Image courtesy: Beeldlab

43rumors reader Hugo had the chance to compare the Nokton 25mm f/0.95 and the SLR magic 25mm f/0.95 lens. He posted the results on his blog Beeldlab. In my opinion the focus point of the Nokton isn’t on the letters but on the white lens marks so it may not be a 100% correct comparison. I asked Hugo about this and his answer was: “Exact focus point might vary few mm. Voigt on the P, SLR on R, Nevertheless big difference.”

That said the new SLRmagic lens shows that this company made a quantum leap forward in image quality. And as I told you before this lens is even cheaper than the Nokton! It will be on market in February for $799. But there will be a special rebate at launch and the real price will be $649. That’s $550 less than the Voigtlander Nokton lens!

P.S.: Save this search on my Slidoo eBay notification service (Click here). Login and save it so that you will get notified when the SLR magic lens will available for purchase.

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Current SLRmagic lenses for Micro Four Thirds:
SLR Magic 12-36×50 ED Straight Spotting Scope lens (w/ hand grip) is now available on [shoplink 26994 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
SLR magic 11mm f/1.4 lens you can preorder on [shoplink 22154 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
Toy Lens 26mm f/1.4 lens on [shoplink 18603 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
SLR Magic 35mm f/1.7 MC lens on [shoplink 14881 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
Noktor SLRmagic 50mm on [shoplink 25691 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]

DxOmark (Click here) tested the Olympus 75mm f/1.8 lens and writes that this is the “best lens DxOMark have tested for the Micro Four Thirds hybrid camera system.“. The only downside is the relatively high price: “If the high cost of the Olympus M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 75mm f/1.8 is out of reach then Micro Four Thirds photographers will be pleased that the cheaper $400 Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 45mm f1.8 is a good alternative. As we’ve seen it’s not as sharp as the 75mm version and edge sharpness is inconsistent, but it represents better value if budgets are squeezed.”

I guess nobody here had ever a doubt that this is the best available MFT lens. The real annoying part may be the high price of the extra hood. But that’s an easily to solve inconvenience. Just buy a third party hood at n US ($7 on amazon), US ($32 better quality), [shoplink 34663 ebay]Germany (ebay)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 34664 ebay]Hong Kong (ebay)[/shoplink].

The lens itself can be found at [shopcountry 31284].

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Olympus 75mm f/1.8 Lens alternatives (if you don’t care about the missing autofocus and electronic contacts):
1) [shoplink 31292 ebay]Dallmeyer 75mm f/1.9 (Here on eBay)[/shoplink]. This is an extremely expensive lens and I don’t know why it is so. Only crazy guys would buy that :)
2) [shoplink 31293 ebay]Leica Summilux 75mm f/1.4 (Here on eBay)[/shoplink]. Extraordinary high quality lens for an extraordinary price (although it’s still less expensive than the mysterious Dallmeyer). It’s the fastest of all 75mm lenses
3) [shoplink 31293 ebay]Zeiss Biotar 75mm f/1.5 (Here on eBay)[/shoplink]. Fast and also a bit exotic lens made for the Exacta series.
4) [shoplink 31294 ebay]Leica Summarit 75mm f/2.5 (Here on eBay)[/shoplink]. High quality and relatively compact lens. A bit slow compared to the Olympus (f/2.5).
5) [shoplink 31295 ebay]Voigtlander Heliar 75mm f/1.8 (Here on eBay)[/shoplink]. Probably the best alternative of the new Olympus 75mm f/1.8 lens. Same aperture, superb high quality and cheaper.
6) [shoplink 31324 ebay]Fujinon 75mm f/1.8 (Here on eBay)[/shoplink]. This is a very cheap TV lens and I don’t expect the quality to be very good. I wouldn’t buy that unlike your really need that focal length and you have a very low budget.