35mm 1.2 Nokton ultimate RF lens for the price

E

eleskin

Well-known
Local time
10:57 PM
Joined
Feb 5, 2008
Messages
1,080
View My Gallery
The more I use this thing on my M8, the more I am convinced this is the best all around lens I have ever used on any m mount body for the price. In fact, I may leave it attached to my camera most of the time. I am shocked at the quality and sharpness for the price. Anyone spending thousands more on similar lenses is seriously blowing their money. Who here has the same feeling?
 
Agreed - I love it too. If only ot was built as well as Hexanons... But than it would cost a lot more too.
 
vincentbenoit said:
What about the bulk, the weight and the lack of a focusing tab?
Click to expand...

Was out shooting all day today with the big Nokton, the bulk didn't bother me ONE bit.. in fact, I like it, it makes the body nice and balanced and provides some heft which I think is good, makes it a bit smoother to handle.

About the lack of a focusing tab, well if you need one, then I guess that's a problem, but I'd rather have the focus ring of the Nokton on my Lux ASPH than the focusing tab to be honest. I find those tabs not as accurate and fast as just focusing with two fingers, but maybe I'm just weird 🙂
 
I hate focusing tabs - there is a reason why most lenses dont have them. Weight? Bulk? Seriously? SLR lenses are far larger in most cases and its never a problem. If anyone finds this les to be too heavy - all I have to say is - time to spend some time in a gym. 🙂
 
Oh, that lens produces great images... Then some photographers can decide to make it their everyday 35... It's big (not huge) compared to other moderate wideangles for RF's, but it's sharp, very fast, and has an outstanding bokeh, so there's no way to make it small...

You carry it and get all that, or you don't carry it and miss all that together... It sounds simple and obvious, but it's a decision to take... I went for two smaller lenses... One is more than one third shorter and the other one is more than two thirds shorter... One is fast and the other one is very small... I couldn't carry the 35 1.2 every day... But I don't have its bokeh on the small ones I carry...

If I used just one camera, I would buy it no doubt... I haven't seen anything like that lens.

Cheers,

Juan
 
My Nokton front focuses slightly on my M8 at minimum focusing distances wide open. Has anyone else noticed this?

The camera apears to be perfect with all my other lenese so I can't blame it and the the other odd thing I've noticed is that the Nokton is not very sharp at 1.2 at infinity ... the other lens I have that exhibits this lack of sharpness wide open at infinity is my 50mm f1.2 Canon!
 
JSU said:
My CV 35/1.2 is dead on with my M8.2 and at 1.2 it would be obvious if it wasn't.

It was mentioned above that it isn't built as well as a Hexanon. Perhaps not, but I always shoot my CV 35/1.2 together with the Hexanon 60/1.2, both on a pair of M8.2's. I don't consider the Hexanon noticeably better than the CV, and they both are amazing at F-1.2.

I also have the Canon LTM 50/1.2 and I love it too but for completely different reasons than the above pair of F-1.2 lenses. The Canon is my essential portrait lens on the M8.2, and wide open it is at its best. Not as sharp as the above modern lenses but in a league of its own with respect to the rendering of its images.

But to get back on topic, there isn't one thing I would change about my CV 35/1.2 other than to someday put it on a M9.
Click to expand...



It's not that obvious actually with a 35mm lens which as I'm sure you know has a healthier depth of field than a 50mm at the same aperture!

I had never noticed it in my results for real life images but when I actually did the ruler test it was definitely focusing forward but the depth of field was covering the error!

There is also a fair mount of barrel distortion with the Nokton ... easily corrected in post but there none the less. What we pay for it is what it's worth IMO!
 
Not to hijack the thread, but: I've noticed that my 35/1.2 has a stiffer/more heavily damped focus action (though very smooth) than my other lenses, especially than my other CV lenses. Do others find this as well, or is mine in need of adjustment?
::Ari
 
I just got the lens from stefan here in the classifieds. It is a silver version, one of the 300 made worldwide. I have shot some XP2 with it and negatives are with the lab. I am going to collect them today. Currently, the nokton 35 is on my m4 with ektar 100. I am haven't finish the roll yet. Will post some pictures here when I am done with it.

