Buy Voigtlander Color Skopar 20mm f/3.5 SL-II Aspherical Manual Focus Lens for Nikon Film & Digital CamerasVoigtlander Color Skopar 20mm f/3.5 SL-II Aspherical Manual Focus Lens for Nikon Film & Digital Cameras Product Description:
- Two Aspherical Elements
- Manual focus lens with fully compatible metering
- CPU matrix metering for full meter compatibility with current digital SLR's
- Nikon AIS mount
- Lets you control the F stop from the camera (set the aperture ring to f/22)
Product Description
Voigtlander Color Skopar 20mm f/3.5 SL-II Aspherical Manual Focus Lens for Nikon Film & Digital Cameras
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
If you think you want it, you'll love it [UPDATED]
By Z. Abedin
I got this lens in anticipation of a D800, and to use with my older nikon film cameras, but I've been using it on my D7000 with some pretty great results, and I couldn't wait to share my initial impressions. I've tried to keep the review short, so here are my comments:Focal length:I hadn't really expected to like this lens on a DX camera, but I'm finding that its actually a really fun focal length (its effectively a 30mm), and it focuses pretty close, which makes for some really fun perspectives. On film, its beautifully wide, and perfect for landscapes.Focusing:The lens itself is very well constructed and has a silky smooth focus ring. Though I admit that the focus ring is a little small, the rubber coating the ring is absolutely superb and I haven't had any issues focusing without looking. Its really a different experience from trying to manually focus an autofocus lens, and its nice using a lens with depth of field markings that are actually pretty accurate. I enjoy doing night-time long exposure landscapes, and when I set this lens to infinity, i get exactly that.Sharpness:I like this lens because its generally pretty sharp at 3.5, and only gets better when you stop down. Other reviews have mentioned that the corners aren't sharp wide open on FX, but I haven't noticed any issues on film or DX; its sharp enough for crystal-clear prints, and the center looks great.Color/image quality:This lens gives beautiful, contrasty images and I love the way it renders colors. I have had no problems with ghosts, and I am liking the images I get straight out of my camera. On film (Ektar 100), the prints have been great- lots of contrast and colors that really pop. The lens delivers nice bokeh if you manage to get the background out of focus, which I could see happening since it focuses pretty close.Price:If you're like me, you're choosing between getting a used nikon 20mm manual lens, a Nikon 20mm f/2.8D AF Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras or this lens. Honestly, you could buy any of these lenses and get practically the same images either way. The AF lens is slightly cheaper, faster, and it has autofocus. The difference is that using a Voigtlander is as much about the experience as it is about getting the shot. If you're into the aesthetics of photography, and you enjoy the act of using your equipment, this lens actually offers more than the nikons, because it delivers great results, but its also just fun to use.Other:The size of this lens is great, though the other 20mm options from nikon aren't really huge either. I like that it takes 52mm filters, which are generally a little cheaper to find than the other sizes. Other reviewers have mentioned some distortion from this lens, though it honestly hasn't been apparent enough to bother me yet. My last and absolute favorite feature of the lens is the aperture diaphragm, which gives beautiful and unique-looking starbursts when stopped down; Its a small detail, but it really adds a nice touch to my pictures.Conclusion:On paper, this lens is overpriced and doesn't have as much to offer as nikon's own 20mm primes. If you're just looking for a 20mm lens, there are others that will give you the same results for cheaper. But if you have a little extra money and you like the experience and feel of a precision metal and glass manual focus lens, I'd highly recommend it.Update:I've had this lens for a few months now and have used it quite a bit with my D800. My update is essentially that I have no updates. This lens is every bit as awesome on full frame as it was on my d7000, though you should expect a fair amount of vignetting and distortion on full frame. Personally, i think the vignetting adds contrast to photos, and with a lens this wide, the vignetting rarely reaches your subject. Instead, it brings out your subject by letting the corners get a little dark...its all part of the character of this lens. The one area where I've come to really appreciate this lens is for pseudo-macro work. On hikes and other long trips where I might encounter a pretty flower or other small object I might want to photograph, it's rarely actually worth it for me to carry a dedicated macro lens, but this one is tiny and is always in my bag anyway for landscapes, and it focuses extremely close, so it comes in handy in a pinch. I have other wide lenses that cover the 20mm length, but I always seem to turn to this one for its superb color rendition, ease of focus and just because there is always room in my bag for it!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.Perfect Wide-Angle Pancake
By Chris Fargo
