Voigtländer Unveils 75mm F/1.8 Portrait Heliar with Adjustable Bokeh for Sony E-Mount

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by Darryl Lara

posted Friday, May 16, 2025 at 3:13 PM EDT

Voigtlander Portrait Heliar 75mm F/1.8 on white.

Cosina Voigtländer has introduced a new addition to its manual lens lineup — the Portrait Heliar 75mm F/1.8 — designed exclusively for Sony E-mount cameras. This lens stands out as the first Voigtländer to offer user-controlled spherical aberration adjustments, allowing photographers to fine-tune bokeh quality directly from the lens barrel.

Staying true to the brand’s heritage, the lens includes manual focus and aperture control rings. But a unique feature is found at the front: a silver ring marked “over” and “under,” which allows users to adjust spherical aberrations. This adjustment directly affects the character of out-of-focus areas — or bokeh.

When set to “under,” the image takes on a dreamier, softer look, with rounder bokeh and a noticeable reduction in sharpness and contrast. Conversely, selecting “over” correction sharpens the image and increases contrast. These adjustments also subtly alter the lens's focal point and effective aperture by approximately one-third of a stop. Under-correction can also reduce edge brightness, adding natural vignetting.

This approach is reminiscent of Nikon’s classic 135mm f/2 DC lens, which gained a strong following among portrait photographers for its defocus control feature.

In its default setting, the Heliar 75mm behaves like a traditional high-performance portrait lens, delivering sharp, high-resolution results with strong control over chromatic aberrations and color fringing. The optical formula consists of just six elements in three groups and features a nine-bladed aperture for pleasing, rounded highlights in out-of-focus areas.

Voigtlander spherical aberration correction ring.

Despite being fully manual in operation, the lens includes electronic contacts for transmitting EXIF data and enabling full compatibility with Sony’s in-body image stabilization systems. Minimum focusing distance is 0.7 meters, with a max magnification ratio of 1:7.4. The lens weighs 515 grams, measures 88mm in length, and accepts standard 62mm filters.

As expected from Voigtländer, the build quality is top-notch, with an all-metal barrel and a finely machined, diamond-patterned focus ring. The precision helicoid offers a smooth, well-damped focus throw for a satisfying manual shooting experience.

Availability and Pricing

The Voigtländer Portrait Heliar 75mm F/1.8 costs £899.00 and is currently available for pre-order via UK retailer Robert White. There is no official release date or pricing for the US market at this time.

While it’s currently exclusive to the Sony E-mount, Voigtländer often follows up with Nikon Z-mount versions for many of its lenses, so additional mount options may follow soon.