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Voigtländer 50mm Nokton f/1.5 - Help?


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Hello Everyone!

 

I just bought this lens with the M Adapter T, but this will be my first time using an M lens ever, much less on the T.

 

A couple of quick thoughts and requests:

 

1) Boy is the MF game different with an M lens - and in an AWESOME way. So much fun!

2) Is there anything I absolutely need to do to 6-bit code the lens, or should I go without 6-bit coding?

3) Are there any pro tips on importing/editing/applying lens corrections in LR since the lens information is not auto-populated? I've noticed some decent purple fringing when it's wide open on areas of great contrast. Is this something lens profiles will help address, or should I just manually remove it with the CA tools in Lightroom? Any way to do this in batch if the lens profile won't help?

 

Thanks, in advance!

 

Best,

Josh

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Nice you like it! Do you focus wide open (F 1,5) and than you close or do you manage to focus also with the lens stopped down (F 8 for example) ?

robert

 

Robert: It's a real pleasure to shoot with. There are a few characteristics of the lens that aren't my favorite, but it's certainly a great lens.

 

1) The purple fringing when wide open is very, very noticeable. Even when you're not shooting extreme contrast. Though, I've been able to fix it almost completely in Lightroom.

2) The lens doesn't create that sort of "3D" image that lots of people talk about - but that could also be a characteristic of using it on my APS-C camera, instead of the Full Frame rangefinder. That said, the results are still very pleasing.

 

All in all, I'm very happy with the purchase, and the nice fast lens is certainly paying off.

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Hi Josh,

 

I am considering a 50mm. Was wondering what your considerations were when you decided on this vs like the 50mm Summicron f2 of the Summilux f1.4?

 

thanks!

 

I m not Josh but i have the Nokton 50mm 1.5 and the Summicron 50mm.

They are very different!

The Nokton is a special lens showing the small DOF a high speed lens will give you and has very creamy Bokeh.

But it has distortion and a lot off CA open, has wonderful rendering but is not a lens i would use for general purpose.

Summicron is in this regard much better, has more micro contrast and resolution no distortion and CA are very well corrected, 

but it has not this special bokeh effect like the nokton. Bokeh  is only o.k. but nice. Rendering is also great but different...has somehow more depth, brings you more in the "room".

 

Nokton is very sharp even very good at the corners.

 

I don´t have the summilux but it is also a high speed lens with great bokeh very different from Summicron.

If i would go for a city trip i  would take the Summicron on the camera and the Nokton in the bag for special shot´s and low light.

Summicron will give you this 3D pop open, without CA.

 

If i had to sell 1 lens i would keep the Summicron. 

 

hope this helps

best regards Andreas

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Hey Andreas,

 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Was indeed an eye opener for me. Yes, looking at something more general purpose and I guess to a large extent, snaps of my 4yr old.. running all over the place! Not really sure if a manual lens is still the way to go for such action/fast images but I know if I get them right, I'll be rewarded

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I m not Josh but i have the Nokton 50mm 1.5 and the Summicron 50mm.

They are very different!

The Nokton is a special lens showing the small DOF a high speed lens will give you and has very creamy Bokeh.

But it has distortion and a lot off CA open, has wonderful rendering but is not a lens i would use for general purpose.

Summicron is in this regard much better, has more micro contrast and resolution no distortion and CA are very well corrected, 

but it has not this special bokeh effect like the nokton. Bokeh  is only o.k. but nice. Rendering is also great but different...has somehow more depth, brings you more in the "room".

 

Nokton is very sharp even very good at the corners.

 

I don´t have the summilux but it is also a high speed lens with great bokeh very different from Summicron.

If i would go for a city trip i  would take the Summicron on the camera and the Nokton in the bag for special shot´s and low light.

Summicron will give you this 3D pop open, without CA.

 

If i had to sell 1 lens i would keep the Summicron. 

 

hope this helps

best regards Andreas

 

Andreas is spot on here. The lens is really fun to use, but it shows the price tag in some of the cons. The purple fringing and other slight CA is so overly obvious in anything faster than f/2.8 that it's something I'm constantly mindful of when shooting - a nuisance! While much of it can be corrected in LR, it's still a pain to do so. All of that said, the capability for shallow DOF is really a joy to finally have back for someone who is very used to a FF sensor. Not that it's something a photographer needs - but having it when you want it is immensely potent.

 

I do think I'll end up selling this lens, and am planning to replace it with either the 50 cron or the 50 lux. Gotta save a bit more for the latter. ;)

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