Woah! This weird new lens has a ring that controls the style of the bokeh

Bokeh is often one of the key considerations for photographers picking out a new camera lens, but one upcoming lens from Voigtlander wants to give photographers control over the way that bokeh looks. An upcoming Voigtlander Portrait Heliar 75mm f/1.8 lens includes a spherical convergence control ring that will adjust the look of the out-of-focus areas of the image from a soft focus type look to hard-edged bubble bokeh. The company explains that the new bokeh control gives photographers more control over the look of the images, but comes at the cost of increased chromatic aberrations.

Teased during a YouTube video on February 25, the Voigtlander 75mm f/1.8 for E-mount uses the unusual spherical convergence control ring to give photographers the ability to customize how the bokeh should look. The video explains that, on one side of the ring, the bokeh appears soft. On the opposite side of the control ring, the bokeh is overcorrected, giving the out-of-focus light dots a hard edge that’s often referred to as bubble bokeh or onion ring bokeh.

That gives the photographer the ability to control whether or not the bokeh is well-defined in-camera, rather than using tools like Lightroom Classic’s AI-based Lens Blur that also allows photo editors to add bubble bokeh along with other effects.

While bokeh control rings aren’t common, Voigtlander isn’t the first to launch a lens aimed at customizing the look of the bokeh. Petzval lenses, for example, use a control ring to enhance or reduce the swirling bokeh effect.

There’s a reason that most lenses don’t have such a control ring, however. Convergence is the term that refers to how a lens bends light to meet at a single point, which is the focus point. Adjusting the lens’ convergence will mean increasing chromatic aberration, or colored fringing, the teaser video warns.

“This lens is designed to vary the convergence, so it does have optical disadvantages,” the Cosina staff member in the video says. “I think this lens is recommended for those who enjoy these disadvantages as an essential part of their work.”

The new lens’ spec sheet includes a configuration made from six elements in three groups, with a nine-blade aperture. The lens weighs 560g and measures 88mm long. The full-frame lens does use electronic contacts to communicate EXIF data to the camera body, however, the spec sheet does not mention autofocus.

The new lens will be part of Cosina’s “touch and try” booth at the CP+ 2025 show in Japan, which begins on February 27. Cosina, a lens distributor for Voigtalnder and Zeiss, will also be displaying the new Zeiss Otus ML lenses.

The company has not yet shared the price or availability on the new Voigtlander Portrait Heliar 75mm f/1.8.

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