Voigtlander Nokton 40mm 1.4

Andy K · Apr 1, 2007

Voigtlander Nokton 40mm 1.4 SC or MC Pros and Cons?

I am considering buying one of these as my 'always on the camera' lens for my R3M.

I would be interested in hearing the experiences of any owners of this lens. In particular I would like to hear opinions of the advantages/disadvantages of the single-coated versus multi-coated versions. If anyone has examples of photographs made with either version for comparison it would be great if you could share them.

Thankyou all in advance,

Andy.

Please note, I am only interested in information and comparisons between the SC and MC versions of this particular lens, so please don't take up thread space with comments about your sumi-whatever.

Nick Merritt · Apr 1, 2007

I've been looking for such comparisons myself, if only out of curiosity since I have the MC version and am happy with it. If you're looking for an "always on the camera" lens I think the MC is the version to go with, since I expect you'll be shooting color for some percentage of your work. The single-coated version is intended for a certain vintage look with black & white film, as I'm sure you know, but I expect the tradeoff is less satisfactory color rendition.

Andy K · Apr 1, 2007

Hi Nick. I shoot mostly black and white, I rarely use colour. I'm interested in seeing the difference between the SC and MC on bw film. Apparently the SC gives less contrast and therefore better shadow detail, but I'd like to see examples.

Chazzy · Apr 1, 2007

I'll be very interested in what knowledgable people have to say about this, meaning folks who have used both versions of the lens. If they can also compare to the 35mm f1.7, so much the better. Something tells me that I might prefer the single-coated version of the 40. Roger Hicks, you have written a lot about the Cosina rangefinders for Shutterbug--did you have a chance to directly compare these three lenses?

elekm · Apr 1, 2007

I would expect that a single-coated lens would give lower contrast and be more prone to flaring than a multi-coated lenses.

Another lens to consider, if you don't require the f/1.4 speed, is the f/2.8 40mm Sonnar -- a lens that I like a lot.

buze · Apr 2, 2007

I use a multi-coated Nokton model as more or less my only lens on a Leica M2. I'm very happy with it. It's small, fast, mecanicaly good and very sharp.
It works beautifully for B&W too, but it does give a more "modern" contrast curve than a single coated, low contrast lens like the Summitar.

Here is reasonably similar images feom my Flikr, first Nokton, second with Summitar. Morality, I like them both

Richard S. (rich815) · May 4, 2007

I was very excited when the S.C version of this came out and bought one from the first run. It's not a bad lens at all. I found it to have very little flare issues despite people's concerns over the single-coating. Thing is even with only a single-coating it is still a modern coating and I saw little difference in the results vs. other's results from the M.C version. In fact I much preferred my older Leica lenses for a more classic B&W look such as my 90/4 Elmar, 50/2 Summicron DR and 50/1.5 Summarit. I sold it in the end as I found that although it was certainly sharp and very compact for it's speed it did not feel very well-built and the character was nothing special or unique---much preferring the character and personality of the three "classic" lenses I just mentioned. And that's not to mention it's fairly harsh bokeh wide open. A personal thing yes but few people like it, mostly the best report you hear is "not too bad".

f1.4 · May 5, 2007

Andy.
I bought one a year ago. Much for the same reasons that you seem to have for considering it. It is not a bad lens. Focal plane sharpness is ok. So is Bokeh exept fully open. Contrast is not too bad. The workmanship and the outer finish is wery nice.
Hard to put the finger on what is lacking in this lens, but I ended up selling it and put my Summicron 35 ASPH back on my R2A, - and now use the R3A for Summicron 50 because of the nice 1:1 finder.
It reminds me of my college days when a classmate had Nikkor lenses and I had to live with the Takumars from Pentax. No matter what trick I tried, I could never get the crispness in the pictures that he could.
Svein.

Donald Boyd · May 7, 2007

A friend and I switched lenses for a week. He lent me his 40mm Nokton and I lent him my 40mm Summicron. After looking over our prints we concluded the Summicron was the better lens.

