Another in a series of Farewell to Gear, where I bid fond adieu to cameras and lens.

Once in a while (Edit: I mean, often), there are lenses you pick up out of curiosity, fall in love with, and then never let go of (Edit: until I had to let it go).

The Voigtländer Snapshot Skopar 25mm f/4 is a beautiful lens that’s light and tiny.   I bought the screwmount version LTM (Leica Thread Mount) which weighs about 90 grams and is roughly the size of a lens cap. But hidden inside this compact metal pancake is a classic 7-element, 5-group  optical formula — delivering sharp, contrasty images at 25mm.

This lens was designed for fast, intuitive shooting. The original Snapshot Skopar has a zone-focusing mechanism with tactile click-stops at 1m, 1.5m, and 3m, which means you can pre-set your focus, stop down to f/8, and shoot all day without touching the focus ring. It turns your camera into a wide-angle point-and-shoot with rangefinder class glass. Perfect for travel, street, or those moments.  If you’re not used to manual focussing, it might take some getting used to.  But just zone focus with the focus “stick” and it works every time.

Later on, Voigtländer released a Color Skopar M-mount version in 2007 — same optical design, but now with full rangefinder coupling. It weighs a bit more (about 156g) but adds convenience if you like using your rangefinder patch.  I use it on my Fujifilm X series bodies.  Either X-Pro1, X-E1, X-E3, X-T1 or X-T4 (I kno

What’s it Good For?

• Street photography – fast, discreet, and genuinely fun to use

• Travel – you’ll forget it’s in your bag, but be glad it’s there

• Film or digital – looks great on 35mm film, and adapts well to mirrorless (especially APS-C)

• Candid, unplanned moments – when you want the camera to get out of your way

It’s ok for low light too.  (f/4 is is not a problem at all by modern standards), and yes, if you’re adapting it to a full-frame digital body, you might see some magenta fringing or corner color shifts — especially on Sony or Leica sensors, but I’ve never tried, so I can’t confirm that.  But on APS-C or film, it’s clean, sharp, and charming as hell.

A Bit of Voigtländer History (Fun Facts!)

• Voigtländer is the oldest name in camera optics, founded in 1756 in Vienna — nearly 270 years ago. They made the first mathematically designed lens in photography history (the Petzval lens in 1840) and built the world’s first all-metal camera in 1841.

• The term “Skopar”, per Google, loosely translates to “watcher” or “observer.” Fitting, right?