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Voigtländer 20mm f/3.5 SL Review

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The Voigtländer 20mm f/3.5 SL is a compact and lightweight ultra-wide pancake lens designed for landscape photography. It is suitable for both full-frame and APS-C digital SLR cameras, and also compatible with mirrorless cameras. The lens is well-built, lightweight, and has smooth manual focusing. The image quality is good, especially in the center of the frame, but it suffers from vignetting and some marginal softness at wider apertures.

The Voigtländer 20mm f/3.5 SL is a good option for photographers who prioritize portability and manual focus, as it delivers good image quality across different camera types with some limitations.

Pros
  • Compact and lightweight
  • Smooth manual focusing
  • Good image quality in the center of the frame
Cons
  • Vignetting and softness at wider apertures
  • Struggles with chromatic aberration
  • No autofocus

The lens delivers sharpness, especially in the center of the image at f/3.5, but there is some softness and vignetting at wider apertures, which improves when stopped down to f/5.6 or narrower.

The Voigtländer 20mm f/3.5 SL is a compact and lightweight ultra-wide pancake lens designed for landscape photography. It is suitable for both full-frame and APS-C digital SLR cameras, and also compatible with mirrorless cameras. The lens weighs about 250 grams and is constructed with 9 glass elements, making it light and balanced for any camera. The build quality is classy, and the rubberized ring allows for extremely smooth and precise manual focusing. However, the lens does not feature autofocus and lacks a lens hood. In terms of image quality, the lens delivers sharpness, especially in the center of the image at f/3.5, but there is some softness and vignetting at wider apertures, which improves when stopped down to f/5.6 or narrower. Bright light conditions and close-up image quality are decent, but the lens struggles with chromatic aberration and softness at the edges. Overall, the Voigtländer 20mm f/3.5 SL is a good option for photographers who prioritize portability and manual focus, as it delivers good image quality across different camera types with some limitations.

The build quality is classy, and the rubberized ring allows for extremely smooth and precise manual focusing.

Source

This article is based on the review by

Christopher Frost

Christopher Frost

Christopher Frost is a YouTube channel dedicated to providing in-depth reviews and analyses of photography equipment, particularly lenses. Christopher Frost, the creator and host of the channel, is known for his thorough and detailed evaluations of various lenses from different manufacturers, including Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, and others.  To learn more, please visit the channel here.

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