I very much like the 95-NOCT. It is a little like having a built-in focus rail because of the long focus throw, but we should keep in mind that the now classic Cosina Voigtlander 125mm APO Lanthar has a focus throw or about 630-degrees and the Leica 100mm Elmarit R is some 720-degrees, while the new NOCT95 has only about 360-degrees. So, the focus throw is not THAT long.
The focus throw in isolation does not give you the full story, you also need to consider how close the lens focuses and the diameter of the focus ring. Compare these lenses:
Lens / Close focus / Magnification / Focus throw / Diameter
Z 58/0.95 Noct / 0.5m / 1:5.2 / 330° / 102mm
AI 58/1.2 Noct / 0.5m / 1:6.7 / 230° / 74
AIS 58/1.2 Noct / 0.5m / 1:6.7 / 140° / 74
AIS 55/2.8 Micro / 0.25 / 1:1.9 / 310° / 64
The Z Noct and 55 micro have similar focal length and focus throw, but their focus action is entirely different, the 55 micro focuses
much faster for a given movement in the focus ring. To get to the 1:5.2 magnification, the 55 micro focuses to about 0.4m with a focus throw of roughly 120°. In other words the focus throw to the same magnification is about 3x shorter than the Z Noct. Also, the barrel of the Z Noct is nearly twice as wide as the 55 micro, which means a 1mm movement of the focus ring turns roughly half the angle as the 55 micro. Put these together and you find that the Z Noct focuses about 5x slower than the 55 micro for the same linear movement of the focus ring.
It's clear to see why the Z Noct is good for focus stacking due to the very long/slow focus throw.
If we do a similar comparison with the AI Noct, the new lens focuses about 2x slower, and about 3x slower than the AIS Noct. Note that all the Nocts all focus to the same distance, but the new lens achieves higher magnification so that throws my calculations out a bit but you get the general idea.
In comparing to the Cosina Voigtlander 125mm and 100mm Elmarit R the best way to compare the focus throw is to see how far you need to turn the focus ring to achieve the same magnification. No doubt you will find the Z Noct has a much longer focus throw, even though the total focus action of the macros is longer.
