The Nokton on the Prominent

raid · 02-11-2007

I happen to have had borrowed two examples of Noktons 50mm/1.5 made for the old Voightlaender Prominent. I had not heard about the Prominent before Fred and Mark send me their Noktons. I very much liked the Noktons' optical signature (or whatever you like to call the properties), and I stated so before in my threads on the lens comparisons.

Recently, I purchased from an antique store a Prominent with a Nokton. Dean Williams did a great job repairing the release button of the Prominent, and I tried the camera and lens out yesterday. I did not choose my film well since I used an older roll of Kodak 200 (no clue how this happend).

I enjoyed using the Prominent and I was not bothered by the strange focusing system of this camera. The camera is built extremely well, and so is the lens.

I wonder who has compared the original Nokton with the recent Nokton. Does the new Nokton have similar sharpness and contrast or is it more like the many modern super sharp ultra contrast lenses?

Here is a link to the roll of film I used with this lens.

http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=694603

Raid

raid · 02-11-2007

Is here another Prominent user? I know we have several at RFF.

Raid

Andrew L · 02-12-2007

Raid,

I recently had an oppurtunity to buy a very rare original Nokton in an L39 mount, at a very good price, but declined after shooting a few rolls.

I like the soft, low contrast look of the lens which I found very appealing in both b/w and colour. However, what I didn't like was the swirly bokeh the lens renders at wide apertures. I should add that bokeh is normally not of great interest to me but this was so distracting that it put me off the lens.

I am now using the CV 50mm Heliar on my M3 and am very happy with it. Not only does it perform nicely but it was relatively cheap.

BTW, I was told that the really, really interesting Voigtlander lens from the '50s/'60s is the 50mm Septon. Apparently, there are lens fanatics out there who buy them up and get them converted onto all manner of cameras mounts.

raid · 02-13-2007

Andrew: I am not a collector, and my wish is to use many lenses to get different results. Your Heliar is most likely sharper than the expensive Nokton in LTM.

Raid

Brian Sweeney · 02-13-2007

Here are some shots with mine.

http://flickr.com/groups/voigtlander...7594317344943/

The swirly bokeh is most prevalent when the lens is used wide-open and at closest focus. It is much like the Summarit. I believe that astigmatism is the cause.

I use an original Nokton on my Nikon RF's as well. It is sharp, comparable to the Nikkor 5cm F1.4.

One example: Focus on the "knot" in the vine.

Wide-Open

raid · 02-13-2007

Brian: Your photos with the Nokton are excellent. Thanks for posting them. I wish I could modify my Nokton to go on my Leica.

Raid

furcafe · 02-13-2007

You should have bought it & then re-sold it for a profit

I guess I don't mind the swirly boke, & it doesn't occur often enough in my photography to be a major factor. I also haven't found the boke to be much different than that from my other classic fast 50s from the same time period (Sonnar, Nikkor-S, etc.)

For Raid, here are my shots w/the Nokton:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/furcafe...noktonc195260/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/furcafe...tonltmc195260/

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew L

Raid,

I recently had an oppurtunity to buy a very rare original Nokton in an L39 mount, at a very good price, but declined after shooting a few rolls.

I like the soft, low contrast look of the lens which I found very appealing in both b/w and colour. However, what I didn't like was the swirly bokeh the lens renders at wide apertures. I should add that bokeh is normally not of great interest to me but this was so distracting that it put me off the lens.

Andrew L · 02-13-2007

"You should have bought it & then re-sold it for a profit "

Sadly, that's the one thing I couldn't do. The dealer was willing to let me have at a cut rate price on the understanding that I ever sold it I would sell it back to him. This seemed entirely reasonable to me, given the amount of business I do with him and the great deals he gives me.

Maybe, I could have learned to live with the swirly bokeh but another factor which bothered me was the fact that I never feel entirely comfortable using an L39 lens on a M camera. It's when the lens start to unthread a tiny bit that I starting feel nervous as to the accuracy of focussing. I don't know, perhaps it's photographer's paranoia.

Either way, I have no complaints about the CV Heliar. Now, it's up to the photographer to deiver the goods

Trius · 02-13-2007

Brian: The shot at f4 really illustrates your point ... I really like the bokeh at that aperture.

Brian Sweeney · 02-13-2007

This is a great lens. It is very heavy compared with the Nikkor 5cm F1.4. It is real heavy metal.

The Prominent is a "strange, quirky, but likable" camera. But this lens on the S2 is much more manageable.

3js · 02-19-2007

The first thing that come in to my mind is SHARP. A very sharp indeed, I still remember how stunned I was after gone through the first negs with my lupe. Now what the heck is going on here I thougt. But I seldom use anything at the full opening, those negs were shot at 5.6-11. Quess I have to change that, because there is a just arrived Hologon on my table...But hey wait a minute, that´s still between the limits

raid · 02-19-2007

Thanks for the links to your photos. Yes, this lens is sharp.

Raid

Silva Lining · 02-19-2007

I have a Prominent, but with the 50/2 Ultron lens. , its certainly a well built camera though and once you are used to the rather odd shutter release placement great to use.

Here are some photos taken with it