Last updated December 2022

Introduction

The announcement of the Voigtlander 35mm f/1.5 Nokton ASPH was terrifically exciting for me because until now, Voigtlander hadn’t made a lens that directly rivaled the 35 Summilux (review), my favorite 35mm lens. They’ve made lots of 35mm lenses, but all filling different niches than the 35 Summilux FLE:
•the 35mm f/1.2 Nokton (larger, faster, and softer than the Summilux)
•the 35mm f/1.4 Nokton (a vintage design that’s very soft at f/1.4)
•the 35mm f/2 Ultron (a great alternative to the 35 Summicron)
•the 35mm f/2 APO-Lanthar (a large but optically perfect 35/2 lens)

I love the Leica 35mm f/1.4 Summilux FLE, because it’s small, feels great to use, and is very sharp even at f/1.4. My only real complaint with it is that it costs >$3000 even for a used copy. The idea of a new Voigtlander equivalent that equals this lens for only $900 retail is obviously exciting. On top of that, this lens is even smaller than the Summilux FLE, which was already impressively compact for its performance.

About this lens

In order to achieve high performance in a tiny package, this lens uses no less than four aspheric surfaces (for comparison, the 35 Summilux FLE has one). But importantly, it lacks a floating group, which can be found in the 35 Summilux FLE and is necessary to achieve optimal performance at all focus distances.

This lens comes in three finishes: Type I (black aluminum), Type II (black painted brass), and Type II (silver chrome brass). The aluminum version is significantly lighter, but otherwise they are the same.

Build quality and mechanics

Build quality is exceptional. The construction is all metal, and the rear of the lens has a clean design that hides the focusing helicoids, similar to the Voigtlander 28/2 Ultron. The aperture ring is smooth and satisfying to click through. I could not be happier with the feel of the focusing tab, which is light and buttery smooth. It feels the same as a well-lubricated copy of a 28 or 35 Summicron, and it is a delight to focus with.

The only possible criticism is the bayonet hood attachment, which isn’t as solid as Leica’s screw-on hoods.

Size and handling

Size and handling are exceptional. This lens has pretty much the exact size and shape of the 35 Summicron ASPH, which is very impressive considering it has the f-stop of the Summilux. It looks and feels perfectly balanced on my M10-R, and as stated above, the focus tab and aperture ring are a joy to use.

It’s really quite an achievement how small and light this lens is. The only other full-frame 35mm f/1.4 lenses that are this small are the Voigtlander 35/1.4 Nokton and the Leica 35/1.4 Summilux pre-ASPH, which have much simpler, lower-performance optical designs.

Minimum focus distance

This lens focuses to 0.5m, which is a useful feature for cameras with liveview. 0.5m is close enough for almost all my needs, such as photographing food:

The 0.5m minimum distance is noticeably better than the 35 Summilux FLE’s 0.7m, although the newest version of that lens adds focusing down to 0.4m.

Image quality

Sharpness, infinity:
Unfortunately my copy has slight side-to-side variation, so I’ve included mid-frame crops from the best and worst quadrants.

Analysis:
•Center sharpness is good at f/1.5, with some purple blooming that improves at f/2.8.
•Mid-frame sharpness is, well, not good. It’s disappointing that my copy wasn’t perfectly centered, but the side-to-side difference is minor and even the best quadrant is noticeably soft at f/1.5. At f/2.8 the mid-frame is better but still far from perfect. This is significantly worse performance than the 35 Summilux FLE and the Zeiss 35/1.4 Distagon.
•Corner performance is actually better than the mid-frame, and on par with the 35 Summilux FLE. There is softness at f/1.5 but this almost never matters, and the corners look really clean by f/2.8.

Sharpness, 2m:

Analysis: Essentially the same performance as infinity. The center is sharp wide-open, but the mid-frame is unsharp and still isn’t perfect by f/2.8. Corner performance is plenty good for most purposes.

Sharpness, 0.7m:

Analysis: A lot of spherical aberration is introduced at close distances, which results in a noticeable loss of micro-contrast. The good news is that this sharpens up drastically by f/2.8. The bad news is there’s significant rearward focus shift that needs to be adjusted for if focusing with the rangefinder.

Sharpness, 0.5m:

Analysis: Pretty much the same as 0.7m. Lots of spherical aberration wide-open that causes low micro-contrast. Stopping down to f/2.8 looks great but causes significant focus shift.

Lateral chromatic aberration:
There is a barely noticeable amount of red/cyan lateral CA, which Lightroom corrects automatically.

Purple fringing and longitudinal CA:
Wide-open, there is noticeable purple glow around highlights. Thankfully it has never been strong enough to be distracting.

There’s also a significant amount of green/magenta longitudinal CA. This is a similar amount as the 35 Summilux FLE and it’s not enough to bother me most of the time.

Bokeh/rendering:
The background and foreground blur from this lens is smooth and very pleasing, and the transition zones are clean enough. I love the look that a 35mm f/1.4 provides and this lens is no exception.

Vignetting:
Not excessive, even wide-open. I used this lens uncoded, and almost every image in this review was processed without any form of vignetting correction.

