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

Ultron Vintage Line 35mm f/2 Aspherical

Cosina Voigtländer · Leica M · 2019 · 8 elements in 5 groups with an aspherical element

single source, unconfirmed

Also known as: Voigtländer Ultron Vintage Line 35mm f/2 Aspherical · Voigtlander ULTRON Vintage Line 35mm F2 Aspherical VM · Voigtlander Ultron 35mm f/2 VM · Voigtlander 35mm f2 Ultron Type I · Voigtlander 35mm f2 Ultron Type II · Voigtlander Ultron II 35mm f/2 · Cosina Voigtlander Ultron 35/2 · ULTRON 35mm F2 Aspherical · フォクトレンダー ウルトロン 35mm F2 · フォクトレンダー ULTRON Vintage Line 35mm F2 Aspherical VM

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Type I — aluminium, black with focusing knob (2019–2024) Leica M 2019–2024 — —
Type II — brass, silver or black paint, focusing tab (2021–) Leica M 2021 — —
  1. Type I and Type II are barrel versions of one lens: the same 8-element, 5-group optics, 39mm filter thread, 52 × 28.1 mm, 0.58 m close focus. Aluminium against brass gives the 170 g and 210 g weights; the focusing control (knob against lever) and the finishes are the other differences. Cosina's product page is the source; Jack Takahashi, who owned a Type I and shoots a Type II, confirms they function alike.
  2. The 2024 end of Type I, the November 2025 pause of Type II and its July 2026 return rest on Cosina's product page alone.
  3. Yen prices are Cosina's list prices excluding tax; the $799 US price is from Steve Huff's 2019 review of a Type I. No US distributor list price was fetched.
  4. Cosina also made a 40mm f/2 Ultron in SLR mounts and a 28mm f/2 Ultron in VM; neither shares this lens's optics.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Engraved ULTRON 35mm F2 Aspherical; VM bayonet, rangefinder coupled to 0.7 m with a scale that runs on to 0.58 m
  • 39mm filter thread; no hood supplied — the LH-12 crinkle-finish aluminium bayonet hood and the LH-4N both fit and are extras
  • Ten aperture blades, f/2 to f/16
  • Knob against tab: a Type I focuses by a knob standing off the distance ring, a Type II by a Leica-style lever with a finger hollow

Type I — aluminium, black with focusing knob (2019–2024):

  • Black anodised aluminium barrel with silver accents, 170 g
  • Styling Cosina describes as recalling a 1950s lens; a focusing knob on the distance ring rather than a tab
  • JAN 4530076 132344

Type II — brass, silver or black paint, focusing tab (2021–):

  • Brass barrel in silver chrome or gloss black paint, 210 g
  • Styling Cosina describes as recalling an early-1970s lens — the look of the pre-aspherical 35mm f/2 Summicron, with a finger-hollow focusing lever in place of the Type I's knob
  • JAN 4530076 132481 (silver), 132498 (black paint)

Specifications

Formula
8 elements in 5 groups with an aspherical element
Construction
8 elements / 5 groups
Aperture range
f/2–f/16
Diaphragm blades
10
Min. focus
0.58 m
Dimensions
52 × 28.1 mm
Weight
170 g
Filter
39 mm
Years manufactured
2019
Country
Japan
Coating
Multi-coated
Original price
¥90,000 excluding tax (2019); $799 in the United States (today ¥98,000)

What reviewers say

Optical Ratings

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

Flare & ghosting
well controlled
Coma
some at f/2
Distortion
none visible
Optical formula — 8 elements in 5 groups with an aspherical element

History

Cosina’s Vintage Line — modern glass in barrels drawn from old lenses — had begun with the VM Nokton 50mm f/1.5 of 2013 and the Ultron 35mm f/1.7 of 2015. On 25 January 2019 it added two lenses released the same day, the Color-Skopar 21mm f/3.5 and this one, the Ultron Vintage Line 35mm F2 Aspherical, in a barrel drawn from the 1950s. The idea, in Cosina’s words, was to hold the maximum aperture to a practical level and buy compactness and optical quality with it — eight elements in five groups with an aspherical element, corrected for the corner colour cast of digital sensors, in a lens 52 mm across and 28.1 mm long with a 39mm filter thread, ten blades, f/2 to f/16, focusing to 0.58 m on the scale and 0.7 m on the rangefinder. It filled the gap between the tiny f/2.5 Color-Skopar and the f/1.7 Ultron of 2015, which went out of production the same year this one arrived, and at ¥90,000 excluding tax, $799 in the United States, it was priced as the Voigtländer answer to the 35mm Summicron ASPH.

Two barrels have carried it. Type I, the 2019 lens, is black anodised aluminium with silver accents, 170 g, and focuses by a knob standing off the distance ring in the manner of a 1950s lens; Cosina says it ended production in July 2024. Type II, released on 19 March 2021, is brass at 210 g in silver chrome or gloss black paint, styled after an early-1970s lens — which is to say it looks like the pre-aspherical 35mm f/2 Summicron, down to the finger-hollow focusing lever that replaces the knob. The price did not change. Cosina lists one formula, one set of dimensions and one filter size for both, and Jack Takahashi, who owned a Type I and now shoots a Type II, says they function alike apart from the focusing control, which he disliked on the Type I. Cosina’s page records that Type II paused in November 2025 and returned to sale in July 2026. No hood is included; the crinkle-painted LH-12 and the older LH-4N both fit.

The argument among reviewers is not about sharpness, which everyone grants, but about character. Ong Sien Hong at 35mmc found no aberration or distortion he could see and a smooth, creamy background, very close to the Summicron ASPH at a fraction of its price. Takahashi did the comparison directly on an M10-R and found the Voigtländer smaller, lighter, distortion-free and actually sharper than the Leica in the mid-frame at f/2, its only faults some coma wide open and a background that can go busy — a lens five times cheaper than a Summicron ASPH that is not inferior to it by any objective measure. Steve Huff drew the opposite line and liked the lens for it: not as clinically sharp as the modern Summicron, but rounded and full of the character of the old pre-aspherical one, “vintage perfection”. Alik Griffin, on a 60-megapixel M11, came away cooler — very good from f/2.8 to f/5.6 with diffraction biting early, chattery nervous bokeh at portrait distances, and no particular magic — and called it a just-get-the-shot lens for street, travel and black and white.

For a buyer the choice is between the knob and the lever and between forty grams of aluminium and brass; the pictures are the same. A used Type I is the lighter lens and the only black-with-silver one; a Type II is the one in brass, silver or black paint. Both are VM bayonet lenses that bring up the 35mm frame on any M body after the M3 and on the Bessa R2A, R4A and R4M; the R3A and R3M have no 35mm frame, and their 40mm frame is the nearest. Huff’s warning about adapted use is the practical one: on a Canon EOS R the corners darkened badly for him, while on a Leica M, an SL or a Panasonic S1 the lens behaved.

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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 Ultron Vintage Line 35mm f/2 Aspherical? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $650 across 33 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-19 (middle half $600–$710). First day tracked.

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

Show 38 more listings

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

Related: APO-Lanthar 35mm f/2 Aspherical · Color-Skopar Vintage Line 21mm f/3.5 Aspherical · Color-Skopar 35mm f/2.5 · Nokton 35mm f/1.2 Aspherical · Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 · Nokton Vintage Line 35mm f/1.5 Aspherical · Ultron 28mm f/2 · Ultron 35mm f/1.7 Aspherical · Ultron 75mm f/1.9

Sources (9)

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.