Comparison: Leica Noctilux f/0.95 and Voigtlander f/1.1 Nokton

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Archive 2009 · Comparison: Leica Noctilux f/0.95 and Voigtlander f/1.1 N...

jhapeman
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p.1 #1 · Comparison: Leica Noctilux f/0.95 and Voigtlander f/1.1 Nokton

So, I was fortunate to find a new Noctilux in stock, and I jumped on it. Today I did a comparison of the Noctilux to the Voigtlander f/1.1 in my front yard. It's not a scientific test, but it is a controlled test. I was a little over a meter from the brick pillar in the shots. Note that the right side of the images is OOF at a distance; this was intentional to demonstrate differences in bokeh.

Here is a comparison image made of crops from both lenses. The best thing to do is select "All sizes" from above the image, then choose "Original" and look at the huge file in detail.

Fast 50mm Comparison on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

This is the set that has all of the original images in it.

M-Mount Fast 50mm Comparison - a set on Flickr

Rather than put any conclusions in this post, I will let you draw your own and then comment with my own thoughts.

Jeff

Nov 01, 2009 at 04:53 AM

Empire
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p.1 #2 · Comparison: Leica Noctilux f/0.95 and Voigtlander f/1.1 Nokton

you just walked in an bought a 0.95 Noct?
That thing costs more than my total yearly student income!

Nov 01, 2009 at 08:00 AM

carstenw
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p.1 #3 · Comparison: Leica Noctilux f/0.95 and Voigtlander f/1.1 Nokton

Well, we are not all students

The Nokton holds up amazingly well, considering it costs almost 1/10th. The Leica appears to have slightly more resolution wide open for a couple of stops, and the boke is smoother, which some might prefer (including me). Other than that, there really isn't much difference.

How about some other tests, like focusing close with tree branches against a bright sky in the background, and perhaps some portrait shots. A Christmas tree in the background of something, with all its lights on might also be interesting.

Nov 01, 2009 at 10:18 AM

ulrikft2
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p.1 #4 · Comparison: Leica Noctilux f/0.95 and Voigtlander f/1.1 Nokton

The nokton does good considering the price indeed.

Nov 01, 2009 at 02:28 PM

jhapeman
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p.1 #5 · Comparison: Leica Noctilux f/0.95 and Voigtlander f/1.1 Nokton

carstenw wrote:
The Nokton holds up amazingly well, considering it costs almost 1/10th. The Leica appears to have slightly more resolution wide open for a couple of stops, and the boke is smoother, which some might prefer (including me). Other than that, there really isn't much difference.

How about some other tests, like focusing close with tree branches against a bright sky in the background, and perhaps some portrait shots. A Christmas tree in the background of something, with all its lights on might also be interesting.

Indeed, my observations exactly. I will try to do a few more tests this weekend, but I have decided that the Nokton will go to offset some of the expense of my Noctilux.

Nov 01, 2009 at 04:04 PM

SteveF
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p.1 #6 · Comparison: Leica Noctilux f/0.95 and Voigtlander f/1.1 Nokton

Thanks for posting these. Fascinating to go through them and compare.

I like the look of the Leica below f/4, which is where this lens would get most of its use.

But have to admit that I likely only prefer the Leica as I can see it side by side with the Nokton - it really looks pretty good and on its own would likely be just fine.

Nov 02, 2009 at 03:53 AM

jhapeman
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p.1 #7 · Comparison: Leica Noctilux f/0.95 and Voigtlander f/1.1 Nokton

Steve,

I would agree. I also like the Noctilux more, but I wasn't really dissatisfied with the Nokton in any way. I see the Nokton as a tremendous bargain.

Jeff

Nov 02, 2009 at 04:52 AM

Yakim Peled
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p.1 #8 · Comparison: Leica Noctilux f/0.95 and Voigtlander f/1.1 Nokton

IMHO the Leica is disappointing. For 10K I'd expect more.

Happy shooting,
Yakim.

Nov 02, 2009 at 01:55 PM

Jos Tesseract
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p.1 #9 · Comparison: Leica Noctilux f/0.95 and Voigtlander f/1.1 Nokton

Yakim Peled wrote:
IMHO the Leica is disappointing. For 10K I'd expect more.

Happy shooting,
Yakim.

But with that lens you do get more! more aperture! :P

Nov 02, 2009 at 04:58 PM

dasrocket
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p.1 #10 · Comparison: Leica Noctilux f/0.95 and Voigtlander f/1.1 Nokton

Yakim Peled wrote:
IMHO the Leica is disappointing. For 10K I'd expect more.

Happy shooting,
Yakim.

