efix:photography - News. Thoughts. Pictures. » voigtländer

Hot stuff in stock and for pre-order at B&H!

efix — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:56:30 +0000

B&H currently has a number of interesting items either in stock or available for pre-order. For those into mirrorless cameras, and Micro Four Thirds and Leica M in particular, read on!

Currently in stock at B&H

–> Panasonic Lumix GX1 Micro Four Thirds camera (black) + X 14-42mm kit lens — $ 949.– –> silver body only $ 699.– –> Olympus M.Zuiko 12-50mm for Micro Four Tirds (black) — $ 499.00 –> silver version $499.99 –> Voigtländer “knock-your-socks-off” Nokton 50mm f/1.1 for Leica M — $ 1049.–

Available for [...]

First user report on the new CV Nokton 35/1.2

efix — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 12:07:08 +0000

The new Voigtländer Nokton 35mm f/1.2 II lens seems to be available in some parts of the world already, and a user at rangefinderforum.com has posted some first thoughts and sample pictures taken with a Leica M9.

He claims the lens has better contrast wide open than its predecessor, is still sharp at f/1.2 and still exhibits pleasing bokeh. But judge for yourselves: http://rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=110011

Quick note: Nokton 35/1.2 price announced

efix — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 08:29:15 +0000

Cosina now have finally announced a retail price for the new Nokton 35/1.2. It’s going to be JPY 135,000, which is ~ USD 1,700 or EUR 1,200. Ouch.

http://www.cosina.co.jp/seihin/voigt/v-lens/v-l-m/vm35-1.2/ (Google tranlated)

EDIT: Interestingly, this British vendor lists it for GBP 900, which is a “mere” EUR 1,000 or USD 1,400. Maybe there’s hope yet …

Article recap: April 30th, 2011

efix — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 10:19:54 +0000

It’s saturday, and it’s time for another roundup of interesting articles! (Btw, I think I’m going to make this a weekly recurring post, instead of writing about single articles every other day.)

Photography, reloaded — Beck & Burg’s animated photos Photographer Jamie Beck and graphics artist Kevin Burg went one step further, and combined photography and motion picture. In order to tell a story beyond what is possible in a single picture, the artists created a new kind of animated photographs, compiled in a internet-ready GIF file. Pretty impressive stuff. Here’s their regularly updated tumblr.

[...]

It’s official! The new Nokton 35/1.2 Asph. II is coming!

efix — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 10:04:32 +0000

After recently having discontinued their very high-esteemed and popular Nokton 35mm f/1.2 Aspherical M-mount lens, Voigtländer announced that they were working on a successor which was to be released in the second half of 2011. On this year’s CP+ in Japan, the new Nokton 35mm f/1.2 Aspherical II was officially presented.

Picture courtesy of Cosina/Voigtländer

According to photoscala.de, the new version is much more compact than the original Nokton 35/1.2. This is probably due to an overhaul of the optical formula, which was needed because the glass of the aspherical lens element was no longer obtainable. [...]

UPDATED: Bad news … Nokton 35/1.2 discontinued

efix — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 19:45:43 +0000

This is bad news. Cosina have listed the Nokton 35/1.2 as officially discontinued. Which means prices will go insane once leftover stock will be sold out.

So, if you were fondling with that lens, get one now. You might not want to wait much longer …

I really don’t understand why they discontinued such a great lens. But then, they also discontinued the 50/1.5 Nokton, which is also a great lens. But maybe this means something new and even more exciting is going to come?

Edit: A fellow dpreview Leica Talk Forum user suggested their [...]

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

efix — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 10:59:01 +0000

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.

UPDATED: Voigtländer Ultron 40/2 SL II reviewed by LensTip

efix — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 09:00:31 +0000

The Voigtländer brand is probably best known for their rangefinder products, such as the Bessa R film cameras and Leica screw- and M-mount lenses. But did you know Voigtländer also had a range of SLR lenses? Indeed so!

LensTip picked out one of these, namely the Ultron 40mm f/2 SL II Aspherical, which is available in Canon, Nikon and Pentax mount. For their review, they chose the Nikon mount version and tested it on a Nikon D3x, where not only the lens is used to its full potential (being designed for full frame), [...]

Voigtländer Color-Skopar 35/2.5 reviewed by Ancient City Photo

efix — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 19:14:25 +0000

Another lens review today! This time, it’s Ancient City Photo’s take on the Voigtländer Color-Skopar Pancake II 35mm f/2.5 M-mount lens, one of the smallest 35mm lenses currently available, and one of the more interesting 35′s for Leica M mount cameras. While being only a “slow” f/2.5, this lens is incredibly small, and incredibly good. On a first glance one would probably heavily underrate it (such as I did), but it is in fact highly regarded by many M shooters, and rightly so, as ACP’s review proves with formidable pictures.

Link: Voigtländer CP 35/2.5 P [...]

Photkina 2010: A report in pictures

efix — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 13:02:04 +0000

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!

Canon

The biggest players — Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Samsung and [...]