Updated November 2022

Introduction

The Voigtlander 21mm f/1.8 is a well-balanced lens. It offers a fast aperture and good image quality in a medium/large package, for a reasonable price. Within the Voigtlander range, it sits between the 21mm f/1.4 (amazing image quality but shockingly large) and the 21mm f/3.5 (tiny but with a much smaller aperture).

Based on its characteristics; the 21mm f/1.8 is not a lens I would expect myself to love. I love small lenses, and the 21mm f/1.8 is on the larger side. I also prefer lenses that are very sharp, and the 21mm f/1.8 is soft in the edges until stopped down quite a bit. Yet somehow, this lens is one of my all-time favorites. The f/1.8 aperture provides flexibility in low-light while also allowing for a unique, wide+bokeh rendering. And stopped down to f/4 and beyond, it becomes sharp corner-to-corner. As a result, it’s always gotten the job done, and many of my favorite photos were taken with this lens. It’s good enough that I can easily overlook the somewhat large size and weight.

Build quality & Mechanics

This lens is made entirely of metal and feels very solid. The focus and aperture rings on mine both feel great.

Size & Handling

Definitely on the larger and heavier side. The only 21mm lenses that are larger are the Leica and Voigtlander 21mm f/1.4 lenses. In terms of handling, the lens feels great and balances well on the camera. The hood is built-in, so you are stuck with the length and weight that it adds.

Minimum focus distance

Minimum distance is 0.5m, which is useful if you have liveview.

Image quality

Distortion: I haven’t noticed any distortion with this lens. Impressive for a 21mm.

Color shift:
Leica M9
There is color shift in the periphery on the M9. Using some black paint, I was easily able to 6-bit code this lens as a Leica 21mm 2.8 lens, which corrected all of the color shift and also made the metadata reflect the focal length accurately.

Leica M240/M262
There is color shift in the periphery on the M240/M262. For some reason, my M262 was not fooled by the black paint, so I used a program called CornerFix to eliminate color shift on any pictures I took with this lens. You could also manually select a lens profile in-camera, but you’ll need to remember to do this every time you switch lenses.

Below is an example taken with this lens on my M262, before and after CornerFix:

Color shift (cont.):
Leica M10 and newer
The M10 has an improved sensor that is more resistant to color shifting with wide-angle lenses. On the M10, the Voigtlander 21mm f/1.8 has no color shifting that needs correction. Using an in-camera profile still adds the benefit of vignetting correction and accurate metadata.

Vignetting: If you’re using this lens on an M10 without a lens profile selected, the vignetting can be rather heavy. I would recommend using an in-camera profile or Lightroom profile to correct it.

Lateral chromatic aberration: There is significant green/magenta color fringing towards the edges of the frame. This is a non-issue on digital since Lightroom automatically corrects for lateral CA.

Bokeh: The f/1.8 aperture allows for significant background blur. Combined with the 21mm field of view, this creates a unique type of picture that draws you in while still separating out the subject:

Focus shift: None.

Sharpness: At f/1.8, this lens is quite sharp across most of the frame, with slight purple fringing/spherical aberration. It’s definitely sharp enough for most uses even at f/1.8. The edges and corners are quite blurry at wider apertures and don’t become completely sharp until about f/4.

Below is a sample photo on my M9 taken at f/1.8:

Here are crops of the center and corner. You can see some of the purple fringing I’m talking about in the center, but it’s overall very sharp. In the corner, there’s significant coma/blur at f/1.8.

Stopped down past about f/4, this lens is sharp corner-to-corner. Here’s a sample at f/8:

Summary and recommendations

The Voigtlander 21mm f/1.8 is a great choice for 21mm and my personal favorite. The f/1.8 aperture adds a special look to photos, and you don’t sacrifice too much for it in terms of either price or size/weight. After several years of use, I sold mine to switch to the Voigtlander 21mm f/3.5 for its smaller size. I now miss my 21mm f/1.8 and plan to re-purchase it eventually. The incredible usefulness of the Voigtlander 21/1.8 is impossible to deny when I look through all the photos I took with this lens.

I would recommend it with the following exceptions. If you care more about compact size than a fast aperture, the Voigtlander 21mm f/3.5 (review) is fantastic. If you want a 21mm primarily for landscapes, I recommend the Leica 21mm f/3.4 which is sharp corner-to-corner at any aperture. And if you’re doing astrophotography, the Voigtlander 21mm f/1.4 (review) has amazing image quality even at f/1.4. That lens is so large, however, that it should be considered a special-purpose lens.

Good
Central sharpness
Build quality
Price

Bad
Fuzzy edges/corners until f/4
Size and weight
Requires profile correction on M9, M240

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