Cosina announces Nokton 17.5mm F0.95 lens for Micro Four Thirds: Digital Photography Review

Cosina announces Nokton 17.5mm F0.95 lens for Micro Four Thirds

Published Feb 8, 2012 | dpreview staff

Model	Voigtländer Nokton 17.5mm F0.95
Focal length	17.5mm
Maximum aperture	F/0.95
Angle of view (diagonal)	64.6°
Lens construction	13 elements in 9 groups
Minimum focus distance	0.15m
Maximum magnification ratio	1:4
Filter size	58mm
Length	80.0mm
Diameter	63.4mm
Weight	540g
No. of diaphragm blades	10
Minimum aperture	F/16
Standard accessories	Lens hood
Compatible mounts	Micro Four Thirds

Model

Voigtländer Nokton 17.5mm F0.95

Focal length

17.5mm

Maximum aperture

F/0.95

Angle of view (diagonal)

64.6°

Lens construction

13 elements in 9 groups

Minimum focus distance

0.15m

Maximum magnification ratio

1:4

Filter size

58mm

Length

80.0mm

Diameter

63.4mm

Weight

540g

No. of diaphragm blades

Minimum aperture

F/16

Standard accessories

Lens hood

Compatible mounts

Micro Four Thirds

Comments

All (57)

Most popular (5)

Editors' picks (0)

DPR staff (0)

Oldest first

Edaemus

I have the 25mm Nokton and LOVE it. It's my favourite lens.
This is equally appealing, though I'd really like to see some image samples first. The 25mm does have a fair amount of CA wide open, but man it pulls a lot of light in. I can shoot hand-held in near darkness at ISO 200.
I do wonder, though, if the 35mm EFL would be as appealing on a 2x crop sensor as on the larger ones. 35mm is normal on 1.6x and semi-wide on FF, but on a little MFT it's just a random number. Hmm...
And, to the people complaining about lack of AF, take a look at the rear of one of these lenses. There simply isn't room for electrical contacts around the enormous rear element.
As for the weight, so what if it weighs more than my camera body? Together they're still lighter than the average FF lens.

Mar 27, 2012*permalink

yabokkie

the rear element of Nikon's MF 50/1.2 also jams the most of throat but they still managed to make an AF-S one at about the same "high" quality as Canon 35/1.4L.

Jun 20, 2013permalink

NZ Scott

Weight, cost and filter size count against this lens.

I moved from Nikon DSLR to m43 to save weight and size, and I can't see the point of whacking half a kilo on the end of my E-P3.

Also, I've standardised all my m43 filters at 46mm, which fit most of the other prime lenses.

I suspect that the 17.5 Nokton is soft wide-open, just like the 25mm Nokton, which means it needs to be stopped down to around f1.4 - f1.8 to get sharp results.

I think I'd rather spend US$500 on a 17.5mm f1.4, which doesn't exist yet. Hurry up, M. Zuiko!

Feb 14, 2012permalink

exp1orer

it is an f0.95 lens. what do you think the size and cost should be for an f0.95 lens? just like your f2.8 lens?

Feb 19, 2012permalink

lajka

This simple and seemingly fantastic solution for silent and stepless aperture control was widely used in days before automatic stop-down lenses. The mechanism was called preset diaphragm. You can find preset outfitted fine used Japanese, Russian and German lenses for reasonable price.

Feb 12, 2012permalink

wlachan

I am in love... until I see the price...

Feb 10, 2012permalink

abolit

what did you expect? .95 aperture for $99 ? Keep dreaming.
Learn to pay for what you get.

Feb 20, 2012permalink

Jonathan Siegel

This is what I was expecting to see in that Sony NEX lens lineup, something actually exciting and unique.

Feb 9, 2012permalink

jeffharris

This is extremely tempting!

I LOVE my Nokton 25mm and this 17.5mm would make a fantastic companion lens!

Feb 8, 2012permalink

Roberto Mettifogo

Woow, why don't they put gears in the focus ring so that is follow focus ready... ?

Feb 8, 2012permalink

00aeiou00

where is the e-mount for this and the 25mm? please , pretty please

Feb 8, 2012permalink

Joe Ogiba

I wonder why DPR never had news on the 25mm version when it came out.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/tag/nokton

Feb 8, 2012permalink

Klarno

The 25mm was announced in the same article that announced that Cosina was joining Micro Four Thirds.

Feb 8, 2012permalink

thscan

Sorry I have to mention that you carry tonnes of stupidity

Feb 8, 2012permalink

jl_smith

I'll admit, I'd be seriously tempted were I a m43 shooter.

Feb 8, 2012permalink

slncezgsi

m4/3 system is gaining on my attention.

Feb 8, 2012permalink

mediokre

prepositions are gaining on it, too.

