p.9 #1 · Cosina Voigtländer Septon 40/2 for Sony E and Nikon Z announced for March 2026
At 45mm you might as well shoot a 50, of which we have a thousand lenses to choose from.
For a 40 to be exciting, it needs to be small and fast, or have an amazing look. Not a "clean/perfect" lens, but something unique.
p.9 #2 · Cosina Voigtländer Septon 40/2 for Sony E and Nikon Z announced for March 2026
ISO1600 wrote:
At 45mm you might as well shoot a 50, of which we have a thousand lenses to choose from.
For a 40 to be exciting, it needs to be small and fast, or have an amazing look. Not a "clean/perfect" lens, but something unique.
One of the main things I really like about the TTA 40 is that it's 38.5mm, that tiny change makes it considerably more flexible.
Then you have the Ultron which is closer to 41.5mm, which is a nice to have when you don't want to go all the way to 50. You'd be amazed those 3mm make.
p.9 #3 · Cosina Voigtländer Septon 40/2 for Sony E and Nikon Z announced for March 2026
Did she tell you that?! Just kidding, I couldn’t help myself. I’ll be here all week.
RoamingScott wrote:
One of the main things I really like about the TTA 40 is that it's 38.5mm, that tiny change makes it considerably more flexible.
Then you have the Ultron which is closer to 41.5mm, which is a nice to have when you don't want to go all the way to 50. You'd be amazed those 3mm make.
p.9 #5 · Cosina Voigtländer Septon 40/2 for Sony E and Nikon Z announced for March 2026
The reason you think the classic looks "nicer" is the same exact reason that people dogged on the original Z 35 APO, for being skinnier than the mount itself.
The Septon is the same kind of wide-assed muffin top that the Nikon Z 40/2 is, which also looks stupid.
Both look better than having to have the FTZ II mounted, though.
p.9 #6 · Cosina Voigtländer Septon 40/2 for Sony E and Nikon Z announced for March 2026
RoamingScott wrote:
The reason you think the classic looks "nicer" is the same exact reason that people dogged on the original Z 35 APO, for being skinnier than the mount itself.
The Septon is the same kind of wide-assed muffin top that the Nikon Z 40/2 is, which also looks stupid.
Both look better than having to have the FTZ II mounted, though.
That’s part of it, but it’s also the scalloped part of the focus ring that is narrower on the 35mm whereas it covers the whole lens on the 40mm.
p.9 #8 · Cosina Voigtländer Septon 40/2 for Sony E and Nikon Z announced for March 2026
Part of the reason is the thin aperture ring. The lens also looks way too fat, the area used by the optics is tiny. Problem with Z mount is that it's so wide, so lenses either end up looking overly fat or need to be tapered.
p.9 #9 · Cosina Voigtländer Septon 40/2 for Sony E and Nikon Z announced for March 2026
bijosn wrote:
I dont get the appeal of the nokton 35/40 1.4s, they seem to render flatly, have low contrast and there is no presence to the images. I like the B&Ws coming out of it though, particularly from the SC versions.
The Nokton 1.2 seem better but come across lacking a bit of contrast globally, colors seem subdued and the images come off as being a bit too "gentle" and lacking "presence". Similarly to the above, the B&Ws stand out and the bokeh is phenomenal.
The Ultrons on the contrary, have more contrast, more saturation without seeming excessive, seem sharper and the images have presence/substance.
At f2 or f2.8 they have pretty good sharpness and contrast. Wide open you get a totally different look though, I like the softness and glow you get, makes digital photos seem more filmic.
p.9 #10 · Cosina Voigtländer Septon 40/2 for Sony E and Nikon Z announced for March 2026
RoamingScott wrote:
We already know it's $493 USD in Japan and can pretty confidently do the tariff math based on other new release Voigts like the new 28 APO. It'll be around $750 here in the US.
I'm really hoping prices come down when tariffs go away...but seems doubtful manufacturers will just lower prices...
p.9 #12 · Cosina Voigtländer Septon 40/2 for Sony E and Nikon Z announced for March 2026
JJkawa1 wrote:
At f2 or f2.8 they have pretty good sharpness and contrast. Wide open you get a totally different look though, I like the softness and glow you get, makes digital photos seem more filmic.
Yes, I feel the same way; I like exactly what @bijosn criticizes. I don't find images taken with the 50mm f/1.2 to be low in contrast, muted in color, or lifeless; on the contrary, I find them very natural and appealing. I therefore use the lens wide open whenever possible because, when stopped down, it exhibits the high resolution, high contrast, and high clarity that one expects from all very good lenses today, which, in my opinion, looks very digital and less lifelike. But those are just my personal impressions.
p.9 #13 · Cosina Voigtländer Septon 40/2 for Sony E and Nikon Z announced for March 2026
@Nifty Fifty
Even more OT but have you ever used a diffusion filter? They essentially live on my lenses. Making some adjustments in Lightroom to mute the blacks, the results are looking rather film-like. While I'm too young to have used film, I really dig the look.
p.9 #14 · Cosina Voigtländer Septon 40/2 for Sony E and Nikon Z announced for March 2026
From my own experience, I'm only familiar with various Zeiss Softare filters (some with concentric grooves and others with microlenses). That's definitely not for me. I've also seen several comparisons of different filters, none of which I liked, unless they were combined with heavy post-processing. And in those cases, it was probably the post-processing that made them appealing. But who knows, maybe I'll try out a Black Mist or Glimmer filter in its weakest version on the GM sometime.
p.9 #15 · Cosina Voigtländer Septon 40/2 for Sony E and Nikon Z announced for March 2026
In general, I've been very happy with a 10% Cinebloom on my Fuji lenses, but find their effect almost meaningless on my Voigtlanders. I think the Voigts are just too good for a 10% filter to do much
Had the same result when I tried to use one on my Hasselblad.
p.9 #17 · Cosina Voigtländer Septon 40/2 for Sony E and Nikon Z announced for March 2026
Today Cosina announced the official release date for the E-mount version of Septon 40/2.
It's going to be released on 3/19, which is about 1 week earlier than I expected
p.9 #18 · Cosina Voigtländer Septon 40/2 for Sony E and Nikon Z announced for March 2026
RoamingScott wrote:
In general, I've been very happy with a 10% Cinebloom on my Fuji lenses, but find their effect almost meaningless on my Voigtlanders. I think the Voigts are just too good for a 10% filter to do much
Had the same result when I tried to use one on my Hasselblad.
I stopped using those filters when I learned how to do the effect in photoshop. Pretty easy to do and the upsides of being able to control the strength and applying the effect selectively to only part of the picture make the extra step in post worth it for me.
p.9 #19 · Cosina Voigtländer Septon 40/2 for Sony E and Nikon Z announced for March 2026
Can you do it in capture one?
fjablo wrote:
I stopped using those filters when I learned how to do the effect in photoshop. Pretty easy to do and the upsides of being able to control the strength and applying the effect selectively to only part of the picture make the extra step in post worth it for me.
