Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 Manual Focus M Mount Lens - Black

Comments about Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 Manual Focus M Mount Lens - Black:

I use this on a Bessa, mostly for street photography. Love the creamy dreamy rendering wide open and it is sharp stopped-down. Great build quality. Fun to use. Haven't used on digital so can't comment.

Is it just me or do these old-style lens just look and feel better than modern lenses, which are big and cheap looking?

One thing I have found is that AF is over-rated on anything 35mm or less - I don't find speed of focus to be an issue - but I suppose it is a matter of skill and experience.

Nice lens in my favorite focal length.

Comments about Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 Manual Focus M Mount Lens - Black:

Really love this lens on my M9 and M6 use it more at 1.8 and up, and love the rendering and bokeh that this lens gives, not a leica but def a nice lens for my daily

Comments about Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 Manual Focus M Mount Lens - Black:

Excellent performance -- an outstanding value for M mount lens.

Comments about Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 Manual Focus M Mount Lens - Black:

Tack sharp at f2 and above… beautiful, interesting bokeh… faithful color rendition… yields a silky film-like quality at its widest apertures. This lens is solid, compact and beautifully made – an incredible value for money. I have gotten stunning results with this lens, and it is fast becoming my favorite!In concert with the Voigtlander VM adapter, I purchased this lens specifically for use with my Olympus E-P1 micro 4/3's camera, effectively making this lens a 70mm portrait lens.I highly-recommend this lens and would suggest a high-quality B+W (or equivalent) ND9 filter for use outdoors in bright light[...]

Comments about Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 Manual Focus M Mount Lens - Black:

This is very good lens for its price, it's sharp and fast. I couldn't get the Leica version of this lens because of the price, but the Nokton did not fail much on the picture quality.

Comments about Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 Manual Focus M Mount Lens - Black:

Using it with an m9. I wanted a leica lens but after such a big upfront cost I figure I would get a more modest lens. Other than a little focus shift at the big aperture .. I have no complaints! Curious what the single coat results look like.. I have the MC version.

Comments about Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 Manual Focus M Mount Lens - Black:

What a nice, small, well made lens. I'd recommend this as a first "upgrade" lens to anyone doing what I did- bought a NEX-5 with the 16mm lens and immediately searched far and wide for good glass options.

Not exactly super sharp wide open, that's fine. Plenty sharp stopped down. Easy to use, easy to focus, well made. The focus is a little too damped for my taste, YMMV. Bokeh is good, can get jittery with strong backlighting.

I have been taking this lens on business trips on my NEX-5. Good combo. If you want super duper sharp wide open, this may not be for you. But it is not bad wide open, just there are such phenomenal lenses out there that if you want better and can afford it, go ahead. If you are coming from DSLRs the build quality is good, if you are coming from Leica, well, never mind.

I like it. A fast normal lens on a APS-C mirrorless camera- a tiny and lightweight setup.

Comments about Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 Manual Focus M Mount Lens - Black:

I bought this lens for my Sony NEX-5 (with Leica M adapter) which makes it about 50mm equivalent. I think this lens matches the camera perfectly - it's light, fast and compact. Very good sharpness, good bokeh and that's pretty much what I want from my all around lens.

Comments about Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 Manual Focus M Mount Lens - Black:

Usage: on micro 4/3 cameras via an adapter.

Great:

Not too many choices for fast primes on m4/3, especially something that's small and compact.

The CV 35/1.4 is very compact for the speed, and performs reasonably well for the price.

Not so great:

m4/3 is very hard on its lenses, and any optical performance issues really show.

Like the 40/1.4 Nokton, the bokeh can be a rough and edgy wide-open to about f/2.5

Longitudinal CA and purple/green fringing at out-of-focus transitions are fairly apparent wide-open to about f/2.5

Corners not very good until about f/2.8-4 or so, and never really become tack-sharp (although this is not uncommon with most adapted lenses on m4/3)

Bottom line: there's not too many choices out there for m4/3. If you want a fast, compact prime, this is one of the few choices. Keep in mind its limitations wide-open (it won't give you the flawless performance at any aperture that you're used to with 4/3 lenses), and you have a neat tool that is useful in the right situations.

If you don't mind going to a slightly bigger lens, i think the Zeiss Biogon ZM 35/2 might be a better choice: it's not quite as fast as the CV 35/1.4, but would likely be a better performer at every aperture.

Comments about Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 Manual Focus M Mount Lens - Black:

Good build quality and nice made.
Optically quite good - still not a Leica or a Zeiss. But with that price tag, this lens is very good.

Comments about Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 Manual Focus M Mount Lens - Black:

This is the great lens. It's small, light weight yet easy to control and brilliant color and contrast. It's sharp even when wide open. The bokeh rendering is quite good.

Comments about Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 Manual Focus M Mount Lens - Black:

I was used to having a 50mm lens on my K1000 so was looking for something equivalent to use with the Leica M8 i just bought. I had sticker shock when i started looking at the lenses available. (the M8 was "cheap" on an auction site) So i started looking at Zeiss and Voigtlander as possibly good entries into the Leica world.

After checking out Flickr shots using this lens it seemed to be be a really good performer so i dove in for 1/7th the price of an equivalent Leica-branded version.

I have taken beautiful hand-held photos in the dead of night, and full-on winter sunshine in the snow and have yet to find a fault with the lens. You don't have to mess around with frame lines in the viewfinder since the default ones match the 35mm, it is bayonet-mount so you don't need an adapter, and it is crazy fast, making it a lens you could probably glue to the M8 body.

Buy this lens! It is really compact, beautifully made, shoots beautiful photos, and is cheap in the world of Leica. I don't see any other lens offered by B+H that offers the versatility and value that this 35mm Voigtlander does, for the M8.

Comments about Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 Manual Focus M Mount Lens - Black:

This lens is sharp, renders colors well (with an IR cut filter on the M8), is small and light and smooth in operation. What more could one ask for? How about an astonishingly low price...especially when compared to comparable Leica lenses. Highly recommended.

Comments about Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 Manual Focus M Mount Lens - Black:

I did not expect this Nokton to be so sharp. Overall image quality seems to be sharper than that of pre-ASPH Summilux Leica.

Pros: sharp image quality; very light; holds against flare very well.

Cons: bokeh not as beautiful compared to Summilux 35.

Conclusion: Nokton 35mm f/1.4 is a unique lens in the market. It is fast, sharp, but still very cheap. I think Voigtlander is doing great job in lens production, as well as positioning their products against competitors.