Nikon Zf + APO: The Ultimate Monochrome Kit? | Voigtlander 90mm f2 APO
After a month of testing on the Zf, Z8, and the 61 megapixel Leica, Voigtlander’s 90mm f2 APO might just be the sharpest lens I’ve used. But is it too sharp for me?
That’s what I thought when shooting in colour, then I tried monochrome. That perfect APO look gets dirtied up in black and white, its next level detail and contrast, magical.
The reality rendered by a lens this sharp can be confronting, our imaginations need more room to breathe.
But reality’s stranger than fiction.
Thank you to Mainline Photo for loaning me a copy of the Voigtlander 90mm f2 APO. I don’t get to keep the lens and this review is not sponsored. If you’d like to support my work please consider using my affiliate links:
Nikon Zf: https://geni.us/YOH8bh7
Nikon Z8: https://geni.us/MBQGq
Wotancraft straps: https://bit.ly/3uIBZ94
Wotancraft Pilot Sling bags: https://bit.ly/3XsV2yx
From my day job as a scientist I know all too well how boring graphs can be.
MTF charts, coloured lines converging, maybe that’s why APO lenses never interested me? Until this Voigtlander 90mm f2 APO, which surprised me in 5 different ways, and let me down in 1 predictable way.
Not because it’s manual focus only, I actually love the slower shooting experience plus there’s no affordable autofocus APO alternative, or is there?
Even though Nikon’s 85mm f1.8S isn’t marketed as apochromatic, it’s as sharp and well corrected as any lens I’ve used.
Today let’s see how close this Nikon 85 gets to the APO in the usual criteria for image quality - spoiler it actually beats the APO in one - or if I’d rather use a vintage optic.
Voigtlander 90mm f2 APO + Leica M11 Monochrome
1: Aberrations
The first way the Voigtlander 90 surprised me is how it handles aberrations, but should it be surprising?
Apochromatic lenses are designed to bring red, green, and blue light all into focus on the same plane, which in theory eliminates CA and nasty green or purple fringing. I thought this didn’t matter in monochrome (turns out it does, more on this later), but let’s look first in colour.
Overexposed street lamps at night are my tell-tale sign of CA, and on these bulbs it looks perfect. But the Nikon 85 is no slouch, it looks great, no fringing either, what about during the day?
Overexposed in bright day light, on the brightest portion of these back lit trees you can see purple fringing on the Voigtlander, albeit very slightly - it’s not completely gone. Before you dismiss the APO label as false advertising, let’s look at how a non-APO lens performs.
The Non-APO Nikon 85 1.8 handles this situation well, but not quite as well as the Voigtlander. In those same overexposed portions of the image Nikon shows more purple fringing than the Voigtlander, but it more than holds its own in contrast. As I change the angle the light source hits the front of the lens I think Nikon beats the APO at dampening flare.
Nikon’s lens coatings might be the best in the industry and it really shows here, so while the APO does minimise CA better than the Nikon, you can confidently use both lenses wide open under any condition.
Voigtlander 90mm f2 APO + Zf
***
Late night murder scenes aren’t optimal working conditions, but Weegee wouldn’t have it any other way.
His gritty noir-style wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea.
A darkroom technician by day, an unlikely ambulance chaser at night, but no-one could have predicted the ending.
His crime scene photos eventually became fine art.
Reality’s stranger than fiction.
***
2. Form Factor
The second way the Voigtlander 90mm f2 surprised me is its tiny form factor, which matters to me more than the APO label.
While Voigtlander lenses can now go toe to toe with Leica in image quality, Leica’s APOs were all significantly smaller… until now. This Voigtlander 90mm f2 APO is half an inch shorter and at 340 grams about two thirds of the weight of the Leica 90mm f2 APO.
On a Leica M body, there’s barely any viewfinder blockage at the 90mm framelines, and it’s not front heavy on a neck strap. I’m wearing Wotancraft’s double-sided leather straps cross body, both sides are full grain leather so it doesn’t get caught on my shirt or jacket, and when the camera’s resting the lens doesn’t lean forward.
The same form factor advantage is there on the Nikon Zf, and the Voigtlander 90mm f2 is so much smaller than Nikon’s 85mm f1.8 S. The whole profile of the lens stays much closer to the body even with an adapter. You lose autofocus of course, there’s a 120 degree focus throw, not too long, perhaps a bit short for some, but Nikon’s 85mm focuses down to 0.8 meters as opposed to 0.9 on the Voigtlander.
You can use Voigtlander close focus M to Z adapter to bring that down even closer. It’s not chipped, so doesn’t have the green box for focus confirmation like with the TTartisan M to Z 6 bit adapter.
Quick tip - don’t forget to manually set your camera to Manual Focus mode to take full advantage of the Zf’s focus assist tools, and for the TTArtisan adapter you need firmware 1.0.2 updated via the lens’s USB-C port on a PC (Macs don’t work for some reason).
Voigtlander 90mm f2 APO + Leica M11 Monochrome
3: Monochrome + APO
The third way the Voigtlander 90mm surprised me I mentioned at the start - how APO lenses render in monochrome.
