So what's the verdict on the CV 35mm f1.4?

[Graham Line]

Tom A's not setting up extreme near-far situations in harsh or uneven lighting and wide apertures . . . he's shooting the way he usually shoots.
Put it another way: Unusual situations can produce unusual results.

 

[rich815]

That is close to the 40/1.4 Nokton in the OOF areas. And why I sold mine...

Took some test shots at lunch...on M8, at or near minimum focusing distance, all at 1.4. Not the most sympathetic backgrounds, probably a tough test for boké.

 

[Ororaro]

Nenad,

IMO, this has nothing to do with 'out of a box' thinking. Bokeh is a personal thing. Wether you like it or not. You may like harsh Bokeh. I don't.

Rudy

P.S. Great interview in the LFI.😉

Thanks! 😀

About Boke, I agree it is not out of the box thinking and more of a personal thing, but lately (a few years now) it has become very fashionable to separate "Good Boke" from "Bad Boke" with all kinds of new "scientific" terms.
Okay, RFF is different, but all other photography forums have a inside-the-box culture about what Boke should be.

I agree, a superbly well corrected lens with super smooth boke is a feast for the viewer and is very expensive, but sometimes I like the opposite.

 

[Mark Demeny]

Just so you know it's about as many loonies in Canada as in the U.S. I'm seeing prices of $579 in Vancouver!

Might I ask where? To be honest, I haven't asked around the local shops myself, but usually I get a funny look when I ask about their Voigtlander stock. Responses to any CV question vary from "well, our distributor was actually a member of the Russian mafia...so we're not getting new stock" to "...about 8 weeks wait..."

Thanks in advance!

 

[photogdave]

Might I ask where? To be honest, I haven't asked around the local shops myself, but usually I get a funny look when I ask about their Voigtlander stock. Responses to any CV question vary from "well, our distributor was actually a member of the Russian mafia...so we're not getting new stock" to "...about 8 weeks wait..."

Thanks in advance!

Ha! I've heard the same thing so it must be true.
Leo's is ordering some in and they said maybe two weeks. I'm on the list!

 

[jky]

Just so you know it's about as many loonies in Canada as in the U.S. I'm seeing prices of $579 in Vancouver!

Who carries this in Vancouver? Getting it shipped from there would be so much easier than waiting for it to cross customs...I'm still confused as to why some articles only take the specified amount of time to arrive & others 2-3 times that...

For everybody that's contributed to this thread - thanks! Especially the wide open shots posted.
Honestly, I'm not too picky on the bokeh thing... then again, I only have a 35 Skpar & 40 Nokton so I'm probably missing a lot interms of OOF smoothness and the like. Have never had the pleasure of playing with a lens that's known for "creamy bokeh" so I'm not an expert on good or bad OOF areas. However, after looking at the pics here, it does seem similar to the 40 Nokt.
My experience with the 40 is that I really liked how it handled on the camera - my fingers just fell in place & it really balanced well. Looking at the photos of the 35 on the internet, it seems like this will be an easy transition.
I've now ruled out the Biogon (option 2) and I'm pretty set now on purchasing one of these....
Just gotta resolve another issue!..... been shooting with a DSLR since the birth of my dtr in December - gotta love that instant feedback (no follow up posts pls. on how wonderful those darn digital RF's are 😱!)...
Cheers

 

[tomasis]

I don't like the signature at widest aperture.. better word than bokeh huh?

it reminds me more of modern leica asph though more smooth, I see. Lux pre asph shows more like more transparent images. I mean it is easier to identify objects farthest in background if the lens is focused at closest distance.

but one big stenght that cv's price is good and is better choice to biogon due f2 and price.

But as I said before, I decide by signature.

 

[aka5ha]

CV 35mm 1.4 - great bokeh

CV 35mm 1.4 - great bokeh

You folks must all have 40mm nokton hangovers.

The bokeh produced by the 35mm 1.4 is wonderfully smooth. At least in the first several dozen photographs I have shot. I am really happy with this lens. Its bokeh is similar to my other lenses (50mm summicron, and 28 elmarit ASPH).

I would be interested if anyone can point me to some "bad" bokeh shots from this lens.

 

[photogdave]

You folks must all have 40mm nokton hangovers.

The bokeh produced by the 35mm 1.4 is wonderfully smooth. At least in the first several dozen photographs I have shot. I am really happy with this lens. Its bokeh is similar to my other lenses (50mm summicron, and 28 elmarit ASPH).

I would be interested if anyone can point me to some "bad" bokeh shots from this lens.

A lot of people are basing their "bad bokeh" comments based on shots wide open against foliage with speckled highlights. No lens stands a chance in these situations!

