The Voigtlander M Pivot Part 3: Voigtlander Heliar Classic 75mm f/1.8 VM.

I mentioned hypocrisy in my last post. More accurately with more information I changed my mind. An important distinction now that I think about. What we should all be able to do. I had thought loftier brand M mount lenses would cost more than the examples discussed here. Most did actually.

The bogeys were the lenses I already had in my possesion. Wrote my own post…

…and one for 35mmc about them. Then the ZEISS 50mm f/2 was the first interloper.

The Artisan lenses remained. Largely because finishing a ZEISS M wide/normal/portrait lens trio would be expensive. I fully acknowledge that the $500 starting prices for ZEISS lenses are reasonable, especially compared to native Leica lenses, but this is still more than I wanted to spend.

Sure, you can find some less expensive Leica lenses out there like the 90mm f/2.8 and 135mm f/2.8. But those lenses did not interest me. 75mm is a nice sweet spot for a rangefinder portrait lens. And the balance of Leica lenses are far too pricey for me. And new Leica lenses are out of the question. Worth it? Yes. Am I willing to pay that much? No.

As I have stated before I am here for the full frame rangefinder thing, not a certain brand where applicable. For digital cameras this leaves Leica and Pixii. For lenses, I am happy to shop elsewhere.

I am also interested in Thypoc lenses. They seem wonderful, are reasonably priced, and the reviews have been good. But there is one issue for me. Voigtlander lenses exist. More importantly in this scenario used Voigtlander lenses exist. A lens landed at my local camera shop that I traded three lenses for, the Voigtlander 40mm f/1.2 VM.

It is awesome! And also started something. I could not stop shopping for lenses to complete a proper Voigtlander prime trio. You see, while both ZEISS and Voigtlander are made by Cosina, which might explain the similar build quality levels, Voigtlander lenses are quite a bit more affordable. This continued for months as I also tried to justify staying with the Artisan lenses. These Artisan lenses were still viable. But as much as I defend and genuinely like these lenses there were a few issues. None of them are related to the brand names.

The build is good. Fine. Just fine.
The large size and weight somewhat contrast with the small and light rangefinder ethos.

On the portrait end of things, I really liked the 7Artisans 75mm f/1.25.

If imitation is flattery then this lens fawns all over the Leica OG it replicates. I thought I would definitely keep this one. It looks good. But over time I found that I was not using it. Mostly came down to the large size and heavy weight. Much of my attention went to searching for a portrait lens. The two top contenders were 75mm Voigtlander lenses. The Voigtlander 75mm f/1.5 and 75mm f/1.9. Then one day it happened. On one of my MPB searches (I was trolling KEH also.), two lenses appeared that I had never looked at before. And they both did two things.

Posed as interesting alternatives to the Artisan lenses I had.
Posed as very good value options even compared to Artisan lenses.

That last bullet surprised me. All of the other lenses I had looked at cost more than $500 or $600 used. Even more new. That put the price for two lenses at over $1,000. Nope. These lenses were both listed in Like New for little more than $300. That is used Artisan lens territory.

Here is the portrait lens of the pairing with categories copied over from my Part 1 post.

The Voigtlander Heliar Classic 75mm f/1.8 VM.

Why I did not know about it.

Because it was discontinued. I had focused on the more recent f/1.9 and f/1.5 lenses mentioned above. Until this lens showed up on MPB I had not really known about it. After a quick search of older reviews, I was really glad I found it.

Why it is so reasonably priced.

I would imagine because it was discontinued.

What lens it replaced.

The 7Artisans 75mm f/1.25 mentioned above. While not as fast on arrival immediate benefits were realized.

As much as I had fixated on f/1.25 when I held both lenses in hand I would gladly trade the loss of light for a lighter lens… I am sorry. I will show myself out. And after a quick IQ and bokeh test this lens does just fine.
Better build quality. Not that the 7Artisans is bad. But the Voigtlander is better.

And lastly there is this. There is something to be said for the satisfaction of having matching brand lenses.

So. That was a lot of words. None of those words matter if the lens is not capable of a fine image. Having owned many Voigtlander lenses I was not worried about this at all. I ran a quick film and digital test at my usual test spot. Duke Gardens. Will also share other pics from the day on digital.

Film (Fujifilm 400 developed w/ Cinestill CS41)

Digital

Thoughts.

I expected it to be good, and it was. Here I will try to bullet-ify why:

The colors are amazing.
Very sharp.
Wonderful bokeh.
- It trades the added isolation of the f/1.25 for a better quality of bokeh.
Light and relatively small for a portrait lens.
Better build and a more quality feel than the 7Artisans 75mm f/1.25.

All while:

Being easy to focus.
- Has a nicer focus throw feel than the f/1.25 and in general f/1.8 yields a more forgiving depth of field.
Being beyond reasonably priced for a high quality M mount portrait lens.

That last bullet. I think we all get sucked into a “You get what you pay for.” mindset when it comes to camera gear. As a result often times when I see a reasonably priced lens my first thought is not, “Oh boy! A bargain!”, but “What is wrong with it?”. This is a “What a bargain.” lens for sure. I see no reason to look elsewhere if you want a strong performing M mount portrait lens.

Do I have any worries calling it after one day? Not really. I have owned enough Voigtlander lenses to know that there are no “gotchas” hiding around the corner.

This lens is no longer available new and is available for a fantastic price used.

Well done Voigtlander.