NEW 28mm f2 ULTRON M mount

[lambert]

I thought these comments on the new Voigtlander 28/2 by Mainline Photo in Australia may be of interest.

"NEW 28mm f2 ULTRON Voigtlander M mount

So how does this new compact 28mm perform?

This lens has already been on test under wraps by Mr Rapidwinder/secret agent himself Tom Abrahamson and here some of his photos with the new Ultron.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rapidwinder/2680166713/

Our first photos below show this lens to be another little gem. It has outperformed the 28mm 2.8 asph, 2.8 Elmarit and the old Ultron 1.9 (thats all the lenses we had close to hand!)

First impressions in our very subjective and non scientific showroom testing/playing are... that for less than $600 why would you buy any other 28mm M mount lens! Beautifully made it certainly seems to be the best built Voigtlander lens to date. Also it does not obscure more than a small part of the corner of the Viewfinder even with the lens hood on.

Plus...

Cosina has taken out the aspherical element in the new Ultron 28mm M which has made this lens a more forgiving performer especially on the digital M8.

The lens is made in a similar mould to the current new Noktons with a focus tab the lens displays a nice medium contrast level.

Very nice and sharp (without what we would call becoming harsh) with no focus shift seen."

 

[Terry]

Is Tom testing on digital? I know that was an issue on the 35 f1.4 that was released. Sean Reid very clearly had problems when testing it on digital that Tom wasn't seeing on film.

 

[lambert]

Based on his images on Flickr it appears he is using film (MP).

BTW, the comments in quotes in my original post were from Mainline Photo, not Tom A.

Is Tom testing on digital? I know that was an issue on the 35 f1.4 that was released. Sean Reid very clearly had problems when testing it on digital that Tom wasn't seeing on film.

 

[Chris C]

...... for less than $600 why would you buy any other 28mm M mount lens!...."

Because as an 'M' mount lens it won't be coding-friendly?

............. Chris

 

[Jan Brittenson]

If it renders like the 28/1.9, but is smaller and in M mount, then we might have a winner here!

 

[Stuart Richardson]

I agree, I think it will be very good. I am a bit skeptical about the Mainline Photo comments though. No offense to anyone that works there, but being that they are a dealer that sells it, and they admitted that they did not really do any testing, I am going to take there comments about it outperforming the 28/2.8 asph and elmarit with a large helping of salt. Better in what way? Is it sharper? At what distances? Edge to edge, or just in the center? Does it have more contrast? Does it have less vignetting? Does it have less distortion? Is the bokeh better? Are the build quality or ergonomics better? There are so many things that go into making a good lens that I am going to hold out on judging it until I see an actual test from someone like Sean Reid or get a chance to try myself.
But I will freely admit that it looks great. If it performs really well, I might just sell my 28/2 ASPH -- a superb lens, but for whatever reason the 28mm focal length does not inspire me the way that I had hoped that it would.