 

[nksyoon]

I've made a quick comparison between the Nokton 1.4, Nokton 1.2 and M-Hexanon 35/2 here:
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=764658&postcount=1

 

[lorenzo.ferrarini]

You folks must all have 40mm nokton hangovers.

The bokeh produced by the 35mm 1.4 is wonderfully smooth. At least in the first several dozen photographs I have shot. I am really happy with this lens. Its bokeh is similar to my other lenses (50mm summicron, and 28 elmarit ASPH).

I would be interested if anyone can point me to some "bad" bokeh shots from this lens.

I don't like this one. No foliage.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulhu/2298896774/sizes/l/in/pool-643276@N21/
And this is foliage, but not backlit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sotome/2277805018/in/pool-nokton35f14
Sometimes it looks like the OOF part comes in front of the foreground.
Still, I think it's a very good lens, in most cases.

 

[kevin m]

A lot of people are basing their "bad bokeh" comments based on shots wide open against foliage with speckled highlights. No lens stands a chance in these situations!

True. It seems it's the newer, better-corrected lenses that have trouble in those situations. The older 'character' lenses often make a more pleasing blur... 😀

 

[rich815]

A lot of people are basing their "bad bokeh" comments based on shots wide open against foliage with speckled highlights. No lens stands a chance in these situations!

Perhaps. Some look a heck of a lot better than others though.

 

[M like Leica M6]

For the folks out there that have one... what do you all think so far?

So far, what do we really have?

We have an unbelievable number of posts in forums like these, and I've got a notion that all this hype is a marketing campaign - experts call this method "viral marketing".

For details, have a look here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_marketing

Such a campaign is pretty cheap: you only invest some time, invent some user names and upload some images from your camera phone.

What really makes me sick is that all those lens 'test shots' in the forums are for the birds, because they are made in such an amateurish manner: small, low resolution, random sampling - especially the handheld street shots at night are complete nonsense. :bang:

Is this kind of 'lens tests' Dadaism at its finest? 😀

Or is it a viral marketing campaign to pull the wool over our eyes? 🙁

 

[nzeeman]

and i have one question. is it possible that double line effect is not so strong but maybe m8 emphasize it. digital cameras always have problems with strange patterns.

 

[yoyo22]

So far, what do we really have?

We have an unbelievable number of posts in forums like these, and I've got a notion that all this hype is a marketing campaign - experts call this method "viral marketing".

For details, have a look here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_marketing

Such a campaign is pretty cheap: you only invest some time, invent some user names and upload some images from your camera phone.

What really makes me sick is that all those lens 'test shots' in the forums are for the birds, because they are made in such an amateurish manner: small, low resolution, random sampling - especially the handheld street shots at night are complete nonsense. :bang:

Is this kind of 'lens tests' Dadaism at its finest? 😀

Or is it a viral marketing campaign to pull the wool over our eyes? 🙁

Buy it, test it, keep it or sell it. If you find time post some photos in your suggested resolution. Then see if the global Voigtlaender conspiracy will be revealed by these high res facts. Be efficient, be German.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
YoYo22 😉

 

[M like Leica M6]

Buy it, test it, keep it or sell it. If you find time post some photos in your suggested resolution. Then see if the global Voigtlaender conspiracy will be revealed by these high res facts. Be efficient, be German.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
YoYo22 😉

Is this waht you do with a new car?

If you don't find tests in trusted car magazines, you buy the car, test it for yourself and then decide if you want to keep it? 😀

What Voigtländer conspiracy? I AM a Voigtländer and Cameraquest customer, I DO own some of their lenses. I chose them after having seen examples, not after having seen brainless examples.

 

[rover]

Dude, the lens has only been available for a week.

Folks want to talk about it. Are there a lot of samples out there taken with this lens yet? No, but that isn't going to stop folks from talking about it.

I think there is only one way to solve this, you have to buy one and post some non brainless examples for the rest of us to judge.

 

[yoyo22]

Is this waht you do with a new car?

If you don't find tests in trusted car magazines, you buy the car, test it for yourself and then decide if you want to keep it? 😀

What Voigtländer conspiracy? I AM a Voigtländer and Cameraquest customer, I DO own some of their lenses. I chose them after having seen examples, not after having seen brainless examples.

A car costs several thousands, the 35mm is way below 500 Euros.
A cars value will decline significantly by just driving it home from the dealership, while the 35mms value will be relatively steady in the first few weeks/months, even if you take thousands of photos with it (as long as you don't scratch or damage it).
So buy & try is quite an option for that lens if you were considering buying it in the first place.

 

[nksyoon]

What Voigtländer conspiracy? I AM a Voigtländer and Cameraquest customer, I DO own some of their lenses. I chose them after having seen examples, not after having seen brainless examples.

You suggested the conspiracy theory that the various sample shots are a viral marketing campaign.