New APO-Lanthar 28mm f/2 Is Voigtländer’s ‘Best Wide-Angle Lens’

Jun 20, 2025

Jeremy Gray

A Voigtländer APO-LANTHAR 35mm f/2 camera lens is displayed on a glossy black surface, showing its detailed engravings and multicolored logo markings near the front element.

Cosina has announced the Voigtländer VM APO-Lanthar 28mm f/2 Aspherical lens optimized for full-frame Leica M-mount cameras. As an M-mount lens, the Voigtländer APO-Lanthar 28mm f/2 is highly adaptable and can be used on a wide range of full-frame mirrorless cameras.

Cosina calls the new lens the “best performing wide-angle lens in Voigtländer history,” an incredible claim given the brand’s storied past. To achieve these results, the lens features an apochromatic design that reduces axial chromatic aberrations of red, green, and blue light — the three primary colors of light — to “practically zero.” Cosina says the lens “thoroughly” eliminates various aberrations, ensuring it achieves impeccable resolution and contrast in all situations.

Close-up of a camera lens labeled "APO-LANTHAR 28mm F2" against a dark background, with the APO-LANTHAR logo and name in the bottom right corner.

The new lens features a dozen elements arranged across eight groups. Of these, six elements are made using anomalous partial dispersion glass, while an additional two elements feature aspherical surfaces on both sides.

Behind these 12 elements is a 12-bladed aperture diaphragm that is manually controlled via a dedicated aperture ring. Cosina says the circular aperture renders beautiful bokeh from point light sources.

A Voigtländer APO-LANTHAR camera lens stands upright on a dark reflective surface, illuminated by soft lighting, with the brand logo and name "APO-LANTHAR" in the lower right corner.

The new manual focus lens can focus beyond the minimum rangefinder-coupled focus distance of 0.7 meters (2.3 feet) down to 0.5 meters (1.6 feet) using live view, enabling photographers to achieve impressive close-focusing performance. Regarding the manual focusing experience, Cosina states that the focus ring is “very precisely machined” and features an all-metal helicoid unit for “smooth focusing operation with just the right amount of torque.” For a lens like this, the manual focusing experience is vital, and based on prior Cosina Voigtländer lenses, it should be terrific.

The metal lens weighs 265 grams (9.3 ounces) and measures just 50 millimeters (1.97 inches) in length. It accepts 49mm threaded front filters and comes with a petal-shaped reversible metal lens hood designed specifically for the new 28mm f/2 APO lens. Cosina says the new hood “increases flare production while reducing vignette of the frame lines.”

Sample Photos

Jagged cliffs with dramatic vertical striations rise beside a rocky shoreline, where waves crash under a cloudy, overcast sky, creating a moody coastal landscape.

A red steel bridge spans a wide, calm river surrounded by green trees and lush mountains, with mist and clouds hanging over the landscape. A black train crosses the bridge.

A single train travels along a railway track through lush green fields, with smoke trailing behind. Mountains and a cloudy sky are visible in the background, and water-filled paddies border the track.

Front view of a vintage red and brown train engine with a single headlight, set against a bright blue sky with scattered white clouds.

Purple wildflowers grow among rocky terrain in the foreground, with a white lighthouse out of focus on a distant hill under a cloudy sky in the background.

Pricing and Availability

The Cosina Voigtländer APO-Lanthar 28mm f/2 Aspherical lens is expected to arrive in July for approximately 150,000 yen, which translates to a bit over $1,000 at current exchange rates. However, precise U.S. pricing may vary when the lens arrives stateside.

Image credits: Cosina Voigtländer. Real-world sample photographs captured by Takashi Koike.