Images from Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f/1.1!!

[Juan Valdenebro]

Clearly that lens is able to deliver one of the most wonderful bokehs I've seen in my life.

And you master not only the lens and composition! You really take everything out from that combo!

My old teachers would be so impressed and happy... (Although this only matters my old teachers and me)

Really great news those are 1.1 shots!!!

[Tom A]

Juan, thanks 0 but I can only take credit for holding the camera and pointing it in the right direction (and focus it) - the lens and film took care of the rest.

[Juan Valdenebro]

Ha ha ha ha ha

[Juan Valdenebro]

Seriously... I don't want anyone to share this opinion, but I felt it just when I saw it for the first time: the first image has some elements that allow me easily to consider it a lot more than a superb lens very well used and great expo&dev... Some say art is in the eye of the beholder, and some, in l'ouvre... Certainly Mr. A's creation (that first shot) was born from his idea of the shot, but it has also the life anyone of us can give to it when we feel something naturally...


The two basic elements that make it strong are: First, the very soft and dreamy background ALL along the frame, in contrast with the very present foreground ALL along the frame, being all this AT THE SAME TIME a tough contrast between a beautiful place we can't visually access completely AND what directly seems to keep us away from that dream... Second, the unusual total centering of the foreground instead of a more relaxed thirds composition adds a lot to the intensely obtrusive character of what stops us, making us dream even more of getting in, and then comes the ambiguous sensation of feeling that just maybe the photographer is creating more than the camera because the whole image talks about things related to emotions, not only about space...


And by the way, the lens starts to get out of focus from the center to the right with a surprising delicateness, far from double images from the thin metal...


Warhol: “Art? Art is what you can go away with”. I went there, and then I went away, with that shot.

[samoksner]

Originally Posted by bennyng

Night portrait.



A few more here..

Cheers,

I'm very impressed by the lack of fringing or light spill over (in the hair for example). The OOF circles are particularly pleasing in that they are nicely uniform and don't have that defining ring around them. They also display very little color fringing around the OOF circles. Very impressive. The brute sharpness on the hair is just an added bonus.

[samoksner]

Originally Posted by Dan States

The answer to carping about the lens not having a "signature" is for CV to make a special "Signature" edition. This version would have strong field curvature, making it unpredictable for off center focus. It needs loads of vignetting, so that the outer 30% of the frame is so dark you might as well have been using an F2 lens, and a definite yellow color cast, so your slides will never match in color balance with your other lenses.

Just for giggles, lets give it some strong focus shift, and don't forget to make it a chore to focus by designing in a slow, heavy focus action. To cap it off lets add a nice plastic built in lens hood that never stays in place!

What shall we call it?

Ummm, what you describe sounds faintly familiar, i think i have heard of such a lens? Isn't it the one that's around $4000 and yet has a whole following that would swear by it simply because of all those special features?

Get real people, it's signature doesn't yell: we had to make too many compromises to make this lens. The signature says: "we opted for sharpness, lack of coma, aberrations, vignetting and falloff over swirly bokeh." To each his own, this lens is special because it's ridiculously well corrected and sharp at 1/4 of old Noct prices and at 1/8th of new Noct prices. And as an added bonus, you can shoot at f8 all day and it'll look great!

[0bli0]

hmm - another empty chair...
leica m6 || nokton 50mm f/1.1 || fuji astia

[Steve M.]

A little late to the party here, but I don't like the bokeh. It's not nearly as smooth as my 50 2.0 Summicron. Nice to have the extra speed, but not a lens I would use.

[thinkfloyd]

I'm really thinking hard if I would get this super nokton or not, anyone have shots from f2-f4? I usually shoot wide open or f8. But with the lens being 'too fast' wide open in bright light, I'm curious as to the OOF rendition stopped down a little. (I read around here somewhere that sometimes lenses give their best 'bokeh' stopped down a little...)

[Juan Valdenebro]

Originally Posted by thinkfloyd

I'm really thinking hard if I would get this super nokton or not, anyone have shots from f2-f4? I usually shoot wide open or f8. But with the lens being 'too fast' wide open in bright light, I'm curious as to the OOF rendition stopped down a little. (I read around here somewhere that sometimes lenses give their best 'bokeh' stopped down a little...)

Yes. In some harsh bokeh cases (double images, donuts, etc.), closing half or one stop, can help a lot... There are some examples of great bokeh in that way (wide open too!) with the 40 Nokton at 1.8 and 2. I just don't remember where I saw them...

[mfogiel]

[Bellie]

A concert last night:

[nicography]

Hi guys, here is a picture I took with my M6.
I'm a newbie about rangefinder and this forum so nice to meet everyone of you here. =D
Joined the dark side and I'm starting to love my rangefinder and film over my digital slr now.



Leica M6
Voigtlander 50mm f1.1
Fuji Natura 1600

Thanks,

Nico

[nicography]

Leica M6
Voigtlander 50mm f1.1
Kodak EliteChrome 100

[mfogiel]

[leicashot]

Finally we're seeing images that are 'Noct-esk'

Thanks

[Royale With Cheese]

Originally Posted by nicography

Leica M6
Voigtlander 50mm f1.1
Kodak EliteChrome 100

Gotta love Ang Kor Beer!

[Royale With Cheese]

Originally Posted by nicography

Leica M6
Voigtlander 50mm f1.1
Kodak EliteChrome 100

Gotta love Ang Kor Beer!

[Sonnar2]

Originally Posted by Brian Sweeney

The F1.1 Nokton is an amazing achievement.

Cosina is to be commended, and the new owners are to be congratulated.

As far as character, fast, sharp, plenty of contrast, and little vignetting.

If someone buys this lens and is unhappy with its character, I can FIX that. Send it to me, and I will remount the rear element in backwards. That will produce plenty of character.

Good idea!

Or buy a 1930's Summar and use it wide open with stronger "character" (probably cheaper than a Nokton, more compact too)

I second your commendation from what I've seen in this thread. It seems to be a very good lens - better than old Noctilux of course - which, after all was a lens not designed for use with Color film! that's why Leitz don't corrected the huge amount of light failoff - when they would have done it, the imaging would be similar to the Canon 50/0,95 probably...

[Krosya]

I read on another forum that some users noticed focus shift with Nokton 50/1.1 when going from wide open - to f4-5.6. Anyone here came across it with their lens?

[mfogiel]

There is focus shift, but the dof is working so that the zone of best focus is always behind the point you are focusing on, once you grasp this, it is easy to manage.

[24mgdriver]

[24mgdriver]

[Juan Valdenebro]

24mgdriver,

Hey! Your eye, your heart, your technique!

Thank you very much!

[mabelsound]

Taken the other day, wide open, on 5222-XX in D76. This is a really fun lens!