The Voigtländer brand is probably best known for their rangefinder products, such as the Bessa R film cameras and Leica screw- and M-mount lenses. But did you know Voigtländer also had a range of SLR lenses? Indeed so!

LensTip picked out one of these, namely the Ultron 40mm f/2 SL II Aspherical, which is available in Canon, Nikon and Pentax mount. For their review, they chose the Nikon mount version and tested it on a Nikon D3x, where not only the lens is used to its full potential (being designed for full frame), but also eventual shortcomings will be revealed due to the D3x’s 24.5 megapixel resolution.

The Voigtländer Ultron 40/2 SL II Aspherical lens. Picture courtesy of Voigtländer.

The Ultron 40/2 SL II, like all Voigtländer lenses, is (almost) completely manual in operation, which means that you have to focus it by hand. The aperture, though, can be controlled by the camera body, which means that you will still be able to use the P, A (Av), S (Tv) and M modes on your camera. Alternatively, you can select the aperture manually using the lens’ aperture ring. Also, the Nikon mount version has a built-in CPU that communicates the lens’ settings to the camera body.

If you want to know how the lens performs in terms of build quality, resolution, and overall optical qualities, please read the review @ LensTip.

Note: The official Cosina website lists the lens as “Production Discontinued”, which means you will only be able to acquire it new as long as stocks remain.

UPDATE: Another review of the lens — this time in Canon EF mount — can be found on Peter Lück’s website. It features some very nice pictures taken with an EOS 5D Mk II. (English translation here.)