Yakim, could you elaborate on what "more" this lens could give and what was disapointing in it? IMHO I like the Nokt better, but not 10X better. \

Jhapeman, thanks for the test, I have been keeping my eye on the CV since it was anounced; is the difference in size and weight between the two siginificant to choose one over the other on that aspect aloone?

Nov 02, 2009 at 05:26 PM

Brian Puccio
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p.1 #11 · Comparison: Leica Noctilux f/0.95 and Voigtlander f/1.1 Nokton

Can't afford the Leica, but this comparison tells me that for the money, the Voigtlander is good enough. Thanks for posting!

(A little off topic, which font is this? The glyph for "ti" together looks really nice.)

Nov 02, 2009 at 06:34 PM

jhapeman
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p.1 #12 · Comparison: Leica Noctilux f/0.95 and Voigtlander f/1.1 Nokton

Yes, the Voigtlander is definitely a great deal. To be honest, I was hoping the Leica would be a bit sharper or otherwise pack a bit more punch to make it easier to swallow the price tag.

As for size and weight, the Nokton is definitely smaller and more manageable. Mind you, its still a huge lens compared to most M-mount lenses, but its substantially smaller and lighter than the Noctilux. Size and weight:

Nokton 57.2x69.6mm (LxW), 428 grams
Noctilux 75.1x73mm (LxW), 700 grams

On my copies, the focus ring of the Nokton is also much smoother. BTW, focus success with these lenses is much higher if you use the 1.4x magnifier. You lose some of the wider view of the rangefinder field, but you can get precise focusing to hit the narrow DOF just right.

Jeff

Nov 02, 2009 at 07:03 PM

ulrikft2
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p.1 #13 · Comparison: Leica Noctilux f/0.95 and Voigtlander f/1.1 Nokton

How much are you planning on letting the nokton for?

Nov 02, 2009 at 10:18 PM

jhapeman
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p.1 #14 · Comparison: Leica Noctilux f/0.95 and Voigtlander f/1.1 Nokton

There has been a lot of interest in my Nokton...but it already is sold! A friend made an offer before I even announced I would be selling it.

Nov 02, 2009 at 10:19 PM

ulrikft2
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p.1 #15 · Comparison: Leica Noctilux f/0.95 and Voigtlander f/1.1 Nokton

Aaah, ok

I guess I'll just get a new one when that time comes!

Nov 02, 2009 at 10:54 PM

Yakim Peled
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p.1 #16 · Comparison: Leica Noctilux f/0.95 and Voigtlander f/1.1 Nokton

dasrocket wrote:
Yakim Peled wrote:
IMHO the Leica is disappointing. For 10K I'd expect more.

Happy shooting,
Yakim.

Yakim, could you elaborate on what "more" this lens could give and what was disapointing in it? IMHO I like the Nokt better, but not 10X better.

I'd expect more sharpness in the edges and less CA when the lens is wide open. And to think this is on M8, not M9.....

Happy shooting,
Yakim.

Nov 03, 2009 at 01:42 PM

ulrikft2
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p.1 #17 · Comparison: Leica Noctilux f/0.95 and Voigtlander f/1.1 Nokton

Hmm, at 0.95? I'm not really sure that is possible.

Nov 04, 2009 at 10:45 AM

Graham Mitchell
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p.1 #18 · Comparison: Leica Noctilux f/0.95 and Voigtlander f/1.1 Nokton

This puzzles me a little. One of the advantages of shooting at a wider aperture is to achieve a narrower DOF. If you upgraded your M8.2 to an M9, all your lenses would be 'upgraded' in the same way - you would achieve a more blurred background with the same lenses just by increasing sensor size and getting a little closer to your subject to achieve the same framing.

If resolution of the lens is important to you, then why not upgrade your sensor by getting the M9 and making the most of all your lenses? Perhaps you have one on order but if not, it seems odd to me to spend that much on one lens rather than upgrading to the M9.

Finally, before you make any final decisions about which lens to keep, why not test them on a full-frame sensor (assuming you will upgrade eventually). There might be a surprise waiting in the corners which the M8.2 missed.

Nov 04, 2009 at 11:47 AM

jhapeman
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p.1 #19 · Comparison: Leica Noctilux f/0.95 and Voigtlander f/1.1 Nokton

foto-z, nothing to be puzzled about. I'd love an M9 right now, but they are impossible to find and there are LONG waiting lists. Also, RF lenses are a bit more limited than SLR lenses due to the close-focus restrictions of the RF itself. Generally you are going to be restricted to either 1m or 0.7m close focus.

I got the 50/0.95 not just for narrow DOF, but also for low-light shooting indoors and at night. In that case its not about background blur at all.

