Voigtlaender 42,5/0,95 Nokton 42.5 mm-42.5 mm Lens

The Voigtlander 42.5mm F/0.95 was a lens that I had anticipated with a childlike eagerness.I had previous experience with the 25mm Voigtlander, but this version, I would verture to say is even better.Right away, I tested the F0.95 performance -- sharper than my 25mm version, and well sharp for F/0.95 -- I was actually impressed. Focusing at this aperture is a bit challenging, especially at closer ranges within the 1 meter range. At medium distances, the F0.95 setting yields pleasing subject isolation. Purple fringing is prominent is certain situations, with whites, bright backgrounds, etc. Although, that's mainly shooting during the mid day, when the sun is high and bright, so you wouldn't be necessarily shooting at that aperture anyhow -- at night, in darker setting these aberrations are less present & pronounced.There is some 'glow' at F0.95 -- more glow I believe is exhibited at closer subject to lens distances. I many cases however, this 'glow' is of benefit, yielding a dramatic, dreamy, moody, creamy, whatever you want to call it, rendering of the scene, which can be manipulated by the photog during situations preferable.All things considered, this lens performs admirably for such a extremely wide aperture. I don't know of ANY lens performing better than this at a matching aperture...maybe the some uber Leica? not sure about that -- but I do believe I have a good copy too, as mine is pleasingly sharp.Glow diminishes and the chromatic aberrations decrease upon stopping down -- more or less absent by F2.8, but very minimal at F2.0 already. Sharpness & contrast both take drastic jumps from wide open, and already by F1.4, you have a VERY sharp image. By F2.0, razor sharp, by F2.8 & F4.0 the lens peaks with BITING sharpness, and stopping further down from there diffraction sets in and you begin to lose sharpness in gradual diminishings.Operational aspects are a pleasure -- the focus ring is just soooo smooth -- just the right amount of resistance -neither too lose, nor too tight -- controllable with 1 finger if need be -- yum! The focus throw is long, so focus can be nailed quite precisely.The aperture ring is solid and tight with positive clicks. The 'step-less' setting working like a charm and while I don't shoot video, this lens with this feature would be a damn sweet instrument when shooting some video.Minimal focus distance seems to be around 4 − 5 inches -- closer than noted 9 some mm as noted in the spec of the lens. I might have to measure that to confirm if absolutely true, but it appears that way.The hood is nice, albeit large, and does reverse fit for easier storage.The downside to this lens is the weight, but being all metal & F0.95, and 42.5mm (85mm ff equiv), what can one expect. I don't think lightness was the main consideration in designing this piece.I personally feel the price is reasonable considering the features (step-less aperture, close focus ability, and precise manual focus control), build quality, & light gathering ability this lens present a bargain actually. I always think had these lenses been graced with the Leica brand, how much they'd be going for...I'm guessing far, far more than what Voigtlander sells them for now.A thumbs up also to Stephen G at Camera Quest -- he shipped the sucker out the same day, got it the next day, got a free B/W filter -- nice!Micro 4/3 is a very flexible platform in and of itself, but with lenses such as these Voigts, it makes for reason enough to consider using the system.

This is a FAST lens, which allows shooting at ISO 200 where an f/2.8 lens would require ISO 1600. It performs quite well even wide open, at f/1.4 and f/2 it becomes very sharp, and reaches peak sharpness by f/4. This lens is completely manual (focus, aperture, no data communicated to the camera). In the past, I had trouble with optical viewfinders for manual focusing; but with electronic viewfinders, image magnification, and focus peaking tools available on better micro-4/3 cameras, it became easy to achieve critical focus exactly where I wanted it. Sure, there is a technique to learn, and the process isn't as fast as AF, but it really works and many photographers enjoy this kind of control and involvement in creating exactly the images they want. Speaking of images: This is an excellent portrait lens capable of blurring backgrounds just like my 85/1.8 full frame DSLR lens. While not a true macro lens, it focuses very close; combined with wide apertures this delivers very nice images with 3-D look. I'd also recommend this lens for available light photography. In bright light, using f/4 or f/5.6 delivers the best results for me. For video use, manual focus is often preferred, plus one can convert the aperture ring to clickless mode, allowing smooth aperture changes. Using wider apertures in broad daylight may require a neutral density filter to keep the shutter speed within your camera's limits. Overall, this is a special lens, destined to be a classic (together with its 17.5mm and 25mm siblings, which I haven't tried).

Great bokeh at T0.95. Make sure you bring a good ND filter. It is manual-focus only so you'll need to work a bit to get your primary subject tack sharp. The focus ring has enough smooth drag to help you do this, and this goes a long way to getting precise adjustments.Construction is almost all-steel. Heavy, and not in a bad way. Very premium design. This makes for a very good interview lens when paired with a good MFT camera body.The only reason this doesn't get five stars is because our unit somehow had inside the sealed lens barrel. Took it to a local camera shop and they agreed that this was the cause of our unstoppable "light flaring" on all our video footage. The only way to remove the dust would be for the manufacturer to disassemble it. No other lens in our studio has this issue. No amount of filters or polarizers could fix this. We ended up using a different lens for our production, unfortunately.

This (and all the Voiglander Nokton M4/3 lenses are amazing. From the first day using it I don't want to use other lenses for video.The image is much more filmic (slightly less contrasty and video-y than the Panasonic 35-100mm and Panasonic Leica 25mm that I also own), very flattering look with this lens. For video f0.95 is sharp enough and still a manageable depth of field if you are a few feet from your subject.I film weddings and commercials for a living and love what this lens does for me. It's incredibly easy to pull focus thanks to it being fully manual and not focus by wire. As someone who never used autofocus I love this. Its hard to switch back to my other lenses when it comes to usability and image quality. For a M4/3 lens this is not cheap, but it's worth every penny.Check out a few stills from different projects I've shot (all these were on the GH3, recently moved to GH5 and this lens is even more amazing).