New Nokton 50mm F1.1 is released

Oh boy.. it's got a "bland signature" - ya.. I think for $1500/$1600 CDN versus $7600 CDN (so I'd be "saving" $6000 CDN - less than the cost of a brand new Leica MP AFTER taxes of 13% up here) I'm willing to accept the "blandness" of such a fast lens.

I know it's not f1.0 and I know it's not Leica glass and I know it's not made by Leica and that the Leica elves haven't put their magic pixie dust fingers all over it but come on; for $1600, and the fact that it's a FAST lens, it's a viable option for those who may want the speed without having to fork over the $$$$ for either brand new or used Leica glass. :)

Cheers,
Dave
 
True enough :)

but is the Hexanon still in production? and if so, (or if not), how much are they going for now? :)

last I saw, they were considered "Limited" (in terms of availability) but I don't know if they were "new" or these were used lenses that bear the "Hexanon Limited" name.

Cheers,
Dave
 
dcsang said:
True enough :)

but is the Hexanon still in production? and if so, (or if not), how much are they going for now? :)

last I saw, they were considered "Limited" (in terms of availability) but I don't know if they were "new" or these were used lenses that bear the "Hexanon Limited" name.

Cheers,
Dave
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AFAIK, the two fast Hexanons are the M-Hexanon 50/f1.2, 2001 of which were made and sold in a set with a limited edition (silver finish) Hexar RF; and the Hexanon 60mm/f1.2 in LTM of which 800 were made. After all the Konica->Konica/Minolta->Sony peregrinations they're (a) not being made; and (b) I don't think anyone knows who might own the designs.

...Mike
 
When you look at Tom's photos, the signature is very distinct. More so than any other CV lens, IMO, maybe with exception of the 35/1.4. Nicely curved focal plane, and, since no asph elements, probable nice shift, too. Nice oval OOF disks, which will make for swirly "forest bokeh". All in all quite similar to the classic Noctilux, with more contrast and less vignetting. Like for the 35/1.4, I am guessing this is intentional.

What cracks me up when the Noctilux is mentioned in the > 3 threads now running on the new Nokton, is that nobody qualifies if (s)he is talking about the 50/1.0 or 50/0.95 ASPH, two completely different animals.

Cheers,

Roland.
 
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Itll be nice if its just "different" and not worse than a noctilux,.......I thought that a few of your photos were quite contrasty Tom ,is that the lens or my monitor?thanks...Neil
 
Roughly translated, does 'bland signature' mean that it doesn't vignette strongly when wide open? If so, I quite like it's 'signature'. It looks cracking good on Tom A's slideshow.

This lens is really exciting, regardless of whether you like it or not/are likely to buy one - the fact that it is in production is great news for this particular photography format. My opinion is humble of course.

Lilserenity, your shot is real nice, what a landscape!
 
i want to see color samples. It's hard to judge bokeh on b&w. From the looks of the photos it carries the CV bokeh. I've owned the 35 f/1.4 SC, and currently have the 35 f/1.2. The bokeh on them is smooth and boring. :) I hope more photos prove me wrong.
 
taxi38 said:
Itll be nice if its just "different" and not worse than a noctilux,.......I thought that a few of your photos were quite contrasty Tom ,is that the lens or my monitor?thanks...Neil
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The lens has a certain 'snap" to it. Not excessive by any means, but more so than the F1 Nocti - particularly wide-open. I also shot some of this stuff with Acros 100 and processed in Beutler, a combination that is not known for low contrast!
Most of the films were shot with a Zeiss ZM as that finder is so good for 50mm. I had forgotten my R3M at home, but that would work equally well.
The ZM was put on AE and though I did do some +/- correction, most shots were done with the camera deciding the exposure. That could account for some contrast too as I did not correct for exposures or "guess" them.
 
Just scanned and put up another 9 shots with the Nokton 50mm f1.1 - including a tight crop to show center sharpness @ f1.1. Go to our Flickr and click on the set for "Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f1.1".
 
It would be interesting to see how the resolution compares to the old leica f1.2, the f1.0 and the new 0.95, plus the Konica f1.2. I think we may all be impressed. Tom you have stated light fall off at wise aperature is less than the f1.0. Any ideas compared to the other lens mentioned? Has VC published MTF graphs?
 
Tom's pictures look good.

Curious to know if there are any size comparisons? I'd like to see how it differs in size with the noct/hexanon/lux asph?
 
kram said:
It would be interesting to see how the resolution compares to the old leica f1.2, the f1.0 and the new 0.95, plus the Konica f1.2. I think we may all be impressed. Tom you have stated light fall off at wise aperature is less than the f1.0. Any ideas compared to the other lens mentioned? Has VC published MTF graphs?
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The fall off is about 3/4-1 stop less than with the Noctilux f1.0. It was so long since I had the 50f1.2 Noctilux that I could not remember if the fall off was significant or not. The Hexanon 60f1.2 had, again, less fall off than the Noctilux f1.0. I havent seen any data on the 0.95f50 - but for those $8700 extra I should expect absolutely even light coverage as well as other services.
 
rHytHm said:
Tom's pictures look good.

Curious to know if there are any size comparisons? I'd like to see how it differs in size with the noct/hexanon/lux asph?
Click to expand...

It is almost identical in size to the old 58mm front Noctilux. Similar in size to the 35f1.2 - so not exactly "svelte" but not overized. Weight is moderate at 475 grams. My point with this lens is that it is compact enough (and it is after all a 50f1.1) that it can be used as an all round 50.
 
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