Feb 8, 2012permalink

Calvin Chann

Would be wicked with NEX focus peaking.

Feb 8, 2012permalink

jeffharris

The vignetting might be pretty wicked, too. ;-)

Supposedly there are M4/3 to NEX lens adaptors available.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Micro-4-3-M43-Sony-Nex-Adaptor-NEX5-NEX-5-NEX3-NEX-3-/110652784340?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19c36b7ed4#ht_1734wt_1165

Feb 10, 2012permalink

Mal_In_Oz

You can still get 12mp (no vignetting) out of a cropped image from the NEX 5N using 43 and m43 lenses. Not to mention that you can also get the full square image from the 5N sensor as well. Worth considering...

May 1, 2012permalink

bradleyg5

Yawn, wake me up with they hit F/0.8. f0.95 is not terribly impressive when you only have to produce an image circle 1/4th the size of fullframe. sure the intensity of light is high, but the total amount of light passed through the lens is not worthy of that price tag.

Feb 8, 2012permalink

digifan

It shows you have no clue.

Feb 8, 2012permalink

David VL

haha you make me laugh with your stupidity.
shut up if you dont know much about the technical aspect behind the construction moron.

Feb 8, 2012permalink

matty_boy

why even post that ..?

Feb 8, 2012permalink

Kai Griffin

Ha ha, you really have no idea how dumb & clueless you just made yourself sound, do you?

Feb 8, 2012permalink

REapper

This is effectively a 35mm F/1.8 lens in 35mm equiv. including light transmission and DOF. I kinda think its impressive.

Feb 8, 2012permalink

bradleyg5

@digifan

Make it look like a Leica lens and you guys just swoon. I'm just saying, you put a magnifying glass on the back of 35mm 1.4 and you'd have a brighter aperture than this. How's that for "technical"

It's not an impressive lens. Lets say you have a viewfinder, lets pretend this is a 4/3 lens and not a micro 4/3. So you have a mirror and a viewfinder. If the viewfinder displayed an image the same size as a Canon 5d viewfinder, this lens on a 4/3 would produce a substantially dimmer image in the viewfinder than a 35mm f/1.4 on a 5d.

Do you understand how that matters? You get how that works? how it doesn't actually gather that much light in comparison to a full 35mm lens? I know you guys can't see past the numbers you are presented, but seriously, use your brain.

Feb 8, 2012*permalink

rusticus

yes - the price is bad and
yes - we are trying the a** of M. Thatcher a** Adriana Lima sale

Feb 8, 2012*permalink

skrulm8

@REapper DOF depends on one thing only -- the diameter of the aperture. This is therefore in all respects the same as a 17.5 mm f/0.95 lens on a full frame camera, only the image circle is smaller and you need to crop the image. Cropping, however, doesn't reduce DOF or the amount of light falling on the same area of the sensor. It just changes the apparent focal length.

Feb 8, 2012permalink

Albino_BlacMan

But distance from the subject does change the DOF and since you crop the image you stand further away so increase this distance and therefore increase DOF

Feb 8, 2012permalink

GarageBoy

0.95 is already pushing it...
The Canon 50 0.95 was soft and had every kind of optical aberration you could think of
This is also WIDE and fast...
Hell, you don't even have C and D mount lenses faster than F0.95...

Feb 8, 2012permalink

audijam

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha..(fell of my chair)...hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...OMG!!!!!!!!!!!

Feb 8, 2012permalink

Cantwell Photo

He's not wrong. The light gathering abilities of any "fast" lens on a sensor this small are pretty pathetic compared to what cheaper lenses do on 35/FF. Also your ability to isolate is way down.

Feb 8, 2012permalink

JensR

> Cropping, however, doesn't reduce DOF

So very very wrong.

Feb 8, 2012permalink

skrulm8

It's ONLY the diameter of the aperture and nothing else at all. It's hard physics. Longer and brighter lenses have less DOF only because their diameter is bigger. Shorter and dimmer lenses have more DOF only because their diameter is smaller. Cropping is completely irrelevant. Take a shallow DOF photograph and crop it in Photoshop. The DOF will not change, no matter how much you crop it.

To estimate how much DOF you will have, take the focal length of your lens and divide it by the relative aperture number. Hence, a 58/2 lens will have an aperture of 29 mm on all the camera formats ever invented. The DOF will be the same regardless of weather you've mounted it on a mobile phone or a full frame camera. Only the magnification of the picture will be different.

Feb 9, 2012permalink

TrapperJohn

Another dinosaur trying to justify their ego cam.

Face it, dude. Small is cool. It's what's happening. It's where all the new exciting things are appearing.

