Which is sharper at 2.8, 35mm Color Skopar or Nokton 35 1.4?

[Mark C]

That is a good shot for me to see, that wonky distribution of sharpness is curvature of field. I can deal with that on this lens but could not on my main lens, the 50. I had a mint copy of a version 2 pre-asph 50 Summilux that is also well known to have curvature of field and mine certainly did. So I sold it and spent big bucks on a 50 1.4 asph which does not suffer from that.

I have never owned more than 4 lenses for my M's at one time and even then I had 4 bodies. Now with only one I really only need one 50 and one 35, keeping it simple and of a high level of quality pays off big time in my opinion, I could travel the world for years with a 35 and a 50, a couple hundred rolls of TMY2 and just crush it...

Field curvature seems to have been the big compromise that Mandler made on his classic Summilux designs. His approach certainly paid off on the 50, which is remarkable at 1.4. But, like you, I want a minimal lens set and am now deciding whether the field curvature is a deal breaker. So far the Summilux has done very well for my everyday 50. For available light shooting in particular I'm finding the field curvature works for me as often as it works against me. For urban landscape I'd rather be using a Summicron, but the Summilux does fine when stopped down.

35 is even harder. I've been struggling with this lately which is why I'm so interested to hear how this works for you. The Voitlander 1.2 is the only thing short of the Aspheric Summilux that seems to really do everything I want. But I'm not willing to carry it, or to shell out for the Aspheric, so for now I'm carrying a screwball outfit of 35/40/50. The 40 only comes out as a substitute for the dream 35 1.4 I haven't found.

I may well try the 35 Nokton; it is hard to beat the price.

 

[KM-25]

Ok, there must be something in the air with me and buying glass for my M3 lately, I am hitting really great samples of these lenses...

I just got my 35 Nokton new from Cameraquest about 2 hours ago. I quickly ran a few test shots with it against the Skopar, had about 12 frames of TMY2 400 in my camera to play with, souped in HC-110. Focus is spot on at 1.4, a little of the predictable back-shift at 2.8-4.0 and it is easily equal in sharpness to the Skopar at 2.8-8-1/2, *super* stoked about that last one because the Skopar is very sharp! Contrast is the same as well, again, 2.8 to 8-1/2. The Nokton even with the filter hardly shows up in the VF of my M3 at all, it is shorter and fatter than the shaded Skopar.

I’d say it is better than expected really, the landscape-esque shots at F8-1/2 are perfect, anything in the field curve of focus at 1.4 is really impressive too….I have to say I got a killer copy of this lens!

To combat the black lens against my all grey and silver M3, I ordered this shade in silver, ought to work and look great.

Overall, a damn nice result from a fun thread, big thanks to uhoh7 for posting all he did, for everyone else’s input and especially from the grand master at Cameraquest for getting me a good one. At some point, I will print and post some shots from the upcoming weekend plan with it, I make iPhone pics of the prints so that might take awhile...

Big thanks and have a nice weekend!

 

[bonatto]

I had misunderstand. apologizes for the error. from what you say, so you are fully satisfied with your Nokton. I'm considering whether to buy one or wait for a summilux.��

No problem 🙂 I'm not sure about how the summilux compares to the nokton as I've never had one, but 1m focusing, older optics, and over twice the price call for consideration.

Ok, there must be something in the air with me and buying glass for my M3 lately, I am hitting really great samples of these lenses...

I just got my 35 Nokton new from Cameraquest about 2 hours ago. I quickly ran a few test shots with it against the Skopar, had about 12 frames of TMY2 400 in my camera to play with, souped in HC-110. Focus is spot on at 1.4, a little of the predictable back-shift at 2.8-4.0 and it is easily equal in sharpness to the Skopar at 2.8-8-1/2, *super* stoked about that last one because the Skopar is very sharp! Contrast is the same as well, again, 2.8 to 8-1/2. The Nokton even with the filter hardly shows up in the VF of my M3 at all, it is shorter and fatter than the shaded Skopar.

I’d say it is better than expected really, the landscape-esque shots at F8-1/2 are perfect, anything in the field curve of focus at 1.4 is really impressive too….I have to say I got a killer copy of this lens!

I have not had an opportunity to shoot with this lens on a digital body, and I suspect, as the test shot show that it really shows its wrinkles. On film, you may find yourself using this lens more and more, and out my entire kit, this one handles best. Have fun and post some results!

 

[Mark C]

Great news. I may have to try one.

Ok, there must be something in the air with me and buying glass for my M3 lately, I am hitting really great samples of these lenses...

