Voigtländer Apo-Lanthar 35 mm f/2.0 - Test on Sony Alpha 7C E-Mount - Stefan Czurda

May 14, 2022 Stefan Czurda

One of the best lenses money can buy are apochromatic lenses. Due to their complex optical design they are exceptionally well corrected in terms of color errors.

In this context, my expectations for the Voigtländer Apo-Lanthar 35 mm f/2.0 were very high.

In cooperation with the Viennese camera store Jo Geier - Mint & Rare, I had the chance to test the lens on my Sony Alpha 7 C mirrorless camera for a couple of weeks.

As one of my favorite focal length, 35 mm offers a very natural visual perspective and is a very good choice for my everyday street- and urban photography.

So I definitely enjoy shooting with 35 mm on the streets and this was exactly what I did with this lens.

Here, I would like to summarize the built and optical quality of the Voigtländer Apo-Lanthar 35 mm f/2.0 underlined with lots of sample images from this very interesting lens.

Lens Properties and Built quality

With a rather complex optical construction (11 lenses in 9 groups), the manual focus lens is neither particularly large (67 cm) and heavy (352 g), nor small and feels well balanced on my compact Sony Alpha 7C full frame camera.

Voigtländer APO-Lanthar mounted on the Sony Alpha 7 C

Voigtländer lenses are usually very well built and offer a solid haptic experience.

As expected, the Apo-Lanthar 35 mm f/2.0 is no exception from that.

The lens is solely built from metal and Voigtländer also delivers a metal lens hood with an additional lens cap that fits on the hood.

Unboxing

This is something not all companies provide with their lenses and therefore it is something I definitely enjoyed during unboxing.

The aperture ring scales from f/2 to f/16 and clicks very snappy. Also, the focus ring shows really good haptics with quite a nice dampened resistance for a comfortable manual focusing experience.

So overall, the built quality has very high standards and the Apo-Lanthar 35 mm f/2.0 is truly enjoyable to use on a Sony mirrorless-camera.

Lens Sharpness

Already wide open at f/2, the lens shows remarkably good sharpness not only in the center, but also in the critical corner regions, which is an impressive result.

Sharpness at f/2 - Example picture

Sharpness at f/2 - Center close up

Sharpness at f/2 - Corner close up

Stopped down at f/2.8, sharpness further increases, both in the center and in the corners, and remains exceptionally good until f/11, when refraction comes into play.

Color Rendering, Contrast and Bokeh

Color Rendering is truly appealing in this lens.

Used on my Sony Alpha 7C which has improved color science compared to older Sony Alpha cameras, the Apo-Lanthar does not oversaturate colors and shows a good amount of contrast.

Nice colors and contrast

The natural color look underlines the high quality of the lens and makes it a very nice tool for urban cityscape representation and environmental street portraits.

Besides colors, fast 35 mm lenses are also great tools for showing blurry background areas, so bokeh representation is quite an important property of the lens.

On the following pictures, near and far distance bokeh rendering is shown.

Close distance bokeh

Far distance bokeh

The bokeh is not bad at all, but at the same time not a strength of the lens either.

At both distances, the bokeh does not appear very creamy, but also not too busy, so I would give it an average rating.

Vignetting and Distortion

Wide open at f/2, the Apo-Lanthar shows strong vignetting, however, corner shading is improved when stopped down to f/2.8 and not further noticeable at f/4.

Vignetting at f/2

Vignetting at f/4

The lens has almost no distortion, as seen in the following pictures, which show the same image before and after applying the lens correction profile in Lightroom.

Uncorrected distortion

Corrected distortion in Lightroom

Chromatic Aberration and Backlight

The lens is exceptionally well corrected in terms of chromatic aberration. Even in critical light situations, almost no purple fringing is visible.

Chromatic aberration - Example picture

Chromatic aberration - Close Up of critical regions

Also, the Apo-Lanthar is almost flare resistant in any light situation that I have tested, however, the lens hood was attached when the following sample images were taken.

Very good flare resistant

Unfortunately, the lens does not show the beautiful „Voigtländer sunstars“ that other lenses of the same brand usually display. For the Apo-Lanthar, stopping down to f/11 for a 12-pointed sunstar has to be performed.

Sunstar at f/11

Conclusion

Overall, the Voigtländer Apo-Lanthar 35 mm f/2.0 is optically one of the best prime lenses that I have tested so far.

Already wide open, sharpness is exceptionally good, in both the center and in the corner regions.

Contrast and color representation on a newer Sony mirrorless camera is beautifully neutral, which I personally enjoy a lot, however, the lens is probably not the first choice, if a very creamy bokeh is desired.

As expected from an apochromatic lens, chromatic aberration and lens flares are very well corrected, but the lens is lacking the typical „Voigtländer sunstars“, which only start to appear stopped down to f/11.

In a nutshell, the lens is clinically perfect, but it somehow misses the character, that other Voigtländer are well known for.

Is this something bad?

I guess not, because the Voigtländer Apo-Lanthar 35 mm f/2.0 shows superior performance in almost every optical parameter and is definitely the best choice for anyone who accepts the best image quality only.

35mm Lenses

Voigtländer Apo-Lanthar Review Voigtländer Apo-Lanthar Apo-Lanthar 35mm Apo-Lanthar 2/35mm 35mm f/2 Sony Alpha 7C Sony Sony Alpha Sony Test Voigtländer Review Voigtländer E-Mount Apo Lanther 35 Apo Lanthar 35 f/2