YumMango
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 Re: Voigtlander 35mm f/1.5 Nokton Review | |
Well snap. My upload and sell membership just expired. I can't quickly post comparison shots, so I'll do it indirectly. Apologies for the inconvenience.
My goal in buying the Nokton 1.5 is the hope that it can replace my favorite lens, the Ultron 1.7. As much as I love the Ultron 1.7, I dislike the weight and balance on my camera for all day travel, which is pretty much when I take pictures. I have the brass version. I have tried several lenses including the Ultron 2.0 which I returned. None have come close enough.
I'm still evaluating the Nokton 1.5, but the ergonomics are perfect and the brass version poses no problems. (The brass is lovely, in my opinion.) So is it good enough? Right now, I'm leaning toward saying that it is. I'm certainly not as good of an evaluator as FM and others here, but here is a comparison that I feel shows both similarities and differences in one shot.
The Nokton 1.5
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Vi3L5J7-G5AMpBA0HEvsiyzFEzL0AwGz/view?usp=share_link
The Ultron F2
https://drive.google.com/file/d/11Nwj5PXV9n5OexC9IKLBT_oYSMGqTu3I/view?usp=share_link
Both photos were taken on the M11 at F2 ISO 64 at a distance from focus of about 2 feet or so. Images were taken in DNG and converted to JPG and reduced to 800 pixels (I thought that I was going to post directly to FM) in the identical process with no editing. Today is evenly overcast at noon and the lighting did not change; this fact is relevant.
My impression: When I do some extreme pixel scrutiny, I can discern minor differences but I would be hard pressed to tell them apart if I didn't already know which was which. Except that there is a real difference. On a macro level, there are a couple of things going on with the Ultron that, at least for this photo, I prefer. I lack the expertise to identify the causes or use the correct vocabulary but I'll give it a go. With the Ultron, I think that there is a touch of barrel distortion that I think that I like in this photo. I'm not sure of this fact but it is my hunch. In comparison, I can't see any distortion with the Nokton, and I would say ordinarily that would be preferable. But there is one more thing that stands out. Despite the consistent light, I prefer how the Ultron renders the center radius of the photo, with a warmer color and - I'm not sure how to explain this - more contrast and something else that I can't put into words very well. The Nokton renders light more evenly, which could be desirable, but with the Ultron in this photo there is more light and shadow in play, so the center of the image stands out more. That is not a very good explanation. There are probably several factors that are combining. But I see that the shadows on the leaves in the center portion of the frame are deeper than with the Ultron. It is possible that vignetting might contribute, but my guess is that it isn't much of a difference. I am not in the mood to take pictures of white walls to compare them in that respect.
So far I like the Nokton quite a bit. I think that I still prefer the Ultron, but the Nokton might be a keeper. I need to do more evaluations. (In a few other photos, I note a higher incidence of chromatic aberration with the Nokton.) And lastly, I'm not a technical guy so please be gentle if my analysis was off the mark.
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