SLR Magic 35mm T0.95 test footage with 5 axis Olympus stablisation from Andrew Reid on Vimeo.
–
The upcoming SLRmagic 35mm f/0.95 has been reviewed by EosHD. But I have been told that there will be a new updated version of the lens that will ship in September. Everyone having the current lens on preorder will get the updated (and even better quality) lens.
And not only that. Also a new fast 17mm prime lens will be announced soon! SLR Magic is really pushing a lot on the MFT lens development. And some of their lenses are now really of very good optical quality too. Nice to see so much third-party lens offer on the MFT system.
Current SLRmagic lenses for Micro Four Thirds:
SLR magic 11mm f/1.4 lens on [shoplink 22154 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
SLR magic Cine 12mm T/1.6 Lens at Adorama (Click here).
SLR Magic 25mm T0.95 at Adorama (Click here).
Toy Lens 26mm f/1.4 lens on [shoplink 18603 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
SLR Magic 35mm f/1.7 MC lens on [shoplink 14881 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
Noktor SLRmagic 50mm on [shoplink 25691 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]
SLR Magic Pin Hole Lens at Adorama (Click here).
72 Responses
The updated SLR Magic 35mm will be M-mount as well, right?
Looking forward to that 17mm, but what about the anamorphic adapter that SLR Magic had promised to fully announce?
An M mount isn’t a bad thing. Leica M and L (screwmount) adaptors are dirt cheap and add very little bulk or weight when adapting to M4/3. I sometimes forget that my Voigtländer 35mm f1.4 and 75mm f2.5 aren’t native M4/3.
An advantage to adapting, is the ability to use the same lenses on other mirrorless systems (Sony FF?) by buying a cheap adaptor. It would be like having two sets of lenses.
True, I guess it can be quite handy to have a sort-of universal M mount. The M-mount adapters are so short, I wish that was the case with other mounts as well. A short and light Pentax lens gets rather heavy on a small body like the GF2.
What’s strange is that this 35mm apparently needs a special M-mount adapter instead of working well with any adapter. Probably no big deal if the lens ships with the adapter, though.
It fits into a Novoflex adapter as well.
Yes admin, any news regarding their anamorphic lense(s)?
I don’t mind manual focus, but I’d be a lot more tempted to buy if these had contacts to record EXIF data.
Absolutely. Just not to set focal length for IBIS every time. This russian guy sells Dandelion (?) electronics with contacts for $10 separately, they could have contacted him to add electronics to their lenses, would be even cheaper.
EXIF would be nice. I just use the LensTagger plug-in for Lightroom to add lens info to photo metadata. If I remember, I add f-stop info, but usually not. I just made simple lens profiles (just names and focal lengths, native and 35mm equivalents) for each manual lens I use. Works great.
http://www.essl.de/wp/software/lenstagger-lightroom-plugin/
Wow, 17mm and possibly at T0.95 aperture as well. SLR Magic is the newer and more affordable Voigtlander!
Yeah! Let’s hope there is finally a good quality and fast 17mm for M43, one that has good AF performance, no banding issues, good construction, good sharpness and no significant weakness in CA, distortion, vignetting etc. There isn’t any at this time.
Well, you’re not going to get AF from SLR Magic, that will be a complete no no at least for the foreseeable future.
Isn’t Oly 17/1.8 exactly what you described?
I think he was beeing ironical…
Banding?
I own Noktor 50mm and I love/hate it: build quality is not even near to that of Voigtländers, CA is obviously present at wider apertures (until f1.4), even stopped down to f1.4 it’s softer than new M mount Voigtländer T1.5. But it comes useful in darkness.
A fast 17mm could be a cheaper alternative to Voigtie 17.5mm, but again I doubt it will match it in sharpness and build quality.
I own it and I don’t need another über fast 17mm lens.
I’m happy to see SLR offering m43 products: I hope the overall quality will increase too.
Their 25mm t0.95 is better than the CV25mm. Its sharper and has been confirmed by few tests across the forum. Pana 25mm is still sharper at f1.4 though. One complain that I have is slrmagic 25mm mf is slightly stiff (although its getting better after a lot of usages) and doesnt look as sexy as CV.
Marco, you are propably talking about the older Noktor 50mm f/0.95, which is a modified CCTV lens with image quality typical for this kind of lenses and dows not cover full frame. There is another 50mm T0.95 lens from them (the HyperPrime CINE) which has a superiour quality (in many aspects even better than the Noctilux).
yes that old noktor was really a rip-off.
Yes, I know, but in low light it’s not that bad at all. Does the price difference between the two versions is worth the IQ?
