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Archive 2015 · Voigtlander 35 f1.2 II Nokton on A7 II

Paul Mo
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Voigtlander 35 f1.2 II Nokton on A7 II

Some market shots to determine if this lens is a keeper or not. It is not sharp wide open at 1.2 - not sharp, but usable. Stopping down seems to improve the situation - it is not a clinically sharp modern optic. I guess shot more for its look/character. As these are all wide open I will get around to shooting some exclusively at f2. In the hand it is a weighty lens, feels nice and solid with sure aperture clicks and smooth focussing. Thinking about it - jury is still out for me.

Brief interlude... Monk in a case with incoming daylight @ f1.4?

Back to the market theme, but this time an evening clothing, fashion accessory, and food market shot f2.0...

Some quick daylight snaps at f4...

Shot during a temple visit this (Thursday) morning.

Cheers.

Edited on Jul 29, 2015 at 11:15 PM · View previous versions

Jul 27, 2015 at 07:39 AM

JimUe
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Voigtlander 35 f1.2 II Nokton on A7 II

thanks for posting as this combo is pretty interesting for me.

you say stopping down improves sharpness. how is the sharpness at f/2? I found the same for the Minolta 58/1.2. wide open, it has low contrast, but at f/2, resolution & contrast improve nicely and the bokeh quality has peaked.

also, could you show some night shots as well?

Jul 27, 2015 at 09:00 AM

Paul Mo
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Voigtlander 35 f1.2 II Nokton on A7 II

Cheers. Tomorrow is my busiest day of the week but I'll see what I can do - either tomorrow (Tuesday) or Wednesday.

Jul 27, 2015 at 09:04 AM

Tariq Gibran
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Voigtlander 35 f1.2 II Nokton on A7 II

The rendering sure looks nice at this size imo. 100% detail crop would be nice wide open (or at 1.4) to get an idea of what "not sharp but usable" looks like. Maybe at F1.4 it even improves?

Jul 27, 2015 at 10:51 AM

darrellc
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Voigtlander 35 f1.2 II Nokton on A7 II

I had it and used on an A7 and A7s. I thought it improved pretty linearly from wide open thru f2.8 where it was sufficiently sharp edge to edge for most of my shooting. I was generally satisfied with performance at around f2 for my typical environmental portrait shots. I didn't care for anything below f1.8 so I sold it. It was a lot of weight and volume for what was effectively an f2 lens for me.

And I doubt it is anywhere near t/1.2 wide open. My meter didn't budge stopping down from f1.2 to f1.4.

Stopped down to f5.6 it seemed like a great performing lens in all respects.

Jul 27, 2015 at 11:23 AM

uscmatt99
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Voigtlander 35 f1.2 II Nokton on A7 II

I've used the same lens pretty extensively on my A7. No real change from 1.2 to 1.4 in terms of light gathering, but mine does sharpen up a bit at 1.4. Sharpness is only good in the center until 2.8 or so. LoCA or whatever you want to call the out of focus color fringing can be pretty severe wide open. At f/4 and f/5.6 mine is a very good performer across the frame, better than my ZF.2 35/1.4 lens due to it's field curvature.

I like it for my uses. With the lens opened up I use it for portraits or to achieve some subject isolation and I like the rendering as long as I can work around the CA. Just like your last posted image which I think is great! Stopped down I think it's a very nice landscape lens. Never tried it on a 36mp sensor though....

Jul 27, 2015 at 02:58 PM

Tariq Gibran
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Voigtlander 35 f1.2 II Nokton on A7 II

uscmatt99 wrote:
I've used the same lens pretty extensively on my A7. No real change from 1.2 to 1.4 in terms of light gathering, but mine does sharpen up a bit at 1.4. Sharpness is only good in the center until 2.8 or so. LoCA or whatever you want to call the out of focus color fringing can be pretty severe wide open. At f/4 and f/5.6 mine is a very good performer across the frame, better than my ZF.2 35/1.4 lens due to it's field curvature.

I like it for my uses. With the lens opened up I use it for portraits...Show more →

So if the 35/1.2 Voigt was used stopped down (F4 - 5.6, maybe F8?) as a landscape lens, it offers better corner to corner sharpness than the ZF.2 35/1.4. That's interesting.

Jul 27, 2015 at 03:57 PM

Jeff Kott
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Voigtlander 35 f1.2 II Nokton on A7 II

Stopped down, the CV 35/1.2 is sharp at 100% when used with the A7R 36 mp sensor.

Recently, my travel kit is the A7R with CV 35/1.2, FE 55 and CV 90/3.5 M mount.

Unlike darrellc, I find value in a lens that will open up to 1.2/1.4 even if there is some loss of sharpness at the wide apertures, especially if the lens has pleasing bokeh as the CV 35/1.2 does.

