Fall is meteor season, I run several cameras mostly with Sigma art lenses that are great for this during the night. I purchased a 21 mm Voigtlander Nok M for my M11P and decided to add it to the camera mix for meteors with a Voigtlander adapter for Z. This is a Z7-2 camera running interval for meteors aimed over the Catalina Mountains in Tucson. The camera was located in the Moon's shadow so the full Moon would fill light the landscape and the lens putting Nokton into Nokton use. The color rendition and resolution of the lens is remarkable for night long exposure, the light fall off is a bit of a problem (much more than the F mount adapted Sigmas), but stopping down and increasing iso should cure that. Meteor season continues and many more nights ahead to refine the parameters. I'll have to try the 28 Nokton as well, but that is a different thread.
My attempt to catch the Northern Lights. The best photos. I traveled 4,600 kilometers, had sleepless nights, experienced very heavy cloud cover, and made constant overnight crossings in search of clear skies. I was searching for new, beautiful places. It was worth it. All photos were taken at 21mm, I thought it needed to be wider, but it was enough for me. I hope you enjoy my photos
This is the M mount 21 mm Nokton adapted to a Nikon Z7II with Voigtlander closer focus Z mount adapter catching the view from my front door as the aurora was underway in Tucson Arizona- this is the view north over the Catalina Mountains, as an outburst was occurring an amazing bright magenta sky- all the way south to the US border with Mexico.
Another with the adapted 21 mm Voigtlander with the Z7II. The aurora on November 11 was an epic outburst that dies not occur often. It was visible to southern border of the US and likely beyond into Mexico. This is exceptional. In this one I copped out my neighbors lights to give a more natural look. I wish they would turn them off when they sleep, instead of illuminating their cactus for display.
Epic trip! Thank you for traveling for us also!
This strong green/black atmosphere looks like the level of the end-boss in a fantasy game!
00demontver00 wrote:
My attempt to catch the Northern Lights. The best photos. I traveled 4,600 kilometers, had sleepless nights, experienced very heavy cloud cover, and made constant overnight crossings in search of clear skies. I was searching for new, beautiful places. It was worth it. All photos were taken at 21mm, I thought it needed to be wider, but it was enough for me. I hope you enjoy my photos
A question for the experts: I have this lens on my Leica M, and I’d like to use it on an AF body. I’m using it on a Sony A7R III with the Techart, and in my opinion the performance is far off, because the field curvature is so strong that the edges come back into focus as out-of-focus areas.
How does it behave if I mount the VM version on a Nikon Z8 with the Techart?
Would I see a noticeable improvement? Mainly regarding field curvature, since if I want everything in focus I shoot at f/8 and I wouldn’t have problems.
The Nikon Z bodies will perform better with the thinner filter stack, but compromises will still have to be made here too, although they will be significantly less than with Sony.
The Voigtländer VM 21mm 1.4 Nokton is a very complex modern design and on the Leica M10 it shows an amazing performance from f/1.4.
It looks slightly worse on the Sony A7rII UT with the Nikon Z6 following closely behind.
On the Sony A7III with its stock sensor it is a complete loss at f/1.4 by comparison: already the midframe looks just awful.
Stopped down to f/8.0 it still doesn’t look as good on the A7III as it does on the other cameras.
The Nokton VM 21/1.4, in particular, doesn't harmonize very well with other filter stacks when used wide open.
So, even with a Z8, you lose much of what makes a Nokton VM 21/1.4 attractive in the first place—namely, the option of using it very wide open with high performance.
The question is whether a Color Skopar 21/3.5 wouldn't be a better choice if you don't really need the speed, or if the 21/1.4 is too compromised wide open to be used frequently in that range.
Vento wrote:
The Nikon Z bodies will perform better with the thinner filter stack, but compromises will still have to be made here too, although they will be significantly less than with Sony.
The Nokton VM 21/1.4, in particular, doesn't harmonize very well with other filter stacks when used wide open.
So, even with a Z8, you lose much of what makes a Nokton VM 21/1.4 attractive in the first place—namely, the option of using it very wide open with high performance.