Distortion:

Slight pincushion distortion. I personally never notice this amount of distortion in real-world use. This is also less distortion than the 35 Summilux FLE, which has stronger barrel distortion.

Summary and recommendations

I really, really wanted to like this lens, and hoped that it would perform at least as well as the 35 Summilux FLE. I don’t think this was a crazy expectation to have. The Summilux’s optical design is almost 30 years old. And several Voigtlander lenses match or exceed their Leica counterparts, such as the 28/2 Ultron, 35/2 Ultron, 50/2 APO-Lanthar, and 21/1.4 Nokton.

But instead this lens has left me disappointed. It does many things right, but I care a lot about sharpness and in that department, this lens doesn’t always deliver. Most importantly, the mid-frame is unsharp at wide apertures, which degraded many of the pictures I took with this lens. Here’s an example that I shot on a tripod, focused carefully with liveview, at f/1.5:

This is a photo taken in ideal conditions, and with the 35 Summilux FLE, the subject would pop with sharpness. But with this lens, edges are smeared and details are lost.

Many people reading this do not have such a high standard for sharpness. And for those people, this is a fantastic lens that I highly recommend. The size, feel, handling, and mechanics of this lens are perfect. And other than the mid-zone softness and contrast loss at close distances, image quality is pretty great. For $900, this lens is a terrific value.

For those like me who want image quality that meets the Leica standard, my recommendation is still the 35 Summilux FLE (review). This lens is not without its drawbacks. It costs >$3000 used, is larger than the Voigtlander 35/1.5, has more distortion, and can’t focus closer than 0.7m, which is a significant minus for me. The new version II can focus to 0.4, however it’s currently hard to find even for its retail price of $5,400. But the Summilux is an incredible lens: it’s almost as compact as the Voigtlander, yet is awesomely sharp at f/1.4 in all the places that matter. It truly is remarkable that a lens of this performance was designed back in 1994. For those who want the best 35/1.4 lens for M-mount, it’s worth saving up for the Summilux FLE.

My other top recommendation for those who can’t afford the Summilux and/or don’t need f/1.4 is the Voigtlander 35mm f/2 Ultron (review). This lens is even more compact and affordable than the Voigtlander 35/1.5, but has image quality at least as good as a Leica lens.

In summary, sometimes Voigtlander makes lenses that are so good, that they de-throne the best that Leica has to offer. But in the case of 35mm f/1.4 lenses, the Summilux is still king.

Good
Center sharpness at most distances
Vignetting and distortion are well-controlled
Size and handling
Build quality and mechanics
0.5m close focusing
Price

Bad
Mid-frame is soft at wide apertures
Spherical aberration at close distances

Other alternatives (recommended)

A very similar alternative to the Voigtlander 35/2 Ultron is the Zeiss 35mm f/2.8, which is delightfully sharp, compact, and affordable.

For those who don’t mind having a larger lens, there are several awesome choices. The Zeiss 35mm f/1.4 Distagon (review) has image quality even better than the Summilux, at a fraction of the price. The Voigtlander 35/2 APO (review) is also large, but for just over $1000 you get incredibly perfect image quality including apochromatic correction. Focusing down to 0.5m without any loss of image quality is a nice bonus. The Voigtlander 35/1.2 III has lots of optical flaws at f/1.2, but if you really want a 35mm f/1.2 lens, this is a remarkably compact and affordable option.

For those who have no budget limitations, the Leica 35/2 Summicron APO is a pretty incredible lens. It doesn’t have an f/1.4 aperture, but it has the performance of the Voigtlander 35/2 APO in a remarkably compact package, plus focusing down to 0.3m.

Other alternatives (not recommended)

Voigtlander 35mm f/1.4 Nokton Classic
This is a very popular lens since it’s f/1.4, tiny, and cheap. It uses a vintage optical design from the 1960s. I only recommend it for those who intentionally want soft, dreamy images with lots of aberrations, and really messy bokeh. It also has strong focus shift, which is a pain to deal with on a rangefinder camera.

Voigtlander 35mm f/1.2 versions I-II
The version III of this lens is so much better that I don’t recommend anyone bother with versions I-II.

Leica 35mm f/1.4 Summilux Pre-FLE
I owned this lens before switching to the FLE version, and I don’t recommend it on digital because the focus shift is actually pretty bad. I had to compensate for this when shooting at f/2.8-f/4, and life’s too short for that.

Leica 35 Summicron ASPH (review)
Zeiss 35mm f/2 Biogon
Voigtlander 35mm f/2.5
These lenses are okay but I haven’t found any reason to choose them over the Voigtlander 35/2 Ultron and Zeiss 35/2.8 Biogon.

TTArtisans 35mm f/1.4
7Artisans 35mm f/1.4
Phillipreeve.net has detailed reviews of both of these lenses. They’re both as large as the Zeiss, but with worse image quality, mechanical quality, and quality control. They are very affordable, but I would recommend saving up and buying a lens with fewer compromises.

Additional reading

I highly recommend checking out Fred Miranda’s review which includes detailed comparisons vs the 35 Summilux FLE and Voigtlander 35/2 Ultron.
Bobby Tonelli’s review