Description

This high quality lens appears to be unused or barely used in excellent cosmetic condition with no signs of wear. the glass never been cleaned since new. there's no scratches, fungus, haze or cleaning marks, coating is great. the shutter works well, all speeds sound accurate, B works well too. there's info about this lens: Voigtländer wrote in a brochure from 1967: “… -a high-performance five-element anastigmat with the remarkable speed of 4.5, fully corrected for the three main colour bands of the spectrum. Its design is based on the principles used in the apochromatic correction of process lenses. In view of its high speed the Apo-Lanthar is thus eminently suitable for shots of live subjects at fast shutter speeds. It is a universal lens in the true sense of the word, guaranteeing perfect sharpness all over the image field, maximum brilliance and contrast, as well as purity of colour rendition.” The second part of the lens name is due to the fact that the front lens is made from lanthanum crown glass. Glasses using rare earth oxides were investigated by George W. Morey in the late 1920’s at the US Geophysical Laboratory, and from 1931on he developed them further for Eastman Kodak. They were initially made and used by Kodak for their Aero-Ektar aerial lenses in WWII. After the war, these glasses were adopted by all major glass manufacturers. Some of those glasses intentionally contained thorium oxide in addition to lanthanum oxide and are therefore slightly radioactive. This is the case for the Apo-Lanthar. With respect to performance, my personal experience is that in terms of resolution and contrast the Apo-Lanthar is in general one stop better than the Heliar at large apertures; that is, an Apo-Lanthar at f/5.6 is as good as a Heliar of the same focal length at f/8. The difference is reduced when stopping down, and at f/22 both lenses perform about the same. For out of focus areas it has the same pleasing characteristics as the Heliar, which means that is well suited for pictures with selective focus at wide apertures. Based on their exceptional performance (in the 1950’s) and their original high price, as well as their rareness, Apo-Lanthars have unfortunately become something of a cult item for collectors. Used prices are often as high or higher than a new modern lens of the same focal length, or a factor of 4-5 higher than a comparable Heliar. Whether or not the performance of an Apo-Lanthar is worth the asking price, can only be decided individually. this lens filter is slip-on size 42mm, image circle at infinity is 116mm perfect for 6x9 cameras. priced a little higher than some others, but one gets what one pays for. do not miss this opportunity to own a piece of apo-lanthar history as an item like this may never come up for sale again.