Film Review

When this lens was announced, I admit, I was shocked. The short in the beginning of this video was a real email I sent to Voigtländer back in 2016 inquiring about a longer focal length. So imagine my exhilaration when 4 years later, they announce a telephoto lens.  But, then the spec sheet came out, and I began having second thoughts.

“Who would want this enormous, 2lb german tank meant for a system known for its light-weight and compact nature? Is the extra 17.5mm (or 35mm adjusted) from the 42.5mm worth the extra almost 300g and extra $350?”

After sitting on these thoughts, watching the world collapse, waiting for this lens to come out in what would turn out to be the middle of a global pandemic, a simpler question arose.

And to help answer it, I set up a series of shoots to put this lens to the test to see if I could discover: Why does this lens exist?

This is the Voigtländer 60mm Micro Four Thirds lens. It features an incredibly large aperture of F0.95 with 10 aperture blades, and a de-clickable aperture ring for smooth fstop transitions. On the inside, it features 11 elements in 8 groups. It has a minimum focusing distance of just 0.34m or 13 inches, putting it almost in macro territory. It weighs a chungus 860g or 1.8lbs. Fully manual. No autofocus. No contact points. No electronics whatsoever. 

Right then. This lens has been on my wishlist for quite some time. And now that its here, looking at it in person,the first thing you notice is, it is absolutely gorgeous. Pictures don’t really do this lens justice. It just screams “precision”. From the all metal housing, to the beautifully, unique concave front element, to the silky-smooth action on the aperture and focusing rings - everything seems exceptionally well designed. Its exactly the premium quality you’d expect from a Voigtländer lens. And when you hold it in your hand, you get the feeling this lens is something special. But, there’s something that bugging me,,,

I am not being endorsed or sponsored by Voigtländer or Panasonic in any way. These opinions, thoughts and conclusions are mine and mine alone and are in no way meant to represent Voigtländer or Panasonic.

The Review

I want to talk about comparing this lens. The first thing to note is that I will not be comparing it against its competition because frankly, it doesn't have any. There are only 3 other native Micro43 lenses at 60mm and all of them feature small, lightweight bodies, and F stops of 2.8 at the quickest. And even getting into adapted lenses, there aren’t too many that stack up.   What that means is that I’ll be comparing this lens to the only lenses that are just as fast, have similar build quality, and similar pricing: Its own family.

Weight

The Weight is probably going to be the biggest turn off for most users. Clocking in a 1.8lbs, you would assume that this is going to be a lens that you wont be able to use handheld for long periods of time. But after 3 sessions of  multi-hour long, intense photo and video, I’m actually surprised that this lens manages to be both not as heavy as it seems, and much heavier than it seems.  Which leads me to...

Balance.

And even knowing that the Voigtländer 60mm had a very close minimum focusing distance, I was still shocked to see that the barrel extended almost a full inch from resting position. What this means is that, when extended, most of the weight shifted to the front, which became extremely noticeable after a few attempts when trying to capture macro shots. However, when using it for portraits, the balance of 60mm and the GH5 is absolutely solid. And while its heavy, I never found it prohibitive in the sense that I had to stop a session to take a break “just” from the weight.. And I can honestly say, the weight never really bothered me when  shooting handheld as most of the time I found the weight combined with the IBIS on the GH5 actually helped more than it hurt and made for a very steady combo. 

Low Light

It’s F0.95, but don’t let that be a crutch. Most of the films or commercials I tend to work on are never solely reliant on available lighting. Many other low light examples exist for the Voigtländer micro43 lens family and this lens lives up to the standards and expectations of the rest of the group.

Why 60mm?

I have a preference for shooting with long lenses but I didn’t know if I was going to like the range of this lens, especially because I own the longer 75mm. But the 75mm isn’t nearly as sharp wide open as the 60mm and the 42.5 sometimes doesn’t have the reach I’d like to have. So the choice to make this lens 60mm seems like a well thought out decision and besides my Leica 135 f2.8, this is one of my favorite lenses I have used for portraits.

Ease of focus

Voigtländer is no stranger to manual lenses. In fact, every lens they currently make is manual and i can’t find a single instance of Voigtländer making an autofocusing lens. If you know of one, please let me know! The focus for the Voigtländer 60mm is astonishingly smooth, much like the rest of the Voigtländer line up, possibly only rivaled by cinema-style lenses.

However, I did find that the focus was bit more fickle than its counterpart, the Voigtländer 42.5mm. I did not measure the rotation of the barrel, but it definitely took 4-5 turns to get it to its minimum focusing distance. Now, it never slowed me down, but it was noteworthy to me as it stood out against its smaller sibling. On another note, In comparison, all of the Voigtländer lenses have completely ruined fly-by-wire for me. And I doubt I will ever be as precise on the fly, than with a manual focus lens.

The Visit - Shot with Voigtländer

I was asked by my friend to help her film a scene for her and another actor. I agreed and with the exception of the opening shot, and a single wider insert, everything was shot with the 60mm. Enjoy

I’ve been on the micro43 system since 2012. My first lens was a Nikkor 50mm f1.4 non-ai from the 70s and was my go-to lens for many projects. I experimented with other lenses like the panasonic 12-35, or the 20mm pancake, but none of those lenses inspired me to purchase them. Another consideration I had was anamorphic shooting.

Having purchased the SLR Magic 1.33x and 2x adapter, most of the lenses for mft at that time had flimsy bodies with mostly plastic construction to save weight. So stacking an anamorphic adapter on the front wreaked havoc on the autofocus motors and was impossible to use fly by wire. So in 2014, the time came to purchase new lenses.

So naturally during my research, I had discovered Voigtlander and realized that it was a perfect solution for me. Good in low light, all metal construction, manual focus ring, and a de-clicked aperture ring. Therefore,  I opted to go all out and bought the 17.5mm, 25mm, and 42.5mm, later adding the 10.5mm and the 75mm from the Leica M line. And with the exception of 2-3 shoots over the last 7 years, the light for every photograph, commercial, short film or even 2 feature length independent films I’ve made has passed thru Voigtlander glass.