Characterized by its slightly longer-than-normal focal length, the black Nokton 58mm f/1.4 SL II S Lens from Voigtlander is a versatile prime well-suited to portraiture and general shooting applications. The focal length pairs with the bright maximum aperture for extensive control over focus placement to suit working with shallow depth of field or selective focus techniques. The smooth manual focus operation also contributes to controlling focus position, and both depth of field and focus distance scales are featured on the metal lens barrel to aid in pre-focusing or setting hyperfocal distance. This lens' physical design also features a scalloped focus ring to recall classic lens designs of the 1960s as well as afford more secure handling during use. Mixing the classic-inspired design with contemporary usage, the lens also sports an Ai-S type CPU to permit in-camera adjustment of the aperture setting for faster, more intuitive exposure control.
- F-Mount Lens/FX Format
- Aperture Range: f/1.4 to f/16
- Classic Double Gauss Optical Design
- Manual Focus Design
Voigtlander 58mm f/1.4 Nokton SL II-S Overview
Voigtlander 58mm f/1.4 Nokton SL II-S Specs
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Voigtlander 58mm f/1.4 Nokton SL II-S Reviews
A vintage lens shooters dream come true
While this lens isn’t what I’d expected it to be, it’s still surprisingly nice. I have six other Voigtlander lenses, three of them being the finely corrected APO Lanthars. While all of those are modern designs with good correction edge to edge (even wide open), the APO’s are a cut above everything else. (Including my Summicrons, Distagons and Planars. But this lens is different. It’s clearly an homage to older designs, perhaps even more so than the original 1960’s models it mimics. Most strikingly, it has LOTS of field curvature, in spite of being reasonably well corrected for most other aberrations. Especially CA, which as far as I can tell, is totally nonexistent. No color fringing around the edges. But the field curvature may in some cases cause those edges to go distinctly out of focus. This can be beneficial for Artsy, portrait, street shooting or photojournalism. But not so good for architectural or landscape shooting. (The edges will be in focus distinctly closer to the camera than center frame. Focused at infinity, the edges are at their sharpest about 50 meters from the camera. A “bowl” shaped plane of focus rather than being anything remotely close to a “flat field” lens) This makes for “dreamy” images wide open. Fortunately it’s not “dreary” like most older lenses, it still maintains plenty of snap and sparkle, punchy colors all the way to the corners........even though the curved field may throw those corners somewhat out of focus. Odd actually, though the field curvature may cause loss of critical focus at the edges wide open, those edges will still have more contrast, color and brilliance than what can be obtained from the original Non Ai Nikkor S that this lens pays homage to. While not overly flawed, it’s noticeably less contrasty wide open, even in the center. There are some aberrations, at least to f2.8. But stopped down to f5.6 or further, it behaves much as any other super sharp modern lens. It’s rather surprising that way.....dreamy almost to extremes wide open, but tack sharp to the edges from f8 upwards. Bottom line, this is an ARTSY lens. Designed to have plenty of character wide open, but crisp, almost clinical clarity when stopped down. Build quality, fit and finish are absolutely top notch. Gorgeous finish, no rattles or wobble, smoooooth focusing, and a diaphragm ring that satisfyingly goes CLICK CLICK CLICK. Build quality as far nicer than anything Nikon has ever made. Actually more reminiscent of Leitz or Zeiss than one would expect. The lens is an absolute joy to use.
Better than expected
When I first tested this lens my reaction as that it wasn't quite as sharp wide open as I had hoped. Good but not exceptional. A few days later I was reviewing some photos I had taken in the same location with what I thought was a different lens that I know is quite sharp wide open. I thought to myself, yup, a sharp lens alright. Then I realized I was looking at images taken with this Voigtlander! So while it might not be as clinically sharp wide open as some other lenses I own, it requires some close examination to see the difference. These images were taken at close to the minimum focusing distance. When evaluated on its own it holds up very well in the real world. As everyone has mentioned before the bokeh is beautiful and the build is second to none. I also really appreciate that it provides EXIF data to the camera. Some complain about it being manual focus but that's like buying a two door car and complaining that it doesn't have four doors. Obviously it won't be the best lens for rapidly moving subjects.