Thursday, May 5, 2011

The Leica File: Voigtlander 40/1.4 Nokton


Having determined that adding a Leica lens such as the Summilux 50mm 1.4 to my Elmarit 28mm would bankrupt me, I started researching alternatives and was happy to find that the Voigtlander 40/1.4 Nokton was well spoken of, and only cost a fraction ($430) of the Summilux.

The Voigtlander 40/1.4 is said to be one the fastest 40mm lens a for full frame 35mm photography. It's available in black Leica M mount, has a 43mm filter size, 7 elements in 6 groups, with a close focus of .7 meter.

I stared for a while at a couple of images on various websites that compared both lenses, and could barely make any difference...unless I read the captions which directed me to squint really really hard to see some distortion in the Voigtlander's image. Would the barely visible (to me) distortion warrant a premium of $3000 to choose the Summilux?

No.

So the Voigtlander 40/1.4 is now my second glass acquisition for my Leica M9, and probably will be my walk-around lens.

I've already shot a few images, and was impressed with the "bokeh" at its widest aperture. I'll post a few over the weekend.

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