I just placed an order for the 50mm 1.2 Nokton lens. Just stumbled on this review, would the APO be a better purchase? I have an A7 III and I want a good all-round lens for some nature and street photography. Would the APO be a better purchase?
I just placed an order for the 50mm 1.2 Nokton lens. Just stumbled on this review, would the APO be a better purchase? I have an A7 III and I want a good all-round lens for some nature and street photography. Would the APO be a better purchase?
They are both good all-rounders. Landscape and street are typically stopped down, so performance will be somewhat closer on normal size viewing.
If you prefer some softness WO and more bokeh get Nokton (more artisan/painterly)
If you prefer more realism and correction get APO (more fidelity)
I needed the best possible correction because I use it as a semi-macro and possibly anamorphic taking lens, so APO was best choice for me. I also like the edge-to-edge sharpness throughout the frame.
But I've seen the Nokton and if you like shallow depth of field SOOC, just go with that because the APO without post cannot replicate that. For me, it's easy to blur when I need, but hard to fix aberrations and detail retrieval in post, so that's another reason to consider APO.
I just placed an order for the 50mm 1.2 Nokton lens. Just stumbled on this review, would the APO be a better purchase? I have an A7 III and I want a good all-round lens for some nature and street photography. Would the APO be a better purchase?
I have the similar 40/1.2. Stopped down a little bit it is very sharp, colors and contrast are great. A little bit moody wide open, which for me is a good thing. Useful aperture range for low light and playing with DOF. I like it a lot. I am not tempted by the f2.
I'm thinking about swapping my CV50/1.2 for the APO-Lanthar once Sigma or Sony release a superfast 50 (my only AF lens is the Sigma 135/1.8).
Is there a direct comparison showing what you lose rendering-wise with the APO-Lanthar over the Nokton? If read about the harsher rendering of the APO-Lanthar but couldn't quite see it yet.
Or differently put: can you think of any reason not to do that swap? I love the Nokton but I miss having AF sometimes.
Jun 30, 2020 at 01:54 PM
Steve Spencer Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: On
Egg Salad wrote:
I'm thinking about swapping my CV50/1.2 for the APO-Lanthar once Sigma or Sony release a superfast 50 (my only AF lens is the Sigma 135/1.8).
Is there a direct comparison showing what you lose rendering-wise with the APO-Lanthar over the Nokton? If read about the harsher rendering of the APO-Lanthar but couldn't quite see it yet.
Or differently put: can you think of any reason not to do that swap? I love the Nokton but I miss having AF sometimes.
Well Sony makes a really nice 50 f/1.4 AF lens (it is labelled as Sony/Zeiss), and that plus the Voigtlander 50 f/2 APO would make a really nice combination. The CV 50 f/2 APO is a great lens, the primary thing it gives up vs. the CV 50 f/1.2 is the faster aperture. The 50 f/2 APO has better close up performance, a bit more sharpness, better color correction, and a completely circular aperture at f/2 and f/2.8. I have the Nokton and like it very much. I am not switching for now, but if I were buying new I would probably get the 50 f/2 APO. Both are very nice lenses.
I'm aware of the Sony 50/1.4 ZA, I'm just hoping Sigma will make a 50/1.2 to follow (or surpass?) that glorious 35/1.2 lens.
Anyways...is there anyone who has both lenses and can tell me what the difference in rendering is between the APO-Lanthar and the Nokton?
The Nokton has spherical aberrations, which the APO-Lanthar does not. SA make the bokeh "softer". However, I haven't seen any real-life examples of where the APO-Lanthar shows harsh rendering. Is there?
Jun 30, 2020 at 02:54 PM
Steve Spencer Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: On
Egg Salad wrote:
I'm aware of the Sony 50/1.4 ZA, I'm just hoping Sigma will make a 50/1.2 to follow (or surpass?) that glorious 35/1.2 lens.
Anyways...is there anyone who has both lenses and can tell me what the difference in rendering is between the APO-Lanthar and the Nokton?
The Nokton has spherical aberrations, which the APO-Lanthar does not. SA make the bokeh "softer". However, I haven't seen any real-life examples of where the APO-Lanthar shows harsh rendering. Is there?
My take is you will be waiting awhile for that Sigma 50 f/1.2. For the L-Mount both Leica and Panasonic have 50 f/1.4 lenses and of course Sigma has a 50 f/1.4 Art that was originally made for DSLRs and is still a very good lens. So for L-mount the field is quite crowded for fast 50s, so I think Sigma might wait a few years before introducing a 50 f/1.2, but that is just my guess.
Regarding SA, it greatly increased at wider aperture, which also means it decreases dramatically when stopping down. The CV 50 f/1.2 does not have much SA already at f/2 and very very little at f/2.8, so at similar apertures to the CV 50 f/2 APO, the CV 50 f/1.2 does not have a lot of SA. SA also increases at closer focus distances, so you will see it more as you focus closer. Both these lenses, have nice bokeh, IMO, but the 50 f/1.2 has more bokeh if you use its wider aperture, but you will see more aberrations from it at those wider apertures as well.
'the APO-Lanthar shows harsh rendering. Is there?'
Short answer is 'no', which is a very fine achievement. I see maybe one image in every hundred that might be better but other 50s would likely fail too. What the APO buys over the others (except exotica) is the ultra strong focal plane at f2 and f2.8, with rapid apparent fall-off front and back of the focal plane. Edges are very well-drawn but the fall-off is such that you don't see the 'painted on look' some lenses give. It's a very individual lens, your work can grow into it, explore what it opens up.
If you know the lens, the RX1 Sonnar is very similar and f2 as well. They are a very good match, these two, both retain context and outline definition in the OOF, something some of us want. Two examples of 'just mucking around to see what happens' with the 50/2:
philip_pj wrote:
'the APO-Lanthar shows harsh rendering. Is there?'
Short answer is 'no', which is a very fine achievement. I see maybe one image in every hundred that might be better but other 50s would likely fail too. What the APO buys over the others (except exotica) is the ultra strong focal plane at f2 and f2.8, with rapid apparent fall-off front and back of the focal plane. Edges are very well-drawn but the fall-off is such that you don't see the 'painted on look' some lenses give. It's a very individual lens, your work can grow into it, explore what it opens up. ...Show more →
Interesting analysis. I’m curious about how this focal plane/fall-off compares to what the ZM C-Sonnar 1,5/50 provides at comparable apertures and distances. Any thoughts/direct comparisons?
Anyone on the fence about buying one, CameraQuest has a used mint one selling for $799 + tax (he usually ships super fast too for free), I'd buy it, but I already have one.
'compares to what the ZM C-Sonnar 1,5/50 provides'
There are lots of Leicaphiles with more informed opinions on the venerable C-Sonnar than I can offer, regarding this aspect of fall-off. It's a difficult lens to approach in such a comparo, due to the wild mix of aberrations and very high contrast (which dealt it out for me after one Himalaya trip). My sense is that it is a special formula of super contrast, strong colouration and a highly individual look as a result.
The feature I referred to is (I believe) something we'll see more of, despite the costs associated with production. Cosina built their reputation making lenses for Leica cameras, well the public reputation at least. With the barrage of lens/camera/mount releases these last 2-3 years, the SL prime lenses have snuck under the radar.
But these amazing optics would not have escaped the vision of the Cosina designers, as you would expect. Both companies are pursuing two lines of fast-moderate lenses: f1.2/f1.4 (or even faster) as fine 'character' lenses, and ~f2 APO - the sensible choice and the highest performing lenses - APO can boost the focal plane significantly, enabling the design team to emulate the natural design fall-off of an f1.4 lens.
