GMPhotography wrote:
Adorama will not get any Voightlander until Photo Village does Same for B& H. Photo Village is the East Coast distributors for Voightlander and they supply Adorama and B& H. I know Rich very well from Photo Village. I’ve been saying this for months and folks completely are ignoring this fact. Keep checking there site than if you see it in stock figure two days before the retailers get it. I actually went in to Photo Village to buy my 40 than 2 days later it was finally in stock at the retailers.
Sorry if I'm being ignorant. Are you saying that I should buy from Photo Village? Happy to do that as i have no great allegiance with Adorama. I'd never even heard of them before this post. Thanks, Rob
So, what are folk's lens cleaning techniques? I've always used a B+W MRC Clear Transparent filter out of anxiety that I could never do the cleaning job justice, but I suppose I probably never learned it properly in the first place.
RobertHolloway wrote:
Sorry if I'm being ignorant. Are you saying that I should buy from Photo Village? Happy to do that as i have no great allegiance with Adorama. I'd never even heard of them before this post. Thanks, Rob
No not at all but the distributors are actually retail shops as well which is unusual.in this case everything will go through Photo Village and Camera Quest, than on to other retail shops from there. Not normally a common system as folks like Sony distribute themselves and have reps across the country. Cosina is a small company per say and choose to use two retailers. Not very common. No issues going through Adorama or B&H but when back orders come up they will wait a few more days than the distributors. So watch there stock and than you will know it’s coming soon.
Photo Village has been around a long times but is a small boutique type company.
I've been lurking this thread from the beginning, as I earlier had the A7II and had the Nokton FE version ordered. But then I cancelled as I switched back to 100% Fujifilm cameras just a few weeks back. I already had the X-T20 with my Sony and now Sony got replaced by X-T2 (which I love love love LOVE). Almost gave up on Nokton but then I realized that the M mount version could work really great on my Fuji. And if I ever switched back to FF or GFX medium (if they ever come up with more "affordable" medium format cameras) I could use this lens there as well.
So anyone using this gem on Fuji cameras (or crop sensor)?
Just put a deposit down for the 40 1.2 Sony mount and will have it within a week!
Was going to get the Loxia 24mm 2.4 but this thread has some sort of gravitational pull.
@Tonzah78 - Tried the VM 40 on my X-Pro2 briefly. Seems okay but not overly impressive/notable in any way. Almost considering getting an M to EF adapter so that I could try it out on the speedbooster.
I just got mine in the mail 30 minutes ago and wouldn't you know it. I unboxed it, threw it on my camera, ran upstairs to head out the door and.... SNOW!!!
I planned an afternoon shoot at Garden of the gods (for those who know the area) - Oh well.
A few observations - not complaints:
1. I can't get the lens cap to stay on to save my life. Any suggestions?
2. My middle-finger knuckle rubs on the focus ring - it sticks out pretty far. I must have big knuckles.
Overall - the size, balance, build quality of this lens is superb. I love how the focus ring works/feels.
ylimehajile wrote:
I just got mine in the mail 30 minutes ago and wouldn't you know it. I unboxed it, threw it on my camera, ran upstairs to head out the door and.... SNOW!!!
I planned an afternoon shoot at Garden of the gods (for those who know the area) - Oh well.
A few observations - not complaints:
1. I can't get the lens cap to stay on to save my life. Any suggestions?
2. My middle-finger knuckle rubs on the focus ring - it sticks out pretty far. I must have big knuckles.
Overall - the size, balance, build quality of this lens is superb. I love how the focus ring works/feels. ...Show more →
I get the cheap replacement lens caps from Amazon. They work better than the stock caps from Voigtlander (or Sony or Zeiss). The same product sells there under various brands. Look for the Sensei brand ones, notice the design, and then buy whichever one that looks like that is cheaper.
Mine arrived today but only had a chance to shoot it around the house a bit. Feeling a bit of buyers remorse for some reason? I was maybe expecting too much from it at f/1.2
First 3 at 1.2 and last one at 1.4 (excuse the snot, she has a cold)
xpfloyd wrote:
Mine arrived today but only had a chance to shoot it around the house a bit. Feeling a bit of buyers remorse for some reason? I was maybe expecting too much from it at f/1.2
Nice!
