[shoplink 15659 ebay]
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DC.watch.impress tested the [shoplink 15659 ebay]Nokton 25mm[/shoplink] on the Olympus E-P2[/shoplink] and the combination looks really good 🙂
If you scroll at the bottom of the page you can download a few full size images they have taken at f/0.95 aperture.
Meanwhile 3Dkraft made new GH2+Nokton tests and releases a surprising statement: “Another strength is the extreme sharpness that the GH2[/shoplink] with it’s new 16 MP sensor can deliver through this lens which already comes close to the results that I reached when I spent some time with the Leica M9 and two excellent Leica M lenses.” Don’t tell this to your Leica friends…they spent a lot of money for for their cameras and lenses….PSSS! The Leica M9 sells for over 5.400 Euro on [shoplink 17539 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] 🙁
Of course, at full aperture the lens is not sharp in the corners but stopped down everything looks excellent. And there is a second surprise at the bottom of the post: “Another question I already saw from other users: Is it really f0.95 at fully opened aperture? I have some doubts…” Click here to read more at 3Dkraft!
As you know the lens is sold out almost everywhere. Only german resellers do have one single lens in Stock from time to time. Right now [shoplink 15659 ebay]Fotomundus has one Nokton in Stock on eBay and auction ends in 5 hours (Click here)[/shoplink].
UPDATE: 2 lenses are in Stock at [shoplink 18467 ebay]top-foto on eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]!
P.S.: We europeans have the GH2 in Stock in almost every online or at local stores: Amazon DE, Amazon UK
22 Responses
the fotomundus ebay link yields 0 results. :-/
I can say that results are very good, no one shoots architecture at F0.95 (ok, maybe at night without tripod), and the multiaspect sensor test shows that Nokton is purely made for 4/3 sensor which is good (for its size and weight). The article ends with thoughts of speculation about F0.95. I think that camera meter are so sophisticated that they don’t match expected exposure values with metered ones and Voigtländer never cheated on costumers as far I know.
I think that the camera does not meter as 0.95 because 0.95 is the f stop number which doesn’t take light loss of the lenses into account. If you want the real light capturing you should use T stops which is what they do for cinema lenses.
+1
Joost is correct – the difference between F and T stop becomes more significant the larger the aperture is.
Other than that, with my G1 in aperture priority I can say that sometimes changing aperture (on an adapted lens with no contacts) results in changed exposure. In other words, the change in shutter speed does not always match the changed aperture 100% resulting in slightly over/ under exposed images.
To be able to measure the differences in transmitted light one should shoot in manual mode, and then use software (or what not) to compare the resulting exposures.
Shooting in program mode is definitely not the way to go when using a lens with no contacts.
Here ist the lens on stock with the best price i had ever seen:
http://cgi.ebay.de/Voigtlander-Nokton-25mm-F0-95-MFT-Panasonic-Olympus-Pen-/290513145685?pt=DE_Elektronik_Computer_Foto_Camcorder_Objektive_PM&hash=item43a3eecf55
greetz
the f stop or t stop only work if every pixel at the sensor could see the hole backplane of the lense. but since the sensor of the gh2 has microlenses, a part of the additional light beyound f1.4 is cut off.
The f-number is completely independent from the sensor, film, optical formula, lens construction, glass quality or anything you put behind the lens. The t-number is basically a f-number that takes into account the effect on light of optical formula, lens construction and glass quality; the t-number is also completely independent from the sensor, film or anything you put behind the lens.
Maybe the microlenses have such a shape that they cannot capture some of the light transmitted by the lens because of its ultra-wide aperture. But I think that here, we actually have an illustration of the difference between f-number and t-number (difference that is growing with aperture).
There may be pyhsical explanations that f0.95 can be argumented somehow. But actually many people not thinking as technical expect that a lens that starts at f0.95 is almost 1 f-stop faster than a lens starting at f1.4. Nevertheless it is an exceptional lens that lets you win at least about 1/3 f-stop against other f1.4 prime lenses with great bokeh and extraordinary sharpness when stopped down.
