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Voigtlander Nokton 35mm f/1.2 Aspherical III VM lens announced


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5 hours ago, hillavoider said:

lol lux asph….. make do ??? the lux asph would be even sharper then the CV 35 V3 wouldn't it. I would definitely be happy with a 35 lux asph

Not quite, the lux asph pre-fle is soft wide open. Definitely softer than the new Voigtlanders. 

Focus shift doesn’t bother me.  Im not one that cares much about critical sharpness. 

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I decided to write a short roundup using this lens for about a week on my M10.
This is my first time doing this. I'm neither Sean Reid nor Erwin Puts nor Ken Rockwell nor Steve Huff, so please be forgiving 😅
If you have any special wishes I ought to do with the lens, just let me know.

 

Prologue

I have experience with a fair amount of Leica, CV and ZM lenses.
For more than a year I also owned the CV 1.2/40 which seems to be the closest neighbor of the new CV 1.2/35 V3, both optically and ergonomically.
I sold the CV 1.2/40 not because of its performance (which I do like), but because of the focal length. I wasn't capable of adapting to the unadjusted frame lines.
Additionally I was not sure if I liked its weight and size. I listened to some voices on the internet who said "You have a rangefinder camera. Why would you mount an SLR-sized lens on it?" which tipped me over the edge.

I bought and played with some smaller sized lenses. I ended up with the ZM C-Biogon 2.8/35 which truly is a spectacular lens given its size and price.
However, because of its high contrast I wasn't able to bring back highlights and shadow details in some contrasty scenes. Especially at low-light events the f/2.8 felt a bit limiting. My M10 underexposes each shot with the C-Biogon by one or one half a stop for some reason. Steve Huff mentioned the same in his review.

Now, as soon as the new CV 1.2/35 V3 was available, I pulled the trigger.

 

Ergonomics

The build quality is really, really good. Everything sits tightly in its place. (Not as my Summilux-M 1.4/50 ASPH. which had some play using the focus ring.)

Focus ring: Perfectly smooth. It has the right balance between lightness and counterweight. You need both fingers to turn the ring because of its shape. The ZM lenses' focus rings are noticeable stiffer.

Aperture ring: It's good. It sounds a bit cheap, the ZM lenses sound much more valuable, but it's absolutely fine.

 

Size

CV 1.2/40

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CV 1.2/35 V3. Notice the wider aperture ring compared to the CV 1.2/40. Other than that, same-same.

 

CV 1.2/35 V3 compared with a Nikkor 1.8/50 SLR lens

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In Hands

CV 1.2/35 V3

In the previous pictures the lens might have looked a bit hefty. Not so much in hands. It feels very nice in use. (I'm a 1.92m or 6.3ft guy with big hands.)

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ZM C-Biogon 2.8/35

Look how close my fingers are to the body. After all its compactness and lightweight result in a cramped experience.

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Viewfinder blockage

CV 1.2/35 V3 @ minimum focus distance

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CV 1.2/35 V3 @ infinity

 

Yes, it blocks some of the vision, but for me was nothing to worry about. I didn't notice any constraints after all.

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Weight

CV 1.2/35 V3

1040g with battery and strap

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ZM C-Biogon 2.8/35

880g with battery and strap

 

Looks worse than it is. In daily usage there not a huge difference between these two.

What I did notice, though, was, when I was walking the Nokton wasn't that much dangling around as the C-Biogon. I guess for walking a front-weighted camera feels more comfortable than a back-weighted, if that makes sense.

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All the following shots are DNGs converted to JPG with Lightroom set to Adobe Color profile.
No lens profile.
Exposure and white balance are synchronized within shots of the same scene.
Other then that, no edits.

 

 

Bokeh

CV 1.2/35 @ 1.2

0.5m distance

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0.7m distance

 

1.0m distance

Edited by raphael
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100% crops of the last 3 images

0.5m distance

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0.7m distance

 

1.0m distance

Edited by raphael
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Nice write up, thanks a lot for this. It seems a little glowy at 100% and wide open, but that would be okay for portraiture. I have the original 35/1.2, and the much smaller body and lower weight of this version intrigues me. On the other hand, I could get a 40/1.2 for a bit less money and have a different focal length. The size difference between this and the Zeiss Biogon is very pronounced. It shows just how small the Biogon is.

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Focus shift

I'm quite aware of the problem of focus shift in a lens.
My C-Sonnar 1.5/50 is the worst example I can address. It is optimized for 1.5. If I take somebody's portrait and I stop down to 2.8, the eyes are out of focus and the ears are in focus. Insane.
My Voigtländer Nokton Classic 1.4/35 and even the Summilux-M 1.4/50 ASPH. has some focus shift, but its almost not noticeable.

On this CV 1.2/35 V3 I didn't find any focus shift. Have a look at the following images. Same distance setting on the lens, but adjusted aperture settings.

 

f/1.2

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f/1.4


 

 

f/2.0


 

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f/2.8

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f/4.0

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Scene 1: Cherry Tree

f/1.2

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100% crop

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Scene 2: Grasses

f/1.2

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100% crop

 

Bokeh balls. Instead of onion rings as in the CV 1.2/40 we now have an "eye" in the balls.

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Sharpness

Yes, there is some glow at f/1.2 and f/1.4, but reaching f/2.0 it's gone.
I'd say the sharpness at f/2.0 is absolutely fine and from f/2.8 I can't tell the difference to the ZM C-Biogon which is one of the 35mm benchmark lenses on the M-mount market.
Corner sharpness is good as well, since it's an aspherical lens.

 

Scene 3: Flower Bouquet

f/1.2

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100% crop

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Scene 3: Flower Bouquet

f/2.0

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100% crop

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Scene 3: Flower Bouquet

f/2.8

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100% crop

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Now compared to the ZM C-Biogon 2.8/35:

f/2.8

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100% crop

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Scene 4: Church Tower

CV 1.2/35 @ f/2.8

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Edited by raphael
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