Voigtlander VM Nokton 40mm f/1.4 SC : Specifications and Opinions

Reviews

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The following opinions have been automatically translated with Google Translate.

GualtieroMuti

sent on 14 Gennaio 2023

Pros: Build quality, yield, lightness, price: in short, everything

Cons: Two small flaws: difficult to focus vertically, and the hood is missing.

Opinion: I wanted a small bright compact a little narrower than the 28, both for the Z6 and for the analog Leica M, this 40 intrigued me: right compromise between the 35 and the 50. Having already the Leica Elmarit 28 f2.8, for street outings and travel I wanted to pair a similar but narrower optics. I chose it for the reviews and for the price and I assure you it does not make me regret the Leica. A little' soft and vignette a little' to TA, (corrects in PP), as soon as you close at 2.8 becomes excellent at 5.6-8 a blade really. I don't do numerical tests, I don't count the lines, I just need the result when I shoot: wonderful. Good contrast from F4 onwards, I do not see chromatic aberrations, excellent performance even at night, with lights, reflections and shop windows. In short, 1000 times happy and satisfied with the choice, I would never take it out of the car. Of course in its compactness you have to be careful with the MAF and Aperture commands that are close: you get used to it. Vertically the focus is more difficult because the tab is all to the ds and if you focus with the left (and hold the camera with the ds) you get bad and the hands interfere. But it's really stupid, maybe even here it's just a matter of finding the right movements. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. In the side backlight it suffers a bit, but they are really extreme conditions, I speak of side light because in the direct backlight nothing to say.

Pierfranco Fornasieri

sent on 12 Dicembre 2022

Pros: Unsurpassed quality/price ratio, optical output, dimensions

Cons: Inaccurate frames on rangefinder

Opinion: I bought it almost as a joke, because on APS-C the 40 becomes a 60 mm and is very convenient to use on the road, together with the 21 mm (which instead becomes a 31). Result: with two fixed you do the work of four. But let's not digress... Going back to the Nokton, I was really impressed by both APS-C and Full Frame. It will be that it has a 7-lens scheme in 6 groups (6 groups! the card above is wrong), it will be that if it had a red dot it would be called pre-aspherical Summilux, it will be that Mr. Kobayashi has been able to make the lenses ... Will... In any case this little guy is great. At full aperture it has a muffled sharpness, very pleasant. Closing even at only 2.8 becomes marked. Excellent grays in black and white. Blurred beautiful: present and at the same time not bulky. If it were called Leica we would be talking about yet another German masterpiece. In this case, since he made it (even displaced, why not) a Japanese and given the cost it has, a masterpiece is even more so. The only drawback: if you use it on rangefinder cameras, it engages the frames of the 50 mm and in that case you have to get used to framing correctly.

Effebi57

sent on 04 Giugno 2021

Pros: Opening 1.4, size, beautiful lampshed, general rendering.

Cons: Diaphragm ring a little uncomfortable.

Opinion: I use it on my analog Leica CL and I feel great, perfectly proportioned to the size of the machine. Excellent full-opening blurry, soft but pleasant. As soon as you close the diaphragm by two stops, it becomes very engraved and makes a remarkable micro detail. As mentioned in the cons the only flaw is the diaphragm ring that needs habituation in order to be used intuitively. Nothing serious given the global surrender that makes me not regret the Summicron. I am very satisfied with the purchase even if I have not yet tried it digitally which I will do when I decide to detach it from the CL. Global vote 9.5

Raphael967

sent on 03 Aprile 2021

Pros: Weight, Size, value for money

Cons: Not comfortable the ring of the diaphragms and focus (especially vertically). Minimal focus a little long but normal for an optics born with Leica attachment

Opinion: I bought this second-hand toy for use with A7RII. It's the SC version and I have to say I'm 100% happy with it. I had buy Sony to attach all my vintage optics that have "character". At full opening it is certainly soft and vignette, but if you buy an optics like this maybe that's just what you are looking for. Without prejudice to all the "defects" in post production, they can practically be zeroed. Coupled with the A7RII I take it everywhere without being noticed. I travel a lot for work and in the last four years I have often gone to India, and shoot with Canon 5DM3 and a 24-70... don't go unnoticed. Next purchase the 21mm f4. The optics are old-fashioned, all metal and glass, rings absolutely as fluid as the old manual targetss. If you are not in a hurry to shoot without composing, and if you are not "addicted" to autofocus, I suggest it with your eyes closed.