The photos in the nokton 35 f1.2 thread as well as on flickr convinced me to give this lens a try. The lens draws very well and its signature is unique. The slight barrel distortion is there but noticeable only in some situations but it does not bother me at all. In my humble opinion, I feel it has been "too overly nit picked" in some thread discussions.

It is easily 4-5 times the size of my summaron 35 f2.8 and almost 2-3 times the size of my cron 50 dr. Reading about its size factor in RFF is not as accurate as handling it yourself real life though. It is big but not overly so.

It intrudes into the bottom right corner of my m2 and m4 vf and it does need a little getting used to. The aperture rings snaps in half stops for the larger apertures and full stops for small apertures. Nice feature.

The focusing ring is VERY well-damped. I won't call it stiff. I can cradle the lens with my left palm comfortably (the lens is ergonomic) and use two fingers to turn the focusing ring. The high damping aids in find focusing control for me. It takes approximately 1/4-1/3 turn of the focusing ring to switch from 0.7m to infinity. Well built lens. Better than my nikon ais lens in my opinion.

With regards to the absence of focusing tab, it is no issue. This lens functions very well with focusing ring. You can DIY a tab by using securing a cable tie around the focusing ring if you want. But given a choice, I prefer the focusing ring for better control due to the way we have to hold the lens.

If big lens, vf intrusion and some barrel distortion bothers you, then don't buy it. If they don't bother you, then loads of wonderful image opportunites await you with this awesome lens!
 
Last edited:
Vincent.G said:
I just got the lens from stefan here in the classifieds. It is a silver version, one of the 300 made worldwide. I have shot some XP2 with it and negatives are with the lab. I am going to collect them today. Currently, the nokton 35 is on my m4 with ektar 100. I am haven't finish the roll yet. Will post some pictures here when I am done with it.

The photos in the nokton 35 f1.2 thread as well as on flickr convinced me to give this lens a try. The lens draws very well and its signature is unique. The slight barrel distortion is there but noticeable only in some situations but it does not bother me at all. In my humble opinion, I feel it has been "too overly nit picked" in some thread discussions.

It is easily 4-5 times the size of my summaron 35 f2.8 and almost 2-3 times the size of my cron 50 dr. Reading about its size factor in RFF is not as accurate as handling it yourself real life though. It is big but not overly so.

It intrudes into the bottom right corner of my m2 and m4 vf and it does need a little getting used to. The aperture rings snaps in half stops for the larger apertures and full stops for small apertures. Nice feature.

The focusing ring is VERY well-damped. I won't call it stiff. I can cradle the lens with my left palm comfortably (the lens is ergonomic) and use two fingers to turn the focusing ring. The high damping aids in find focusing control for me. It takes approximately 1/4-1/3 turn of the focusing ring to switch from 0.7m to infinity. Well built lens. Better than my nikon ais lens in my opinion.

With regards to the absence of focusing tab, it is no issue. This lens functions very well with focusing ring. You can DIY a tab by using securing a cable tie around the focusing ring if you want. But given a choice, I prefer the focusing ring for better control due to the way we have to hold the lens.

If big lens, vf intrusion and some barrel distortion bothers you, then don't buy it. If they don't bother you, then loads of wonderful image opportunites await you with this awesome lens!
Click to expand...

Wow! A silver one! That's something to take care of... I feel envy... It looks gorgeous on silver cameras, as with the M2 on cameraquest site... Congratulations!

Cheers,

Juan
 
What the Nokton does prove in my opinion is that a lot of Leica's lenses are chronically over priced. Imagine if Solms had produced this gem of a lens ... I shudder to think what they would have asked for it! 😱
 
Leica's internal construction is still a lot better, as is their QA, despite what you read about problems in new Leica gear. Also remember that the 35/1.4 ASPH improves a lot more as you stop down than the C-V lens and that the new version retains that performance with about the same amount of focus shift as the C-V lens, in a smaller package. I'm not saying that the C-V is bad or should be ignored, I think it's a great lens; you just get what you pay for.

Marty
 
JSU said:
There is an optional vented hood for the CV 35/1.2, it does help reduce the VF blockage.
Click to expand...

Oh yes! I shoot without the hood currently. It helps and is free. 😀 Just want to check out how flare resistant the lens is without hood.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom