Voigtlander 40mm f1.4 MC Review: An Affordable, Beautiful Gem

The cool thing about the Leica CL, Leitz Minolta CL, the Minolta CLE is that they were mostly designed around the idea of using a dwarfish 40mm lens. And indeed, that 40mm f2 lens is one of the sharpest vintage optics around. This fact further hammers in that it was an obtuse decision to sell it. These days, those lenses go for a very price tag — just like everything else. So what’s a better option? Consider the Voigtlander 40mm f1.4 MC — a lens that’s more than a stop of light faster and only slightly larger. Most importantly, though, it won’t block the viewfinder when mated to the Leica CL.

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The Big Picture

It’s hard not to be an admirer of the Voigtlander 40mm f1.4 MC once it’s entered your life. Like chefs that know how to make the most of cheap cuts of meats to create the most satisfying home cooking, the Voigtlander 40mm f1.4 MC is a cheap lens that proves to be a versatile and adaptable ingredient in your bed of cameras. While the lens is cheap, it shines like a premium gemstone on your camera. The focusing is smooth like the frothiest Mumbai chai you’ve sipped. The apertures click like you’re unlocking a bank safe — only to be rewarded with the beautiful images it holds. Eyes widely agaze, the photographs you make will be reflected in the smile you’re bound to produce.

The Voigtlander 40mm f1.4 MC is a massive step up from many other third-party M-mount lenses that exhibit wobble with the build quality. Perhaps this fact will continue to be the foundation that makes you happy as you capture the moment. Alas, we still wish this lens were weather resistant.

The Voigtlander 40mm f1.4 MC receives four out of five stars. Want one? Check it out on Amazon.

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Pros

Beautiful classic image quality
Small
Not too sharp
Metal body
Affordable

Cons

Wish the M system was weather resistant

Gear Used

We bought the Voigtlander 40mm f1.4 MC off eBay and tested it with our own Leica SL2S and a loaner Panasonic S5 II. The adapter used is one from Urth, which we purchased ourselves. We used the Real Time LUT feature on the Panasonic camera to get the look of Kodak Portra.

Innovations

By all means, the Voigtlander 40mm f1.4 MC doesn’t really innovate on anything. It’s an M-mount lens. Perhaps the most unique thing about it is that it’s a one-of-a-kind lens. Leica doesn’t make 40mm lenses — and the sharpest one in existence is still the vintage offering. You’d get this instead because you need the extra stop of light.

Ergonomics

There isn’t a whole lot to the Voigtlander 40mm f1.4 MC. Looking at it from the front, the first thing one notices is the silver ring front. It stares back at you perhaps a bit too strong for most Leica photographers.

What photographers will really like though are how strong the contrast is on the printing. the depth of field scale, aperture scale, and distance readings are some of the most legible we’ve ever seen on a lens like this. Couple this with the beautiful focusing tab and the tabs around the aperture ring and Voigtlander has made quite a great lens.

Build Quality

The Voigtlander 40mm f1.4 MC is a beautiful lens to hold and use. The focusing ring glides with the smoothness of spreading cocoa butter on your skin. This lets the photographer easily make fine-tuned adjustments or focus quickly to a specific distance away. The specific placement of the focusing tab facilitates the process even more. The icing on the cake here is the little tabs around the aperture ring that make changing it near effortless.

The Phoblographer’s universal preference for lenses is for them to be weather-resistant. No M-mount lenses are really marketed that way, but brands often say that they’ll be just fine in the rain or with dust. Indeed, this has been proven many times. Photographer Michael Kamber has literally poured water out of old digital Leica cameras, and they’ve continued to work.

Leica reps have previously stated in conversations that if they were to say that something is weather-resistant, they’d probably go as far as getting an IP-durability rating on it. That’s hopefully the case — and not some marketing deflection.

It’s worth noting that this lens won’t take on a brass patina over time. Instead, it will just look steadfastly more silver.

Ease of Use

If you’re not used to manual focus lenses then this will be tough to work with. But if you are familiar with them, then this will be a breeze. Honestly, I could see myself mostly wanting to use this lens over and over again with no fuss.

Focusing

You’ll have to manually focus with this lens. And if you’re trying to shoot wide open, this will indeed be quite the affair with trying to get your subject perfectly in focus. But if you’re zone focusing, then it’s a breeze. This is a wonderful lens for street photography though everyone will need to adjust to the perspective it offers.

Image Quality

When testing the Voigtlander 40mm f1.4, we tried to find a way to make it as film-like as possible. Usually, film would be involved in reviews like this. But our Leica CL is busted and needs to be serviced — it didn’t make much sense to do it on another camera, too. Luckily, the Panasonic S5 II has a feature called Real Time LUT that lets photographers upload profiles that mimic the look of film. The results will make photographers very happy.

Bokeh

With the ability to focus as close as just under 2.5 feet, the Voigtlander 40mm f1.4 MC is going to impress a lot of photographers when shooting wide open. The bokeh is creamy and hazy at the same time. If it could focus as close as the 15 or so inches that the Sigma 40mm f1.4 Art could, then it would probably be neck in neck with the Sigma lens. Below is from our previous review of the Sigma lens.

As one can see, the bokeh there is also quite gorgeous. One of the biggest factors to consider though is the size differences of the lenses and what mount you’re going to adapt them onto.

Color Rendition

The Voigtlander 40mm f1.4 MC is the multi-coated variant of the lens. There’s another with only a single coat. As a result though, many photographers think that the sharpness, character, and colors are more clinical on the MC variant. However, it’s hard to not like the colors here. They’re not muted the way one would find with a Nikon lens; but the color muting happens in a totally different way.

Lens Character

While the Voigtlander 40mm f1.4 MC doesn’t have as much character as its single-coated sibling, it’s still hard not to deny how the character of the lens looks. Subjects in focus pop quite a bit, partially thanks to slight vignetting when shooting wide open.

Sharpness

Wide open, the Voigtlander 40mm f1.4 MC is pretty sharp. But when stopped down for street photography, you’ll notice just how great it really can be. The sharpness is present — but it’s not overly dominant the way that one finds in newer lenses. Instead, it’s got a more classic render to it.

Extra Image Samples

From day one, The Phoblographer has been huge on transparency with our audience. Nothing from this review is sponsored. Further, lots of folks will post reviews and show lots of editing in the photos. The problem then becomes that anyone and everyone can do the same thing. They’re not showing what the lens can do. So we have a section in our Extra Image Samples area to show edited and unedited photos. From this, you can make a decision for yourself.

Unedited

If you’re wondering how these images are unedited, they were done with the Panasonic S5 II using the Real Time LUT setting. All these photos are JPEGs right out of the camera.

Edited

Who Should Buy the Voigtlander 40mm f1.4 MC?

The Voigtlander 40mm f1.4 MC is a lens that deserves to be in the hands of street photographers first and foremost. Zone focusing with this lens is a joy as it’s the perfect spot between 35mm and 50mm lenses. What’s more, it’s very close to the true normal field of view on full-frame 35mm cameras. Street photographers, especially those using the Leica CL and its variants, are the ones who will value this lens the most.