Voigtländer Announces APO-SKOPAR 75mm f/2.8 VM for Leica M-Mount

Voigtländer has announced the new APO-SKOPAR 75mm f/2.8 VM for Leica M-mount.

And honestly, this looks like a very typical Voigtländer release, in a good way. It is small, light, practical and probably very well corrected. Not every new M-mount lens needs to be extremely fast or full of character. Sometimes a lens just needs to be compact, sharp and easy to bring along.

The APO-SKOPAR 75mm f/2.8 VM seems to be exactly that kind of lens.

At around 191g and only 44mm long from the mount, this is a very small short-telephoto lens for Leica M cameras. The 75mm focal length is useful for portraits, small details, travel and slightly compressed street scenes, but many 75mm lenses are still a bit more serious in size. This one looks much more like something you could keep in the bag without really thinking about it.

The lens uses a newly designed APO optical system with 7 elements in 6 groups, including four anomalous partial dispersion glass elements. So the goal here is probably not vintage glow or dreamy imperfection. It should be more about clean rendering, good sharpness and keeping colour fringing under control.

That makes it very different from something like the Light Lens Lab 75mm f/1.5 Z21. The Light Lens Lab is more about speed, subject separation and character. This Voigtländer is more about control, size and everyday usability.

And that is fine. Actually, I think that makes the lens quite interesting.

Specs

You can find the full specifications here:

Voigtländer APO-SKOPAR 75mm f/2.8 VM on Leica Lens List

The close focus distance of 0.7m is nice to see. For a 75mm lens, that should make it more useful for tighter portraits and detail shots. The small 43mm filter size also keeps everything compact, which fits the whole idea of this lens.

Another nice detail is the included dome-shaped metal hood. It only protrudes around 3mm, so it should not block the rangefinder view too much. That is exactly the kind of practical design choice that makes sense on an M-mount lens.

The lens will be available in Silver and Black. Cosina also mentions that it can be used on Sony E, Fujifilm X and Nikon Z cameras with dedicated adapters, although the main appeal is obviously still the rangefinder-coupled VM mount use.

I have not tested the lens yet, so this is only an announcement post for now. But on paper, this could be a really nice everyday 75mm for Leica M users who want something small and corrected instead of large and dramatic.

It probably will not be the lens for people chasing maximum background blur. But if you want a compact APO-style short telephoto for travel, portraits and general use, this looks like a very sensible new option.

And sometimes sensible lenses are the ones you actually end up using the most.

Pricing

Pricing has not been listed everywhere yet, but Japanese pricing has been reported at ¥99,000, which is roughly $623 USD before taxes, duties and local retailer differences.

See some examples below.