Cosina has announced the Voigtlander Color-Skopar 50mm f/2.2 lens for full-frame VM mount cameras. Cosina’s expansive range of VM lenses are compatible with Leica M-mount cameras and have been designed to be easily adaptable to a wide range of mirrorless cameras, including using Voigtlander adapters for E-mount, Z, and X mount cameras. There are also solutions from other companies to adapt VM lenses to additional mounts. In the case of the Voigtlander Color-Skopar 50mm f/2.2 VM, Cosina says it has chosen an f/2.2 maximum aperture to keep the prime lens’s size and weight down. “It has a compact appearance that is highly portable and easy to take in and out of a bag,” says Cosina. The Voigtlander Color-Skopar 50mm f/2.2 VM comes in silver and black. The lens is a mere 30 millimeters (1.2 inches) long and weighs only 135 grams (4.8 ounces). Although it is featherweight, it is still constructed using metal components, including an all-metal helicoid for focusing. The lens includes a 39mm front filter thread. Cosina promises precise focus control, and the lens includes engraved distant markers in metric and imperial units. “The focusing lever, designed to be easily gripped by the fingers, supports quick and reliable focusing operation,” Cosina promises. The company adds that a high-precision rangefinder coupling mechanism ensures accurate focus when shooting at or close to the maximum aperture. The rangefinder coupling ranges from 0.7 meters (2.3 feet) to infinity, depending on the camera. The overall minimum focusing distance is 0.5 meters (1.6 feet).
In terms of image quality, Cosina promises “excellent optical performance,” explaining that the new lens has seven elements across six groups, including a trio of “anomalous partial dispersion” glass. The lens has a 10-bladed aperture diaphragm, and the f-stop is controlled manually using an aperture control ring near the front of the lens. Sample Images
Pricing and Availability Cosina’s new Voigtlander Color-Skopar 50mm f/2.2 full-frame lens will arrive in silver and black colorways next month. Cosina has not shared pricing on the English version of its website, but the Japanese product page says the lens will have a suggested retail price of ¥75,000, which works out to just over $475 at current exchange rates. This price is in line with other Voigtlander Color-Skopar lenses, like the 28mm f/2.8 Color-Skopar Type II for $599 and the 35mm f/2.5 P II for $429. Image credits: Cosina. All sample images by Tetsu Sawamura.
