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43rumors: Voigtländer vs Noktor size comparison (+ a few image samples)

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The Micro Four Thirds system now offers two über-fast lenses. The Voigtländer 25mm and the Noktor 50mm lenses (both with the amazing f/0.95 aperture)! Sadly it is almost impossible to buy the Noktor. The website (Noktor.com) has no lens in Stock and there are a few and sometimes zero auctions on [shoplink 15629]eBay (Click here to check)[/shoplink] The Voigtländer is available at local stores or on [shoplink 15659]eBay via german and asian resellers (Click here to check)[/shoplink].

2 days ago I received my Voigtländer lens and I made quick comparison with the Noktor 50mm. All images were taken with my [shoplink 16885]Olympus E-P1[/shoplink]. JPG at normal settings and resized in Photoshop.

Click the link below to see the minireview:

Size comparison (click on thumbnail to enlarge!)

The Voigtländer is a little bit smaller than the Noktor and only a little bit more protracted with the attached metal hood. That said the build-quality and handling of the Voigtländer is a huge step above the Noktor. The aperture ring of the Voigtländer does “click” from one aperture to the other. With the Noktor you are never sure if the aperture is still where you want it to be. It’s so easy to unintentionally move the aperture ring!
With both lenses you have to turn around the focus ring two times (if not three) to get from close focus distance to infinite. Of course focusing is much easier with the Voigtländer (because of the wider focal length und greater depth of field).

Vignetting

The first picture has been taken at f/0.95 and the second picture with f/2.8. Vignetting is here but nothing really to be worried about.

Portrait

The Voigtländer is not a portrait lens and the Noktor (second image) gives you a far more creamy result.

Close focusing

A nice surprise of the Voigtländer is the very close focus distance. It’s almost a macro lens! If you take pictures of letters or stuff that has a detailed structure the image gets “disturbed”. The image of the bottle looks much nicer here. The last image has been taken with the Noktor.

Real world samples


Those are three real world pictures I have taken during my daily trip to work (all taken at f/0.95). This afternoon I will take many more images and post them here tomorrow.

I am impressed by the Voigtländer lens. It has a top notch build-quality and much sharper images than the Noktor. The only major complain I have right now is that the lens is far to big for me. When attached on my E-P1 the camera is far away from being pocketable. The lens weights a lot and the balance not optimal. I would love to see a fast lens from Voigtländer with the size of the [shoplink 15738]Voigtländer 35mm f/1.4 ($400 M-mount lens))[/shoplink]!

Check out the eBay auctions of the:
– [shoplink 15659]Voigtländer Nokton 25mm f/0.95[/shoplink] – [shoplink 15629]Noktor 50mm f/0.95[/shoplink]

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