Two reviews worth noting: Nokton 25/0.95 and Heliar 75/1.8

The latest review of the Voigtländer Nokton 25/0.95 lens for Micro Four Thirds comes from Peter Lück, whose site I found recently and who regularly posts great reviews and articles about Micro Four Thirds and Leica(-related) gear, comprising wonderful images showing off his great photographic skill. Anyway — he praises the Nokton for its very good build quality and very good optical qualities, calling it a “gift” to Micro Four Thirds users, as compared to a Leica Noctilux or Canon 50/1.2 this lens is a bargain with an unbeatable value-for-money ratio.

Link to Peter Lück’s article.

The lastest review of the Voigtländer Heliar 75/1.8 M-mount lens comes from Ancient City Photography, the blog of NYC-based photographer Tony Ventouris. The new Heliar 75/1.8 has the same great build quality as the aforementioned Nokton (I tried them both at photokina — this is the quality we will also see in future Voigtländer products), and is also very good optically. The design is spherical, and thus a tad soft wide open, but there is enough sharpness to achieve during processing. Then again, you might actually want this slight softness when shooting portraits with it. Stopped down it becomes critically sharp.

Link to ACP’s article.

Voigtländer Nokton 25/0.95 hands-on @ CNET Asia

Leonard Goh from CNET Asia has spent some time with the new Voigtländer Nokton 25mm f/0.95 Micro Four Thirds lens, and written about his experience on CNET Asia’s ‘crave’ technology blog.

He seems pretty enthusiastic about the lens, judging the bokeh quality to be “one of the best we’ve seen so far”. While the lens is quite heavily prone to cause purple fringing at wider apertures, it is essentially the fastest and most well-built lens currently available in native Micro Four Thirds mount, and effectively the only viable option for “available darkness” shooting.

Read Leonard’s full hands-on report on the new VC Nokton 25/0.95 at CNET Asia crave.

First Voigtländer Nokton 25/0.95 image samples

Flickr user peterb666 seems to be one of the first to have received a copy of the new Voigtländer Nokton 25mm f/0.95 lens for Micro Four Thirds, which the community was raving about since it was first announced. Congratulations!

The Nokton 25/0.95 is Voigtländer’s first lens for Micro Four Thirds. It is completely manual in operation, and — like all Voigtländer lenses — built from solid metal. It offers an incredibly bright f/0.95 initial aperture, which not only allows for taking pictures in “available darkness”, but also for astonishing subject separation, comparable to that of a 50mm f/2 lens on 35mm. In Germany, you can order the Nokton via fotomundus.

Meanwhile, until your copy arrives (or until you decide to order one, which you eventually will ;-) ), have a look at peterb666′s first sample pictures!

Voigtländer 25/0.95 for MFT available via Fotomundus

Get one now while they last! Fotomundus is one of the first German suppliers that have the brand-new Voigtländer Nokton 25mm f/0.95 Micro Four Thirds lens in stock. They’re selling the lens f0r 890,- € via their web shop and their eBay shop.

The Voigtländer Nokton 25mm f/0.95 for Micro Four Thirds

Via 43rumors.com.

Photkina 2010: A report in pictures

As I previously announced, yesterday I spent the day visiting photokina 2010 in Cologne, and I brought back with me a huge load of impressions, pictures of latest models, of prototypes, and other stuff. So without much ado, here’s my report on the fair — by manufacturer, in alphabetic order.

Photokina 2010 south entrance

General impressions from the fair will be posted in a seperate gallery soon.

CAUTION! Massive amount of pictures ahead! Make sure your connection is fast enough, and that you have enough time! :-)

Continue reading Photkina 2010: A report in pictures