Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f/2 SL-II Aspherical Compact Pancake Manual Focus Normal Lens for Pentax Film & Digital Cameras

2011-07-13T21:00:00

Being new to the world of dslr photography, it's safe to say I had no idea what I was doing. No classes or long self-course studies in how to take the perfect picture. However, after getting my Pentax K-7 and feeling my way around its auto-focus lens, I wanted to improve the quality of photos for the products I put on the website where I work. Switching to a Cateye focus screen and moving to this Voigtlander, my pictures have dramatically improved. The lighting where I take my photos is barely even marginal, and after many attempts to improve the light, a lower f-stop is definitely a welcome addition. At 2.0, I am able to keep the ISO at 400, and use a faster shutter speed. I've found the photo quality and consistency better than my Pentax DA* Autofocus lens with extra lighting. The K-7 gets a bit grainy beyond 800 ISO, so being able to shoot wide open with a lower ISO is great. The lens couldn't be simpler to use, and it's included macro lens attachment is great for getting close ups of serial numbers, and other fine details of the instruments I'm photographing. Being the novice that I am, auto-focus would come in handy, but having this lens has forced me to learn the art of taking better pictures at a much faster rate. Plus, there's no issues with having to calibrate the auto-focus since the lens is manual. Excellent quality glass, construction and easy to use. I highly recommend this lens, and I consider this a real bargain despite its manual operation. The quality is hard to beat; especially in this price range.

kididaho

2010-09-18T21:00:00

I bought this lens for my K20d last week and was amazed at the build quality. It's like a tank, the focus ring is well damped and has a satisfying "thud" when turned all the way. It's really tight to attach and remove. That may not be a bad thing. I did a few test shots that night and was pretty happy with the results and even played around with the macro filter a bit. I got some fun stuff around the house in artificial light. But, when I took it to the local conservatory to do some floral work the next day, it was a joy to shoot. Uploading into lightroom later, I was pretty amazed at the quality of the images. Great color rendition, sharpest lens I've ever shot, and buttery bokeh wide open. My pics looked so much better than i was expecting. Handling was a snap, too. I'm used to manual focus, so it was super easy to nail some great shots.

RICHARD S.

2009-07-12T21:00:00

Just experimenting with Pentax K mount after (no lie) nearly a decade off photography. I was going to use a Zeiss ZK lens, but bought this instead because of price and favorable reviews I found while researching. I've only been out a few times (dismal weather), but enough to say this is a lot of fun to shoot with. It's equivalent to 60mm on a 35mm system. Very solid, very smooth, very compact. All camera functions on my DSLR work fine, except for the autofocus, of course. My next will probably be the Voigtlander 20mm/f3.5. These are all made by Cosina in Japan, by the way. You have to be comfortable with manual focus to enjoy this. I've never (yet) used an auto-focus lens on an SLR, so it feels natural to me. Dave

Dave L.