Yes, especially when you are planning to use it on full frame as well.
@3D-Kraft: Thanks, but I originally bought it for my old EPl2. I know M9 and M9p struggle in darkness, therefore I never planned to buy one for night photography on that bigger sized sensor. Things are different with Monochrome though, but it’s quite an expensive toy..
Congrats for your blog, I like it and like your reviews!
Evey SLR Magic lens is shown as back ordered. What happened to SLR Magic?
Crap service
Voigtlander still urinate all over these.
The dof will be amazing thank god i made the switch to m43
You remind me of someone.. something starting with an a.
They don’t have to copy Voigtlander every time. Why not make an ultra fast 14mm or faster 12mm ( than T1.6 )?
I rather hope for a 12mm voigtländer instead… f0.95? 😀
fast 8mm prime would be sweet too
They can only copy Voigtländer.
I have the SLR Magic 12mm and the build quality pales in comparison to my f0.95 is 25mm.
Can’t wait for the Voigtländer 42.5mm f0.95 to ship!
They can only copy Voigtländer.
I have the SLR Magic 12mm and the build quality pales in comparison to my f0.95 is 25mm.
Only copy Voigtländer?
What is CV’s master for the CINE 12/T1.6?
What is CV’s master for the CINE 35/T0.95?
What is CV’s master for the CINE 50/T0.95?
At the moment I see only a similarity between CV’s Nokton 25/0.95 and SLR Magic’s 25/T0.95 and the HyperPrime is apparently better, see:
http://3d-kraft.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=137&catid=40Itemid=2
The 35/T0.95 is far ahead of CV’s Nokton 35/1.2 ASPH:
http://3d-kraft.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=138&catid=40&Itemid=2
I like that there are f0.95 lenses on m43, but they’re all MF and all uber expensive.
It’s like they’re pushing me to Full Frame with their cheap f1.8 primes with AF.
f1.8 primes are NOT f0.95! Now or ever.
f0.95 is f0.95 is f0.95 is f0.95 is …
well, in terms of DoF: f0.95 MFT = f1.9 full frame… so…
also I must say that the f0.95 on the 25mm Voigtländer is quite useless because of CA and overall softness. upwards 1.4 it becomes good and upwards 2.8 excellent.
Yes, DOF is double, but in terms of light gathering f0.95 is f0.95, and I know mr Reeee and myself are more interested in shooting in dim light than have a razor-thin DOF in the photos. In my opinion super shallow depth of field is overrated.
and overused. Often misused.
@Shin @Marco
I never said anything about beeing into razor thin dofs…? Just because you can doesn´t mean you have to. Those two stops of light you gain by maintaining FF equivalent DOF is also easily covered by the FFs superior ISO handling…
BUT I would like to have the ability to shoot thin if needed that´s why I wanted the f0.95 to be good… sadly it isn´t
Fair enough. Having a wider range of options is a good thing. For instance, I like the tele options on smaller sensors.
I want to add that the best way to get less DOF is to use longer lenses, although you lose out on low-light. Here’s a favorite “wide-angle portrait” I’ve found, shot with a tele lens (E-5, 35-100/2, @ 100mm f/2):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/awallphoto/5953576948/
I do have to admit a well-done wide-angle shot with shallow (razor-thin!) DOF can be quite stunning. This same photo would have been differently amazing with a Leica ultra-wide, for instance.
stunning shot, but you cant go wrong with the 35-100,thats a general known fact within the club connoiseurs. I just dont understand why you are calling this a wide-angle shot, and compare it with a leica wide-angle scenario. As you can see from the perspective compression, its clearly a tele shot.Maybe you meant to name it a full body shot.Fine example again for the legendary ZD 35-100.
> Maybe you meant to name it a full body shot.
That works. 🙂 I meant that it is the kind of shot that people usually use wide-angle for, or something really convoluted like that.
It’s from Aaron Wallace, who has many other great portraits. I don’t know if he reads 43rumors.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/awallphoto/
This thread is turning into a rather lively discussion, isn’t it?! 🙂 This whole DOF & sensor size debate really comes down to taste and preference, I think, ultimately, rather than anything inherently better or worse, but it’s still good to have our rationales aired out. Makes us better, I think. Yay.
That´s some very smooth pictures!
almost wanted to abandon my technical lust and say it´s all about light and skill
I guess his quotation marks were clear and I can only imagine how far away he must have been 😀
true, the teleoptions are fantastic with mft… so tiny yet powerfull
as for wideangle portraits we recently did a 16mm (FF) portrait @f2.8 with the face very close… fantastic 😀 even with this focal length there was a nice blury background but head all sharp… can´t do that with say the pana 7-14…
guess in the end there is no magical tool that suits all your needs
How superior? 2 stops? its delirious to say that. At best 1 stop better. So at the end of the day ill have an acceptable iso 1600 at f.95 and youll have a mushy, noisy, iso 6400 at f1.8.
