"I find the usb cable more reliable in my opinion , opening the camera door and taking the card out it could very easily be scratched, and then replace it back in the camera"

Scratched? How? Are you saying that cards are damaged in some way as a result of this "scratching"? In all the years I've been doing this, I have never noticed an SD card ever being scratched, and certainly not damaged by removing and reinserting it into my camera body or my card reader. I've never had an SD card fail on me yet. The only reason I have acquired new ones over time has been for their greater speed or capacity.

The only cards I avoided taking out of my camera bodies alot were the older compact flash cards due to the possibility of pins in the camera getting bent when reinserting the card, although I personally never personally had that problem.

While it may be a useful tool for some, I suspect that it doesn't fit the definition or meet the expectations of a camera tripod for most people,

Your definition of all over the map for the price of a 77 mm UV filter is quite limited. Any filter selling for $50 would be at the low end of decent 77 mm filters, not the high end. One of the top manufacturers is B+W and its 77 mm UV filters cost around $138 USD. Many manufacturers make clear filters specifically for protection. Some people use a Haze filter and many people don't bother with any filters at all except perhaps in extreme weather conditions since the front elements of their lenses are much stronger than any filters. The UV aspect of filters is not needed for digital photography but does not hurt. Some manufacturers suggest using filters with some of their high end lenses to complete their resistance to harsh environmental conditions. Canon L lenses are an example of that.

Correct. Topaz's perpetual license pricing model is not very different than that of perpetual licensed software from many other software publishers. I think many posters on this thread were under the impression the costs mentioned by the OP were annual subscription costs rather than upgrades to the latest perpetual licensed version.

Those prices were for annual upgrades to the latest perpetual versions not annual subscription pricing. According to Topaz they don't have subscriptions. If the newest versions don't have enough new features to make upgrading cost effective users can stay with the current version they already own. It is not very different from the pricing of perpetual licenses from many other software publishers. This whole thread is much to do about nothing.

Where on Topaz's site do they indicate those prices are for a subscription? When I looked at it I got the impression they are for perpetual licenses. They use the word buy, not subscribe.

It is a truly excellent lens!

So just continue to use the version you have. It's a perpetual license isn't it? When I went to their site I didn't see anything about subscriptions.

I don't really follow him and haven't bothered to look at his archived posts. Over the last couple of years I have been trying more and more to avoid responding to the naysayers. Sometimes I am successful with that and sometimes not. I have too many more important things to do than waste my time on them.
However, occasionally I feel feisty and want to get my two cents in.

Interesting because I've rarely see any CA from my three Voigtländers. And when I do it can be fixed easily in post. I also own a number of Chinese lenses and none of them are as sharp wide open at f/1.2 as my Voigtländer 40mm f/1.2 Nikon I will be using primarily on my new Nikon Zf when it arrives shortly.

One of the things I like best about that lens is its dreamy glow wide open which cannot be achieved with modern clinically sharp AF lenses wide open. Yes, there is less contrast wide open, but that's fine with me. And once you stop it down between f/4 and f/5.6 it is sharp as a tack across the entire frame with incredible contrast and great colors.

I'm not sure which lenses you are trying to compare the Voigtländers with, but they are small, light and extremely well made. All the ones I have include electronic contacts, which are not available on any of the Chinese lenses. They pass metadata and the aperture being used, and the green focus box from my cameras works with them to make manual focusing extremely easy In addition to magnification and focus peaking.

My favorite street photography lens on my Nikon Z fc is the Voigtländer 23mm f/1.2 Nokton. It is sharp across the frame at every aperture, it has very little barrel or pin cushion distortion, It has only a moderate amount a vignetting wide open, and the CA is surprisingly well controlled. Considering that it is an f/1.2 lens, It is tiny, very lightweight, easy to use with terrific build quality.

I also have four Chinese MF lenses from TTArtisan and 7Artisan that I could use for street photography but but all fall by the wayside for one reason or another compared to my Voigtländer.

There are many reasons why one lens may be preferred over another. I prefer the manual lens experience especially on my retro cameras. I hope you're as happy with your lenses as I am with mine.

That, of course, is your opinion. Can I assume it is based on your personal experience using all of them? I have used all the Z mount APO lenses including a DX 35mm Macro APO (there are actually four APO lenses, not three) and they are excellent. However your dismissal of the rest of their great line as not worth the coin is inaccurate. As an example, the 50mm f/1.0 Nokton designed for the Z mount is a phenomenal lens which I have used a number of times, (it belongs to a friend). My own three Z mount Voigtlanders give me exactly the results I am looking for and are not only oozing with vintage character but are still sharp across the frame with great contrast. They are worth every penny I spent on them. Many owners of Nikon Zf and other Z bodies are happily using one or more of the 9 Voigtlander lenses designed specifically for the Nikon Z mount which include electronic contacts to pass metadata and aperture details.

I have never sent a lens of any brand in for repairs. Voigtlander makes terrific manual focus lenses. I own three specifically designed for the Nikon Z mount and have never regretted buying them.

I assume you purchased your lens from B&H. CameraQuest is a very small company owned by Stephen Gandy. If you didn't purchase the lens through them I'm not certain they will be willing to take it in for repair. They are not a repair shop anyway. They are an authorized Voigtländer distributor/dealer in the United States. I have three lenses from them. How old is the lens and what seems to be the problem with it.

This is from CameraQuest's site regarding warranties. They indicate that lenses not purchased from them should be sent to the authorized dealer from which they were bought. Voigtlander USA repairs are done thru the authorized dealer that sold the product.

Official Cosina Voigtlander USA Distributor Since 2003


CameraQuest has been an official Cosina Voigtlander Distributor for the US Market since 2003. CameraQuest has the support of the Cosina factory, including access to the newest Voigtlander products, parts, and expertise to repair Voigtlander products.


Voigtlander USA Warranty:

New Cosina Voigtlander USA Products are guaranteed one year from the date of shipment to you. The warranty covers parts and labor, NOT shipping or insurance which is the owner's responsibility. Owners pay shipping and insurance on warranty repairs. The shipping liability is with the shipper and their insurance. If anything is damaged or lost in shipment, it is the owner's responsibility to deal with the insurance and or the shipper (USPS, FEDEX, UPS etc...). The Voigtlander USA warranty extends to the original purchaser only.

The warranty includes:

Defects in materials
Workmanship
Mechanical working order
Not included: Anything dropped or otherwise damaged by ANY sort of accident or abuse. The warranty is void IF, in our opinion, the item was damaged by a previous repair attempt.

For CameraQuest direct sales including shop.cameraquest.com: All you need for warranty repair for Voigtlander products bought from CameraQuest is your receipt or order number.

For CameraQuest supplied Voigtlander dealer sales: You must supply the dealer receipt, which we will verify for warranty repairs.

Rush repairs are not possible.

Foreign Voigtlander sales from foreign dealers (grey market) or none authorized sellers are not eligible for Voigtlander USA warranty repair.

Most Voigtlander warranty repairs will be shipped back within 4-6 weeks after receipt.

Voigtlander USA repairs are done thru the authorized dealer that sold the product.

Please describe the problem by email to CameraQuest@earthlink.net to confirm attention is needed. Please include all emails with the repair item.

MAILING ADDRESS:

Stephen Gandy
1336 N Moorpark Rd, Box 184
Thousand Oaks, CA 91360-5224