What are you finding to be the source of the buyer's remorse?
ylimehajile wrote:
I can't seem to get sharp shots at 1.2 either but I'm chalking that up to me never shooting a 1.2 MF lens before - at least for now
Focus assist / peaking has everything red but the images are soft. Calling out all the experts - any advice?
Try mid distances (>1.2m). The 40/1.2 Nokton, although sharper than similar fast lenses, is not optimal at close distance when shooting wide-open. For that, I would stop down to f/1.8 or smaller.
Here is an example already posted here. At this distance or longer, the lens is sharp even wide open:
What are you finding to be the source of the buyer's remorse?
Not entirely sure? Not something I usually get. I need to use it more to get a feel for it. So far I have only shot around the house in poor light so not the best way of getting a feel for it. Not finding the shots all that sharp at 1.2 but maybe expecting too much (or maybe poor MF technique which is a possibility)
ylimehajile wrote:
I can't seem to get sharp shots at 1.2 either but I'm chalking that up to me never shooting a 1.2 MF lens before - at least for now
Focus assist / peaking has everything red but the images are soft. Calling out all the experts - any advice?
There are potentially a multitude of things at play. In the case of @xpfloyd, (although the shots look fine to me with maybe some slightly missed focusing) are very close to being at minimum focus distance which the FE mount version has been found to be weakest at optically. This is where the front filter conversation comes in.
Not sure how much of a difference (if any) there is at MFD between the FE mount version versus an adapted M mount version. But I have found the resolution to be more than acceptable at or near MFD on my adapted version via TAP (without front filters).
As far as not getting sharp shots in general, it could be a sub-par copy or simply missed focus which is very easy to do. Focus peaking (at least I have found in my usage) is not great for ultra fast lenses. If you must manually focus a fast lens, then I prefer magnification over peaking.
Of course, we all have varying levels of comfort and/or ability with manual focus. I like to believe I am pretty good at it with some caveats when it comes to moving subjects. I personally am constantly shooting on the fly (while being a dad and only having one hand free) and hardly ever have the luxury of shooting compliant/static subjects which is the reason I opted to make some optical sacrifices in exchange for some autofocus.
I know a lot of shooters like to believe they are good enough to capture moving subjects at 1.2 or faster. But the reality is if you need a decent keeper rate while doing it quickly/swiftly and capturing fleeting moments for said subjects, most of us are going to need AF.
Every time I have purchased a lens at f1.2 and more, I have had a learning curve to go through. It was the same with the Canon 50/1.2L and 85/1.2L as well as the Mitakon 50/0.95. The source of my initial disappointment was always the same. I had forgotten the laws of physics and that the DOF at close distances was effectively paper thin. Once I re-calibrated I loved those lenses. Now if Adorama would just open again, get some lenses and ship my order
I just received my 40mm f1.2 and must say that I am fairly blown-away with how sharp it is on the A7RIII at f1.2. The JPG's on this site (as with any site) do not do it justice. As a note, I have shot nearly all the Sony lenses, and a ton of Canon, Sigma ART and Leica glass on my A7X's and I am highly discriminating about IQ. This lens is certainly much better than the Canon 50mm f1.2 that I once shot. I must have lucked-out and acquired an exceptional copy of the lens, as I am pinching myself with how good it is.
I can see where this lens will be glued to one of my A7RIII's and will be great for travel. I am a bit relieved (for travel purposes), as I am not satisfied shooting the RX1RII with the lack of IBIS and marginal viewfinder/eyepiece. This lens renders like shooting legacy glass, but that just makes it interesting. I would have preferred 35mm, but I do a lot of stitched panorama's, anyway.
I need to thank all the contributors on this forum for for all the posts that lead to me making the purchase that I, otherwise, would not have bothered with... not expecting great performance. I normally do not like manual focus, since I shoot so many portraits, but the electronic coupling make this lens acceptable for those minority of times where I would use it for such.
This is the first time I have purchased directly from CameraQuest and must say that their performance was absolutely outstanding.
I suppose this means I will need to order the, even better, 65mm lens.
Fred Miranda wrote:
Try mid distances (>1.2m). The 40/1.2 Nokton, although sharper than similar fast lenses, is not optimal at close distance when shooting wide-open. For that, I would stop down to f/1.8 or smaller.
That's exactly what it was - and sadly I read that a few times on this thread alone. Thanks for the reminder. With this type of lens my tendency is to get as close as I can. My dog wasn't a fan of that. Once I backed up and checked 1:1 everything looks great.
