I got on of these on my Fujifilm X-Pro1 that is converted to a monochrome camera (the color array filter removed). The micro contrast on this lens is simply stunning, and produces b&w images that are out of this world.
Just watched your video, three years after release. I recently rebought the 1.7 Ultron after having used one on Sony cameras to some effect but selling it years ago. I missed it, and now put my „new“ one on a (digital) Leica CL. I think the lens is phantastic, colours, contrast, sharpness, and just the overall rendering.
I've used the 35mm 1.7 for a couple years, and your review is spot on. The image quality is stellar, I have no complaints about that. The outer design of the lens was made identical to a very old vintage lens, which explains the flawed focus ring. Voigtlander quickly fixed the error in later lenses like the 75mm 1.5 which has a much wider focusing ring.
I just picked up my first Leica M6 2 weeks ago and with the new voigtlander 35mm f2 Ultron. It's a beautiful looking lens and a joy to shoot with. Waiting for my first two rolls back. 👍👍 - keep up the great videos.
I’ve really enjoyed the performance of this lens for over a year now; it’s great. I think you’re way overstating the “problem” of the focus ring. I’ve had no issues at all adjusting to it - it works just fine and is only a matter of muscle memory.
I've been using the 35/1.7 on both film and digital M's, and I agree completely with your review. Image quality leaves nothing to be desired, but the slightly awkward ergonomics make it a bit slow for street work. Zone focusing without a tab is not really it's thing.
I compared it with my 35fle, ulton 35/1.7 is shaper on all apertures until f5.6 then the two almost identical, and, this ultron has slightly less barrel distortion than 35fle, which is even more amazing, so I decided to put 35fle away and use ultron more
Im using the ultron f2 for a few months now. Results are great and it feels good, the focus tab is nice. It is very small and it actually looks a bit silly on the leica, but I suppose its good to not have any blockage.
I’m using Zeiss 35mm f2 now. It’s pretty handy on my m240. And Konica also has an LTM mount Hexanon 35mm f2 which is tiny and optically good according to some reviews.
The Voigtlander 35mm f/2.5 Color-Skopar PII is my default wide(r) lens for my Leica. I generally prefer a 50mm so my Summicron DR is my go-to, but when I want something on the wider end the Color-Skopar is a great choice. I rarely need wider apertures, and it's plenty sharp stopped down. It vignettes quite heavily but that's my only complaint.
@@therealsirrobin I should add, I rarely need wider apertures because I usually shoot T-Max P3200 or an ISO 800 color film, when I'm dealing with low light.
My Ultron 35mm does have a wider focus ring (about 1.5cm wide). But it's not a m lens, it's a ltm lens and I'm using it with a ltm to m adapter. And it has a (really small) lenshood, that doesn't appear in the rangefinder window. I also think, the Ultron ist better than the Nokton 35mm (exept for the half stop difference).
Voigtländer messed up the design?? The knurled focus ring not only looks super cool retro but unlike other lenses where all the rings are of equal radius and almost identically in their knurling, this one is, even blindfolded, impossible to miss. To my eyes this lens and especially the chrome version is one of the best looking lenses I've seen. Different blokes, different strokes.
I really enjoy my ca 180€ used 7artisans 35 2.0. Its super compact, classic look without the bending of the vl 35 1.4 and is just a great „easy“ everyday lens.
I recently got a Summicron 35mm V2 for a bit more than 800€. It's not as desired in the leica community as other Summicrons, but if you don't care too much about perfect corner sharpness, it's still a great lens.
I hope that Voigtlander releases new versions of this and the 50mm f1.5 with better focus rings. The vintage design is understandable, but it shouldn't come at the expense of usability. And the LTM version of this lens had a vintage style and great focusing action, too. They should have stayed with that.
I seem to like the color tone, currently eye ing one in silver, but got concerned by your comment about focusing ring. My style is street photography. How far is the rotatiin distance between 2m and infinitity ? If the DOF can be covered by f5.6 that wont need a lot of focusing
The new Ultron 35mm f2 is better imo ergonomically. At least there’s some resemblance of a tab and it doesn’t block the viewfinder at all. Not to mention that they’ve based the design off the legendary summicron 35mm f2. Classic and modern at the same time.
Yeah for sure. But for my style of shooting, I almost never make use of shallow DOF. That probs goes for most people who shoot ‘street’ as well like Robin.
I'm an amateur photographer who loves to use a digital Fujifilm camera with vintage lenses. I use a Minolta Rokkor 35mm f/2.8 and a Minolta Rokkor 35mm f/1.8 and I am very satisfied. Have you ever used one? What is your opinion on them.
what b&w film (assuming it is film) is used for the picture of the 2 women and the boy in rain that follows it? i really like the level of contrast and how smooth it looks.
Haha, i had similar impressions about this lens: excellent optics and poor ergonomics. The focus ring is made of barbed wire. Stiff focusing ring and lack of tab make it really slow to focus. Additionally the fact focusing scale goes below 0.7m is an unnecessary challenge when using it with Leica. Included lens hood is rubbish. It blocks about 1/4 of the 0.85 viewfinder and is screw-on design.