Jman13 wrote:
I owned the 35/1.4 CV and liked it... certainly a unique look, and fairly decent for most work, but once I used the 40/1.2, I couldn't look at the 35 the same way and sold the 35 for the 40. The 35 was a nice lens for the price, but I adore the 40/1.2.
Yet again someone makes me reconsider as soon as I think my mind is made.
If I get the 40 I do plan on selling my Samyang 35 and Zony 55. So I suppose that offsets the price difference. Oh but the CV 35 is so small!
The 40/1.2 seems like the most versatile lens in the 35-40mm range and I know I am enjoying mine. It is great for portraits wide open to say F2 and closed down some it is a terrific landscape lens. It has lovely color and is ergonomically a pleasure to use. Of course, it would be nice if it had better close focus ability (there is no floating element in its design), it does have a fair amount of CA wide open (normally correctable without a lot of difficulty) and its bokeh at middle apertures is not to everyone's taste. Still, It gets more use than any other lens in my collection. I don't see anything in the "classic" 35/1.4 nor the Loxia 35 aside from the occasionally more useful focal length that would encourage me to switch to one of those lenses.
Luvwine wrote:
The 40/1.2 seems like the most versatile lens in the 35-40mm range and I know I am enjoying mine. It is great for portraits wide open to say F2 and closed down some it is a terrific landscape lens. It has lovely color and is ergonomically a pleasure to use. Of course, it would be nice if it had better close focus ability (there is no floating element in its design), it does have a fair amount of CA wide open (normally correctable without a lot of difficulty) and its bokeh at middle apertures is not to everyone's taste. Still, It gets more use than any other lens in my collection. I don't see anything in the "classic" 35/1.4 nor the Loxia 35 aside from the occasionally more useful focal length that would encourage me to switch to one of those lenses. ...Show more →
I agree with Stephen's assessment. I would never replace the CV 40/1.2 with the CV 35/1.4 Classic. In my case, it's an addition that gives a different look to my images while being super compact for a f/1.4 lens. It can be used for landscape at smaller apertures but there are many other better choices for that. (CV 35/1.7, Loxia 35/2, ZM 35/1.4 and CV 40/1.2 to name a few)
Agreed - I don't think the two Voigts are interchangeable. Oddly, I still haven't had many good opportunities with the 40/1.2. Tomorrow I'm going to walk around Amish farm country and wooded trails, and I'm keeping the pack as small as I can. The 35 I'm taking is the Loxia (as well as the 50 and 85), although it's tempting to stick a Voigt into one of the crevices too.
I have a Adorama VIP account so I get a 60 day return if needed. But I did what I wanted to do mechanically and get to knurled focusing ring and aperture out front
So big changes CV 15 e mount, CV 21 e mount, CV 35 classic e mount, cv 50 1.2 M mount which when a e mount comes out I may switch to it.
Also the Loxia 25 which I’m going to hold on too as that ultimately has the highest IQ of all of them .
I’m feeling good as I think I have the smallest MF kit you can muster and I get the mechanics I want. As much as I love the Loxia glass I never liked the mechanics. Maybe I’ll shoot more now. I’m fickle that way
I also have the Sony 24mm 1.4 coming so next week a lot of testing. For those Batis 40 folks which I wanted to get , I’m frankly on hold until we get some real answers on it. No hurry
GMPhotography wrote:
Bought the classic last night. Worth a try
I have a Adorama VIP account so I get a 60 day return if needed. But I did what I wanted to do mechanically and get to knurled focusing ring and aperture out front
So big changes CV 15 e mount, CV 21 e mount, CV 35 classic e mount, cv 50 1.2 M mount which when a e mount comes out I may switch to it.
Also the Loxia 25 which I’m going to hold on too as that ultimately has the highest IQ of all of them .
I’m feeling good as I think I have the smallest MF kit you can muster and I get the mechanics I want. As much as I love the Loxia glass I never liked the mechanics. Maybe I’ll shoot more now. I’m fickle that way
I also have the Sony 24mm 1.4 coming so next week a lot of testing. For those Batis 40 folks which I wanted to get , I’m frankly on hold until we get some real answers on it. No hurry
Guys opinion I don’t like what I’m reading on it...Show more →
You will know if you hate or love it at first click!
