{"id":1099,"date":"2012-08-08T21:25:33","date_gmt":"2012-08-09T02:25:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/?p=1099"},"modified":"2012-08-10T09:10:59","modified_gmt":"2012-08-10T14:10:59","slug":"review-voigtlander-nokton-17-5mm-f0-95","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/review-voigtlander-nokton-17-5mm-f0-95\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Voigtl\u00e4nder Nokton 17.5mm f\/0.95"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Voigtl\u00e4nder Nokton 17.5mm f\/0.95<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are fast lenses, and then there are\u00a0FAST\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>lenses. \u00a0The Voigtl\u00e4nder Nokton 17.5mm f\/0.95 definitely falls into the latter category. \u00a0In fact, at f\/0.95, it ties with a few other lenses, including its 25mm Micro 4\/3 brother, as the fastest lens currently produced for an interchangeable lens camera. \u00a0Faster lenses have been made, but they have been extremely rare and usually restricted to enlargers or extremely specialized video rigs. \u00a0 The other f\/0.95 baddies include a few new lenses made by SLR Magic, and the legendary Leica Noctilux 50mm f\/0.95, which runs just shy of $11,000. \u00a0 \u00a0This beauty comes in at a little more reasonable price of $1249 US.<\/p>\n

If you’re not familiar with my reviews, I review from a real world shooting perspective. \u00a0You won’t find lens charts or resolution numbers here. \u00a0There are plenty of other sites that cover those. \u00a0I review products on how they act for me as a photographic tool. \u00a0Also, I would like to thank my friends at LensRentals.com<\/a> for providing the sample for this review. \u00a0Please visit them whenever you need a lens for that once in a lifetime shoot, or just if you want to try a lens out without having to buy it first.<\/em><\/p>\n

So, how fast is f\/0.95?<\/h3>\n

If you aren’t all that familiar with aperture numbers, seeing an aperture listed like f\/0.95 seems a little odd. \u00a0How fast is it? \u00a0Well, it’s over one full stop faster than an f\/1.4 lens, and over three full stops faster than the only other 17mm prime for Micro 4\/3, the Olympus 17mm f\/2.8. \u00a0That means in dim light, you can shoot with this Voigtlander at ISO 200, while the Olympus 17mm will need at least ISO 1600 and the Olympus 12-50 kit zoom would need ISO 4000 (at f\/4.3 and 17mm) to get the same shutter speed. \u00a0Then there’s the ability to separate a subject from the background. \u00a0This lens is equivalent in field of view to a 35mm lens on a full frame camera. \u00a0On full frame, one of the great things is the ability to use a fast 35mm such as a 35mm f\/1.4 to get great subject separation in an environmental portrait. \u00a0The Voigtl\u00e4nder’s great speed brings this capability to Micro 4\/3, provided it can perform well wide open. \u00a0Generally, lenses at f\/1.2 and faster are only OK wide open, with a few notable exceptions. \u00a0Let’s find out how the Voigtl\u00e4nder stacks up.<\/p>\n

Build Quality, Construction and Handling<\/h3>\n
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Voigtl\u00e4nder Nokton 17.5mm f\/0.95<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first thing you notice about the Voigtl\u00e4nder 17.5mm f\/0.95 is that it is a serious chunk of glass and metal. \u00a0It’s relatively large for a Micro 4\/3 lens, and quite hefty too at 19 oz. \u00a0The weight comes from the large glass elements for the ultra-wide aperture as well as the solid metal construction. \u00a0This lens is built like those solid lenses from the 60s. \u00a0It’s absolutely rock solid construction with a beautifully damped, metal ribbed focus ring and an aperture ring out front that has nice satisfying indents that are sure, but not difficult to maneuver past. \u00a0The lens is a native Micro 4\/3 mount lens, but features no electrical contacts, so the lens acts as if it’s an adapted lens. \u00a0You’ll be using all manual focus and manual aperture for this lens. \u00a0As I’ve had plenty of practice using adapted lenses on both Micro 4\/3 and Canon DSLRs, I felt pretty at home with this lens, though if you’ve only ever used autofocus cameras, there will be a learning curve.<\/p>\n

As I mentioned earlier, the wide focus ring rotates beautifully smoothly and has a very long focus throw from minimum focus distance (MFD) to infinity. \u00a0While this may sound less than desirable, the majority of this focus rotation is at the VERY close focus distances. \u00a0This lens can focus all the way down to 6″ from the sensor, which gives excellent magnification and makes semi-macro shots possible. \u00a0With the wide aperture, it allows for photos that are frankly extremely difficult to get on any other format with any other lens. \u00a0I found focus on closer objects to be quite easy to obtain through the OM-D’s EVF, though further subjects required a quick magnification of the viewfinder to nail focus at wider apertures. \u00a0Due to it’s ultra-thin depth of field, this is a lens you will want to use with an EVF.<\/p>\n