I just got my 35 Nokton new from Cameraquest about 2 hours ago. I quickly ran a few test shots with it against the Skopar, had about 12 frames of TMY2 400 in my camera to play with, souped in HC-110. Focus is spot on at 1.4, a little of the predictable back-shift at 2.8-4.0 and it is easily equal in sharpness to the Skopar at 2.8-8-1/2, *super* stoked about that last one because the Skopar is very sharp! Contrast is the same as well, again, 2.8 to 8-1/2. The Nokton even with the filter hardly shows up in the VF of my M3 at all, it is shorter and fatter than the shaded Skopar.

I’d say it is better than expected really, the landscape-esque shots at F8-1/2 are perfect, anything in the field curve of focus at 1.4 is really impressive too….I have to say I got a killer copy of this lens!

To combat the black lens against my all grey and silver M3, I ordered this shade in silver, ought to work and look great.

Overall, a damn nice result from a fun thread, big thanks to uhoh7 for posting all he did, for everyone else’s input and especially from the grand master at Cameraquest for getting me a good one. At some point, I will print and post some shots from the upcoming weekend plan with it, I make iPhone pics of the prints so that might take awhile...

Big thanks and have a nice weekend!

 

[gavinlg]

To me, the nokton looks really good for what it is.

 

[KM-25]

I took a much closer look at my negs last night once dry and still feel really good about the Nokton. Neither lens is flat field and therefore had similar field curvature. I did notice that under a 22x loupe the Skopar at F2.8 had ever so slightly better microcontrast in the uber finest of details but did not have as sharp of sides and corners as the Nokton at 2.8.

And for what it is worth, my experience of digital being more hard on lenses than film is that the two can often be closer than one may think. TMY2 in HC110 is insanely sharp so it will show flaws a lot more readily than a film like Tri-x would. Other types of optical defects such as those found on the periphery look worse on digital than they do film so I wonder how my Nokton would on an M9 or otherwise, not that it matters because a digital M is just not my direction. I did make one change to the lens though. I like the tabs on M mount lenses very much but like my 50, I use the knurled ring just as much, especially for dialing it in. So I put small pieces of gaffer's tape on the focus collar on either side of the tab to make for better focusing grip, a big improvement in fine focus handling...

Either way I am very happy with the Nokton thus far, it's the perfect partner to my 50 Lux Asph...

 

[shortstop]

I took a much closer look at my negs last night once dry and still feel really good about the Nokton. Neither lens is flat field and therefore had similar field curvature. I did notice that under a 22x loupe the Skopar at F2.8 had ever so slightly better microcontrast in the uber finest of details but did not have as sharp of sides and corners as the Nokton at 2.8. And for what it is worth, my experience of digital being more hard on lenses than film is that the two can often be closer than one may think. TMY2 in HC110 is insanely sharp so it will show flaws a lot more readily than a film like Tri-x would. Other types of optical defects such as those found on the periphery look worse on digital than they do film so I wonder how my Nokton would on an M9 or otherwise, not that it matters because a digital M is just not my direction. I did make one change to the lens though. I like the tabs on M mount lenses very much but like my 50, I use the knurled ring just as much, especially for dialing it in. So I put small pieces of gaffer's tape on the focus collar on either side of the tab to make for better focusing grip, a big improvement in fine focus handling... Either way I am very happy with the Nokton thus far, it's the perfect partner to my 50 Lux Asph...

all these opinions favorable to the Nokton. I have to take this in place of the preasph summilux? would save a lot of money

 

[KM-25]

A couple of shots from over the weekend, M3 / Nokton 35mm 1.4 MC at 2.8 ( Hair dude ) and 4.0 ( Crowd ), TMAX 400 in HC-110. Scanned with my D800 / Macro...

Overall, this lens takes care of my 35mm FOV needs very well....

 

[jsrockit]

... so I wonder how my Nokton would on an M9 or otherwise, not that it matters because a digital M is just not my direction...

When I spoke of the focus shift previously, it was the M9 that I saw it happen on. As much as some think it's not there (or it doesn't matter)... it is apparent in digital. How it effects your style of photos and what you find acceptable may differ though.

 

[traveler_101]

A couple of shots from over the weekend, M3 / Nokton 35mm 1.4 MC at 2.8 ( Hair dude ) and 4.0 ( Crowd ), TMAX 400 in HC-110. Scanned with my D800 / Macro...

Overall, this lens takes care of my 35mm FOV needs very well....

nice shots -- you use an auxiliary finder on the m3 i suppose?