Voigtlander Nokton 58mm f/1.4 SL-II Manual Focus Lens for Nikon Film & Digital Cameras

2014-07-14T21:00:00

Solidly built with buttery smooth focusing, the Voigtlander Nocton serves as a standard lens on my Nikon D700 and a great short portrait tele on my D300S. Bokeh is generally very smooth and while the Nocton vignettes noticeably at f/1.4, larger apertures are fully useable and the lens becomes critically sharp by f/4-5.6. I tend to shoot this lens with .7 stop under exposure for richer colors. I've read that a couple of respected reviewers consider the Nocton to be at least equal to it's Zeiss counterpart.

Roger K.

2011-09-17T21:00:00

It's a pleasure to handle. Close focusing in low light is a challenge, but I expect that's true of all f1.4 manual focus lenses. Especially true on my D80 which has a mediocre viewfinder although it does meter just fine. Much better focusing experience on my F4. Also, terrific bargain.

MARTIN F.

2011-09-15T21:00:00

Firstly, although I love the colour of this lens and its sharpness, and use it more than any other lens in my catalogue, I find it underwhelming in its price range because of build issues.Firstly, the good stuff. This lens is sharp in the centre, and stopped down to 2,8 is quite good all over. By 5,6-8, it is impeccable. Lovely. Better yet, however, is its colour rendition. Notice how I didn't say reproduction. Colour is warmer than real life, redder, and in some cases, purpler than real life. It looks GREAT in street photography, and quite good in landscapes. colours pop, and there is a great deal more contrast in the colours than my Nikon 50 1,2 and my old 50 1,4G. It is a bit red, maybe, for portrait photography, but if you've a good hand at PP in digital photography, it is fixable. For film, I find the colours are very nice with low contrast films and exciting on high contrast films. Black and white CAN look good, but it favours certain colours too much sometimes.Overall, I much much prefer it to the Nikon 50 1,2 Ai (7-blade), except for one area: bokeh.Bokeh problems with the 58 1,4 are corollary to build quality issues. The issues are most evident in the aperture blades, which don't create symmetrical circles. The aperture shape goes lopsidedly polygonal. I've seen this in several copies. It is a shock after using Nikon lenses that keep their shape 95% of the time, losing shape at only very small apertures. The aperture ring, is another other issue. It clicks into place as cheaply as my budget Sun Optical 28 2,5 wide angle lens. Its asking price completely belies its aperture shape and its aperture ring. Horrible at any price above 100$.Finally, the lens has NO good place to hold when attaching it to the camera. In comparison to anything Nikon, it feels like Fisher Price.As many detractors as I've mentioned, I love this lens, I just think it is not at all worth the price. Price is one thing, but hardly bespoke price and overall quality.At its price, the [$]

Nathan W.

2010-07-27T21:00:00

This lens is sharp and has nice bokeh, but contrast is little bit low at wide open aperture. Bokeh is more creamier than my Nikon 50mm f1.8D. One thing that really bugs me is distance/aperture index ring is too small. It is too hard to grip that small ring to attach and remove lens from camera body. But overall I love this lens.

Star S.

2010-01-05T19:00:00

I wanted a fast portrait lens for my Nikon D300, and went back and forth on the Nokton and the Sigma 50 f/1.4. I ultimately chose the Nokton, and have been really happy with it. Nailing focus wide-open takes some practice, but stopped down to f/2, this lens produces wonderful results - sharp & contrasty with wonderful blurry backgrounds. The fact that this lens is nice and compact and sells for under $400 makes it an even better deal. My 4 (instead of 5) star rating only reflects the fact that shot wide-open, the lens does lose some acuity and contrast. That being said, images captured wide open are perfectly usable providing you nail the focus.

Eric F.