Andy K · May 7, 2007

f/1 said:
a classmate had Nikkor lenses and I had to live with the Takumars from Pentax.

OT but I had to respond to this. There's nothing wrong with Takumars.

Andy K · May 7, 2007

Donald Boyd said:
A friend and I switched lenses for a week. He lent me his 40mm Nokton and I lent him my 40mm Summicron. After looking over our prints we concluded the Summicron was the better lens.

Thankyou all for your input, particularly Rich815. As I said I am interested in comparisons between the single coated CV Nokton 40 and the multi coated CV Nokton 40.
So, has anyone else actually used the two lenses I asked about, and do you have comparisons to show?

dslater · May 7, 2007

Hi Andy,
Are you aware of the Cosnia-Voigtlander Users group (CVUG). It's an e-mail list you can join at http://www.cameraquest.com. There are many people there who can give you opinions on these lenses.

Dan

Andy K · May 9, 2007

Thanks Dan. I had looked at the Cameraquest site, but I don't do mailing lists. Too much opportunity to be left open for spam. I also tried the rangefinder forum, but the first thread you see there is 'A tribute to my D70s' by someone gushing about the new Leica P&S, so I guess that place has now gone completely down the toilet.

akikana · May 9, 2007

There's been some threads about the comparison of these two lenses over at rangefinderforum.com - a recent one is here.

All the photos on my website are taken with the R3A, Nokton 40mm S.C. and XP2 if you want to see examples of that combination.

Enjoy!
Guy

Andy K · May 9, 2007

Thankyou Guy, exactly what I was looking for! Some very nice photography there indeed! I love the shot of the bridges over the railway in your Billericay set. I grew up in the next town along, Wickford, and I know Billericay well. The SC 40 gives a lovely vintage look to that shot.

It looks like the decision is made! SC it is!

akikana · May 9, 2007

Happy to have been of help. I've really enjoyed using and seeing the results from the 40mm SC and XP2 combination. It's all I have used for the last two and a bit years save a couple of outings with a pentax film camera.

My parents currently live in Billericay and I had grandparents and aunts/uncles until recently living in Wickford. Both interesting towns when the commuters are at work.

All the best
Guy

dslater · May 9, 2007

Andy K said:
Thanks Dan. I had looked at the Cameraquest site, but I don't do mailing lists. Too much opportunity to be left open for spam.

Hmm - well I can understand your concern there. All I can say is I've been on the list for more than a year and never had a spam problem from that list. In any case, you might want to contact Stephen Gandy directly - CameraQuest.com is his site. - I'm sure he'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Lee L · May 9, 2007

dslater said:
Hmm - well I can understand your concern there. All I can say is I've been on the list for more than a year and never had a spam problem from that list. In any case, you might want to contact Stephen Gandy directly - CameraQuest.com is his site. - I'm sure he'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.

You can also sign up for the list, but disable email and only read the threads online in a password protected "forum" style display. I've been on the list for years and only get the monthly "reminder" email about access.

Lee

tbm · May 10, 2007

40mm Nokton choice

The March/April 2006 issue of Photo Techniques magazine has a very interesting article by two gentlemen who both analyze results from both the uncoated and coated versions. I just checked the magazine's Web site and found they don't have the article available there, but I recall reading in the article that both authors found little difference between both versions.

Donald Boyd · May 29, 2007

Is there a link yet? I would like to read this article, now that I know about it.

Lee L · May 29, 2007

Donald Boyd said:
Is there a link yet? I would like to read this article, now that I know about it.

Phototechniques only publishes a few of its articles on their website. It's very unlikely that the one you want will turn up there. They do have back issues available from their web site.

Lee

tbm · May 30, 2007

Found the article!

I've found my issue containing the analyses of both lenses, and I just captured them with my Canon Digital Rebel XT and 50mm Canon macro lens under overlying grey skies. Four jpegs are attached. Enjoy.

Moderator's note: Attachments removed for copyright reasons. Just provide a citation and a summary, and interested readers can request the issue from the publisher or find it in a library.

Voigtlander Nokton 40mm 1.4

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