NikonGear'23

Gear Talk => Lens Talk => Topic started by: Luc on October 14, 2020, 20:39:28

Title: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Luc on October 14, 2020, 20:39:28: Lately I've been rediscovering the joy of shooting with manual focus lenses on my Z6. As a result, in an impulse and after some research, I've ordered a Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton in M-mount.
Today the lens arrived, mine's in black and it's a thing of beauty. Quite small but with a reassuring weight of 350 gram. Now all I need is the adapter I ordered at the same time and which will arrive soon hopefully!

(https://www.dpreview.com/files/p/articles/5369151914/75mm_F15_I.jpeg)

(https://www.dpreview.com/files/p/articles/5369151914/75mm_F15_II.jpeg)

Some info on this lens
https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1608503 (https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1608503)
https://phillipreeve.net/blog/review-voigtlander-75mm-f1-5-vm/ (https://phillipreeve.net/blog/review-voigtlander-75mm-f1-5-vm/)
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Akira on October 15, 2020, 03:05:55: I'll keep an eye on your results, Luc!
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Fons Baerken on October 15, 2020, 09:14:30: I thought there is a f mount version also.
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Akira on October 15, 2020, 12:05:56: Quote from: Fons Baerken on October 15, 2020, 09:14:30
I thought there is a f mount version also.

Unfortunately, the lens design isn't likely to allow for the mount of any DSLR.
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Fons Baerken on October 15, 2020, 12:12:29: Quote from: Akira on October 15, 2020, 12:05:56
Unfortunately, the lens design isn't likely to allow for the mount of any DSLR.

I remember using one on my Df, different design maybe but same aperture config..
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Luc on October 15, 2020, 12:18:22: Might have been the F-mount 58mm f1.4?
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Fons Baerken on October 15, 2020, 12:26:01: No no just as i mentioned there is a f mount version but from an earlier design i tend to think.
I used the lens from Thomas when i was there no mistake about it.
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Thomas Stellwag on October 15, 2020, 12:26:45: Fons, you probably mix it up with the old F mount 2.5 75mm from Voigtländer - this is a different lens, made for F and M mounts. Then a 1.8 75mm came, only for M.

The new faster 1.5 75mm M mount was made for M users who are not willing to pay € 4K for a used Leica 1.4 75mm lens and reviews tell, that it is really comparable (have no personal experience)

edit: to be precise, the old 2.5 version was made for F mount and for L39 thread
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Fons Baerken on October 15, 2020, 12:34:20: Right, thanks Thomas i remember it to be an ok lens but nothing special, all the new Voigts though have been quite well recieved.
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: John Geerts on October 15, 2020, 14:38:04: Congrats with this beauty of a lens, Luc. Looking forward to the results ;)
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Luc on October 15, 2020, 15:06:18: Thanks John, the Novoflex adapter is due to arrive tomorrow. So I'll be able to shoot with it this weekend.
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: PeterN on October 15, 2020, 16:15:50: Congratulations, Luc. Aren't the mirrorless cameras wonderful for allowing us to use many types of lenses from many vendors!
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Airy on October 15, 2020, 18:18:12: A good looking lens for sure. I read the reviews and was a bit surprized: one of those stated that sharpness drops at close range (say, 1:10) and wide apertures, and expressed his disappointment.

So what. The same can be said of the Voigtländer 58/1.4, but shooting at close range and wide open is asking for trouble anyway. No portrait shooter, I think, will shoot that close anyway (ugly perspective), let alone with a 75mm lens. At 1:10, either you have a 2-D subject, in which case stopping down is only beneficial, or you have a 3-D subject, in which case you won't nearly get anything sharp at f/1.5. At least with the 58/1.4 and past my first surprize (I was also a bit "disappointed"), my second reaction was "it does not matter (except to chart shooters)", especially when close-ups get brilliantly sharp around f/5.6.
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Luc on October 16, 2020, 17:24:33: OK, the Novoflex adapter has arrived. Before going for a test run I shot this image of the lens on my Z6. Image shot handheld with an Olympus E-M10II, no artificial lighting.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50494527986_5d31a30d31_h.jpg)

I'll post some test shots later today.
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Luc on October 16, 2020, 18:58:11: First series of images, all shot at f1.5

1.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50494114898_5c7bf69823_h.jpg)

2.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50494817796_8f9a85d4f1_h.jpg)

3.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50494114658_0d7d180d07_h.jpg)

4.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50494817481_b3d9c67456_h.jpg)

5.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50494817361_988fa4a04a_h.jpg)

6.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50494972997_f9ea3cd2d6_h.jpg)

7.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50494816996_6a9d5a9a6a_h.jpg)

8.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50494816706_337ea5148f_h.jpg)

9.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50494113238_13eaaa54d3_h.jpg)
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Thomas Stellwag on October 16, 2020, 20:34:39: no 2, with the copper tones is my fav. Very nice series
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Tristin on October 16, 2020, 22:23:03: Pleasant bokeh! While I don't think I could personally justify it given the 85 S, it does look like an absolute joy in the hands. I'm sure it feels much nicer than the 85 S.
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Airy on October 16, 2020, 22:46:27: Same first impression here. 2nd shot is most pleasant, and the whole set provides a pleasant sense of consistency. The wide aperture is essentially signalled by the shallow DOF, not by more or less pleasant side-effects (such as low contrast or blue fringing). Looks like it is a very good lens. LoCA is slightly disturbing on the 1st shot though (green fringes along the handlebar).
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Akira on October 17, 2020, 09:29:12: I'm also impressed by the rendition of the copper color.