A perfect pairing with the Zf’s black and white dial, the Leica M11 monochrome, and the 45 megapixel Z8 I used to compare it against the Nikon 85. On the Zf and Z8 there’s the deep monochrome JPEG previews in camera, but when working with the raws in Lightroom they start out flat. Ironically I need to do more tweaking in my black and white images than colour, especially when using vintage glass, to get the contrasty look I like but not with this Voigtlander APO.
Voigtlander 90mm f2 APO + Leica M11 Monochrome
What’s in and out of focus is so well-defined, adjusting the exposure slider is often enough to get a result I like. I like it even more at higher ISOs, that grain gives the clean APO image more texture to play with.
Every detail fully rendered.
Voigtlander 90mm f2 APO + Zf
Voigtlander 90mm f2 APO + Zf
***
Long-rumored to be the source of “f8 and be there”, Weegee never shied away from reality.
Yet his most famous work was far from authentic, the clash between fancy Opera-attending haves and the down and out have-nots.
He staged the confrontation, cropped out the competition, and “The Critic” was born.
Reality’s stranger than fiction.
***
4: Sharpness
The reason I think this lens pops so much in monochrome is the fourth way the Voigtlander 90 surprised me - sharpness.
I could see it straight away through the EVF on the 45 megapixel Z8 - this is an impossible shot at minimum focus distance of backlit spiderwebs mounted against a streetlamp at night. It’s actually easier using manual focus in this situation and the amount of detail I’m extracting from the Voigtlander APO is staggering.
I never thought my Nikon 85 wasn’t sharp enough, but the pictures speak for themselves. The APO extracts so much more detail from the spider web fibres compared to the 85. I couldn’t believe I can see this much difference, although the sharpness disparity is a little less apparent (but still there!) when focused to infinity.
Unless you look in the corners - the Nikon 85mm was never known for corner sharpness - but the Voigtlander has great sharpness and resolution edge to edge wide open, it looks like there’s near flat-field curvature to me.
What if for some reason 45 megapixels isn’t enough detail for you? Paired with the 61 megapixel Leica M11 Monochrome - the Voigtlander APO clearly resolves, and potentially outresolves this sensor, the buildings in the distance, the closeup detail of people’s clothes and hat all come out super crisp.
But is it too sharp?
5: Bokeh
The fifth way the Voigtlander 90 surprised me: Bokeh. It is one of the most common critiques of APO lens design.
The cost of optimising for perfectly corrected, razor sharp optics is often harsher less dreamy bokeh, so how about this Voigtlander? Bokeh balls catseye around the edges, rounder in the centre, they look pretty smooth without much if any onion rings. There is a bit of vignetting but not much swirl - the falloff is quite sudden rather than gradual, common in lenses with close to flat field curvature. It doesn’t look harsh to me, there’s plenty of separation on 90mm wide open at f2, and I really love that distinct sharpness for monochrome.
Voigtlander 90mm f2 @ f2 on Nikon Z8
Nikon 85mm f1.8 S @ f1.8 on Nikon Z8
Nikon’s 85mm f1.8 S bokeh looks similar to the APO, just a little gentler, its softer corners a benefit for portraits. Overall the Nikon 85 is very close to this APO, which in itself is very close to the Leica APO, a classic example of fantastic value from Voigtlander and Nikon underselling but overdelivering.
Or rather vintage-inspired lens: TTartisan 75mm f1.5
But perhaps nothing but the dreamiest falloff will do for you.
The vintage lens I’ve been hinting at is actually a vintage-inspired lens - TTArtisan’s 75mm f1.5, which perhaps is the dreamiest lens I’ve tried. The bokeh is oh so swirly, for a surrealist throwback portrait there might not be a better option on the market, but it’s at the cost of sharpness, contrast, and aberrations.
All to escape this reality.
Voigtlander 90mm f2 APO + Zf
TTArtisan 75mm f1.5 + Zf
TTArtisan 75mm f1.5 + Zf
TTArtisan 75mm f1.5 + Zf
***
The crime-scene chaser turned to fiction in the end - the bright lights of Hollywood came calling.
Weegee’s street photography roots ironically applicable to special effects for Kubrick.
Documentary vs fine art is a false dichotomy.
Reality’s stranger than fiction.
***
The realistic rendering of APO lenses can be the right tool for the job, just like how soft vintage swirl can give a unique look, but there is one way the APO lens let me down.
It’s not actually a problem specific to the lens - on the Zf it’s no problem at all, but when paired with a Leica it’s a problem with me.
I never had a problem focusing through the rangefinder patch but turns out my limit for rangefinder accuracy is 90mm. I missed focus so many times at f2, and ended up stopping it down to f2.8/f4 to get sharp results.
The solution? adapt it on the Zf - manual focus subject detection when paired with the TTartisan adapter AND there’s IBIS. This is a great candidate to port over to native Z-mount - hope it’s next on Voigtlander’s list.
Happy shooting everyone, talk soon.
Jack.
Want to support the channel? Affiliate links for my photography and videography gear can be found here.
