Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

APO-Lanthar 90mm f/3.5

Cosina Voigtländer · LTM · 2001 · 6 elements in 5 groups, with anomalous-dispersion glass

via machine translation — corrections welcome

Also known as: Voigtländer APO-Lanthar 90mm f/3.5 · Voigtlander APO Lanthar 90mm F3.5 LTM · APO-LANTHAR 90mm F3.5 · Apo-Lanthar 90/3.5 · Voigtlander 90mm f3.5 APO-Lanthar MC L39 · Cosina Voigtlander Apo Lanthar 90/3.5 Leica screw · フォクトレンダー APO-LANTHAR 90mm F3.5 · フォクトレンダー アポランター 90mm F3.5

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Silver, Leica screw mount (2001–2008) LTM 2001–2008 — —
Black paint, Leica screw mount (2001–2011) LTM 2001–2011 — —
  1. Release month, discontinuation months and pre-tax yen prices come from Cosina's discontinued-product pages (Japanese), one per finish; Wikipedia's Cosina Voigtländer lens table gives the same February 2001, March 2008 and September 2011 dates.
  2. No VM-mount version was ever sold. Cosina's VM product list and its discontinued list carry no 90mm f/3.5 in M bayonet; the APO-LANTHAR 90mm F3.5 SL and SL II are SLR-mount lenses (M42, Nikon F, Pentax K and others), and the M-mount 90mm f/4 on Cosina's current list is the separate APO-Lanthar 90mm f/4 Close Focus.
  3. The Nikon S version, sold as the S APO-Lanthar 85mm f/3.5 in 2003, has the same six-element layout, the same 39mm thread and 10 blades, and a hood that interchanges with this lens's; it is a different family in the catalog and is linked below.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Engraved APO-LANTHAR 90mm F3.5 with red, green and blue rings on the barrel; 39mm Leica screw thread, rangefinder coupled from infinity to 1.0m
  • 39mm filter thread, ten aperture blades, f/3.5 to f/22
  • φ51 × 90mm and 260g; a screw-in metal hood was in the box
  • Silver or black paint — the SLR versions are engraved SL or SL II and are not rangefinder coupled

Silver, Leica screw mount (2001–2008):

  • Silver barrel; engraved APO-LANTHAR 90mm F3.5 with the 39mm Leica screw thread behind
  • ¥55,000 pre-tax against ¥58,000 for the black paint version

Black paint, Leica screw mount (2001–2011):

  • Black paint barrel; same engraving, same 39mm screw thread, same φ51 × 90mm and 260g

Specifications

Formula
6 elements in 5 groups, with anomalous-dispersion glass
Construction
6 elements / 5 groups
Aperture range
f/3.5–f/22
Diaphragm blades
10
Min. focus
1 m
Dimensions
51 × 90 mm
Weight
260 g
Filter
39 mm
Years manufactured
2001–2011
Country
Japan
Original price
¥55,000 silver or ¥58,000 black, pre-tax, at the February 2001 launch (today ¥62,000–¥65,000)

What reviewers say

Optical Ratings

Aggregated from the reviews above — follow the links for the full picture.

Chromatic aberration
axial disputed
Flare & ghosting
very good
Distortion
nearly none
Optical formula — 6 elements in 5 groups, with anomalous-dispersion glass

History

The APO-Lanthar 90mm f/3.5 went on sale in February 2001 in Leica screw mount, in silver at ¥55,000 and black paint at ¥58,000 before tax, and it was the longest lens of Cosina’s screw-mount rangefinder range. Cosina’s description is a six-element, five-group design including anomalous low-dispersion glass, corrected for colour across red, green and blue — hence the red, green and blue rings on the barrel — in a slim tube 51mm across and 90mm long at 260g, with a 39mm filter thread, ten aperture blades, f/3.5 to f/22, and rangefinder coupling from infinity to 1.0m. A screw-in metal hood came in the box; the S APO-Lanthar 85mm f/3.5 that Cosina built for the Nikon rangefinder in 2003 uses the same optical layout, and its hood interchanges with this one.

The two finishes are the two variants. Cosina’s pages end the silver lens in March 2008 and the black in September 2011, so a black lens can be a much later one than a silver. No M-mount version of this lens was ever made: Cosina’s VM list has never carried a 90mm f/3.5, the APO-LANTHAR 90mm F3.5 SL and SL II are SLR lenses without a rangefinder cam, and the 90mm f/4 on Cosina’s current VM list is the separate APO-Lanthar 90mm f/4 Close Focus. On an M body — a Leica or a Bessa R2 — the screw lens goes on through an adapter, and the adapter chosen decides whether the 90 frame comes up; the Bessa R has the 90 frame built in behind its own screw mount, and the Bessa T and L, with no viewfinder, need an external one.

Three reviewers from three decades of ownership agree it is very sharp from wide open and disagree about the APO. ys-223, shooting a Sony α7R IV and a Bessa R2A, found almost no colour or distortion at infinity and no fringing even in magnified crops, with lemon-shaped highlights at the frame edges at f/3.5 that clean up to ten-sided ones by f/5.6, and some flare into the sun he could live with. Breedfreak at Leica Lenses for Normal People calls it as good as a lens four times the price and notes the practical truth of a 90mm f/3.5 on a rangefinder — it behaves like an f/4, close shallow-focus work is a struggle on any rangefinder, and the hood lets the lens stand upright in a bag — while disliking the racing stripes and the silver finish. Photosite, in 2024, is the dissent: very good flare resistance, lateral colour well controlled, defined sunstars from f/4, but longitudinal colour strong and bothersome at f/3.5, which for him compromises the label; still excellent value at around $250 used for landscape and architecture. The Casual Photophile review is widely cited and could not be read for this page.

What to check is mostly what the seller has left out. The hood is easy to lose and part of the lens as sold. The barrel colour is a straightforward tell, but the mount is the one that matters: a lens engraved SL or SL II, or with a bayonet rather than a 39mm thread, is an SLR lens and will not couple to a rangefinder, and a listing that says only APO-Lanthar 90mm F3.5 may be either. The S-mount 85 is the same glass for the Nikon rangefinder and a different page.

Expand Collapse

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Example photos

More sample photos elsewhere

These photographers keep all rights to their work — enjoy it at the source.

Sample photo wanted — shot with a APO-Lanthar 90mm f/3.5? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $320 across 6 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-19 (middle half $320–$330). First day tracked.

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Buying from Yahoo! Auctions outside Japan. It is a domestic marketplace: sellers ship within Japan, and most will not register an overseas buyer. A proxy service bids on your behalf, receives the item and forwards it, for a fee and a wait. Buyee, Jauce and ZenMarket each accept a Yahoo auction number directly. Listed alphabetically for information — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.

Listings updated 2026-09-19. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: APO-Lanthar 35mm f/2 Aspherical · APO-Lanthar 50mm f/2 Aspherical · APO-Skopar 90mm f/2.8 · Color-Heliar 75mm f/2.5 · Nokton Vintage Line 75mm f/1.5 Aspherical · S APO-Lanthar 85mm f/3.5

Sources (8)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this lens, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.