Check out the review by Klaus on his website at Photozone.de.
Fairly sharp WO, and really, really, really sharp by f4. Pretty good 3D(pop), too. I actually am selling mine in the b/s board(only because I prefer the C/Y 50 planar.
Gregg
Yep - a super little lens with great performance. Very nice build quality as well. My only gripe was fairly strong purple fringing, wide open in high contrast situations. Aside from that - it's one great lens.
This lens is sharper and has less CA than 50/1.4 ZE/ZF.2 between f1.4 and f2.8.Very sharp overall,with smooth bokeh,pleasant colours and good contrast.
Only by 10% on the scale from 0 to 100% when developing from RAW to TIFF.The last picture has saturation unchanged.Those gentiana flower are so unbeliveably blue,that they look almost artificial.
All pics taken as RAWs developed to TIFFs,then to JPEGs quality 11 in the Photoshop,then downsized to 900x600 pix, with unsharp mask 0,3/150 applied at the end.
I would say - this lens is optically (in technical terms) better overall than 50/1.4 ZE/F.2 Planars that I have (less CA and sharper esp at wider aperture settings,smooth bokeh,warm saturated colours),SAVE the lack of Zeiss look.
One last question... did you get the version with rubberized focus ring that is in every picture? Because I remember reading that they updated the design to a full metal ring.
Peire wrote:
Only by 10% on the scale from 0 to 100% when developing from RAW to TIFF.The last picture has saturation unchanged.Those gentiana flower are so unbeliveably blue,that they look almost artificial.
All pics taken as RAWs developed to TIFFs,then to JPEGs quality 11 in the Photoshop,then downsized to 900x600 pix, with unsharp mask 0,3/150 applied at the end.
I would say - this lens is optically (in technical terms) better overall than 50/1.4 ZE/F.2 Planars that I have (less CA and sharper esp at wider aperture settings,smooth bokeh,warm saturated colours),SAVE the lack of Zeiss look.
So you are saying this one doesnt have the zeiss 3d look and micro contrast?
I was also interested in this lens, but there seems to be no Canon mount. At least, the stores I know sell it only in Nikon mount. Am I missing something ? Is there a chance they ever release it in Canon mount too ?
Its un-shortened design of 50/1.4 Contax Zeiss Planar, with bit of mods. Look and performance is very much alike, except its even bit better.
Look isnt like ZF/ZE lens, there is hint of C/Y line, but due different coatings, its simply different. That said, I like output of this lens, cause Voigtlaender has own looks and they are not bad (my preference is following Leica, Zeiss, Voigtlaender and everything else.
Xavier Rival wrote:
I was also interested in this lens, but there seems to be no Canon mount. At least, the stores I know sell it only in Nikon mount. Am I missing something ? Is there a chance they ever release it in Canon mount too ?
Its easy to mod, if you want it. Or just use adapter. You will loose auto-aperture, but otherwise it just works. Best choice is adapting via Leitax. But, its not really "must have" lens, just nice one.
Mescalamba wrote:
Its easy to mod, if you want it. Or just use adapter. You will loose auto-aperture, but otherwise it just works. Best choice is adapting via Leitax. But, its not really "must have" lens, just nice one.
Yeah, I know it could be adapted, but as you say it is not a "must have" lens. I agree totally with this.
It could be useful to me as a compact, tele-ish lens, that would fit well in the compact three primes set up I am planning (I have the Canon 40mm, am looking at the Voigt 20mm, and this 58 could complete the trio). But, if I need to adapt it, I would look at other lenses than this one anyway.
Mescalamba wrote:
Its un-shortened design of 50/1.4 Contax Zeiss Planar, with bit of mods. Look and performance is very much alike, except its even bit better.
Look isnt like ZF/ZE lens, there is hint of C/Y line, but due different coatings, its simply different. That said, I like output of this lens, cause Voigtlaender has own looks and they are not bad (my preference is following Leica, Zeiss, Voigtlaender and everything else.
I read that it was a copy of the Topcon 58/1.4 design. IMO it has some of the creamiest bokeh wide open, similar to the Rokkor 58/1.2, and sharpens well with stopping down.
EDIT: I've just read up more on the Topcon connection, and it seems that the Nokton was originally sold as a short line of 800x lenses branded as Topcon, but the design was NOT the same as the original 1963 Topcon 58mm f1.4.
