Used Voigtlander Color-Skopar Pan Type II 35mm f/2.5 Wide Angle Leica M Mount Lens - Black

2020-08-26T12:40:44

I bought a Leica M10 on Adorama recently, and after getting a Leica Summarit 50 f2.4 I decided to buy this lens for my 35mm lens. I've been very impressed with the lens - great build quality, positively tiny on my M10. I've also been impressed with the photos I've taken with this lens. I use Capture One 20 for converting the DNG files and the results are excellent. No regrets here.

Steve B.

2015-02-02T19:00:00

For years, I have used a single lens: a 35mm Summicron (v3) for my all of my photography. I added the Skopar Pan II as a back-up for my M-series rangefinders, and as a lens I could use with my 'walk-around' camera; a Leica CL. The cost is reasonable for an m-mount lens. It's a diminutive sized lens, and the designers used a focusing tab along with extensions on the aperture ring to make the controls easy to use. The build quality is very good. It's an all metal lens body, with a chromed filter ring. It accepts 39mm filters, and a bayonet style vented lens shade. (Here's where I have a quibble with 'photographers' who unfairly compare Voigtlander lenses with Leica lenses. They complain about the build quality, etc. They seem to indicate that they're jumping out of helicopters and sprinting across hot LZ's, and the Voigtlander's will somehow crumble into shattered glass and bent metal after moderate use. Nonsense.) The focus travel from infinity to 2.5 ft. is less than a 1/4 turn. It's light-weight, and measures from the front of the camera body to the edge of the chrome filter ring (at infinity) is a mere 1 inch. You can use this lens for available light, hand-held photography. All perfect? No. The f/stop index is a tiny black line against the chrome ring. Hard to see. I would like to see the focusing scale for feet to be in white instead of red. The lubricant used does stiffen up in cold to below freezing temperatures. The plastic lens cap is cheap, and expensive to replace. These is some lens distortions that some may find unacceptable, I find the minor distortions refreshing. They are not going to look like images produced by a lens optimized for digital use. The lens produces a contrasty negative. I control the contrast by exposure/processing. The negatives are sharp, and the glass renders fine detail. I've both enlarged negatives in my darkroom and scanned them via a flatbed scanner, and the results have been good. I would recommend this lens. It's a nice all-around performer. Good for travel, compact photo kit.

DANIEL C.

2013-06-03T21:00:00

awesome little guy. best feel and ergonomics hands down. so small that i manual focus and shoot all with one hand.

dablee

2009-02-11T19:00:00

this is a well made lens for the money but it just can't compare to my 35mm f/2 SUMMICRON-M ASPH. I know this isn't a fair comparison but the summiron is so amazing I suggest saving a bit more, perhaps trying to find a used one. It's really in a different class and if you want the best results it's worth it. If you're just using a Bessa, well maybe it's fine.

Ron

2007-02-11T19:00:00

A good lense at a good price. The lense is actually too small, if that is possible. Getting my big, thick fingers around the focus knob is tricky. The lense is not as sharp as I had hoped.

JW