Not surprising that a 4/3 lens is as sharp as a Leica M lens, since the Leica M lenses are made for a sensor with lower resolution than a 4/3 sensor. A 4/3 lens has to be sharper than a full-frame lens.
There should be no speclation about F0.95. Voigtlander is a reputable name, and I believe that the lens speed is real. What’s happening here is that at F0.95 the heavy light fall-off, or vignetting, confuses the camera’s metering system. This is true with other F0.95 lenses too (I have used 3 so far, in c-mount, including Schneider’s). Turn on spot metering and the exposure will suddenly match the selected aperture more accurately.
this is only a 50mm f1.8 equivalent. why bother and pay 1000$(!) for it.
equivalent in what way exactly?
is a 50mm 1.8 on a full-frame and a 50mm 1.8 on an aps-c different?
the lens doesn’t change. only the area that is being seen does.
think about it.
imagine a 50mm 1.8 image circle from a lens being displayed on a piece of film. assuming the lens delivers light evenly over the surface every little part of that surface receives the same amount of light… roughly the value from a f1.8 aperture.
so if you cut out a bit of film the lens/image/picture captured doesn’t magically get darker does it?
or think about it this way. if you could somehow mount the voigt 25mm f0.95 on a full frame you’d get a brighter area than a full-frame 25mm f1.4. the only difference is the voigt will cover a smaller area.
if you took the exact same picture with a full-frame camera with both lenses and then cropped your resulting image from both as a 4/3 size image the f.95 one will be brighter (assuming everything else remains the same)
the only thing that’s equivalent with this is the ‘apparent’ DOF, as a 50mm lens will create a shallower DOF than a 25mm lens.
it’s f0.95 for exposure
50mm for field of view
25mm (cropped to 4/3 centrally) for DOF
any difference in “noise” comes from
a) pixel density (a 12mp 4/3 sensor is roughly that of a 48mp 35mm FF sensor)
b) sensor technology (as to the electronics and software behind the scenes)
if for example canon or nikon made a 12mp 4/3 sensor and using the exact same sensor technology made a 48mp full-frame sensor they’d be practically the same in regards to noise performance
hence why nikon’s d700/d3 and d3s perform better than the d3x for noise.
The biggest factor in DOF is the size of the circle of confusion. Cropping into an image changes the DOF. Check any depth of field calculator. 25mm DOF on a FF does not equal 25mm DOF on a m43…. because m43 has a smaller circle of confusion. 50mm 1.8 on an FF is the closest way to approximate the DOF…. When you crop into an image, any image you’re changing the DOF. Confusing little circle eh?
that said I think people make too big a deal about shallow DOF. They should worry more about the subject and framing to direct the eye, rather than making everything blurry.
I am buying this lens for it’s sheer unbridled awesomeness and unique character quirks.
“that said I think people make too big a deal about shallow DOF. They should worry more about the subject and framing to direct the eye, rather than making everything blurry.”
Well said. Super shallow DOF does wonders for head-and-shoulders portraits… and that’s about it.
mehhh…
why not choose a 6×4.5 or better yet 8×10″ as your point of reference? your comment will be just as valid.
Because it cost that much more to design it. I guess it’s either shell out $$$ for a 25mm f/1.4 to use on your m43 camera or $$$ for the full-frame camera you can use the inexpensive 50mm f/1.8 on.
The same could also be said of the 35mm f/1.4L from Canon. It’s practically a 50mm f/1.8 equivalent on a Canon APS-C camera… why bother and pay $1500 for it?
Chris, then why do you bother doing photography?
@Ctevr: What do you mean?
Any chance they will come out with a Silver version in future?
The device is also powered with 1500 m – Ah battery which fortunately
is removable and deliver 6 hours 25 mintutes talktime on 2G or 6
hours 18 minutes talktime on 3G and also a standby time
of 530 hours. The Sony Xperia S, being the higher end smartphone has the largest screen of the two, measuring up at 4.
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