Cosina Voigtländer

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Cosina Voigtländer (or CV) is a term used for Voigtländer-branded products of the Japanese company Cosina.

Cosina leased the rights to the Voigtländer name, which it has used since 1999 for cameras, lenses and other photographic equipment designed by itself (and thus with no more connection to genuine Voigtländer than to Leitz or Zeiss products). This Voigtländer-branded line has centered on 35mm interchangable-lens focal-plane-shutter rangefinder designs. The products have been innovative, priced lower than the obvious alternatives (although higher than Cosina-branded products), and has been well received.

The range consists of camera bodies and lenses with the most widely-used rangefinder mounts; and also SLR cameras with the M42 mount, and SLR lenses for the M42, Nikon F and other mounts; as well as miscellaneous accessories.

Ringfoto in Germany also produces some budget-priced items under the Voigtländer name; these are unrelated to Cosina and are not dealt with in this article.

Cameras

35mm rangefinder

See Bessa (35mm) for details

The first Cosina Voigtländer camera was the Leica-thread-mount Bessa L, which lacks any finder but (like all its successors) has a TTL meter.

This was followed by the Bessa R, a camera with integrated rangefinder and viewfinder, with framelines for 35mm, 50mm, 75mm and 90mm lenses.

Next was the Bessa T, a most unusual camera in that it has a rangefinder but no viewfinder.

The Bessa R2 is a Bessa R with a Leica M mount and various minor changes. There are two variants with different lens mounts, the Bessa R2S and Bessa R2C for Nikon S mount and Contax mount respectively.

All subsequent models so far (2007) have had the Leica M mount. They have included the Bessa R2A, Bessa R2M, Bessa R3A, Bessa R3M, Bessa R4A, and Bessa R4M: "2" means magnification and framelines as explained above; "3" non-reduced finder (as on the Canon P) and framelines for 40mm, 50mm, 75mm, and 90mm; "4" a wide-angle finder and framelines for 21mm, 25mm, 28mm, 35mm and 50mm; "A" aperture-priority automatic exposure; and "M" manually set exposure (and detailed improvements over the Bessa 2).

35mm SLR

The Bessaflex TM is an M42-mount SLR that was released in two styles: first black (and looking rather like a more compact Canon F1) and then silver (and a clear, if smaller imitation of a Topcon RE Super).

Lenses

Cosina first started producing cameras and lenses under the Voigtländer brand in 1999, when it introduced a screw mount body (the Bessa L) and 15mm and 25mm lenses. It has since produced a rather prodigious variety of these lenses in Leica screw mount, M mount, Nikon S mount (some fully usable with Contax RF bodies), and several SLR mounts (particularly M42 and Nikon F). It also produces larger hoods for many of the lenses and accessory viewfinders. While the lenses have familiar Voigtländer names, the optical formulae are all new.

LTM rangefinder lenses

Not rangefinder coupled

  • 12mm f/5.6 aspherical Ultra-Wide Heliar with included metal viewfinder and Armalite hood, black or chrome
  • 15mm f/4.5 aspherical Super-Wide Heliar with integrated partial hood (no filter thread) and included plastic viewfinder, black or chrome
  • 25mm f/4 Snapshot Skopar with included plastic viewfinder and hood, black or chrome

Rangefinder coupled

  • 21mm f/4 Color Skopar with included plastic viewfinder and hood, black or chrome
  • 28mm f/1.9 aspherical Ultron with Armalite hood, black or chrome
  • 28mm f/3.5 Color Skopar with hood, black or chrome
  • 35mm f/1.7 aspherical Ultron with hood, black or chrome
  • 35mm f/2.5 Color Skopar with a single optical design but two barrel versions: "C" (with hood, black or chrome), and "P" (black only)
  • 50mm f/1.5 aspherical Nokton with hood, black or chrome
  • 50mm f/2.5 Color Skopar with hood, black or chrome
  • 50mm f/3.5 collapsible Heliar with hood, chrome only
  • 75mm f/2.5 Color Heliar with hood, black or chrome
  • 90mm f/3.5 APO Lanthar with hood, black or chrome

M-mount rangefinder lenses

All of these are rangefinder coupled.

  • 21mm f/4 Color Skopar (optically identical to the LTM 21/4)
  • 25mm f/4 Color Skopar (optically identical to the LTM 25/4)
  • 35mm f/2.5 Color Skopar PII (optically identical to the LTM 25/4)
  • 35mm f1.2 Nokton
  • 40mm f/1.4 Nokton (in two versions: single-coated and multicoated)
  • 50mm f/2 collapsible Heliar Classic (only available with a Bessa R2M or R3M)

Nikon S–mount rangefinder lenses

All of these are rangefinder coupled, and all were available in a combination of black and silver.

The wider lenses were named "SC" and marketed as being suitable for the old Contax mount as well as the Nikon S mount; the longer ones, named "S", were not. (In practice, the longer lenses are also usable with a Contax if stopped down or used at longer distances.)

SC lenses

  • 21mm f/4 SC-Skopar
  • 25mm f/4 SC-Skopar (rangefinder coupled, unlike the screwmount equivalent)
  • 28mm f/3.5 SC-Skopar
  • 35mm f/2.5 SC-Skopar

S lenses

  • 50mm f/3.5 S-Heliar (only available as a set with a Bessa R2S with special paint)
  • 50mm f/2.5 S-Skopar
  • 50mm f/1.5 S-Nokton
  • 85mm f/3.5 S-APO Lanthar

Lenses for 35mm SLR

These are all manual-focus lenses, their barrels designed according to older tastes (e.g. metal focusing ring without rubber grips). They were produced in several manual mounts: Nikon F, Canon FD, Minolta MD, M42, Pentax K, Contax/Yashica, Olympus OM. All are now (2007) discontinued.

For certain Nikon F bodies, requiring mirror lock-up and supplied with separate finders:

  • 12mm f/5.6 aspherical Ultra-Wide Heliar
  • 15mm f/4.5 aspherical Super-Wide Heliar

For Nikon F and Pentax K mount, and designed to allow use with digital cameras:

  • 40mm f/2 aspherical Ultron SLII
  • 58mm f/1.4 Nokton SLII (the same optical design as Cosina's "Auto-Topcor" 58/1.4)

Links

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