Fred Miranda wrote:
You will know if you hate or love it at first click!
Mine was a brief flirtation. I thought I'd love it, really enjoyed the experience of using a native MF lens with excellent haptics, but hated the rendering. I suspect I'll like the Nokton FE 50/1.2 a lot more.
Soooooooo. I bought the Classic new and tested it and decided its just not my style. So I am returning it for store credit and will buy something I need. But in the meantime I went back to the CV 35 1.7 Ultron with PCX filter I bought off the board. My biggest issue here is i like sharp when i am wide open. After that it can fall off drastically as im using this more for more creative type shooting than general type on a lens like this for my MF kit. I know the Ultron is sharp its my third one.
But I did the test on Big Bronco and some extra shots and i was just going to toss them. Than I thought maybe someone wants to download them and see what the Classic is about. So i loaded the raws up for download. Its big over 2gb but here they are. Im on a project and just dont have time to post them
GMPhotography wrote:
Soooooooo. I bought the Classic new and tested it and decided its just not my style. So I am returning it for store credit and will buy something I need. But in the meantime I went back to the CV 35 1.7 Ultron with PCX filter I bought off the board. My biggest issue here is i like sharp when i am wide open. After that it can fall off drastically as im using this more for more creative type shooting than general type on a lens like this for my MF kit. I know the Ultron is sharp its my third one.
But I did the test on Big Bronco and some extra shots and i was just going to toss them. Than I thought maybe someone wants to download them and see what the Classic is about. So i loaded the raws up for download. Its big over 2gb but here they are. Im on a project and just dont have time to post them
Thanks for making these available, Guy. Your experience matches my own. Most of the time I'm not so concerned with wide open sharpness but I was hoping that the Classic 35 FE would behave like a wider Planar ZE/ZF 50/1.4, which becomes very good at f/2 and superb by f/2.8. That hope was not realized.
The Nokton FE 40/1.2 thread currently stands at 157 pages, reflecting the fact that each shipment of that lens sells out almost immediately. I'd be amazed if this thread ever gets to 10 pages.
Wide open the contrast and saturation are very low and really don’t start till F2 to crisp up. Just bugged me that it starts at F2 but really it’s 2.8. I think we have better options.
If you can try renting the CV 50 1.2 M mount I own it and it’s exactly like the 40 and actually I think it’s a touch sharper on center. I’m using that now. Eventually they may make it a E mount but you may like it
GMPhotography wrote:
If you can try renting the CV 50 1.2 M mount I own it and it’s exactly like the 40 and actually I think it’s a touch sharper on center. I’m using that now. Eventually they may make it a E mount but you may like it
Rather than “eventually they may” I’d say definitely they will release an E-mount version. They’ve already shown two prototypes with different exterior designs at Photokina last September and I recently placed a pre-order. My guess is that it will be announced at CP+ in late February/ early March 2019 and ship some time after that.
I’ve been consistently impressed with the pictures that members have posted in both the dedicated Nokton VE 40/1.2 thread and the general FE Images thread. But I’m a 50mm guy at heart and am eagerly anticipating the VE 50/1.2.
With some freed up funds, I am also very interested in the 50mm f1.2. The C-Sonnar does not gel with high contrast strong light as feared. The 40mm might not give enough stand off for me. Has to be very close in overall imaging to the striking 40/1.2, and have the near wide open / stopped down performance I see in the long 40/1.2 thread. It seems to offer this flamboyant character yet stay pretty restrained at landscape apertures, with excellent color. So, a full dual purpose lens at 420 grams or so. Thanks for all the work on that one, Fred.
philip_pj wrote:
With some freed up funds, I am also very interested in the 50mm f1.2. The C-Sonnar does not gel with high contrast strong light as feared. The 40mm might not give enough stand off for me. Has to be very close in overall imaging to the striking 40/1.2, and have the near wide open / stopped down performance I see in the long 40/1.2 thread. It seems to offer this flamboyant character yet stay pretty restrained at landscape apertures, with excellent color. So, a full dual purpose lens at 420 grams or so. Thanks for all the work on that one, Fred....Show more →