The question is whether a Color Skopar 21/3.5 wouldn't be a better choice if you don't really need the speed, or if the 21/1.4 is too compromised wide open to be used frequently in that range....Show more →
The main question is: on the Z system I know I lose something at the edges, and that’s fine, I can just stop down to f8 if needed. But wide open, does field curvature behave like it does on Sony, pulling the focus closer towards the edges?
I hated so much this behaviour on Sony for pictures otherwise fantastically 3D!
Dec 03, 2025 at 10:44 AM
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Ulysseita wrote:
The main question is: on the Z system I know I lose something at the edges, and that’s fine, I can just stop down to f8 if needed. But wide open, does field curvature behave like it does on Sony, pulling the focus closer towards the edges?
I hated so much this behaviour on Sony for pictures otherwise fantastically 3D!
On Z mount the Leica M mount 21 f/1.4 will show the same type of behavior just not as extreme. You can avoid this field curvature with a native mount lens on Sony, but you won't have AF, or you can use the Leica M mount version with an AF adapter on either Sony or Nikon, but both will have field curvature (it will be more extreme on Sony, however). What you can't get is this lens with AF and no field curvature unless you modify your camera. If you modify the sensor to a thinner sensor stack, you can use the Leica M mount version on either Sony or Nikon without field curvature.
You have to decide what matters to you most: no field curvature, AF, or having an unmodified camera. You can pick two of the three but you can't have all three.
Not that I would expect anyone to change their minds - perish the thought - but the Simera 21mm is a revised version of the VM 21/1.4, with different glass formulations and a 14-blade aperture. Here is one trusted reviewer's comment on it:
'When looking at the performance on the Sony A7rII the M-mount version of the Voigtländer VM 21mm 1.4 Nokton performed pretty bad: midzone dip at wider apertures and mediocre corners. This Thypoch 21mm 1.4 Simera only shows a slight midzone dip and *the corners actually look better than on the Leica*. On the Sony A7rII this lens shows great across frame performance from f/4.0.'
Why praise a company like Simera that rips off (nearly exactly) a current lens design from another manufacturer?
Voigtlander
Simera
From the Phillip Reeve review you reference:
"Here the situation is a bit different: on the Leica M10 I see no midzone dip but the corners clearly benefit from stopping down. Due to the performance in the corners the lens actually looks best when stopped down to f/8.0 here.
The Voigtländer VM 21mm 1.4 Nokton on the other hand looks at least as good at f/2.8 as this Thypoch lens does at f/8.0."
"As the Thypoch lenses are often availabe for different mounts my guess is they might be designed for an “average” filter thickness, allowing them to perform well enough on various camera systems. Good news for those among us that use more than one camera system."
I think Voigtlander is to be praised for adjusting their lens designs so they're optimized for M mount and also optimized for the other mirrorless camera mounts they offer (the ones with thicker filter stacks).
Thypoch Simera so far doesn't seem interested in doing that...
yeah. What do you expect from someone that doesn't read the whole post and is on a desperate quest to find snippets that align with their agenda of shameless brand promotion for Thypoch. He's just wearing everyone out with his nonsense claims and acting like an authority on the subject. Go read some of his posts and that will tell you his credibility score.
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From the Phillip Reeve review you reference:
"Here the situation is a bit different: on the Leica M10 I see no midzone dip but the corners clearly benefit from stopping down. Due to the performance in the corners the lens actually looks best when stopped down to f/8.0 here.
The Voigtländer VM 21mm 1.4 Nokton on the other hand looks at least as good at f/2.8 as this Thypoch lens does at f/8.0."
"As the Thypoch lenses are often availabe for different mounts my guess is they might be designed for an “average” filter thickness, allowing them to perform well enough on various camera systems. Good news for those among us that use more than one camera system."
I think Voigtlander is to be praised for adjusting their lens designs so they're optimized for M mount and also optimized for the other mirrorless camera mounts they offer (the ones with thicker filter stacks).
Thypoch Simera so far doesn't seem interested in doing that......Show more →
yeah. What do you expect from someone that doesn't read the whole post and is on a desperate quest to find snippets that align with their agenda of shameless brand promotion for Thypoch. He's just wearing everyone out with his nonsense claims and acting like an authority on the subject. Go read some of his posts and that will tell you his credibility score.