3 thoughts on “Voigtlander 25mm f/0.95 Nokton Manual Focus Lens for Micro 4/3 Mount”

1. 36 of 37 people found the following review helpful

   
   Satisfying to use if you’re into manual lens, August 6, 2011

   By 

   Parka (Singapore) –
   
     

   This review is from: Voigtlander 25mm f/0.95 Nokton Manual Focus Lens for Micro 4/3 Mount (Accessory)

   I was thrilled when this lens came out. This is a pricey lens so I did lots of research before deciding to get one.

   This lens is perhaps the sturdiest lens even for the Micro Four Thirds system. It’s full metal body is built like a tank, but all that metal puts the weight at 410g. Regardless of your camera body, it’s going to be front heavy.

   The lens cap can be a bit loose. It can come off accidentally if you hit the latch. Mine dropped while I was crossing the road as I hit my hand against it. Luckily there’s no traffic and I managed to pick it up. Just be careful of the lens cap.

   On the lens are the aperture ring and manual focus ring.

   The aperture ring starts at f/0.95 and increases by half a stop incrementally until f/16. The ring is firm but easy to turn.

   This is a fully manual lens. There’s no auto-focus. There’s also no electrical contacts so camera would be getting any EXIF data like aperture size or shutter speed.

   Using manual focus, I think, requires a shift in mindset, especially if you’re used to auto-focus. I took a while to get used to it but it’s not too bad. You can zoom in easily using the MF Assist mode to make sure you get a clear shot. Actually even without zooming in, it’s not difficult to know that the subject is focus.

   When you fix the lens on, the camera will find the right exposure for you given the aperture chosen. You can then change the exposure or aperture manually.

   The main advantage of this lens is the incredible f/0.95 aperture. This is the lens to go to if you need to get low light shots.

   The performance at f/0.95 isn’t top notch, unfortunately. At wide open, there’s a slight haze to the images, some call that a glow. I guess if you’re in a situation that requires f/0.95, that can’t be helped.

   Stopping down to f/1.4 increases the sharpness considerably and also removes much of the haze. I usually shoot at f/1.4, and the haze isn’t that noticeable.

   You have to stop down until f/2.8 to get the sharpest image.

   This lens isn’t particularly good at corners. Corners are soft at all apertures, and gets better when stopped down. It doesn’t really bothers me because I’m shooting at f/1.4 and there’s going to be bokeh anyway. However, if you’re shooting subjects like buildings in deep focus, then you’re going to see soft edges at the corners.

   The bokeh of this lens is beautiful. Creamy beautiful. This is what’s going to make the photo stand out against all over photos. It’s easy to isolate subjects shooting at large apertures. I highly recommend a ND filter if you want bokeh and subject isolation when shooting in bright light conditions. A 3-stop ND filter is about right for me, see B+W 65-073050 52mm Neutral Desitny 0.9-8x Filter #103

   This lens is good for shooting videos. With the aperture ring, you can easily change the aperture while recording. So even if your camera has no manual movie function, you can still change the aperture.

   The minimum focusing distance is 17cm, which is pretty close. It’s not quite marco, but close.

   I like using this lens just because I get tremendous satisfaction from shooting at shallow depth of field. The image quality is great except at the corners so you might want to check out more samples before ordering.

   If you shoot frequently in low light, this lens is a serious consideration. The f/0.95 can produce the shot that high ISO can’t.

   It’s probably a 4.5 out of 5 stars. It doesn’t feel right to give it 4 stars.

   At a glance
   + Excellent construction
   + f/0.95 good for low light shooting
   + Aperture ring on body
   + Shallow depth of field, beautiful bokeh
   – Heavy
   – No auto-focus option
   – No EXIF data transfer
   – Included lens hood is big
   – Images are f/0.95 have slight haze
   – Corners are soft

   – – – – – vs Panasonic LEICA DG SUMMILUX 25mm F1.4 ASPH Lens H-X025 – – – – –

   The Panasonic is lighter 200g vs 410g. Shorter, 54.5mm vs 70mm.

   There’s auto-focus. The manual focus, focus-by-wire style, is responsive and comfortably to use.

   At f/1.4, images are pretty sharp, centre to edge.

   Both have shallow depth of field and beautiful bokeh. I can’t really choose which bokeh I like more.

   Nokton’s key advantage is really the f/0.95 for desperate situations. The 17cm minimum focusing distance of Nokton can be very convenient at times.

   If you’re wondering which lens to get, it’s probably better to get the Panasonic Leica 25mm.