Riccardo.asselta

sent on 02 Aprile 2021

Pros: Character, build quality and weight.

Cons: Position of the diaphragm ring... but just get used to it.

Opinion: I purchased a Nikon Z6 to be able to use precisely this type of lenses. Construction quality of the lenses of the past, only glass and metal, but despite this a feather weight. I immediately asked myself: how do you weigh 1/4 of Sigma Art while having the same brightness? The doubt is that it is performing 1/4 of Sigma Art. And here the surprise in this small barrel is enclosed a unique character. Of course, at the end of the day it is not a blade but just close a couple of stops and it becomes very sharp, contrasted, but above all unique. The photos taken with this little guy are distinguishable from those made with the latest generation of hypercorrect lenses. Pleasant and fluid rings even if it is necessary to make a habit of using the diaphragm ring that is placed at the front end of the lens.

Ulysseita

sent on 01 Maggio 2019

Pros: Weight, personality, micro-contrast when standing on 2.8, off-plan even if closed. 1 or 2 stops, cost, versatility, size.

Cons: Build quality, edges up to 2.8, blurred quality for some looking softness.

Opinion: Taken to really.. 2 lire.. Before I blasphed for a ridiculous rendition on my a7r3.. It went from mighty to crappy on very simple shots. Then I.. Got the Voigtlander adapter.. Close up and.. Screwed in front and rear lens (if I was moving I felt TAC TAC). He's been a surgeon ever since. A. 1.4 is soft. At 1.6 The center becomes good and the edges seem less nervous. At 2.8 it becomes sharp and very micro-contrasty in the center maintaining a remarkable detachment at medium distance... Uqasi good edges on 42mpx se to infinity. At F4 it pulls off almost like 2.8.. And it's sharp. Much and 3d. At 5.6 It becomes an infinity blade. A F8 on tripod at night moves for surrender and Stellati. I'm just saying I had the 50 art.. Excelled. But flat. Obviously it went 2 times better but in the portraits at 2.8 this detached and so much more. I sold the 50 art for the surrender of this united to the weight.. And I wait for the TechArt... Focal length from 40 mm that if you get used to it is over.. That little shorter than 50 for reportage.. That little bit longer than 35 to make less deformed portraits.. Recommended and remember.. To be used only on Leica and Sony with BSI that have no problems at the edges.

Marco Palomar

sent on 20 Agosto 2017

Pros: High sharpness from f / 2.3 onwards, blurred, colors, atmosphere; Very compact

Cons: Wanting to rush there is a TA too little vignetting and a bit too soft. Minimal focus a bit long.

Opinion: Beautiful voigtlander lens I bought when I also had summicron-c 40, then resold because the f / 2 performance is almost indistinguishable. It has a particular rendering, its character that gives the atmosphere to the photos. Natural colors but saturated, no excessive contrast with shadows that are not closed as in standard lenses. The photos are very "plastic", both on film and on the sensor. The transition between fire zones is not sweet and progressive.

Makmatti

sent on 06 Gennaio 2017

Pros: Ready blur, open shadows, compactness.

Cons: Vignette pronounced, construction not free from serious faults, front and back focus at various aperture ranges on the rangefinder.

Opinion: Small, compact and light. The blur is legible, the contrast is there but the shadows are not very closed. The blur is particular, but progressive and readable in the shadows. Good in backlight even though only single coating.rn Vignetting is strong to the most open diaphragms, closing down a lot but a hair will always be followed by it. RnResa unique and for many, other lenses so find it fatigued.rn the only real flaw Is in the construction, which by so many problems (solvable in the house but scoch) the helix has the lubricant that with time tends to dry out, making the toughest and sizzling focus, were 20 years, not a few years. The diaphragm ring is held by a bronze ring that can be pressed out of the seat by pressure (often happens). It opens and comes back, but just puts it under construction, the truncated lenses and the pupil tend to shake. Another known defect is that the rangefinder has front or back focus in a non-regular way.

Luca125

sent on 07 Marzo 2014

Pros: Dimensions, construction, quality / price ratio unsurpassed, "spangle" magnificent lights at small apertures.

Cons: Low contrast images with large openings, especially blurry.

Opinion: A great lens to keep attached to the car. Beautiful progressivity of blurry though particularly in its yield. Very good sharpness from f/2.8. At large apertures gives a pleasant look to "film" the photos. As already mentioned, the construction is impeccable and the maf manual very fast thanks to a ring very Leica style.