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The aperture ring set to stepless transition<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you have a Panasonic GX1 or GF series camera without the external viewfinder, or an Olympus Pen without a viewfinder, it will make focusing this lens much more challenging, though of course still possible on the rear LCD.<\/p>\n

The Nokton 17.5mm has a very neat little trick up its sleeve for video users. \u00a0There is a slim ring just above the aperture ring that can be pulled towards the lens mount and rotated 180 degrees. \u00a0This takes the aperture half stops away, and allows for completely fluid and stopless aperture adjustment. \u00a0Just glide the aperture ring along to change the aperture to anything between f\/0.95 and f\/16 silently.<\/p>\n

The lens includes a small, screw-in type metal lens hood that provides a little bit of protection for that big front element and a little help with flare, though it’s not big enough to really shield all that well. \u00a0The biggest problem with this hood design is that it can’t reverse for stowing (which is true of all screw in type hoods).\u00a0 Voigtl\u00e4nder does provide a ‘hood cap’ to use on the end of the lens so you can leave the hood in place.\u00a0 I did not have access to this cap, so I can’t comment on how well it stays in place going in and out of your bag.<\/p>\n

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The Voigtl\u00e4nder Nokton 17.5mm f\/0.95 mounted on an Olympus OM-D E-M5 with horizontal grip<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On a camera with a substantial hand grip, such as the Panasonic G and GH series (except for the G3), and the Olympus E-M5 with the optional grip attached, the lens handles beautifully. \u00a0It’s heavy, but balances well and feels great on the camera. \u00a0When walking around with the above combo, the lens was a joy to use, though it did add a little noticeable weight to my bag. \u00a0I wouldn’t recommend this lens for shooting with one of the rangefinder styled Micro 4\/3 cameras…it’s just too awkward to hold for long periods of time without a decent grip.<\/p>\n

Next: Image Quality<\/h4>\n

<\/p>\n

Sharpness<\/h3>\n
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100% crop at f\/0.95<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With ultra-wide aperture lenses, the biggest unknown will be wide open sharpness. \u00a0Most of these types of lenses are brilliant stopped down a bit, but most also suffer from a glowy softness at the wider apertures. \u00a0The most shocking thing about this lens, is that it is sharp right from f\/0.95. \u00a0The central part of the frame has very nice resolution at pretty much any focus distance from about 2 feet to infinity. To see this for yourself, take a look at the crop at the right (click for full size), which is a 100% crop of the center right of an image taken at f\/0.95. \u00a0 Wide open, there is a little lower contrast, and slightly lower resolution that at smaller apertures, but it’s definitely safe to say that the lens delivers at f\/0.95. \u00a0Stopped down to even f\/1.4 brings that level of sharpness up a notch, with absolutely razor sharp central region and good corners. \u00a0Stopping down to f\/1.4 also increases resolution quite a lot at minimum focus distance. \u00a0By f\/2.8, the lens is absolutely tack sharp across the entire frame.<\/p>\n

Contrast and Color<\/h3>\n

As mentioned above, contrast is somewhat moderate at f\/0.95, but not bad. \u00a0At f\/1.4 and smaller, contrast is outstanding with this lens. \u00a0There is a vibrant presence in the images with deep, rich color to accentuate the contrast. \u00a0There is a real beauty to the way this lens draws, at least in my opinion, and I was continually impressed with the look of the images I was getting.<\/p>\n

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Milestone 229 Restaurant, Columbus, OH – Voigtlander 17.5mm f\/0.95 @ f\/1.4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bokeh<\/h3>\n

When you’re using a lens with an aperture wider than f\/1, naturally bokeh is going to be on the top of your list of key characteristics. \u00a0The lens is capable of providing very nice subject separation at closer focusing distances, and as with many other lenses, the character of the bokeh changes a little depending on your focus distance. \u00a0At closer focusing distances, the bokeh out of the Nokton is absolutely stunning. \u00a0It’s beautifully creamy and still somewhat unique, with some cats-eye specular highlights near the edges, which is common for lenses with really large apertures. \u00a0The shot at the left is sort of a ‘bokeh painting’ taken at night, with the lens focused to about 1.5 feet. \u00a0Focusing to MFD yielded one big blurry blob.<\/p>\n

