Voigtländer APO-Lanthar 90mm f/4 Close Focus Announced for Leica M-Mount at 235 Grams
Cosina has officially announced the Voigtländer APO-Lanthar 90mm f/4 Close Focus, moving the lens from its CP+ 2026 prototype showing to a confirmed product for Leica M-mount. Shipping is expected to begin in August.
The headline is physical. At 53mm in diameter, 54.8mm long, and 235 grams, this is a 90mm telephoto that behaves like a compact prime. That matters more on a rangefinder than on any other body: long M-mount lenses tend to intrude into the optical viewfinder, and a barrel this short keeps that intrusion minimal. The APO-Lanthar name signals the top tier of Cosina’s optical hierarchy — an apochromatic design built to drive axial chromatic aberration close to zero across the frame.
The optical formula is eight elements in seven groups, six of them anomalous-dispersion glass, with a 10-blade rounded diaphragm. The full-frame image circle is what opens the lens up beyond Leica bodies.
Specifications
- Focal length: 90mm
- Maximum aperture: f/4
- Optical construction: 8 elements in 7 groups (6 AD elements)
- Aperture blades: 10, rounded
- Minimum focus: 0.5m (0.28x maximum magnification)
- Rangefinder coupling: to 0.7m
- Dimensions: 53 × 54.8mm
- Weight: 235g
- Filter thread: 43mm
- Hood: dome-style, screw-in, supplied
- Mount: Leica M
- Finishes: silver, black
The close-focus mechanism
Standard rangefinder-coupled optics stop at 0.7m — the limit of the M rangefinder mechanism. This lens keeps coupling to that 0.7m point, then keeps going. A tactile click stop marks the 0.7m boundary, so the transition is something you feel rather than watch. Past it, focusing down to 0.5m is done through live view or an EVF, where the coupling limit no longer applies. The payoff is 0.28x magnification — past 1:4, short of half-macro, but well beyond what a rangefinder prime normally reaches.
Adaptability beyond the M
The full-frame image circle makes this straightforward to adapt onto mirrorless bodies. On a full-frame mirrorless camera it stays a 90mm with live-view focusing that unlocks the full 0.5m close-focus range without the rangefinder caveat. On an APS-C body the 90mm reframes to roughly 135–144mm equivalent depending on crop factor, turning a compact portrait lens into a tight short telephoto — and the close-focus figure gets more useful the longer the effective reach.
Availability
Final pricing has not been confirmed; Cosina will publish release details on its own site. Silver and black finishes are both planned, with shipping targeted for August.