Nokton Classic 35 1.4 for Sony E | 1 Year after - was it worth it?
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- Опубликовано: 29 авг 2024
- So it`s been a year since I purchased the Nokton Classic 35 1.4 lens for Sony. Was it worth 700 USD? Let me tell you.
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Voigtlander Nokton Classic for Sony E - how is your experience?
I will give you mine opinion after 2 weeks of constantly using the lens.. Well i have the exact same setup and i still very much dislike it, but there is something that is keeping it attached to my A7II! I am also portrait and street photographer, but i absolutely not using it for portraits! I don't like the image at any f stop, but for street is somewhat ok at f4 and f8! For me the f confirmation is pointless, because i know what aperture i use (4 and 8 only... mostly f8)
The optical flaw of this lens are countless! In my honest opinion from the whole list of possible optical flaws in lenses this lens has all of them!
- Vignetting is still visible at f8
- Absolute no sharpness at any aperture
- No contrast until f2
- it flares like no other lens, nevertheless the sun is BEHIND me
- The bokeh is disgusting, no other words.. disgusting
- The focus breathing is much much worse than ttartisan 35mm 1.4 and many many other lenses (maybe the worse i've ever observed)
- Severe color fringing
- Heavy distortion
- The coma is hands down THE WORSE AND FRIGHTENINGLY AWFUL coma in the world of lenses... when wide open the lights are disfigured THINGS of some kind
- I don't understand on what kind of drugs was the lens designer (after the focus metering in 0.something in cm, comes 1m, right after 1m there is 2m and immediately infinity (U can't use it for zone focusing.. the focus will be always UNACCEPTABLE))
- No way of using the Rule of thirds.. no way!! Because of the blurred corners (whole picture is blurred, BUT THE CORNERS, oh my, the corners..)
Other things that i hate about this lens:
- Unusable for portraits even for amateurs (example- there is no visible separation in hairs... everything looks like a patch of blurred something)
- Aperture and focus rings are not in the right (for me) order
- It is big and heavy... i don't care that it is 1.4 it is big and heavy (also 1.4 is unusable)
- No weather sealing (800USD with no wether sealing (This is Cosina territory- Zeiss Tessar 55mm also has no weather sealing (i am in shock))
- The lens hood is totally unusable and pointless
- Very short and inaccurate focus ring (one very very tiny move and you are not in... lets say it focus (there is no focus in this lens))
The word Classic does not justifies the end image look that this lens generates! Harsh idiotic nervous bokeh, blur everywhere on any F stop!
I think this lens is only for night time photography, but i don't bother to test my words!
VL 40mm f1.2 is night and day different with 35mm f1.4 (better is every single aspect by a COUNTRY MILE)
Voightlander, i hope you are reading this! I successfully dissuaded many many friend of buying lenses made by you people! And i will continue of showing everyone i know how much this lens sucks!
I still keep it on my A7II, because i am very stubborn and i want to like it somehow, but all my attempts are failing miserably... YES the lens is different, but sometimes "different" is far away from good thing and in this case this is true, YES it has character, but i hate the word "character" because of this lens, this is not character guys, this are SEVERE AND AWFUL optical flaws, no matter what ... Optical flaws and disadvantages without any analogue in the world of lenses... 40 y.o lenses are MUCH better than this one, even soviet Helioses are better than this one... even T-34 Triplet lenses made for a bakelite toy film camera is way WAY much better than this idiotic thing of a lens and it has contrast and center sharpness and focuses beautifully and it costed less than a hot meal in it's time and started the love for photography in me... if this was the lens back then... i've wouldn't be photographer!
Avoidlander!!
Appreciate your detailed experience mate. I do agree with many things you wrote, this is a very improper lens as I said in previous video(and it is kinda meant to be as it`s a modern version of the classic nokton but built for Sony`s mirrorless system. You can like this lens or hate it. The bokeh is of course also very distinctive - it`s a matter of prerefence and taste. For me this lens fits perfectly on the A7II in terms of weight and ergonomics. And of course it`s still all about personal feel. I absolutely love this lens and the vibe it gives, despite of all imperfections.
But...the no-sharpness thing you wrote seems off to me. My copy is actually quite sharp at f/1.7 with absolute sharpness at f/2.8-f/4(of course don`t expect the G master or Sigma sharpness out of it). The distortion is also hot heavy at all, so I really like to use it for portraits. So I wonder if your lens could be a faulty unit. I`d probably send it back to VL to check it. Cheers!
@@DigitalRetro Yes... I've watched your previous video and it it the main reason of purchasing this lens and I've watched it numerous times because it is so well made! My lens is brand new, but I will try to compare it to another one and see if there is a problem with my copy! Stay safe brother!