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Bokeh Lights – Voigtl\u00e4nder Nokton 17.5mm f\/0.95 @ f\/0.95<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At further focus distances, the Nokton displays a busier character that is typical Voigtl\u00e4nder. \u00a0If you’ve owned any Voigtl\u00e4nder lenses in the past, you know that some of them, such as the Leica M mount 40mm f\/1.4, have some very unique out of focus renderings. \u00a0Many people love it, some people hate it.<\/p>\n

At medium focus distances, the specular highlights will start to gain a green ring from longitudinal chromatic aberration, and the character of the bokeh becomes a little more nervous overall. \u00a0I still like the effect rather well, and it works for me, but take a look at the samples both on this page and at the end of the review to evaluate for yourself.<\/p>\n

Chromatic Aberrations and Flare<\/h3>\n

If there’s one weak area with the Voigtl\u00e4nder 17.5mm f\/0.95, it’s with chromatic aberration. \u00a0This isn’t unexpected with an f\/0.95 lens, and it certainly shows up, most notably in the form of purple fringing on high contrast boundaries. \u00a0Street lights at night, chrome, white clothing against a dark background…all of them will show purple fringing when in focus, and red or green longitudinal chromatic aberration when in front of or behind the focus point, respectively. \u00a0These can be fixed with software like Lightroom 4.1, though in some cases, you may need to do some bigger cleanup. \u00a0The degree of CA lessens as you stop down the aperture, and is mostly gone even by f\/1.4, though it takes even smaller apertures to completely eliminate it. \u00a0Still, in field use, I didn’t find that it ruined images, and when shooting portraits or the like in most situations it doesn’t even show up.<\/p>\n

The lens is pretty resistant to flare. \u00a0 When a light source is in the frame, there is little to no flare. \u00a0The worst flare performance comes when a light source is just outside the frame, which can cause a veiling loss of contrast near that edge. \u00a0Still, very impressive performance overall here.<\/p>\n

Field Curvature, Distortion and Vignetting<\/h3>\n
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Scioto Mile, Columbus – Voigtl\u00e4nder 17.5mm f\/0.95 @ f\/0.95<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Aside from some fringing at wide apertures, the Nokton 17.5mm has one other big weakness, and that is field curvature when focused at a distance. \u00a0Field curvature occurs when a lens has a curved field of focus rather than a flat plane. \u00a0On the Voigtl\u00e4nder 17.5mm, this exhibits itself rather severely when focused near infinity. \u00a0If you focus using the center of the frame, the curvature is such that objects between 5 and 20 feet on the edges will be sharp, but further objects get soft. \u00a0If focusing on a distant landscape, for instance, the edges of the frame will be soft, even when stopped down, where the near field objects are very sharp on the edges.<\/p>\n

This didn’t really appear in closer shots, even when shooting a flat subject like a wall. \u00a0At closer distances, the field curvature is negligible, and the lens is razor sharp across the frame when stopped down a bit. \u00a0I did find that you could minimize the impact of the field curvature when your whole subject is far away by simply using one of the edges (about 1\/4 of the way in from the edge) to focus. \u00a0This kept \u00a0the edges sharp and the depth of field kept the central region acceptably sharp as well.<\/p>\n

There is a little bit of barrel distortion, but nothing that is generally distracting. \u00a0There is one sample image on the next page that appears to have heavier distortion, but it’s an illustion caused by a pole that is actually leaning. \u00a0The lens exhibits very noticeable vignetting wide open and even at f\/1.4, but I actually enjoy the look it lends to the image. \u00a0It disappears in general field use by about f\/2.<\/p>\n

Next: Final Thoughts, Conclusion and Sample Images<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

Some additional thoughts:<\/h3>\n

I just wanted to mention a few things that didn’t seem to fit well in the other sections of the review.<\/p>\n

1. This lens is the absolute ultimate night street lens and coupled with the Olympus E-M5 is the ultimate street combo. \u00a0I was able to shoot handheld with this lens and my E-M5 from dusk to deep night, and never once did I push the ISO above 800. \u00a0Most of the time, I was shooting at ISO 200 or 400. \u00a0This is just remarkable to me. \u00a0Between the outstanding in-body IS on the E-M5 and the crazy large aperture on the Nokton, you just have a low-light machine.<\/p>\n

2. I really like the tonality and rendering this lens gives on portrait subjects.\u00a0 Skin tones are lovely and the look of the images is pretty special to my eye.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h3>\n

Pros<\/h4>\n