbacks, the only two that I would dare to mention are (1) the inability to autofocus and (2) the fixed focal length of 50mm.
However, I purchased this lens knowing these drawbacks, so all I have to do now is train myself to focus on people in motion! I can confidently recommend this lens to those who are looking for a lens for street snapshots, so please give it a try.