Bad aperture blade design for Nokton f1.1?

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eleskin

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One thing I have noticed. Steve Huff's test of this new 50mm f1.1 Nokton has revealed a deal breaking flaw for me. Wide open, light sources such as bulbs, etc are not circular. Like the Noctilux. (even my Jupiter 9 has a more circular aperture). For bokeh lovers this is bad news, almost to the point where one would want the aperture blades removed and just have it as a f1.1 lens only. Cosina should redesign the aperture blades for a more circular opening. Flat edges on bokeh highlights to give that stop sign shape look is not accepable for this kind of lens. Other than this, I would get one. I own a Noctilux, and from my experience, aperature blade design is very important!
 
hmm

hmm

I'm not a fan of lots of circles. It would be nice if the 1.1 provided OOF like this though:

229194493_8cX4A-M.jpg


eleskin said:
One thing I have noticed. Steve Huff's test of this new 50mm f1.1 Nokton has revealed a deal breaking flaw for me. Wide open, light sources such as bulbs, etc are not circular. Like the Noctilux. (even my Jupiter 9 has a more circular aperture). For bokeh lovers this is bad news, almost to the point where one would want the aperture blades removed and just have it as a f1.1 lens only. Cosina should redesign the aperture blades for a more circular opening. Flat edges on bokeh highlights to give that stop sign shape look is not accepable for this kind of lens. Other than this, I would get one. I own a Noctilux, and from my experience, aperature blade design is very important!
Click to expand...
 
Honestly I doubt the extra two or three sales they might gain from redesigning the aperture blades would come anywhere near compensating them for the extra cost of doing so. I suspect that sane people will be far more interested in the bits of the photo that are in focus.
 
Maybe Mr Huff did not rotate the aperture ring far enough. If this is the case, then I am in error in at least some of my opinions here. What I may do is rent one from Lens Rental.com to test this beast myself. Yes, I too am more concerned with actual photos than pixel peeping. However, money is money, and before I buy anything, I want to know exactly what I am getting and how it performs. I did this when I bought my used Noctilux last year, knowing fully what that lens can and cannot do (at $4,700 which is what I paid, I had to be sure that is what I wanted, for it is not for everyone. I love it and will never sell, but it is different than the Nokton, and the Nokton has its own quality which I like as well which may cause me to buy one, but only if my questions are answered. $1000 is not peanuts either). So maybe i will look at Flickr again to see if this bokeh issue is nonsense. This lens looks really nice for the money, especially reading what Tom Abrahamson had to say about it being somewhat sharper higher contrast modern design. Tom, if you are reading this, what do you have to say about the issue I bring up here?

Anyone else reading this who has this lens, post some pics regarding the issue I brought up. Maybe it can be put to rest.
 
Just looked at Flickr: My Conclusion

Just looked at Flickr: My Conclusion

Well, it seems Bokeh is fine at f1.1. Not quite the same as the noctilux, but excellent for the money. What I did notice is some of the photos with bright objects or light sources where the aperture was smaller (maybe f1.4, etc,,) they did indeed exhibit the problem I mentioned. So I would still urge Cosina to take a look at the aperture blade design and consider a new more circular design. Maybe this will cost too much for them. I would use this lens at f1.1 90% of the time, and if I were to stop down, I would use another lens if there were objects in the field of view that would give this problem (that is if there were time. If a once in a life time shot came due to the subject matter, I would not give a rats ass about bokeh, etc,,, I would just enjoy the shot!!!)
 
Are you sure Steve is not comparing an f1 Noctilux shot with an f1.2 or f1.4 Nokton shot ? That is, having the aperture closed down on the Nokton ? That's how his test photo looks to me. Lot's of flickr examples where you don't see the 10-bladed aperture in the Nokton OOF.
 
Unfortunately there is more to the bokeh/OOF areas topic than just the shape and number of the aperture blades. Just look at the bokeh qualities of e.g. many Hasselblad lenses with only a 5-blade design. Hardly disturbing, is it? Yet on the other hand there's many lenses with seemingly ideal amount and shape of blades, but producing quite a harsh bokeh. Taking into account the price of the 50/1.1. Nokton, I still think it is an unbeatable lens.
 
Mr Huff I beleive may have made a mistake. He states the shot of the Christmas tree is at f 1.1, but I see the flat aperture blades, so it may have been slightly stopped down.

Knowing all of this, is this a deal breaker for me. No way. I am still going to rent one, and if I like it, I will buy one. Simple as that. Yes, I have used many lenses with different aperture blade designs, and to be honest, subject matter was so important, i could not give a crap about the blade design.

This post is just an exploration into just what this lens is and how it functions. For a grand, it seems to be the best buy out there, and it may indeed find its way into my collection of M Mount lenses.
 
Mr Huff is just a little biased against anything but the finest, most expensive gear. But then it looks like he has sacrificed some to afford it.
 
I'm glad Steve Huff reviewed the older F1.0 lens.

Dave - nice image, and I agree, the Noct f1.0 might not do much better there. But you've got a lot of contrast near the guy's head, and I think the Noct f1.0 would have a little less distraction there. Just, IMO.
 
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