Voigtländer Lenses

Est. 1756 · Nakano, Japan (manufactured by Cosina) · 27 lenses

Voigtländer's origins trace to 1756 in Vienna, making it the oldest optical company name in continuous existence. Johann Christoph Voigtländer began producing mathematical instruments, and his grandson Peter Wilhelm Friedrich von Voigtländer created the first mathematically computed photographic lens — the Petzval Portrait lens (1840), designed by Joseph Petzval, which was 16 times faster than the Daguerreotype's original optic.

Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, Voigtländer produced landmark designs including the Heliar (1900), a five-element lens noted for its smooth rendering and correction of spherical aberration, and the Color-Skopar and Ultron series. The company relocated from Vienna to Braunschweig, Germany in 1849 and changed hands several times — acquired by Schering AG in the 1920s, sold to the Carl Zeiss Foundation in 1956, merged into Zeiss Ikon in 1965, and eventually passing through Rollei and Plusfoto before the brand was licensed to Cosina.

Since 1999, the Voigtländer brand has been manufactured by Cosina Co. Ltd. of Japan, which produces a line of manual-focus lenses for Leica M, Sony E, Nikon Z, and other mounts. Cosina's Voigtländer lenses are known for pushing aperture boundaries (the Nokton 50mm f/1.0) and for applying modern multi-coating and aspherical technology to refined versions of classic formulas like the Heliar and APO-Lanthar.

Notable designs: Heliar, Nokton, APO-Lanthar, Color-Skopar, Ultron

VOIGTLÄNDER APO-LANTHAR 180mm f/4 SL Close Focus— 9 ELEMENTS / 7 GROUPS, f ≈ 197.9 mm (patent) / 180 mm (marketed), F/4VOIGTLÄNDER APO-LANTHAR 28mm f/2 Aspherical VM— 12 ELEMENTS / 8 GROUPS, 28mm f/2 (PRODUCTION), f = 28.84mm / F2.06 (PATENT)VOIGTLÄNDER APO-LANTHAR 50mm f/2.0 Aspherical— 10 ELEMENTS / 8 GROUPS, f ≈ 49.3 mm, F/1.93VOIGTLÄNDER APO-LANTHAR 50mm f/3.5 (Type II) VM— 8 ELEMENTS / 6 GROUPS, EFL 49.101 mm MODEL / 49.10 mm PATENT, 50 mm / f/3.5 MARKETEDVOIGTLÄNDER APO-SKOPAR 90mm f/2.8 VM / SL IIs— 7 ELEMENTS / 7 GROUPS, EFL 87.261 mm MODEL / 87.30 mm PATENT, 90 mm / f/2.8 MARKETEDVOIGTLÄNDER APO-ULTRON 90mm f/2 VM— 8 ELEMENTS / 7 GROUPS, 90mm f/2 (MARKETED), f = 87.28mm / F2.05 (DESIGN)VOIGTLÄNDER COLOR-HELIAR 105mm f/3.5 (Voigtländer Bessa II)— 5 ELEMENTS / 3 GROUPS, f = 104.999 mm (MODELED), f/3.5VOIGTLÄNDER COLOR-SKOPAR 105mm f/3.5 (Voigtländer Bessa II)— 4 ELEMENTS / 3 GROUPS, f = 104.999mm, F/3.5VOIGTLÄNDER COLOR-SKOPAR 28mm f/2.8 Aspherical— 8 ELEMENTS / 5 GROUPS, f ≈ 28.900 mm, F/2.85VOIGTLÄNDER COLOR-SKOPAR 28mm f/2.8 Aspherical SL IIs— 7 ELEMENTS / 6 GROUPS, EFL 29.430 mm MODEL / 29.4 mm PATENT, 28 mm / f/2.8 MARKETEDVOIGTLÄNDER COLOR-SKOPAR 35mm f/3.5 Aspherical— 6 ELEMENTS / 4 GROUPS, 35mm f/3.5 (35.741mm f/3.58 design), 2ω = 61.5° (61.6° marketed)VOIGTLÄNDER DYNAR 100mm f/6— 5 ELEMENTS / 3 GROUPS, PATENT NORMALIZATION fD = 100, COMPUTED EFL 101.194 mmVOIGTLÄNDER HELIAR (Symmetric) f/4— 5 ELEMENTS / 3 GROUPS, f = 100 (normalized), F/4.0VOIGTLÄNDER HELIAR 100mm f/4.5 (Second Asymmetric Form)— 5 ELEMENTS / 3 GROUPS, f = 99.858 mm DESIGN, f/4.342 MODELED / f/4.5 DESIGNATIONVOIGTLÄNDER MACRO APO-LANTHAR 125mm f/2.5 SL— 10 ELEMENTS / 9 GROUPS, f = 125.0 mm, F/2.5VOIGTLÄNDER NOKTON 35mm f/1.2 Aspherical— 10 ELEMENTS / 7 GROUPS, f ≈ 35.8 mm, F/1.24VOIGTLÄNDER NOKTON 50mm f/1.0— 9 ELEMENTS / 7 GROUPS, f = 49.998 mm, F/1.0VOIGTLÄNDER NOKTON 50mm f/1.2 X-Mount— 9 ELEMENTS / 8 GROUPS, f ≈ 48.5 mm, F/1.23VOIGTLÄNDER NOKTON 50mm f/1.5— 7 ELEMENTS / 5 GROUPS, f = 49.9999 mm (DESIGN), f/1.5000 (DESIGN)VOIGTLÄNDER NOKTON 60mm f/0.95— 11 ELEMENTS / 8 GROUPS, EFL 58.145 mm MODEL / 58.15 mm PATENT, 60 mm / f/0.95 MARKETEDVOIGTLÄNDER NOKTON Vintage Line 50mm f/1.5 Aspherical II VM— 8 ELEMENTS / 7 GROUPS, EFL 49.598 mm MODEL / 49.60 mm PATENT, 50 mm / f/1.5 MARKETEDVOIGTLÄNDER NOKTON Vintage Line 75mm f/1.5 Aspherical VM— 7 ELEMENTS / 6 GROUPS, EFL 74.503 mm MODEL / 74.5 mm PATENT, 75 mm / f/1.5 MARKETEDVOIGTLÄNDER PORTRAIT HELIAR 75mm f/1.8— 6 ELEMENTS / 3 GROUPS, 75 mm marketing · 73.356 mm sharp-state EFL, F/1.8 marketing · F/1.858 designVOIGTLÄNDER TELOMAR 100mm f/5.5— 5 ELEMENTS / 4 GROUPS, DESIGN f = 101.259 mm, MODELED f/5.473VOIGTLÄNDER ULTRON 27mm f/2— 6 ELEMENTS / 4 GROUPS, PATENT f = 27.8000 mm, PATENT F/2.0441VOIGTLÄNDER ULTRON 50mm f/2— 6 ELEMENTS / 5 GROUPS, f ≈ 50.0 mm, F/2.0VOIGTLÄNDER ULTRON Vintage Line 28mm f/2 Aspherical— 10 ELEMENTS / 7 GROUPS, f = 28.50 mm, F/2.0