I've been using this lens on my D700 for a few weeks and I'm very impressed. It's extremely sharp other than in the extreme corners, and I have been getting contrasty images with wonderful color. Manual focus is easy on wide angle lenses (even on f/3.5), and the focus indicators in my viewfinder work perfectly.Pros:Tiny size and weight practically make the D700 feel like a point and shoot!Mechanical quality is fantastic -- it's a tiny tank.Sharpness, contrast, and color are excellent.It seems very resistant to flare and ghosting.Awesome field of view on full frame sensor, particularly for the size. There is no other recent F-mount lens that I know of that has such a wide angle in such a small package.Cons:Visible distortion means it's not great for architecture/straight lines.Focus ring is very narrow and takes some getting used to (the tiny size of the lens means there just isn't a lot of real estate for the focus ring).Does not come with a lens hood, which is an expensive extra (Voigtlander LH-20 Hood for 20mm SL II Lens, Black).Conclusion: this is an excellent lens for the money -- a nice blend of great image quality, build quality and convenience
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.Perfect Street Photography / Walk around lens for DX bodies
By Dimitris
First of all to clarify: I'm using this lens for more than 2 years on an Nikon DX body (D300s) and this Voigtlander became my favorite lens, especially for street photography and walk around shooting(the other lenses I currently use are the Nikon 35 f/18 G and the Nikon 85 f/1.8 G)Is this lens sharp on a DX body? If you read the reviews for this lens and look at the MTF charts, it's just a moderately sharp lens.Comparing this to my Nikon 35 f/1.8 G DX it's definitely less sharp. Wide open it's guide sharp in the center, but a little soft at the corners. At f/5.6 you get a visible improvement on the corners and only at f/8 & f/11 it's reaching very good overall results. So based on this and explanation if you stop it al little down, yes it is a sharp lens.What are the strongest points of this lens?First of all it's extremely practical due to it's tiny size and weight. If you don't mind to carry around a lens with almost the triple size and weight, the Tokina 12-24 f/4 may be a better option for you ( I owned the tokina 12-24 for many years in the past, but I changed to this Voigtlander when I started to shoot more street photography than landscapes photos).Also if you shooting at the streets the Voigtlander looks like a small old-fashion lens and the people react better by not getting annoyed compared to when you pointing at the a relevant big fat zoom lens.Regarding the optical characteristics there are two strong points which had me impressed from the first test shoots and still are impressing me :The rich and contrasty colors and tones, that this lens is producing. It has it's unique character regarding this point it reminds me a 28mm Zeiss lens which a used on the old film days on a Contax camera.The second point is it's ghosting / flare resistance, which it's extremely good for a lens on this focal length. (I hate it when a loss a lot of contrast when I shoot in difficult light conditions. I had tried out to Nikon 20mm 2.8 D before deciding for the Voigtlander and the ghosting - very high- is the main reason I preferred to go for the Voigtlander)Manual Focus ? With the deep of field of this focal lengths, out on the streets I'm always pre-focus using zone system or if I have good daylight I'm using the hyper focal distance (for example with f/8 and setting the focus distance at 10 feet you get everything within the DOF from about 4.5 feet up to infinity). There is not faster focusing system than that, it's a ready to shoot 0 sec lag system and no AF technology that can outreach this old-fashion focusing method.When I have to actually manual focus, the green dot indicator is more than good enough to work with (would be not the case for longer focal lengths)Speaking about DOF, just a commend regarding DX and FX format: Yes FX format sensors clearly outperform any DX sensor at High ISO's. Also on portrait usually a small DOF is often wished and again here DX format is losing. My 85 f/1.8 lens has more DOF that a equivalent in FX format ~ 127,5 lens would have.But there are situations where a bigger DOF is required , like street photography and there the DX is a winner (on this voigtlander you get a field of view of 30mm equivalent focal length, with a DOF very close to the one of a 20mm lens on FX)Conclusion: If you want this lens for shooting mainly landscapes and if you don't mind to carry extra bulk, then I would propose to look at some zooms at the 12-24 range (like the Tokina 12-24 f/4 DX) due to the extra wide angle range, but if you are looking for a practical walkaround / street photo lens this is definitely a great little lensPSIf you know what you are looking for and what do you are excepting from a lens like this I do not see any negative points apart from two small details on the lens accessories:The included front lens cap does not fit the same securely as my Nikon lens caps are fitting (it's not bad or problematic, it's just that Nikon caps are fitting tighter and more securely) . Therefore a replaced the original provided front lens cap with a Nikon 52mm cap.The respectively hood is not included, and it's too expensive for just a small piece of metal. After searching I'm using a 52mm screw in metal hood from Nikon (the Nikon HN-3) which I found on local store for the one fourth of the price of that the Voigtlander hood is priced here and I leave it always on the lens. For DX format field of view it matches perfectly.
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