CV Nokton 50/1.1 Aspherical on M 240

[epand56]

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I've always been curious about this lens. Would love to have some comment about its use on the M 240

Does any of you friends have it and use it on your M 240? Is it affordable? Take good pictures? My fear is it may have problems with backfocus or unsharp images.

Any comment is appreciated.

[bephoto]

You can get a vintage 50mm f/1.5 Xenon for that money!

 

I was once fooling around with a Nokton 1.1/50 which a friend has. It has the ugliest bokeh, aberration down to f/2.8 maybe f/4, prone to flare. to my surprise very little back focus as I remember almost negligible.

For BW photography is great (still bokeh is horrendous) but I would never shoot anything with color unless you are looking for that particular look of bad optics. find one and give it a try but I don't recommend to spend $1000 on it.

[TomB_tx]

I don't believe the Nokton 1.1 is Aspherical. The Nokton 50 1.5 is an aspherical design, and is a nice lens.

[FlashGordonPhotography]

I had the 50mm 1.1 for a couple of years on my M9. Sold it only due to the focus shift, But that wouldn't be a problem on the M240 (using the EVF or LV). It's sharp in the centre wide open and extremely sharp stopped down. The corners are only OK wide open and never as good as the centre. But this isn't a landscape lens.

 

Blur can be fabulous or a bit nervous, depending on the background and focus distance. Mostly I liked it. It does has horrendous purple fringing with high contrast backlit subjects. Probably it's biggest "problem"

 

Certainly don't expect a noctilux but a lot of fun all the same.

 

Gordon

[Ecar]

Well, I have to disagree with some negative comments here.

 

A while ago, I did a quick comparison of the Nokton f/1.1 against the Noctilux f/1 (and the MS-Optical Sonnetar) on the M9:

 

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m-lenses/262284-ms-optical-sonnetar-mc-f1-1-a-2.html

 

The Nokton is very well built, although one notch below the Noctilux. On my copy at least, focus shift is negligible and purple fringing is not worse than that of the Noctilux (possibly quite the contrary, in fact).

The bokeh from the Noctilux is indeed somewhat smoother, but the Nokton's is by no means "horrendous". If anything, the Nokton has a more "modern" look, particularly as you stop down, and the Noctilux is more "dreamy" - hard to describe.

Micro-contrast is higher on the Noctilux, though - and this is where the biggest difference lies IMO.

 

Whether the IQ differences are worth the price gap is anyone's call. AFAIC, if funds were tight and I needed a very fast 50, I'd be very happy to own only the Nokton.

[TheGodParticle/Hari]

As Ecar said, this lens is put down and faulted unnecessarily

 

Here are some images to show you what I mean:

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, the lens delivers sharp and contrasty images and the bokeh is surely not something that will shatter your monitor

[TheGodParticle/Hari]

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The lens separates your subject very well, and in a very gradual manner

 

The 3D effect is there, in my eyes and it is not like a cardboard cutout which is nasty to my taste

 

 

 

[TheGodParticle/Hari]

Also does portraits quite well

 

 

 

[TheGodParticle/Hari]

Not too bad with strong backlight and flare handling either

 

 

[TheGodParticle/Hari]

Last but not the least, did not leave me disappointed in my b&w photography endeavors

 

 

[TheGodParticle/Hari]

Size wise, comparable to the Noctiluxes - closer to the f1 than the f0.95

 

A big plus for my style is the short focus throw that helped me nail the focus for moving subjects at f1.1

 

Hope that was of help

 

[TheGodParticle/Hari]

Btw, my apologies - I shot all these images with the Nokton f1.1 on my M9

[250swb]

Steve Huff did a pretty good, but rough and ready realistic practical test, between the CV f/1.1 and the Noctilux. And the result really was down to fine differences and nothing more. I know people can't believe it is possible for some CV lenses to be so close to Leica quality for so little money, but when I had an f/1.1 I couldn't fault it, yet I did sell it because of its weight (which is also why I don't want a Noctilux). I also don't particularly like shallow DOF for the sake of shallow DOF, but as far as I could see at whatever aperture the CV lens was used at it was a sound performer in every respect. It would be very good on a M240 because of the focusing accuracy with Live View.

 

Steve

[k_g_wolf ✝]

>> epand56

 

The Nokton is VERY affordable and you can take VERY good pictures with it.

Since I´am still working on my M-camera investment I have two M9 shots here

to show what the Nokton does at f 1.1 on this camera.

 

So far I decided to keep it as long as a NOCTILUX creeps into my camera bag

one day. It doesn´t have to be .95, one of the older ones would suit me fine.

 

 

Best

GEORG

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[CrisRose]

The 1m minimum focus distance has always been an issue for me. I also prefer to shoot it at f1.4 for the increase in sharpness as it's a bit soft for me wide open.

 

That said, I've gotten a lot of memorable shots with it.