Jul 27, 2015 at 04:24 PM

aly324
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Voigtlander 35 f1.2 II Nokton on A7 II

I used the Nokton 35/1.2 v2 on a Fuji XE1 and then a A7R alongside a Summilux-R 35 (and now a Summilux-M asph). I rather liked the Nokton's ergonomics and haptics, especially the 0.5 m MFD compared to other RF lenses. I actually ended up re-buying it three or four times, hoping that a different body/sensor pairing would change things, despite my misgivings about its colors (see below).

I found that f/1.2 (as opposed to f/1.4) was moot because it pertained really only to the center of the image and even there the exposure difference was actually less than half a stop. Other problems included softness at open apertures (as noted above) and somewhat strong barrel distortion (especially at close focus). All that was to be expected and not fatal.

My biggest misgiving was with the colors it gave on the A7R. It consistently lacked the subtle tonal gradations of the Summilux. Most colors were dull and washed out, seeming to have a gray veil over them, but then some particular colors came across unnaturally bright, almost neon-like (like the red pajamas in the 2nd photo above). As a result the photos had what was to me a lifeless and uninviting quality. I have many photos to illustrate these, but they're on my computer. Attached is one. I really don't like the blue and yellow here.

More elaborate post processing might've resolved this, but with the Leicas I find that this is not necessary.

Jul 27, 2015 at 05:16 PM

suteetat
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Voigtlander 35 f1.2 II Nokton on A7 II

I had it for awhile and was quite happy with it on my A7r. CA can be terrible but I can work around that. After I bought 35/1.4 FLE, I sold it to a friend of mine thinking that I would not need it now that I have the FLE. Unfortunately I actually miss it and tempted to ask my friend to buy it back or even get a new copy.
Leica is technically superior in every way but sometimes is a bit too sterile, too perfect perhaps. I rather miss 35/1.2 rendering sometimes.

Jul 28, 2015 at 12:03 AM

uscmatt99
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Voigtlander 35 f1.2 II Nokton on A7 II

Tariq Gibran wrote:
So if the 35/1.2 Voigt was used stopped down (F4 - 5.6, maybe F8?) as a landscape lens, it offers better corner to corner sharpness than the ZF.2 35/1.4. That's interesting.

At f/4 to f/5.6 the Voigt has better across the frame performance. However in the middle 2/3 of the image the Zeiss has more fine detail at those apertures. f/8 is iffy, and at f/11 the Zeiss catches up at the edges and corners, but diffraction effects are visible centrally. This is all with regards to detail at infinity or thereabouts.

The Zeiss curvature is towards the camera, which I like much better than the ZM lenses with curvature away from the camera (at least the 25/2.8 and 35/2.8 which I have experience with). If you happen to have interesting mid-distance elements at the edges of the frame while focused at infinity, they will be very sharp. Also for shooting at f/1.4-2.8, you get enhanced isolation from the background at the periphery due to the curvature, which is why I love it so much for environmental portraiture.

Finally, I agree with another poster that the overall color palette right out of the box with the Zeiss is more pleasing to my eye than the Voigt, and I'll take it's out of focus rendering any day. If only it wasn't such a pig of a lens I'd carry it on my travels more often.

Jul 28, 2015 at 08:02 AM

Tariq Gibran
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Voigtlander 35 f1.2 II Nokton on A7 II

uscmatt99 wrote:
At f/4 to f/5.6 the Voigt has better across the frame performance. However in the middle 2/3 of the image the Zeiss has more fine detail at those apertures. f/8 is iffy, and at f/11 the Zeiss catches up at the edges and corners, but diffraction effects are visible centrally. This is all with regards to detail at infinity or thereabouts.

The Zeiss curvature is towards the camera, which I like much better than the ZM lenses with curvature away from the camera (at least the 25/2.8 and 35/2.8 which I have experience with). If you happen to have interesting mid-distance...Show more →

Thanks for the details. It makes sense that if you have field curvature, in many cases it would be beneficial when it curves inwards. I didn't know the ZM 35/2.8 had an issue with field curvature. Which camera did you find that with? Here is what Roger/ Lensrental found for field curvature with a few wides and the ZM 35/2.8 doesn't look that bad at F4/ infinity:
http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2014/08/some-m-mount-field-curvatures

Jul 28, 2015 at 08:52 AM

Paul Mo
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Voigtlander 35 f1.2 II Nokton on A7 II

New images added above.

Jul 28, 2015 at 08:55 AM

aly324
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Voigtlander 35 f1.2 II Nokton on A7 II

suteetat wrote:
I had it for awhile and was quite happy with it on my A7r. CA can be terrible but I can work around that. After I bought 35/1.4 FLE, I sold it to a friend of mine thinking that I would not need it now that I have the FLE. Unfortunately I actually miss it and tempted to ask my friend to buy it back or even get a new copy.
Leica is technically superior in every way but sometimes is a bit too sterile, too perfect perhaps. I rather miss 35/1.2 rendering sometimes.