The LoCA seems to be well corrected and the blurred white subjects in the fore- and the background look pure.

I also noticed that the focus ring has only the metric distant scale. I wonder if the same model sold in the States has only the imperial scale?!
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Nasos Kosmas on October 17, 2020, 12:11:01: Very nice, congratulations for your new tool of expression
Last photo works for me
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Luc on October 17, 2020, 15:56:53: Thanks all, for watching and commenting. Nasos hit the nail on the head, for me this lens is a tool of expressing myself beyond my usual style of photography.
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Luc on October 17, 2020, 15:59:36: A few more, in b&w.

10.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50497940687_dc5766dbc2_b.jpg)

11.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50497079818_0fb1fdd033_h.jpg)

12.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50497788716_7e41d35eef_b.jpg)

13.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50497941257_c06c45d623_h.jpg)
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: John Geerts on October 18, 2020, 12:41:25: Very pleasant rendering, central sharpness is fine and smooth bokeh.

What a coincidence in the last image. I have the single of 'Toon Hermans' Vader gaat op Stap' on the right ;)
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Luc on October 19, 2020, 11:22:07: I agree, nice rendering. So far I like this lens.

Nice story about the Toon Hermans single, John.
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Luc on October 23, 2020, 18:22:10: A few more from this afternoon stroll in search of autumn images.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50520758787_e1350e4bab_h.jpg)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50520874402_6f52a6a04c_h.jpg)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50520579831_00ba7fa56f_h.jpg)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50520759427_2a769d7c64_h.jpg)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50520579606_7e49bab27d_h.jpg)
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Tristin on October 23, 2020, 22:04:23: First image in #24 is very nice. Lovely lens!
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: CS on October 24, 2020, 18:04:59: Quote from: Tristin on October 23, 2020, 22:04:23
First image in #24 is very nice. Lovely lens!

+1!
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Luc on October 25, 2020, 21:34:22: Thanks Tristin and Carl. Nature photography is not my forte but it was a nice practice in manual focusing with the Voigtländer.
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: PeterN on October 26, 2020, 16:46:12: The lens has a magical touch. It works very well with the Z !
I especially like how the foreground/focus area is separated from the background/out-of-focus areas.
I am looking forward to seeing more photos!
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Airy on October 26, 2020, 21:46:50: Quote from: CS on October 24, 2020, 18:04:59
+1!
+2!

Works like magic. Foreground and background bokeh look equally good, no disturbing artefacts. This is where the otherwise remarkable Tamron SP 90/2.5 or Nikkor 105/2.5, for instance, are less satisfactory (Tamron makes FG bokeh look better, Nikkor is the other way round).

The mushrooms look like their are preparing a mass demo against the tyranny of angiosperms.
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Luc on November 01, 2020, 13:35:28: Quote from: PeterN on October 26, 2020, 16:46:12
The lens has a magical touch. It works very well with the Z !
I especially like how the foreground/focus area is separated from the background/out-of-focus areas.
I am looking forward to seeing more photos!
Thanks Peter, I agree with your comment on foreground/background of this lens.
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Luc on November 01, 2020, 13:36:34: Quote from: Airy on October 26, 2020, 21:46:50
+2!

Works like magic. Foreground and background bokeh look equally good, no disturbing artefacts. This is where the otherwise remarkable Tamron SP 90/2.5 or Nikkor 105/2.5, for instance, are less satisfactory (Tamron makes FG bokeh look better, Nikkor is the other way round).

The mushrooms look like their are preparing a mass demo against the tyranny of angiosperms.
Thanks Airy!
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Luc on November 01, 2020, 13:40:26: I also bought a M to M43 adapter (luckily it's very short) so I can use this lens on my Olympus camera.

This combo looks like this (image shot with Z6 + Z 50mm f1.8 lens, handheld at 1/15sec iso 4.500, amazing quality at high iso)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50554653557_bd604a6d68_h.jpg)

and this is an image I shot with the Olympus + Voigtländer 75mm @ f1.5. This image showed a lot of purple fringing which I removed in post.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50553657133_15cd898cce_b.jpg)
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Airy on November 01, 2020, 14:41:44: ... and the result is excellent. What was the PP software ?
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Luc on November 01, 2020, 15:04:57: Thanks Airy, both images processed with Capture One.
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Erik Lund on November 02, 2020, 13:53:47: Wonderful images! Manual focus has the added benefit of speeding things down a bit - Resulting in more joy shooting, usually,,,Thx for sharing!
Title: Re: Voigtländer 75mm f1.5 Nokton VM
Post by: Luc on November 02, 2020, 19:52:57: Erik, you hit the nail on the head. This lens like other manual focus ones kind of changes my mindset in a pleasant way when shooting with it.