CV about to announce an M Mount 50mm f1.1 Nokton!

Indeed, there is a 50mm f1.1 from Cosina. I did shoot with it in March when we were in japan. Of course, i had to keep quiet about it, which is not easy!
It is a very sweet lens, slightly smaller than an older style Noctilux, 58mm filter thread. Weight seemed to be similar, or slightly lighter. The prototype looked a bit like a Nokton 50f1.5 on steroids. Similar knurling on the focus and it "sat" well in the hand when on the camera. There were two versions of the hood. One was a smallish, thread mount one, slightly flared (minimum intrusion into the finder of the M2 and ZM) and the other one was a larger diameter one with a clamp-on screw.
Image quality was very good. For obvious reasons I shot most everything at f1.1 or there-abouts. The corner fall off is less than on the Noctilux f1.0- looks to be around 1,0-1.5 stops. Less of peering through a tunnel as the Noctilux tended to create. Sharpness at f1.1 is very good - I did not do "resolution" tests - but looking at the negatives - I would have no problem blowing them up to 11x14 or 16x20 without having the lens being the limiting factor. I did shoot most of the pictures with Acros 100 and developed them in Beutler. This is a combination that takes "no prisoners" in terms of sharpness and contrast.
The price seems to be set at around $1100 - but that might depend on exchange rate too.
I will post some shots from it later today.
What I liked is the fact that a/ a bit more compact than the Noctilux and b/ apart from being very good at f1.1 - the quality when stopped down held up and it is nice and sharp throughout the whole f-stop range. This means to me that it could do duty as a "standard" 50mm without loosing image quality in bright light and on the "dark" side.
 
What's that noise ? (something falling in the background)

: :

The sound of Noctilux and Canon 0.95/1.2 prices dropping :) :)

Of course the new Nokton 1.1 will shift like crazy, and have ugly bokeh. :rolleyes:
 
Wow, this is great news. $1100 is a great price and if its drawing characteristics are like the 35/1.2 it's going to be awesome. I guess that 35L I was saving up for is going to have to wait...
 
And recently I got a 50mm asph Summilux and I thought I am done with GAS for quite some time.
If ever I get that new 50, I certainly hope it will look at least a bit like the 35mm f1.2 Nokton so my wife doesn't realize I got yet another lens.

Arghhh! GAS again... :(
 
I just put up 18 shots done with the Nokton 50mm f1.1 on our Flickr site.
Use the tag "Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f1.1" and they should show up. These are large enough files that if you take them up to "original" size you can see details. I tried to pick somewhat representative images (f1.1, close (1m) and stopped down a bit etc).
Sharpness at f1.1 is quite remarkable - very low flare, very little if any distorsion and, yes , it is a damned good lens and at a price that is palatable too.
 
The last time I used a 50mm was a few months ago. I used my 1970 (more or less) vintage Summicron to shoot some quick 'n dirty copies of some magazine and record album covers. I put them down on the sidewalk in bright sun, leaned over, and was surprised at how close they were to having no keystoning at all. I didn't have to unbury the copy stand or set up the lights, put the 65/3.5 Elmar on the Visoflex II-s, locate the chimny finder, or take Tums to get rid of any GAS. f/2 is fast enough for me.
 
Tom A said:
Sharpness at f1.1 is quite remarkable - very low flare, very little if any distorsion and, yes , it is a damned good lens and at a price that is palatable too.
Click to expand...

Yowza, that is really, really impressive. the bokeh is nice, too! I wouldn't mind getting to see a few full-size scans of these, Tom...though it certainly looks sharper than the canon 1.2!
 
Thanks for posting those shots, Tom. I'd say it looks very similar to the 35 1.2 in bokeh and smoothness. It does seem a little more contrasty, but I like it. Now when is Gandy going to take pre-orders?
 
took a bit of searching but found Tom's flickr set. I really like the shots with the 1.1, and a pleasing bokeh in a few of them. Thanks for the info and input...
 
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