p.3 #3 · In Stock: Voigtlander 35mm f/1.2 Nokton III Aspherical
I think Cosina has a relationship with some Japanese art photographers whom they then ask to shoot samples for their new lenses, and usually those samples are rather reflecting the photographer's style than what the special capabilities of the lens might be.
p.3 #4 · In Stock: Voigtlander 35mm f/1.2 Nokton III Aspherical
Cultural differences in artistic appreciation. I really liked the 50/2 samples, but was pretty much on my own here. The tradition of aesthetics in the Japanese culture contributes to the DNA of the Voigtlanders, that plus Leica sensibilities. A good blend. 'Understated' is not common, so it seems foreign to many tastes and goes unrecognised, as such.
p.3 #6 · In Stock: Voigtlander 35mm f/1.2 Nokton III Aspherical
philip_pj wrote:
Cultural differences in artistic appreciation. I really liked the 50/2 samples, but was pretty much on my own here. The tradition of aesthetics in the Japanese culture contributes to the DNA of the Voigtlanders, that plus Leica sensibilities. A good blend. 'Understated' is not common, so it seems foreign to many tastes and goes unrecognised, as such.
IMO they are all "nice" images.
They just don't seem to speak to the advantages of a 1.2 lens.
IOW - they don't sell the lens as well as they might have.
I'm not worried though; I'm sure my buds here on FM will help them out.
p.3 #7 · In Stock: Voigtlander 35mm f/1.2 Nokton III Aspherical
I got my Nokton 35/1.2 III today but didn't have much time to shoot yet as I had a lot of work to do today. I took a few shots using my Sigma fp + Leica M-L adapter (which I think is spec-accurate when it comes to thickness) while coming back from Shinjuku to Ebisu.
Quick aperture series from f1.2 to f8 at hard infinity (filenames tell the aperture): https://photos.app.goo.gl/7PUMhX631ByqwGqQ7
(Widest aperture shots are somewhat overexposed as the camera shutter speed is limited to max 1/8000s.)
Some random samples, many taken at f1.2 and f4. I think the first shot was at f2. https://photos.app.goo.gl/RmKPxtXB9k1S8ttv8
(I used T&O color profile in-camera for the first shots and then switched to Standard color.)
So far I'm really liking the lens, it seems to have excellent sharpness, great pop wide open and at other wide apertures, lovely color and it seems pretty flat field on my fp. Handling is also excellent. I also bought the optional LH-8 hood.
p.3 #8 · In Stock: Voigtlander 35mm f/1.2 Nokton III Aspherical
Kiitos for the tests Juha.
Soft corners wide open are a bit expected but the midzone softness and quite a bit of chromatic aberration is surprising. CA seems to be gone by f2 but softness persists.
By f8 is plenty sharp for what I want it to do but vignette is sadly still quite pronounced.
Dat pop! Dat bokeh! Nice stuff.
Landscape and coma tests would be very useful as well for those brave souls who would venture the outsides. (don't!)
Can you show us some shots of it mounted on Sony or Sigma?
p.3 #9 · In Stock: Voigtlander 35mm f/1.2 Nokton III Aspherical
rhawidantas wrote:
Kiitos for the tests Juha.
Soft corners wide open are a bit expected but the midzone softness and quite a bit of chromatic aberration is surprising. CA seems to be gone by f2 but softness persists.
By f8 is plenty sharp for what I want it to do but vignette is sadly still quite pronounced.
Dat pop! Dat bokeh! Nice stuff.
Landscape and coma tests would be very useful as well for those brave souls who would venture the outsides. (don't!)
Can you show us some shots of it mounted on Sony or Sigma?
Kiitos I'll take some shots of it on both cameras tomorrow or so when we have daylight again, now it's pretty dark and close to midnight.
I'm not going to do much formal testing but so far we can still go out in Tokyo, though this week the virus has started spreading faster here and things might start to get worse. I've been exercising by doing long walks in less crowded areas in recent weekends (already been teleworking for 4 weeks here). Hopefully I can still continue doing that this weekend and get more playtime with the lens then.
I think Fred is expecting to get the lens soon for testing so he'll probably do all the formal testing people want to see
p.3 #10 · In Stock: Voigtlander 35mm f/1.2 Nokton III Aspherical
I found the 40 1.2 to be a bit softer than the 50 1.2, just a little less snap it felt like wide open. I hope this new 35 is a bit gentler than the 40, but I am probably in a minority.
I have mine pre-ordered, excited to shoot it on film too.
p.3 #11 · In Stock: Voigtlander 35mm f/1.2 Nokton III Aspherical
Juha Kannisto wrote:
I think Cosina has a relationship with some Japanese art photographers whom they then ask to shoot samples for their new lenses, and usually those samples are rather reflecting the photographer's style than what the special capabilities of the lens might be.
He seems to specialize in B&W with a certain style. He's had many exhibitions in Japan and abroad as well.
Just received a call about my lens from Map Camera, it's ready for pick-up from tomorrow (official release date)....Show more →
We expect to see your early samples now! Thanks for posting Juha!
I checked the images at 1:1 and imo the performance is very similar to the VM 40/1.2. For those who prefer the 35mm FL, it's a non-brainer. Hopefully we will get an E-mount version. I'm already waiting for the 75/1.5 E-mount.
p.3 #13 · In Stock: Voigtlander 35mm f/1.2 Nokton III Aspherical
Juha Kannisto wrote:
I got my Nokton 35/1.2 III today but didn't have much time to shoot yet as I had a lot of work to do today. I took a few shots using my Sigma fp + Leica M-L adapter (which I think is spec-accurate when it comes to thickness) while coming back from Shinjuku to Ebisu.