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2. 10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

   
   Worth every penny, November 20, 2011

   By 

   Laurentiu Cristofor –
   
     

   This review is from: Voigtlander 25mm f/0.95 Nokton Manual Focus Lens for Micro 4/3 Mount (Accessory)

   This lens is a Micro Four Thirds (MFT) system seller (at least, it did it for me).

   First, if you really like autofocus and find manual focus intimidating or in general, a drawback, then the Panasonic 25mm f/1.4 Leica DG Summilux Aspherical Lens for Micro 4/3 System is probably a better choice.

   From photozone reviews, the Leica seems to be sharp wide open, but doesn’t get much sharper when stopped down. Vignetting is more pronounced than on the Nokton. The Nokton gets to be sharper than the Leica when stopped down and is a bit more than a stop faster (lets twice as much light through at f/0.95 than the Leica at f/1.4, which means that shutter speeds can be twice as fast – an important advantage in low light).

   Voigtlander lenses are produced by Cosina, who also produces the modern Zeiss lenses for DSLRs. Their manufacturing is impeccable – these are some of the best built lenses you can find these days. This Nokton is no exception. It comes well packaged in moulded foam. The lens comes with nice front and rear caps and also with a hood that has its own cap. It is entirely built from metal – there is no plastic, not even rubber on the focusing ring. The focusing ring has a nice ribbed design reminiscent of the Takumars. The aperture ring clicks very smoothly in half stop increments, but can also be set between clicks if you desire so. The Nokton was built to the highest standards and it is a pleasure to handle.

   Optically, it works amazingly well. It sharpens very fast when stopped down, but what I really like is how usable it is at f/0.95. Yes, there is a bit of glow wide open and some may take that for softness, but watch closely and you’ll see that fine detail is still well captured. It works extremely well for available light portraiture – in fact, it might become my favorite portrait lens. And, of course, stopped down it gets really sharp – especially in the center. You should be aware that f/0.95 is so fast that you will not be able to use it in strong light because you’ll hit the camera’s shutter speed limit – that is the only “drawback” I found about its use.

   Small sensor systems are usually criticized for the lack of fast lenses. Well, Cosina has fixed that for the MFT system.

   Another great feature is the close focusing capability of the Nokton – it can focus down to 17cm, where it offers a magnification a bit better than 1:4 – while a macro lens will get you further than that, this is already good enough for most applications. It makes the Nokton a versatile lens that can stay on your camera all the time.

   In terms of manual focusing, I find the LCD to work great on my E-PL2. Note that because the lens has no contacts, the focal length must be manually input for image stabilization and the manual focus assist mode will not work, because the body cannot detect the movement of the focusing ring. But switching between the large frame and the zoomed in view actually works very well after a bit of practice – better than I expected.

   The Nokton is as good as it sounds on paper, in fact it is even better than that. It may seem expensive, but it is built to last and it may become the only lens you’ll want to use on your MFT camera – with that in mind, it is really a bargain. If you were hesitating because you weren’t sure that it can be as good as it sounds, don’t anymore.

   Thank you, Cosina!

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3. 12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

   
   Fantastic Specialty Lens, October 16, 2011

   By 

   B. Fuller (United States) –
   
     
   
     

   This review is from: Voigtlander 25mm f/0.95 Nokton Manual Focus Lens for Micro 4/3 Mount (Accessory)

   This is a great lens. For the price it obviously should be. I am not going to rehash the optical and build characteristics as the top reviewer did an outstanding job of that. The only thing I didn’t see mentioned was the purple fringing a bright light sources at wide open apertures. This is common for fast lenses and can be fixed in post. With all of that said, this is a speciality lens. Since it is manual focus, a great application is for shooting video in very low light situations. This would be a difficult low light street shooting lens because of the manual focus and heavy weight. A better option is the Panasonic 25mm f/1.4. That lens is a little over 1 stop slower than this one but the autofocus makes it better in that application. Other reviewers have mentioned the soft corners. All fast lenses are soft in the corners (even the $12K Leica 50 f/.95) and that is part of their charm. Most of the time I am trying to blur or vignette the corners anyway so this aids in that process. Also, this lens has a very smooth and pleasing bokeh which make it nice for shooting group portraits. This is especially nice in your average poorly lit home. The other thing that is nice with this lens is it very close focusing distance 17cm. With this you can get some exceedingly shallow depth of field.

   For most people the Panasonic 14mm f/2.5, Panasonic 25mm f/1.4(or 20mm f/1.7) and Olympus 45mm f/1.8 offer more versatility for the same price as this lens alone. However, if you are looking for the look of a f/.95 then this lens is a must have.

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