Nokton 35/1.2 II + M9 = wow !!

[Alnitak]

Funny still, I'll be driving by there tomorrow afternoon on my way from LAX to Pepperdine.

I've been to the Getty Museum (Engaged Observers exhibit) but haven't yet made it up the hill to the villa.

You mean down the hill? Well worth it. You have to make reservations to get in, as they limit the crowds.

 

[leicashot]

Kristian-- what aperture(s)? Very sharp, particularly like the second, great light!

Both at 1.4. Yeah caught a shaft of light and shot into a shaded background. Love doing that when I happen to be out at that time of the day.

 

[D&A]

Kristian, lovely shots of young lady (daughter?) in very attractive lighting. I've found with the V1 of the VC 35mm f1.2 and from what I've seen of version 2....that f1.4 is a sweet spot. At that aperture, the bokeh is 95% as diffuse as it is at f1.2 (just less light fall off at the corners) and depth of field almost the same(as f1.2), but the increase of contrast and resolution is quite evident. By stopping down any further, bokeh changes and shallow depth of field increases, with a considerable jump in both contrast and resolution.

Dave (D&A)

 

[rsolti]

Kristian, lovely shots of young lady (daughter?) in very attractive lighting. I've found with the V1 of the VC 35mm f1.2 and from what I've seen of version 2....that f1.4 is a sweet spot. At that aperture, the bokeh is 95% as diffuse as it is at f1.2 (just less light fall off at the corners) and depth of field almost the same(as f1.2), but the increase of contrast and resolution is quite evident. By stopping down any further, bokeh changes and shallow depth of field increases, with a considerable jump in both contrast and resolution.

Dave (D&A)

Exactly my findings as well, Dave. All the shots I have taken wide open so far I have also taken at f/1.4. Surprisingly, the oof blur is nearly identical but the contrast jumps considerably

 

[jsrockit]

Very nice lighting... leicashot.

 

[leicashot]

Very nice lighting... leicashot.

Thanks boss, like I had anything to do with it 😉

 

[SimonSawSunlight]

Do a search for Nokton Glove on google and this is the first image result...

hey, I took that 😀

 

[D&A]

Absolutely love the framing of the gentleman in the distance, between the two children, juxtaposed between the holding of hands and the "third hand" hanging down. A worthy photograph representing the Nokton glove! I am troubled though by the apparent shortcut Voigtlander took in producing this notable product....just look at the glove, seems to be a finger or two short of the normal "five" 🙂 . Hope that's just an illusion of the angle. Serious though, a superb image!

Dave (D&A)

 

[jsrockit]

Thanks boss, like I had anything to do with it 😉

You chose the right spot to photograph, isn't that what it's about? 😕

 

[jsrockit]

hey, I took that 😀

I knew that. 🙂 It did come up under "nokton glove" though... Great image by the way.

 

[SimonSawSunlight]

I knew that. 🙂 It did come up under "nokton glove" though... Great image by the way.

yeh, I was just a little surprised myself. 😉

 

[leicashot]

yeh, I was just a little surprised myself. 😉

haha, you guys!

 

[Alnitak]

OK, so I'm finally getting around to posting a few shots from last weekend. Crazy week at work; the only upside is that the job pays well enough that I can fiddle around with gear in my limited free time. 😛

Here's a selection of shots with the new lens on my M9. The first is at f/1.2 and at the MFD of 0.5m. My technique with the M9 is to guesstimate a little short, and then shoot several shots while "swaying" forward through the focal point. This will get me at least one shot that's just right most of the time. It would be nice if the M10 has live view...


L9996925.jpg by jhapeman, on Flickr

And another wide open at 0.5m:
L9996964.jpg by jhapeman, on Flickr

This was also at f/1.2, but at 0.7m:


L9996926.jpg by jhapeman, on Flickr

Another at f/1.2 (hey, you don't buy a fast lens to shoot it stopped down, do you?):


L9996978.jpg by jhapeman, on Flickr

Now an image to demonstrate a minor weakness; wide open you can get purple fringing on specular highlights, a common bane of very fast lenses when shot wide open (for example, the 50/0.95 Noctilux suffers from this). Its particularly noticeable when the specular highlights border a darker area of the image.


L9996914.jpg by jhapeman, on Flickr

The lens is also great stopped down; this is at f/8:


L9996990.jpg by jhapeman, on Flickr

Also at f/8:


L9997001.jpg by jhapeman, on Flickr

Finally, as I pointed out before, it's remarkably resistant to flare.


L9996992.jpg by jhapeman, on Flickr

BTW, these were all shot with the camera manually set to the 35mm f/1.4 ASPH. setting; it seems to provide the best correction in-camera.

Jeff

 

[leicashot]

Thanks Jeff great to see you're liking the lens. I'm still shocked people see differences in the V1 V V2 bokeh. They are identical

 

[Alnitak]

I think there's a very subtle difference between V1 and V2, but I challenge most people to be able to identify it. In fact, here's a composite of the two versions of the Nokton and the Leica Summilux-M ASPH (pre-FLE). Click on the link to see the full-sized version if you want to pixel-peep. I'll let the folks here guess which lens is which in the lineup. 🙂


35mm Comparison by jhapeman, on Flickr

 

[prosophos]

I'm going to guess that the order is: (1) Nokton V1, (2) Nokton V2, and (3) Summilux-M ASPH (pre-FLE).

Peter.
www.prosophos.com

 

[carlmuck]

Just going from the OOF areas, it's Summilux, Nokton v2, Nokton v1. The other two samples don't exhibit any real character (other than being in focus) to distinguish them.

 

[Alnitak]

I'll let folks take a few more guesses before I "reveal" the actuals.

 

[leicashot]

I'm going to guess that the order is: (1) Nokton V1, (2) Nokton V2, and (3) Summilux-M ASPH (pre-FLE).

Peter.
www.prosophos.com

Peter I believe you are correct as the bokeh from 1 and 2 are almost identical

 

[Field]

I like them! There is just one problem... I am not sure whether it is the CV 35mm 1.2 I want or an M9 ha!