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Voigtlander 50mm f/1 Nokton Review

philip_pj
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p.15 #1 · p.15 #1 · Voigtlander 50mm f/1 Nokton Review

Having taken only a desultory interest in this 50/1 CV, I have to say that it's a fine optic, very high clarity. And light and well-balanced and therefore much more versatile. So they have broken the mould for this category of lens. It appears to be in a class of its own when you consider the totality of factors like weight/bulk/price/performance.

Having come this far with a 9/7 62mm filter design for a 50mm, maybe they should start planning a 75/1.25. Leica's larger than life 75/1.25 is a $14,300 item, which despite 67mm filters and a 9/6 design weighs in at a Milvus-like 1055 grams.

Feb 24, 2022 at 03:23 PM

Fred Miranda
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p.15 #2 · p.15 #2 · Voigtlander 50mm f/1 Nokton Review

Btw, I forgot to mention that the TTArtisan 50/0.95 copy I received is perfectly centered on my M10-R. So, expect the performance we've seen across the field to stand.

Unrelated, it's interesting that the Leica 50/1 Noctilux (v3) is actually heavier than the Noctilux (v4) even though the latter is equipped with a built-in hood.

I have 598 grams for v3 and 583 grams for the latest v4 version.

Feb 24, 2022 at 06:04 PM

LarsHP
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p.15 #3 · p.15 #3 · Voigtlander 50mm f/1 Nokton Review

No surprise. It would be of value to see how the TTA performs at the typical distances that one would use an ultra-fast lens. I am thinking of the 1 to 5 meter distance. I read a review (or was it an owners comment?) saying it was at its best in the 4 to 12 feet range.

Fred Miranda wrote:
As you can see the TTArtisan is no match in terms of resolution compared to the Voigtlander 50/1 Nokton, especially away from the center area at large apertures. I will post an infinity comparison to the Sony 50/1.2 GM followed by rendering tests comparing these three lenses.

Feb 25, 2022 at 12:59 AM

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p.15 #4 · p.15 #4 · Voigtlander 50mm f/1 Nokton Review

LarsHP wrote:
No surprise. It would be of value to see how the TTA performs at the typical distances that one would use an ultra-fast lens. I am thinking of the 1 to 5 meter distance. I read a review (or was it an owners comment?) saying it was at its best in the 4 to 12 feet range.

The TTArtisan performs worse at close distance since it lacks a floating system. It does have some advantages in rendering since FC is better controlled but that's only until about 2m. After that, rendering gets rather nervous. I will post samples.

Feb 25, 2022 at 10:31 AM

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p.15 #5 · p.15 #5 · Voigtlander 50mm f/1 Nokton Review

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Infinity performance compared to Sony FE 50mm f/1.2 GM

Here is the full image thumbnail showing the area demonstrated at 1:1 magnification.

Distance: Infinity
Camera: Leica M10-R
Focus: Center - Best of three @ 12.4x magnification
WB: Daylight
Software: Lightroom with my default landscape sharpening. All other settings set to default

PS: Vignetting and distortion were NOT corrected. All in-camera corrections turned 'off'.

___________

Here are some 100% crops showing center, mid-field and extreme corner areas.

At 50mm
Center Resolution and Contrast: Voigtlander 50mm F1 Nokton lens vsSony FE 50mm f/1.2 GM lens

Center at f/1 (Voigt) and f/1.2 (Sony)

Center at f/1.4

Center at f/2

Center at f/2.8

Center at f/4

Center at f/5.6

Center at f/8

Feb 25, 2022 at 10:53 AM

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p.15 #6 · p.15 #6 · Voigtlander 50mm f/1 Nokton Review

At 50mm
Mid-Zone Resolution and Contrast: Voigtlander 50mm F1 Nokton lens vsSony FE 50mm f/1.2 GM lens

Mid-zone at f/1 (Voigt) and f/1.2 (Sony)

Mid-zone at f/1.4

Mid-zone at f/2

Mid-zone at f/2.8

Mid-zone at f/4

Mid-zone at f/5.6

Mid-zone at f/8

Feb 25, 2022 at 10:54 AM

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p.15 #7 · p.15 #7 · Voigtlander 50mm f/1 Nokton Review

At 50mm
EXTREME CORNER Resolution and Contrast: Voigtlander 50mm F1 Nokton lens vsSony FE 50mm f/1.2 GM lens

Extreme corner at f/1 (Voigt) and f/1.2 (Sony)

Extreme corner at f/1.4

Extreme corner at f/2

Extreme corner at f/2.8

Extreme corner at f/4

Extreme corner at f/5.6

Extreme corner at f/8

Feb 25, 2022 at 10:54 AM

Fred Miranda
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p.15 #8 · p.15 #8 · Voigtlander 50mm f/1 Nokton Review

The Voigtlander 50mm f/1 Nokton vs Sony FE 50mm f/1.2 GM comparison was done by request and as we can see above, the Sony FE 50/1.2 GM is superior to the Voigtlander 50/1 in regards to resolution, contrast and CA control. I consider the Sony 50/1.2 one of the best 50mm lenses ever made in terms of resolution and contrast across the field while rendering is also pleasant.

The Voigtlander performs better than the Leica an TTA options but is no match to the Sony AF lens.

PS: The Sony FE 50/1.2 GM samples were shot on the A7R IV and downsampled to 40.9MP to match the Leica M10-R's resolution.