Finally, I didn't see any value in waiting until the M9 finally came to decide on which lens to keep. The sharpness of the lens on center--which matters most to me--and the bokeh are not going to change with sensor size. Also, I don't see how the FF will reveal any new items or trends that aren't already quite obvious in the corners of the 1.3x crop of the M8.2. I tend not to get consumed with far-corner performance on FF anyway; when shooting wide open in real-world conditions, the odds of the corners being in the plane of focus as my subject are vanishingly small.

Nov 04, 2009 at 03:39 PM

Lotusm50
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p.1 #20 · Comparison: Leica Noctilux f/0.95 and Voigtlander f/1.1 Nokton

Empire wrote:
you just walked in an bought a 0.95 Noct?
That thing costs more than my total yearly student income!

I thought it was a lot more expensive than that...

Nov 04, 2009 at 03:44 PM

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p.1 #21 · Comparison: Leica Noctilux f/0.95 and Voigtlander f/1.1 Nokton

jhapeman wrote:
Here is a comparison image made of crops from both lenses. The best thing to do is select "All sizes" from above the image, then choose "Original" and look at the huge file in detail.

Fast 50mm Comparison on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Well, the Noctilux seems to have a nicer bokeh.

I am wondering if the plane of focus was slightly different for each lens. At f1.1, f1.4 and f2.0, part of the Nokton lower left crop looks sharper than the Noctilux (the brick face), and part (the mortar which is raised out from the brick surface) look less sharp.

Edited on Nov 04, 2009 at 08:35 PM · View previous versions

Nov 04, 2009 at 03:54 PM

Jman13
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p.1 #22 · Comparison: Leica Noctilux f/0.95 and Voigtlander f/1.1 Nokton

foto-z wrote:
This puzzles me a little. One of the advantages of shooting at a wider aperture is to achieve a narrower DOF. If you upgraded your M8.2 to an M9, all your lenses would be 'upgraded' in the same way - you would achieve a more blurred background with the same lenses just by increasing sensor size and getting a little closer to your subject to achieve the same framing.

Well, that would be the case if the Noctilux didn't have an insanely long MFD of 3.3 ft, for a 50mm. Crazy.

Nov 04, 2009 at 04:59 PM

jhapeman
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p.1 #23 · Comparison: Leica Noctilux f/0.95 and Voigtlander f/1.1 Nokton

b]Lotusm50 wrote:

Well, the Nokton seems to have a nicer bokeh.

I am wondering if the plane of focus was slightly different for each lens. At f1.1, f1.4 and f2.0, part of the Nokton lower left crop looks sharper than the Noctilux (the brick face), and part (the mortar which is raised out from the brick surface) look less sharp.

That just goes to show that bokeh is a very subjective thing!

Good eye. At first it looks like the Noctilux is worse in the corners, but as you noticed, the focal plane is just very slightly different on the two. Without Live View (which would be awesome on the M-series, but I am not sure we will ever see it), it's virtually impossible to rangefinder-focus two lenses to precisely the same point. That doesn't always matter, but when the DOF is on the order of millimeters, it does. In this case, the Noctilux appears to have the plane of focus a few millimeters back of Nokton. I believe this is why the corners look just a tiny bit off on the Noctilux.

Nov 04, 2009 at 06:56 PM

jhapeman
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p.1 #24 · Comparison: Leica Noctilux f/0.95 and Voigtlander f/1.1 Nokton

Jman13 wrote:
foto-z wrote:
This puzzles me a little. One of the advantages of shooting at a wider aperture is to achieve a narrower DOF. If you upgraded your M8.2 to an M9, all your lenses would be 'upgraded' in the same way - you would achieve a more blurred background with the same lenses just by increasing sensor size and getting a little closer to your subject to achieve the same framing.

Well, that would be the case if the Noctilux didn't have an insanely long MFD of 3.3 ft, for a 50mm. Crazy.

It's not as crazy as it seems. The closest-focusing 50's in the RF world focus to 0.7m, and a lot have a close focus range around 1m: The close focus for the Voigtlander 50/1.1 Nokton is 1m, and for the Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton ASPH, it's 0.9m. Remember, you won't get a RF-coupled lens that focuses closer than 0.7m anyway, and at closer distances parallax issues really come into play, messing with composition, for example. There are some constraints that can be attributed to the system.

The reality is that its not ideal to be shooting a lens like that in that close anyway. If I really want a tight framing and great OOF background, I pull out a longer lens--the 85/1.2 on the Canon, or the 75/2 or 90/2 on the M8.2.

Nov 04, 2009 at 07:02 PM

Graham Mitchell
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p.1 #25 · Comparison: Leica Noctilux f/0.95 and Voigtlander f/1.1 Nokton

jhapeman wrote:
I'd love an M9 right now, but they are impossible to find and there are LONG waiting lists.

Ok, then it makes much more sense. I had no idea they were so tough to get hold of. Hope you find one soon!

Nov 04, 2009 at 07:41 PM


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