Cosina has been expanding its Voigtlander portfolio with exceptional new lenses. It comes as no surprise that they decided to launch something new for portrait photographers, too. The company has announced a new lens that allows photographers to play with bokeh, the Portrait Heliar 75mm f1.8. While this is not the first time a lens is able to achieve this, Voigtlander does state it’s the first lens in its lineup to do so. What is it, and what can it do? Here is a look at everything.
According to Cosina Voigtlander’s website, the 75mm lens comes with a spherical convergence control ring, which allows you to control the bokeh in camera. This means the photographer can change the out-of-focus areas to look really soft or have hard-edged bubble bokeh, based on their needs. Here is an example below:
However, Voigtlander is not the first company to achieve this. But rather, Petzval, who used a control ring to work around the swirling bokeh effect. Here are the specs:
- Mount: Sony E
- Aperture Ratio: 1:1.8
- Minimum Aperture: F11
- Lens Construction: 6 elements in 3 groups
- Angle of View: 33.2°
- Aperture Blade: 9
- Minimum Focus: 0.7m
- Maximum Reproduction Ratio: 1:7.4
- 5-Axis Image Stabilization: Possible (only on camera body with 5-Axis Image Stabilization)
- Diameter × Length: φ70.0×88.0mm
- Filter Size: φ62mm
- Weight: 560g
The lens also records EXIF, but it is entirely manual, which makes it challenging. However, manual focus assist is available, which will make things better for the user. The lens is set to launch in June and will be available for 133,200 yen, which is approximately $912. With a 10% tariff, the Voigtlander could be priced slightly higher, perhaps around $1000 or more.
We have tested a few lenses from the company, such as the Voigtlander Lanthar 50mm f2, the Voigtlander APO-Lanthar 50mm f2 lens, the Voigtlander 110mm f2.5 APO-Lanthar Macro, and the Voigtlander Nokton 21mm f1.4. The challenge for us was the lack of weather sealing and the manual focus. However, when it came to image quality, we were not disappointed. The bokeh, sharpness, colors, and build were appreciated by our reviewers. As we said in one of our reviews: “The APO 50mm f2 lens creates wonderfully sharp images with beautiful colors, luscious bokeh when you want it, and minimal imperfections. Don’t worry; it isn’t clinical or boring. Voigtlander left just enough character in its design to keep it interesting. Photographs require little editing. Contrast lovers may want to push it a little in-camera or in post-production in certain situations.”
As a result, we believe the new lens will fare well for many portrait photographers. But it would have been much better if we also got some weather sealing.
