Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs Review

The Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs mounted on the Nikon EM — Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs shown on the Nikon EM

A Review of the Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs for Nikon F-Mount

Now and then a lens pops up on my radar although I never really went looking in the first place. The Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs is such a lens.

During my foray into Nikon 35mm SLR film cameras the Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 was suggested to me on a photo forum, from a comment here on this site, and a local Vancouver photographer.

Initially, I was taken aback by the retro design but slowly and surely it grew on me as I contemplated if I should give it a try.

A Nikon FM3a shown with the Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs — The Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs shown on the Nikon FM3a

Introduction

Released in September of 2017 the Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs went almost unnoticed by me until I started dabbling in film photography again a couple of years ago.

I was mostly looking at original older Nikkor AI-S lenses but the further I dug into the topic, Voigtländer F-Mount lenses were mentioned repeatedly by Youtubers, on photo forums, and as mentioned the Ultron 40mm f/2 was suggested to me directly.

Manufactured in Japan by lens maker Cosina the Voigtländer Ultron 40mm is a member of a five-lens family of manual focus lenses for the Nikon F-mount.

Voigtländer Color Skopar 28mm f/2.8 SL IIs
Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs
Voigtländer Nokton 55mm f/1.2 SL IIs
Voigtländer Nokton 58mm f/1.4 SL IIs
Voigtländer APO-Skopar 90mm f/2.8 SL IIs

At the time this review was posted the Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs was priced at $419.00.

Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs - Specs, Handling, and Build Quality

Lens construction: 6 elements in 5 groups with one aspherical lens element
9 aperture blades
Minimum focus distance: 9.84", 25 cm
Nikon AI-S Mount (CPU integrated)
Weight: 9.17 oz, 260 g
Dimensions: 2.61 x 1.48", 66.3 x 37.5 mm
Filter size: 52 mm
Optional screw-in lens hood, LH 40 II S

The Nikon FM3a shown with a Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs — The Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs and Nikon FM3a

The design clues in the Voigtländer SL lenses are derived from the Nikkor lenses of the sixties. Every little detail is carefully crafted from the silver metal ring in the middle with the color-coded depth of field indicators to the font chosen for the f-stop indicators.

The focus ring is ridiculously smooth with a wonderful dampening and a rather long focus throw of 270 degrees. The Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs comes in two versions with either the Silvertip or a Black tip.

I chose Silvertip as I think it looks rather classy plus it was the only color available from the distributor making it an easy choice.

Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs in black and silvertip versions

The Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs has CPU contacts on the mount which means information such as f-stop and distance can be transferred to modern digital cameras or f-stop and focus aid is available for modern Nikon SLR film cameras such as the Nikon F100.

Update: February 2024

I recently tried the Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs on a Nikon Zf and can confirm that with the CPU contacts the lens will provide a green focus confirmation light along with subject detection. Two very convenient features.

Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs In Action

I shot three rolls before posting this review. Kodak Tri-X 400 and Ilford Delta 400 on the Nikon FM3a, and a roll of Ilford HP5 Plus on the Nikon EM.

The aperture ring is equally well made with firm stops but is not hard to operate. On older film cameras, such as the Nikon FM3a and Nikon EM, you can adjust in full stops, and on digital or modern Nikon film cameras in 1/3 of a stop increments.

The all-metal design gives the lens a nice dense feel to it and it is a joy to use in the field as it strikes a wonderful blend of old and yet feels refined and new.

For now, at least, I opted to go without the optional LH 40 II S lens hood. The front lens element is recessed enough that going without a hood should not be a huge issue. I have a third-party 52mm vented hood I can use in a pinch. The dedicated lens hood costs $49.00.

A woman walks by an old food truck in Vancouver. Sample image from a Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs — Pine Street, Vancouver. Nikon FM3a, Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs @ f/2

Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs Image Quality

Testing a lens on a film camera, and in this case for black and white negative film, is probably not the most demanding application but I am certainly pleased with the images I have been able to make with the Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs.

It is plenty sharp and when shot wide open the bokeh is rather pleasant. I have also tested the lens on my Fujifilm X-Pro3 and will have more about this in an upcoming review.

I was a bit worried that the lens would render too clinically correct being a newer design but I find there is plenty of grit with the black-and-white negative grain while maintaining a true representation of what I saw in the field.

I have quite a few sample images in this review. Make sure to click the image to view up to 2500 pixels wide depending on your monitor size or pinch-zoom if on your mobile phone.

The Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs shown on a Nikon EM — The Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs on the Nikon EM

Conclusion

I think of the Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs as a wide-angle but have to adjust my thinking to “moderate wide-angle”. Quite often when putting the camera up to my eye, 40mm is not as wide as imagine it to be.

This is not a fault of the Ultron 40mm but something I have to get used to. There is nothing wrong with this focal length other than the fact that it is not the classic 50mm or 35mm that perhaps our eyes have become used to seeing while capturing thousands of images.

The Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs mounted on a Nikon EM — The Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs on the Nikon EM

Think of the Ultron 40mm f/2 as a 50mm where the environment will come into play more or a 35mm image that you have cropped ever so slightly.

I am aware this is not rocket science but when dealing with a prime lens you are stuck with your focal length so it is worth keeping this in mind. With that said you could draw many positives from a 40mm lens. You may just have to ease into it.

The retro look, solid construction, and smooth focus ring are features that will have you smiling ear to ear. At $419.00, you get a lot of value for your money with the Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs.

The only danger is; There are currently four other lenses in the Voigtländer SL lineup and if manual focus lenses are appealing to you, these lenses could be hard to resist.

Update:

You can now see sample images and my take on using the Ultron 40mm f/2 on the Fujifilm X-Pro3:

Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs for Fujifilm X

Update:

I have now also tried adapting the Ultron 40mm f/2 to my GFX 50R. You can see the results here.

Voitländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs adapted to Fujifilm GFX

Please see more sample images below.

Price / Availability

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Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs at B&H Photo

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Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL IIs - Sample Images

Please see the sample images below. The negatives in this post were copied using a Fujifilm X-Pro2, an AF Micro Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D lens, and Skier Sunray Copybox 3. RAW files were imported to Lightroom and I used the Negative Lab Pro plugin to convert the files.

Please click to view larger images.