Feb 25, 2022 at 11:02 AM

LarsHP
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p.15 #9 · p.15 #9 · Voigtlander 50mm f/1 Nokton Review

I was thinking medium distance could be better than infinity. I expect it to be optimized for portrait distance (based on reviews and comments). I'm sure it will have lots of spherical aberration at short distances.

Fred Miranda wrote:
The TTArtisan performs worse at close distance since it lacks a floating system. It does have some advantages in rendering since FC is better controlled but that's only until about 2m. After that, rendering gets rather nervous. I will post samples.

Feb 25, 2022 at 11:33 AM

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p.15 #10 · p.15 #10 · Voigtlander 50mm f/1 Nokton Review

LarsHP wrote:
I was thinking medium distance could be better than infinity. I expect it to be optimized for portrait distance (based on reviews and comments). I'm sure it will have lots of spherical aberration at short distances.

It's very rare for a lens to do significantly better at 2-3m compared to long distance. From my rendering tests, the Voigtlander is sharper at any distance compared to the TTA. I think what the reviewers mean is that the TTA does better at mid/long distance compared to close distance since SA is noticeably mitigated.

Feb 25, 2022 at 12:02 PM

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p.15 #11 · p.15 #11 · Voigtlander 50mm f/1 Nokton Review

Great post!

Feb 26, 2022 at 11:21 PM

LarsHP
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p.15 #12 · p.15 #12 · Voigtlander 50mm f/1 Nokton Review

I wonder if the mid-frame drop in the infinity test with the TTA is caused by field curvature. It looks so awful that I think and hope it must be the case. Have you done some test shots where you focus in the mid-frame?

Fred Miranda wrote:
It's very rare for a lens to do significantly better at 2-3m compared to long distance. From my rendering tests, the Voigtlander is sharper at any distance compared to the TTA. I think what the reviewers mean is that the TTA does better at mid/long distance compared to close distance since SA is noticeably mitigated.

Mar 01, 2022 at 06:40 AM

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p.15 #13 · p.15 #13 · Voigtlander 50mm f/1 Nokton Review

LarsHP wrote:
I wonder if the mid-frame drop in the infinity test with the TTA is caused by field curvature. It looks so awful that I think and hope it must be the case. Have you done some test shots where you focus in the mid-frame?

Unfortunately it's not caused by FC. Actually that's one of the strengths of the TTA. There is some FC at mid-distance but it's mild and not outwards in shape compared to the other 50/1 lenses. At infinity, when focusing at mid-field, there is minimal improvement in this area.

Mar 01, 2022 at 09:30 AM

MAubrey
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p.15 #14 · p.15 #14 · Voigtlander 50mm f/1 Nokton Review

Don't feel any need to go out and do another test comparison, Fred, but I do admit that I'm curious about how the CV50/1 compares to the Laowa 45/.95, given Bastian's review.

Mar 01, 2022 at 10:32 AM

grahamgibson
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p.15 #15 · p.15 #15 · Voigtlander 50mm f/1 Nokton Review

Fred, did you have a rendering/bokeh comparison with the GM?

Mar 01, 2022 at 02:43 PM

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p.15 #16 · p.15 #16 · Voigtlander 50mm f/1 Nokton Review

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Rendering comparison to Sony FE 50/1.2 GM

The Voigtlander's field of view is slightly wider than the Sony GM. It's say it's 48mm vs 50mm. So, expect to see slight more blur for the Sony around the center area since they were compared at same distance for each scene. Since I will be comparing the Voigtlander 50/1 @F/1 vs the Sony @f/1.2, the amount of blur should actually be about the same.

These tests not only compare rendering but also sharpness, contrast and CA correction at distances from 1m until 8 meters. All using the Lightroom Standard profile and minimal post-processing. (CA and Vignetting not corrected)

At first glance these two lenses have similar rendering. However, as you may notice, the oof rendering for the Sony is more even across the field because its field curvature is milder and flatter compared to the Voigtlander's. The Sony also captures higher resolution at and distance and CA is better corrected.
I consider the Sony one of the best 50mm lenses ever made with outstanding resolution across the field, low field curvature, great CA correction and pleasant rendering. I find the latter more similar to the CV 50mm f/1.2 Nokton's.

Scene 1:

TOP: Sony @f/1.2 | Bottom: Voigtlander @f/1

focused area at 100% magnification

Corner area at 100% magnification

Mar 01, 2022 at 06:53 PM

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p.15 #17 · p.15 #17 · Voigtlander 50mm f/1 Nokton Review

Scene 2:

TOP: Sony @f/1.2 | Bottom: Voigtlander @f/1

focused area at 100% magnification

Corner area at 100% magnification

Mar 01, 2022 at 06:56 PM

Fred Miranda
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p.15 #18 · p.15 #18 · Voigtlander 50mm f/1 Nokton Review

Scene 3:

TOP: Sony @f/1.2 | Bottom: Voigtlander @f/1

focused area at 100% magnification

Corner area at 100% magnification

Mar 01, 2022 at 06:59 PM

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p.15 #19 · p.15 #19 · Voigtlander 50mm f/1 Nokton Review

Scene 4:

TOP: Sony @f/1.2 | Bottom: Voigtlander @f/1

Mar 01, 2022 at 07:01 PM

Fred Miranda
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p.15 #20 · p.15 #20 · Voigtlander 50mm f/1 Nokton Review

Scene 5:

TOP: Sony @f/1.2 | Bottom: Voigtlander @f/1

focused area at 100% magnification

corner area at 100% magnification

Mar 01, 2022 at 07:04 PM

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