[roentarre]

I just came across an opportunity to acquire a beautiful lens - voigtlander 125mm f2.5 macro with k mount. Not sure any fellow pentax users owning this lens could shed some insight into this collector item...

I know this lens is fully metal with fantastic sharpness and invincible bokeh - pity not that many examples I could find on the net...


Thanks in advance

[kjao]

Hi James

I have never owned the lens myself but from what I read at Pentax Fans Club - Powered by vBulletin, it is a very good lens and very hard to come by! Here are a couple of links (in Chinese) that talks about it:
Voigtlander 125mm/F2.5 macro開箱照 - Pentax Fans Club
é‚£ä½�大大有Voigtlander(ç¦�倫é�”)125mm/f2.5 Macro SL這顆é�¡é**的照片? - Pentax Fans Club

cheers
Kenny

[roentarre]

Hehe kenny. Thanks for the link. A LBA post there. Pity that it did not have many test shots.

Thanks for the link

[Skorzen]

There has been some discussion of this lens over at the dpreview forums so you might want to check over there.
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=17236967

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1027&message=19687514

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=22519247

[jamesk8752]

I have this lens and it's certainly an excellent macro/closeup performer. IMO it is not quite as sharp on distant subjects as the Pentax FA100/2.8 Macro. Rob Studdert (distudio at DPR) has noted that it exhibits less PF/CA than the "legendary" Pentax A*135/1.8. It's big and heavy, as one would expect from a classic style all-metal lens.

Here are some comparison shots of the Voigtländer 125 Macro vs. the FA100 Macro: Voigtländer Macro Apo-Lanthar 125mm f2.5 Lens Photo Gallery by Jim King at pbase.com

[roentarre]

There has been some discussion of this lens over at the dpreview forums so you might want to check over there.
LBA, first with new lens Voigtlander 125/2.5 SL APO Lanthar Macro: Pentax SLR Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

[pics] More pictures from my new Voigtlander 125/2.5 APO: Sigma SLR Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

K10D and Voigtländer SL 125/2.5 Apo Lanthar Macro [imgs]: Pentax SLR Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

Thanks for the link. These example shots are quite helpful. The bokeh are really smooth from some of the shots

I just made up my mind

[roentarre]

I have this lens and it's certainly an excellent macro/closeup performer. IMO it is not quite as sharp on distant subjects as the Pentax FA100/2.8 Macro. Rob Studdert (distudio at DPR) has noted that it exhibits less PF/CA than the "legendary" Pentax A*135/1.8. It's big and heavy, as one would expect from a classic style all-metal lens.

Here are some comparison shots of the Voigtländer 125 Macro vs. the FA100 Macro: Voigtländer Macro Apo-Lanthar 125mm f2.5 Lens Photo Gallery by Jim King at pbase.com

Thanks, Jim. Thanks for the referral to your lens testing site. The shots seemed to reveal the sharpness is only good til f4 onwards. This is opposite to what I heard from some people claiming the images sharp wide open with gradual degradation after f5.6 ...



James

[kjao]

Hi James

here is another thread on pentaxfans showing off VL-125, this time with many images:
VL-125五指山生態外�16張 - Pentax Fans Club

cheers
Kenny

[macdaddy]

Jim:
See, I TOLD you that owning all those lenses would benefit us when you did the comparison tests and pointed us to them! Nice to know they aren't sitting around collecting dust! And as an FYI, the LAST KA mount versions of these will be made this summer and are available through Stephen Gandy at CameraQuest Home. My order is in for this AND the 90mm and 180mm as well.
Rob W

[roentarre]

Hi James

here is another thread on pentaxfans showing off VL-125, this time with many images:
VL-125五指山生態外�16張 - Pentax Fans Club

cheers
Kenny

Thanks Kenny. These example shots were actually shot around aperture f4 to 5.6 which reveal fantastic sharpness and colour! The bokeh are very very smooth as well. Really pleasing to the eyes.

Thanks for the link

Cheers
James

[jamesk8752]

Jim:
See, I TOLD you that owning all those lenses would benefit us when you did the comparison tests and pointed us to them! Nice to know they aren't sitting around collecting dust! And as an FYI, the LAST KA mount versions of these will be made this summer and are available through Stephen Gandy at CameraQuest Home. My order is in for this AND the 90mm and 180mm as well.
Rob W

Hi Rob.

While I'd love to get those last Voigtländer SL lenses while they are still available I have enough on my hands trying to complete my Pentax prime collection! It would be nice to see some comparisons of the SL 90 mm vs the Pentax A*85, and the SL 180mm vs, the A*200. I'd also like to see a comparison of the SL 75mm with the FA77.

Too bad Cosina has dropped these interesting and unique lenses...

[frank]

My friend got one of these macro lenses in PK/A mount, he passed to me for a quick test today.

But I noticed a strange behavior, the lens cann't open up bigger than F3.5 in Av mode. I mean the aperture value can only go as low as F3.5 and can't reach F2.5 Don't know why. The aperture ring is set to A position of course, but the aperture reading on the LCD screen can't go lower than F3.5 no matter how ...

Can someone who has this lens test it out and see if it's the same w/ your copy? I'm using a K10D btw.

Thanks in advance for your input.

Cheers!

[roentarre]

My friend got one of these macro lenses in PK/A mount, he passed to me for a quick test today.

But I noticed a strange behavior, the lens cann't open up bigger than F3.5 in Av mode. I mean the aperture value can only go as low as F3.5 and can't reach F2.5 Don't know why. The aperture ring is set to A position of course, but the aperture reading on the LCD screen can't go lower than F3.5 no matter how ...

Can someone who has this lens test it out and see if it's the same w/ your copy? I'm using a K10D btw.

Thanks in advance for your input.

Cheers!

Argh, Frank. That is interesting to know. Mine is arriving next week and I will test it out. Not sure any forum member knows whether this is a norm or ...?

[jamesk8752]

Argh, Frank. That is interesting to know. Mine is arriving next week and I will test it out. Not sure any forum member knows whether this is a norm or ...?

As I posted in the "other" Pentax Forum, my copy displays f2.4 on the LCD screen when wide open on my *ist-D and K10D, so the behavior Frank is seeing is not the norm.

[roentarre]

As I posted in the "other" Pentax Forum, my copy displays f2.4 on the LCD screen when wide open on my *ist-D and K10D, so the behavior Frank is seeing is not the norm.

Thank you, Jim for clarification. That is definitely more reassuring. My new copy is actually shipped from Japan factory (apparently the last shipment) - I will try the test myself too - seeing is believing.

I noted in your pbase site where you testing images revealing unsharp images still f4. I googled the lens review and found an article detailing MTF, CA and vignetting aspects of the lens. The conclusion is different from your experience where the MTF reaching its peak wide open at f2.5 ...

The site is Voigtlander SL 125mm f/2.5 APO-Lanthar - Photozone Test Report/Review

MTF Little difference in sharpness from f2.5 to f5.6 and then diffraction takes its toll after that



Ca- Almost no CA whatsoever



Vignetting - severe wide open, otherwise little issues stopping down



Maybe this lens has poor quality control issue too?

Cheers

James