Compact standard lens Color Skopar 50

Review and photo examples of the Voigtlander Color Skopar 50mm F2.5.

Gallery

The photo examples were taken with LEICA M8.

Review

Overview
Usability
Add info

1．Overview

The Color Skopar 50mm F2.5 is a standard lens with an L39 screw mount released by Cosina Voigtlander in 2002.

The main specifications are as follows, and detailed specifications are listed in the table.

Lens construction: 7 elements in 6 groups
Aperture blades: 10
Minimum shooting distance: 0.75m
Linked to the rangefinder of Leica M cameras up to the minimum shooting distance
Filter diameter: 39mm
Lens length: Approximately 50mm from the mount surface to the tip of the hood

2．Usability

The Color Skopar 50mm F2.5 produces a clear and crisp image even at full aperture, with beautiful bokeh in both front and back. The image becomes more detailed when the aperture is narrowed. Compared to the peculiar image of many old standard lenses, it produces a clear image.

I used it with the LEICA M8, which has a smaller sensor than the 35mm full frame, so I cannot evaluate the peripheral area.

Like other Color Skopar lenses, it is a compact lens, more than one size smaller than the previously released NOKTON 50mm F1.5, making it very portable.

The lens barrel contains 7 lenses in 6 groups, and combined with the brass barrel, it is heavy at 208g despite being a small lens.

The key to operating a manual focus camera is how easy it is to focus, and the barrel has a large finger rest for focusing, making it very easy to move the focus ring.
The finger grip for focusing on other L39-mount Color Skopar 21mm, 25mm, 28mm, and 35mm lenses is pin-shaped and can be difficult to use, so I would like it to be changed to the same finger grip as the 50mm.

A dedicated cylindrical lens hood is included, but the hood mounting thread of this lens, like the ULTRON 35mm L39 F1.7, is compatible with Leica’s IROOA mounting hook, so it is possible to attach a variety of hoods, including the original IROOA.
However, because the lens barrel has a large finger grip for focusing, the hood cannot be attached backwards when stored.

Color Skopar L39 50mm F2.5 +LEICA M8 +IROOA互換フード

3．Add Info.

The Color Skopar 50mm F2.5 is rarely seen on the used market due to its mediocre specifications, and perhaps because it did not sell well when it was released, but as of 2025, it is sometimes sold at a premium price.

Anyone can make a decent lens with a focal length of 50mm, so I don’t think it’s a lens worth buying at a premium price unless you are very interested. It was buried under many 50mm lenses at home and I got rid of it without using it much. I forgot to put the box on when I sold it, so only the box remains at my house.

The COLOR-SKOPAR VM 50mm F2.2 was released in July 2024. Looking at the lens configuration, we can see that it is based on the COLOR-SKOPAR L39 50mm F2.5.

Looking at the specifications of the new lens, it has achieved a significant weight reduction of 35%.
To achieve this, the lens configuration diagram shows that the width in the lens diameter direction is reduced to reduce the weight in order to make the lens smaller, which is effective for weight. In addition, it is believed that the lens barrel is made of a lightweight aluminum-based metal.

The S SKOPAR 50mm F2.5 was also released for the Nikon S mount. This only changes the mount, and the lens configuration and other functions are the same as the Color Skopar L39 50mm F2.5.

It is also believed that the image circle has been optimized for 35mm full-frame by reducing the lens diameter. It is possible that the image circle is insufficient for larger sensors such as medium-format digital sensors.

The lens configuration diagram is taken from a PDF distributed by Cosina or from the Cosina website, and the size has been adjusted here, so the scale is not exact.

Specification

Item	COLOR SKOPAR	COLOR SKOPAR
focal length(mm)	50	50
Maximum aperture	2.5	2.2
Minimum aperture	22	22
Leaf blade	10	10
Lens configuration	7 elements in 6 groups	7 elements in 6 groups
Minimum distance(m)	0.75	0.7
Lens length(mm)	33.6 (food included)	30 (food not included)
Lens max diameter(mm)	49.6	51.4
Filter type	39	39
Weight(g)	Special cylindrical type LH-2	Special cylindrical type
Hood	208	135
Lens mount	L39	VM
Release date	2002.4	2024.7
Price	Silver ¥45,000 Black ¥48,000	Silver ¥75,000 Black ¥75,000

Reference links

COLOR SKOPAR 50mm F2.5(This information has been deleted from the official Cosina website, so we have posted a link to the Web Archive.)
COLOR-SKOPAR 50mm F2.2・Cosina official website