Quick aperture series from f1.2 to f8 at hard infinity (filenames tell the aperture): https://photos.app.goo.gl/7PUMhX631ByqwGqQ7
(Widest aperture shots are somewhat overexposed as the camera shutter speed is limited to max 1/8000s.)
Some random samples, many taken at f1.2 and f4. I think the first shot was at f2. https://photos.app.goo.gl/RmKPxtXB9k1S8ttv8
(I used T&O color profile in-camera for the first shots and then switched to Standard color.)
So far I'm really liking the lens, it seems to have excellent sharpness, great pop wide open and at other wide apertures, lovely color and it seems pretty flat field on my fp. Handling is also excellent. I also bought the optional LH-8 hood....Show more →
I think there is a blue/cyan cast in the edges and corners. Do you have a chance to check this? (Focus at infinity, uniform color, preferably not blue or green - I'm using an opaque glass against a gray sky.)
p.3 #14 · In Stock: Voigtlander 35mm f/1.2 Nokton III Aspherical
AcuteShadows wrote:
I think there is a blue/cyan cast in the edges and corners. Do you have a chance to check this? (Focus at infinity, uniform color, preferably not blue or green - I'm using an opaque glass against a gray sky.)
I think it might be a characteristic that Sigma fp has with various adapted RF lenses. I've noticed a little bit of bluish shift in the vignetting towards the corners and extreme edges with some of my other RF glass on it too and there might be something similar going on in some of these samples. It's rather subtle though and the slightly bluish tone doesn't usually look offensive. fp has a Lens Optics Compensation menu where user can create, save and select to apply up to 10 Color Shading compensation profiles by taking reference shots against a monotone surfaces. So I think it's not a characteristic of the lens as such but more related to the camera / sensor.
I don't have a good way to test it here except perhaps when there's a suitably cloudy weather, so that I could shoot against the clouds.
Also tried a few close-ups on a flower we have here using a Shoten helicoid adapter on the fp and shooting as close as it could go: https://photos.app.goo.gl/WGGCSs4ZiEJMgCCR9
p.3 #16 · In Stock: Voigtlander 35mm f/1.2 Nokton III Aspherical
Fred Miranda wrote:
We expect to see your early samples now! Thanks for posting Juha!
I checked the images at 1:1 and imo the performance is very similar to the VM 40/1.2. For those who prefer the 35mm FL, it's a non-brainer. Hopefully we will get an E-mount version. I'm already waiting for the 75/1.5 E-mount.
Thanks! I hope to have chances for more outdoor sample shooting this weekend but looks like the weather in Tokyo is going to be quite bad. Cloudy & rainy for the most part and for Sunday they forecast even some rain/snow mix. We already had many days with >+20 C temperatures and cherry blossoms so it's a bit surprising.
Today Cosina announced the release date for the M43 60/0.95 as April 24th so hopefully they are getting ready to bring out something new for E-mount soon after that Not that it's necessarily the best timing to release a lot of new stuff in the next few months though...
p.3 #18 · In Stock: Voigtlander 35mm f/1.2 Nokton III Aspherical
Juha Kannisto wrote:
I think it might be a characteristic that Sigma fp has with various adapted RF lenses. I've noticed a little bit of bluish shift in the vignetting towards the corners and extreme edges with some of my other RF glass on it too and there might be something similar going on in some of these samples. It's rather subtle though and the slightly bluish tone doesn't usually look offensive. fp has a Lens Optics Compensation menu where user can create, save and select to apply up to 10 Color Shading compensation profiles by taking reference shots against a monotone surfaces. So I think it's not a characteristic of the lens as such but more related to the camera / sensor.
I don't have a good way to test it here except perhaps when there's a suitably cloudy weather, so that I could shoot against the clouds....Show more →
Thank you for your quick reply! I have the same issue with three Leica M lenses on the Nikon Z. I have now produced a couple of lens color cast correction files for Capture One (which don't work any longer in Capture One 20, due to a bug). These are 3 x 5 x 9 files, as there are 3 lenses, 5 focus distances, and 9 apertures. I'll check my Voigtländer 21mm f/1.4 for color cast, too - slightly more optimistic for that lens, as it's a Distagon design with presumably a rather large distance of the exit pupil.
p.3 #19 · In Stock: Voigtlander 35mm f/1.2 Nokton III Aspherical
The infinity shots look pretty good. Seems there is a fair amount of mustache distortion. Not a big deal if there's eventually a profile for it. Though it being a niche product, I wonder how long that will take to surface?
p.3 #20 · In Stock: Voigtlander 35mm f/1.2 Nokton III Aspherical
rscheffler wrote:
The infinity shots look pretty good. Seems there is a fair amount of mustache distortion. Not a big deal if there's eventually a profile for it. Though it being a niche product, I wonder how long that will take to surface?
I also noticed some wavy distortion especially on the tall building on the right top corner area in my aperture series shots. Hopefully there will be a profile for C1 at some point but it won't be impacting my shooting that much. I think the edges and corners are pretty sharp on the fp even at relatively wide apertures. I think I'll use ~f5.6 or for infinity shooting in sufficient light as that seems to be about optimal.