A mark III looks quite “acceptable” at 6400… even 12800… and f0.95 gets mushy too my friend
The mk III might look acceptable at iso 12800 but its way noisier than my em5 at 3200. And lenses arent mushy my friend, they might be softer at f.95, but mushiness comes with you trying to deal with the noise your mkIII will have at 12800. Also those cheap f1.8s (your words) arent optical wonders wide open either. I own a few, average at best.
not my words, read again. typical case of, only seeing what I want to see
OK, now we are getting into measured-data-driven territory… Which means DxO gets involved… Which could turn ugly. 🙂
The FF ISO leader, D800E, is 1.66 stops ahead of µ43 leader E-PM2 in ISO performance, 2 stops ahead in dynamic range.
http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Cameras/Compare-Camera-Sensors/Compare-cameras-side-by-side/(appareil1)/840|0/(brand)/Olympus/(appareil2)/814|0/(brand2)/Nikon
How do the Nikon lenses compare to CVs? I have no clue.
But, some would say, all these data mean nothing in real life, right? What we need is a shoot-out! 🙂
My guess is that you haven’t shot with one of the native M4/3 f0.95 lenses. The DoF IS razor thin! It takes some getting used to.
At f0.95 the light gathering ability is the same, regardless.
somehow you completly ignored what I said or wrote afterwards…
I own a 25mm Voigtländer, just as you do. And I know that the dof is thin at 0.95 (as I said it equals 1.9 on ff) and yes I know that light gathering is the same, and I just think it´s no good lens at 0.95…
actually its used in wrong situations: closeups, where every lens already shows a thin depth of field, and extreme fast lenses only amplify this effect. For the people who know how to use the limited depth of field as part of the photo, certain focal lenghts can give a more pleasant transition from in focus to out of focus area. And an extreme wide aperture can help with this, especially in MFT format. If I wanted to to shoot in the night, I prefer to turn up the ISO instead of spending precious money o0n fast lenses. With all respect to the people who do the opposite, but i think fast lenses just for low light situations is a remain from the film era.
U say that cuz tiny sensors. Can’t make it
See, there ARE advantages to using a system (M43) that’s “only popular in Japan”! Boutique optical manufacturers develop for M43 because the mechanics are easy and they have ready access to a home market of avid lens enthusiasts.
Hmmm… My chart does not include SLR Magic because B&H does not carry them. Anyone know why they don’t? Next time, I’ll also check Adorama as the reference of availability.
@Avenger and @Werner, see my discussion of EV vs DOF in talking about “aperture equivalent” at:
http://leicaapostate.com/index.php?file=20130801__Mirrorless_Lens_Range#All
Voigtländers still give you shallower DOF at their respective focal length than lenses for any of the APS mirrorless. If, that is, you like shallow DOF. I much prefer wider DOF, so small sensors rule for me; trying to get the same DOF on larger sensors forces me to use slower shutter speed, leaving me with situations where I cannot hand-hold.
Adorama carries SLR Magic lenses. I walked in and bought my 12mm there.
There is a used one that’s been sitting in a store where I go occasionally… Soooo tempting… 🙂
It’s a great little lens! I was pleasantly surprised with it’s sharpness, color rendition and organic look of it’s images- especially after all the naysaying and middling reviews.
The SLRM 12mm for $550 is a pretty great deal compared to the Oly 12mm f2, it’s clinical look and $100 lens hood. $900 total? Sheesh! 😉
But the problem is also the price of the Voightlanders. Buy two of those and you could afford a Nikon D600 with one, possibly even two FF f1.8 primes, for the same money.
m43 makes perfect sense to me with lenses like the Lumix 20mm or the Zuiko 45mm. But when you have to shell out a grand for lenses that don’t even have AF, it’s not worth it.
Still nice to have the option (than not at all), but I shoot people, often my kids, and MF-only won’t cut it.
I have the SLR 17mm T1.6 since few days (prototype). Very good lens, video will come soon 🙂
Seb, how big is the lens? The Vogt 17.5 is (63.4 x 80 mm)
I can’t answer because it’s a prototype, but it is like the 25 from SLR
When we will see the lenseless ball sensor with
Anyone have experience with the voigtlander 17f0.95? I’ve browsed image samples on various sites but it’s always good to get feedback from someone that actually owns one and is familiar with the character of this lens.