I've heard that the FLE is sterile, but I don't find the pre-FLE and the Summilux-R to be sterile in the least, and definitely not perfect (both have stronger coma that the CV). Just much better colors natively.

Jul 28, 2015 at 11:48 AM

retrofocus
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Voigtlander 35 f1.2 II Nokton on A7 II

The CV 35/1.2 II is one of my favorite lenses on my A7R. I am using it between f/1.2 and f/11 - from portrait to landscape photos. IMO its quality is outstanding. Color rendering is more towards the yellowish similar to Sigma lenses - something which I prefer, too. The lens balances well with the camera and has a nice big focus ring since the lens itself is not the smallest which can be a disadvantage to some. Attached below a few examples of shots taken with this lens and my A7R.

A7R, CV 35/1.2 II @ f/1.2, ISO 100


	http://martinbluhm.zenfolio.com/img/s12/v179/p551838784-4.jpg

A7R, CV 35/1.2 II @ f/1.2, ISO100


	http://martinbluhm.zenfolio.com/img/s7/v163/p1105364359-4.jpg

A7R, CV 35/1.2 II @ f/1.2, ISO 200


	http://martinbluhm.zenfolio.com/img/s6/v134/p1105364644-4.jpg

A7R, CV 35/1.2 II @ f/4, ISO 50


	http://martinbluhm.zenfolio.com/img/s7/v152/p94268530-4.jpg

A7R, CV 35/1.2 II @ f/11, ISO 800


	http://martinbluhm.zenfolio.com/img/s8/v82/p1251267803-4.jpg

Jul 28, 2015 at 12:40 PM

Paul Mo
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Voigtlander 35 f1.2 II Nokton on A7 II

Thanks for posting retro - makes a nice reference.

Jul 28, 2015 at 12:44 PM

uscmatt99
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Voigtlander 35 f1.2 II Nokton on A7 II

Tariq Gibran wrote:
Thanks for the details. It makes sense that if you have field curvature, in many cases it would be beneficial when it curves inwards. I didn't know the ZM 35/2.8 had an issue with field curvature. Which camera did you find that with? Here is what Roger/ Lensrental found for field curvature with a few wides and the ZM 35/2.8 doesn't look that bad at F4/ infinity:
http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2014/08/some-m-mount-field-curvatures

I've only used both ZM lenses on the Ricoh GXR which crops away any curvature, and on the A7 which exacerbates it in conjunction with all the other issues it entails. For both lenses on the A7 the corners improve with I focus on something mid-distance in the center, so it has to be curvature related. To be fair I don't know how bad the native field curvature would be of the lens itself, or on a Leica sensor. Maybe Edward Karaa can comment.

Interestingly, the ZF.2 35/1.4 seems to have its field curvature lessened on my A7 compared to the D600 a bit. But maybe it's just my imagination as I've never done a controlled test

Jul 28, 2015 at 01:05 PM

Tariq Gibran
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Voigtlander 35 f1.2 II Nokton on A7 II

uscmatt99 wrote:
I've only used both ZM lenses on the Ricoh GXR which crops away any curvature, and on the A7 which exacerbates it in conjunction with all the other issues it entails. For both lenses on the A7 the corners improve with I focus on something mid-distance in the center, so it has to be curvature related. To be fair I don't know how bad the native field curvature would be of the lens itself, or on a Leica sensor. Maybe Edward Karaa can comment.

Interestingly, the ZF.2 35/1.4 seems to have its field curvature lessened on my A7 compared to the...Show more →

Thanks. I'm guessing that if you don't have a modded sensor on your A7, the thicker cover glass could be influencing the field curvature a bit with the ZM 35/2.8. That lens is reputed to be one of the sharpest/ best for landscape work, corner to corner, on a Leica I believe.

Jul 28, 2015 at 02:28 PM

JimUe
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Voigtlander 35 f1.2 II Nokton on A7 II

thanks retro

Jul 28, 2015 at 03:59 PM

suteetat
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Voigtlander 35 f1.2 II Nokton on A7 II

aly324 wrote:
I've heard that the FLE is sterile, but I don't find the pre-FLE and the Summilux-R to be sterile in the least, and definitely not perfect (both have stronger coma that the CV). Just much better colors natively.

The FLE is impressive for most part but yes, on occasion, it can be sterile. Sometimes I really like Leica R 35/2.8 rendering better but wish it has a bit more detail and sharpness and sometimes I wish I can have more control of dof.
Funny that I mentioned similar thing regarding FLE to my local Leica dealer and he mentioned that I should try out the pre FLE, 35/1.4 asph version. I definitely am looking into Zeiss and other Leica option for 35mm but in no hurry though, too many lenses to buy and too little money

Jul 28, 2015 at 10:11 PM

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