Voigtlander ULTRON SL 40mm F2
Review and Photo example of the ULTRON 40mm F2 SL Aspherical.
Table of contents
Gallery
- The examples were taken with the FUJIFILMU S3Pro
Review
The Ultron 40mm is the first Voigtlander brand lens released by Cosina for single-lens reflex cameras (SL).
The following seven SL lenses were released around the same time.
- Ultra Wide Helier 12mm (for mirror up only)
- Super Wide Helier 15mm (for mirror up only)
- Ultron 40mm
- COLOR HELIAR 75mm
- APO LANTHAR 90mm
- Macro APO LANTHARr 125mm
- APO LANTHAR 180mm
The design of the five lenses other than the mirror up is unified, and I think the black lens barrel with silver accents on the focus ring is a nice combination of classic and modern elements.
However, with long focal length lenses, I feel that having the focus ring too close to the base poses a problem with operability.
There are a variety of lens mounts available, including the M42, Nikon Ai-S, Canon EOS, Minolta (Sony) α, Pentax-K, Yashica Contax, Olympus OM, Minolta MD, and Canon FD. The lenses do not have electronic contacts, and the camera barrel is the same, with only the mount being replaced. Use the actual aperture and manual focus.
It is a Gaussian lens with 6 elements in 5 groups, with an aspherical lens at the rear end.
Two types of bayonet hoods have been released, one is cylindrical (LH-40S, second photo above) and the other is shaped like a square cut out of a hemisphere (LH-40D).
The lens name Ultron is based on the original ULTRON lens specification of 50mm F2, and the Kosina Voigtlander lens ignores the focal length and uses the Ultron brand for lenses with an aperture of around 2.
I first got the M42 mount version and used it with the Sony α700, mirrorless camera Panasonic LUMIX GF1, Sony NEX-5, etc. via a mount adapter. After that, I got the Nikon mount version to use with the Fujifilm FINEPIX S3Pro.
The focus ring is narrow and feels a little awkward, but it’s not really a problem.
When used with an APS-C sensor camera, the focal length is 60mm in 35mm format, making it a slightly longer standard lens. The depiction is fine, even the peripheral areas are resolved, and the blurring is straightforward and unobtrusive.
The price hasn’t gone up that much, so I’d like to get it a third time someday.
This lens is a long-lived lens that is still on sale today, with changes in appearance and compatible mounts since its release in 2002. Since this lens has been repeatedly released under similar names, it is difficult to keep up with its evolution, so we have summarized the differences in specifications below. Information is compiled and reprinted from Cosina’s official website, distributed leaflets (PDF), etc.
The release order is SL, SLII, SLIIN, SLIIS or B, and the main differences are as follows.
- SL is a completely manual lens with no electronic contacts.
- The SLII is an improved version with a slightly cheaper rubber knurling, the lens mount is organized, it is compatible with Nikon Ai-S (CPU compatible) and Pentax KA mount, and a special close-up lens is included.
- SLIIN is compatible with Nikon Ai-S (CPU compatible) and Canon EOS (with electronic contacts) mounts and comes with a dedicated close-up lens.
- SLIIS or B has a new lens barrel and is larger, but the shortest shooting distance has been shortened to 0.25m with the lens alone.
Specification
| Items | Value | SL II | SL IIN | SL IIB / SL IIS |
| Focal length(mm) | 40 | ← | ← | ← |
| Max aperture | 2 | ← | ← | ← |
| Min aperture | 16 | 22 | ← | ← |
| Leaf blade | 9 | ← | ← | ← |
| Lens Construction | 6elements in 5groups | ← | ← | ← |
| Min distance(m) | 0.4 | 0.38 | 0.25 | |
| Optional close-up lens | none | none | ||
| Lens length(mm) Nikon Ai-S mount | 29.5 | 24.5 | 37.5 | |
| Max diameter(mm) | 63.5 | 63 | 63.6 | 66.3 |
| Filter Size(mm) | 52 | ← | ← | ← |
| Lens mount | Many single-lens reflex cameras such as Nikon Ai-S | Nikon Ai-S Pentax-KA | Nikon Ai-S EOS | Nikon Ai-S |
| Built-in CPU (Nikon Ai-S,EOS) | none | exist | ← | ← |
| Weight(g) | 250 | 200 | 180 | 260 |
| Lens color | Silver plus black. | Black | Black | Black with two rim colors: black and silver |
| Lens hood | bayonet hood LH-40S LH-40D | screw dome hood | ← | Round screw type hood LH-40IIS |
| etc. | – | focus ring is rubber | – | Lens barrel is larger than others |
| Release date | Year 2002 | 2007.11.17(Nikon) 2007.12(Pentax) | 2012.7.14 | 2017.9.7 |
| Price(Yen/No-tax) | Yen 45,000 | Yen 50,000 | Yen 53,000 | Yen 60,000 |
- The following is a list of early COSINA / Voigtlander brand lenses for SLR cameras. Two lenses, 15mm and 12mm, are excluded from the table below because they are special lenses that are used with the mirror up.
| Items | ULTRON | COLOR HELIAR | APO LANTHAR | Macro APO LANTHAR | APO LANTHAR |
| Focal length(mm) | 40 | 75 | 90 | 125 | 180 |
| Max aperture | 2 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 2.5 | 4 |
| Min aperture | 16 | 22 | ← | ← | ← |
| Leaf blade | 9 | ← | ← | ← | ← |
| Lens Construction | 5群6枚 | ← | ← | 9群11枚 | 7群9枚 |
| Min distance(m) | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.38 | 1.2 |
| Lens length(mm) | 29.5(Ais) | 40.2(Ais) | 57.6(Ais) | 88.2(Ais) | 79(Ais) |
| Max diameter(mm) | 63.5 | ← | ← | 76 | 65.6 |
| Filter Size(mm) | 52 | 49 | ← | 58 | 49 |
| Weight(g) | 255 | 250 | 390 | 690 | 485 |
| Release date | 2002.05 | 2000.07 | 2002.03 | 2001.06 | 2003.08 |
| Price(Yen/No-tax) | ¥45,000 | ¥50,000 | ¥55,000 | ¥95,000 | ¥65,000 |
Reference links
Update history
- 2024.03.28:modified article
- 2023.09.22:firest post
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