I was considering it as a purchase with the upcoming em1. I use manual focusing with certain applications, especially macro and that I enjoy but I think this will be a challenge to be in manual full time.
Nowadays we have focus peeking so I’m thinking it’ll help with the flow of things and make things a little bit more enjoyable.
If anyone owns it, what can you tell me about what it exibits wide open up to say
F2 which is the only reason I’m considering the lens otherwise there’s smaller and much lighter options with af.
Thanks guys
Did I understand you correct, you want to use this 17mm f/0.95 for macro?
@lone samurai here are some pics from my Flickr account.
The Voigtländer 17.5mm is a great lens, but not for macro photography, due to the poor magnification.
It focuses from 15cms distance, allowing nice angle shots, but again it’s not a macro lens.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcosartoriphoto/8657949443/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcosartoriphoto/8619746588/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcosartoriphoto/8391042389/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcosartoriphoto/8318064720/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcosartoriphoto/8296976068/in/photostream
Firstly thanks Marco sartori and Ulli for the answer. Perhaps I wasn’t very clear but just to clarify, no this lens will not be for macro(already own two macro kenses) but instead as an average wide for ultra low light when travelling in other words large aperture is of interest here.
Earlier I made mention that I like manual focus when I shoot macro but I’m not entirely sure I’d enjoy a full time manual lens and that perhaps the focus peaking we have today will make the experience more enjoyable.
Thanks the links, I’ll check them out.
Nice images Marco, I especially like silent witness and iconic Venice.
Marco do you find your voigtlander 17.5 acceptably sharp open wide open at least in the centre and what about ca and distortion?
If you own either the oly 12, 45, 60 or 75 can it compare to them in sharpness and contrast?
Sorry about the 20 questions and again.
@lone.samurai thank you for watching! Back to 17.5mm: to me the center is sharp enough opened wide, but I use it wide opened only when lights turn down. Two of the images above were shot wide opened, and you can see that in dim light images look sharper than if shot under bright light.
CA is an issue of ALL lenses from f1.4 and wider: I have seen CA even in Leica Summilux and Noctilux.
Two clicks in lightroom and it’s gone, or shoot black and white.
I haven’t noticed significant distortion in my lens.
Vignetting is present wide open, and disappear at f1.4.
At f5.6 the lens is really sharp to my eyes, I’d like to see some lab tests à la DXO, but it’s not electronically coupled so they can’t.
I own Oly 17mm f1.8 too, it’s smaller and lighter, and costs a lot lesser, IQ is good, despite the bad reviews that came when it was released, but the overall feeling is completely different: shooting with the Voigty is beautiful.
I think sharpness and contrast is near (better when stopped down) to 12mm. 45mm and 60mm are a bargain, considering IQ. 45mm construction is cheap, while 60mm is made of good sturdy plastic, but the Voigtlander is built like a tank (and weight as a tank too).
The stellar 75mm is an amazing lens, I use it mainly at concerts, as you can see in my Flickr account.
I wish Oly had put an aperture ring on it, but that’s it.
In my opinion nothing beats 75mm in sharpness, but it’s a totally different focal lenght compared to the others.
If you had to choose from 60mm and 75mm, I would suggest you the 60, because it’s also a macro, focuses from 19cms to infinity and it’s also a good portrait lens.
If you need a portrait lens, and the cost is not a problem, 75mm is the choice, at least in my opinion.
I hope I helped, if you need more infos please don’t hesitate and ask!
@Marco sitori. Thanks for that very comprehensive answer there Marco, much appreciate it. I own the olympus 12, 45, 6o and 75 and I’m amazed with these lenses and have been giving the 17 voigtlander some serious thought the last couple months as an average wide ultra fast for travel and now you’ve shed some light from a owners perspective which for me at least is more valuable than an on line review.
I’ll be picking up the em1 and make a decision about the voigtlander 17 from then on.
Marco that comment by anonymous was by lone.samurai, I forget to put the name in after having cleared my cache.
Lone.Samurai Yes, don’t worry, I thought it was you! 🙂 The only “bad” thing of 17.5mm is its weight. It will make your bag sensibly heavier.
I bought 17mm f1.8 because sometimes I feel lazy and it’s a good lens, after all.
Manual focusing is something I love, it’s part of my zen photography daily session. 🙂
They’re updating a lens that they never released? Sounds to me like a cover story for missing their release date by 8 months. Especially since the “original” version got great reviews.
Although, since there’s no year specified, I guess it could be true … for 2018.
>”a new updated version of the [35mm f0.95] lens that will ship in September”
Nope.