Hello. I have been looking at optics from this company for a long time. The Nokton Classic series has an interesting design. Modern autofocus optics do not produce such a soft and plastic image. And it’s very nice that Voigtlander pleases photographers with such optics, from working with which you get the warmest emotions. I’ve been shooting with manual lenses for 7 years now, although I also have excellent autofocus ones. But manual ones (from the 70s) give me real pleasure from photography. I shoot mainly with a Canon FD 50mm 1.4 s.s.c. As soon as finances allow, I will buy myself a lens similar to yours. I wish you creative success with great photos!
f8-11 landscape is just perfect on this lens
The main issue with this lens for me is the depth of field scale only goes to 2m before infinity. My VL 40mm 1.2 also has markings for 3m and 5m. If I focused this 35mm lens to infinity at f8, for example, I have no idea of the closest in focus point. I’d still like to try this lens as it’s smaller and lighter than my 40mm and could make an alternative option. I definitely like character lenses and black and white street photography and this lens could be ideal for that. The price does seem a little steep though.
Great review and input! What would you say the minimum focus distance is with the lens?
How is it at infinity? I'm often at F8 and infinity cause, well, street photography. Reviewers always shoot it opened up so I'm still curious. I'd imagine it's great but 🤷
Try the Canon 50mm 1.4 LTM. It gives the same nokton classic bokeh vibes when taking portraits from the stomach up
Thanks for the video! Just ordered this one as my first manual lens, looking forward to how it will perform on a6700 :)
It will make an interesting 50mm equivalent on the A6700 for sure - and probably cool looking too!
so, how was it?
@@stephanes. I have Sigma trio, Sony 70-350 and this Voigtlander. Voigtlander is easily my favorite for photography. Images that are coming from this lens have much more character. I found out I enjoy manual focus a lot!
Hi, nice review. I have similar thoughts. Although I'm interested about your comment to using this lens with and without adapter - that lens is less sharp with adapter. Can you say more abut it? Is it your experience or can you share source of this info? I'm using it with adapter on Leica SL body and TechArt adapter (with autofocus) on Sony body and sometimes photo is less sharp than expected. And I wonder if I switched to native mount how much better results I'll get.
Thanks man. What I meant is that the E-mount version is sharp and overall works better than M-Mounts. This is due to difference of the Sony/Leica sensor thickness. Sony has the low-pass filter that is generally thicker and when using the non E-mount voigtlanders on Sony you will get less sharp image with more haze and CA. I've noticed it on all Landers I used with adapters on my Sony, with Heliar 50 1.5 being the worst of them all, so I really recommend the E version when using on Sony cameras.
Had the 35 classic VM MC but was not my cup of thee ..sinds i had the 40mm classic CS (for BnW) and the 21mm f1.4 aspherical. no need for 35mm....still in love with the rendering of the nokton line-up...oooh and im doing the Adapter stuff you don't like and no haze stuf as you mention...config: Fujifilm XT-3 and nokton line-up 12 -Heliar , 21, 40, 50 and 75mm only 2 fuji lenses, the 16 and 56mm
Well I didn`t clarify the haze issue I had(my bad) - it affects Sony FF cameras due to difference in sensor distance from glass compared to Leica cameras when used with adapters. ps. Impressive Fuji set you got there!
Which did you prefer between the 35 and 40? Did the former have better soap bubble rendering 😊
@@DigitalRetroIt isn’t haze. The issue with adapted m-mount lenses to non-Leica mirrorless bodies is that they are designed for Leica’s thinner filter stack. Adapting m-mount lenses to Sony, Fuji, Nikon etc mirrorless bodies results in increased field curvature, drastically softening them mid-field and edge sharpness at wide apertures, and colour casts, and corner smearing. Stopping them down helps somewhat but many can continue to have issues even at f/8. Kolari Vision offer sensor modifications for mirrorless cameras to combat this but it can impact native lenses so unless you plan to only shoot adapted glass it’s not worth doing for most people.
The non-m mount (native XF, Z, E-mount) Voigtlander lenses will perform significantly better than adapted lenses. Shooting wide open, adapted m-mount lenses will only ever be sharp in the centre and still won’t perform as well as they do on Leica bodies.
It’s a pain though because some of their lenses agent available in e-mount (35mm f/1.7, 75mm f/1.5, 28mm f/2 etc) and so sometimes there is no choice but to adapt them.
Po akcencie mam wrazenie ze jestes Polakiem:) Nagrywasz tez filmy w polskim jezyku?
Tak, jestem 🙃 Kilka razy o tym wspominałem już na kanale 🇵🇱 nie robię filmów po Polsku bo na 2 kanały nie starczyło by mi czasu 😅
@@DigitalRetro OK, no tak :)
High pitched whine in the left channel during talking head bro
Yep, noticed that after the upload tho. Unfortunately it was not noticable on my monitors. But on mobile and headphones. It's the Wireless Go making some kind of interference when plugged to A7II. Seems to be ok on A7C now(probably to better shielding of this cam)