Feb 11, 2012permalink

Macx

This is equivalent of a 35mm/1.8 for 135 small format film when comparing depth of field and angle of view, but it's still an f0.95 lens with regards to transmitting light giving it a 2 stop advantage on a typical fast 35mm/F2.0. Criticising the lens for having a bad performance if you used it on a 135-format camera is ludicrous and akin to trashing 135-format lenses for their bad performance when used on your 645-format camera. It is suited to the smaller sensor of the four thirds-system with the advantages and disadvantages that brings.

Feb 12, 2012permalink

Bastubacka

For videography applications, the focus throw and breathing characteristics will most probably be superior compared to FF or APS-C equivalents. Voigtländer has a good track record with their previous Noktons in this department. Cosina owns Zeiss, so I reckon they know how to build cinema lenses.

In my opinion, you simply can’t have the video quality of a hacked GH2 in any FF camera. Sizewise, GH2 + Voigtländer 17.5mm is still a lighter combination than any FF camera body alone.

Feb 8, 2012permalink

CFynn

Cosina doesn't "own Zeiss" - they manufacture some lenses for Zeiss - based on Zeiss specs and designs.

Feb 8, 2012*permalink

Bastubacka

I stand corrected. They announced a partnership with Zeiss back in November 2004. Here are some of the lenses Cosina currently manufactures for Zeiss:

ZE, ZF, ZF.2 SLR-lenses,

Distagon T*:
18/3,4
21/2,8
28/2
35/2
35/1,4

Planar T*:
50/1,4
85/1,4

Makro Planar T*:
50/2
100/2

ZM RF-lenses,

Distagon T*:
15/2,8

C Biogon T*:
21/4,5
35/2,8

Biogon T*:
21/2,8
35/2
25/2,8
28/2,8

Planar T*:
50/2

C Sonnar T*:
50/1,5

Tele-Tessar T*:
85/4

ZV medium format lenses,

Distagon T*:
50/4

Macro Planar T*:
120/4

Sonnar T*:
180/4

Cosina doesn't manufacture any cine style lenses for Zeiss. That being said, many Zeiss cine style lenses, like the compact primes, are based on those classic optical designs listed above. Who knows, Cosina may have taken a design clue or another from there?

Feb 8, 2012permalink

zodiacfml

I miss lens reviews.

Feb 8, 2012permalink

ogl

17/0.95 provides the equivalent DOF really as 35/1.9 (for US$1,500 for manual focus instead of US$200 for AF). Sending its image to a poorer sensor. Absurd.

Feb 8, 2012permalink

mister_roboto

Wow really? Trolling? Camera trolls are the worst aren't they?

Feb 8, 2012permalink

Zebooka

But fullframe body cost more than $1500 :)

2 Mssimo:
Dont be rude and note that fullframe sensor has better signal/noise ratio than 2x cropped

Feb 8, 2012*permalink

ogl

D800 is USD3000, but it's new camera. FF could cost not above 2000-2500 USD (used or new).
Anyway, 35/2 is good lens in any system. And rather cheap. As for IQ - FF killed crop 2 forever. Noise, resolution and so on.

Feb 8, 2012*permalink

marike6

Many people use m43 when they don't want to walk around with a huge, heavy FF body or for an opportunity to use the GH2 which is one of the best HDSLR video camera available. The Voigtlander 25 0.95 may be pricey, but it is one of the best performing m43 lenses.
For video, if you're using AF, your not doing it right, so the fact the the CV are MF is not a minus. DOF aside, it's still a bright lens with a nice 10-blade aperture made for bokeh. But it's not a mass produced lens. As such it is expensive, but judging by the high prices they sell for on Ebay auctions, plenty of people are interested in buying them, me included.

Feb 8, 2012*permalink

Mssimo

Sorry for being rude.

Also note, if you go to full frame, you find yourself stoping down your lens so they sharpen up. No need to do that with u4/3 (they tend to be very sharp wide open, and tack sharp with one or two clicks)

Please stop the trolling.

Feb 8, 2012permalink

ijack

Well 17/0.95 make 35 F2 is Full Frame performance, except you need 2 stop less ISO for an image with the same exposure.

So assuming you need to use ISO 6400 on your D800, an E-M1 user need only ISO1600.

I would imagine a E-M1 ISO1600 would definitely beat the D800, despite having a lower resolution.

M4/3 achieve it cheaper overall, in a lighter package.

Feb 8, 2012permalink

Peiasdf

@ijack. Actually no. FF is four times the size as m4/3 so that's the 2 stops there. Also consider D800 uses SONY's best sensor yet while E-M1 use Panasonic's 2nd worst sensor. As people have keep reminding me, they are in different class and in this case, D800 is about 2~3 classes above E-M1 in terms of IQ.

Feb 8, 2012permalink

ijack

Whatever the size, if the D800 ISO6400, beat E-M5 ISO1600, I am convinced.

And this is benchmark people should use for equivalence, same size, equivalent F stop, corresponding ISO under the same light situation.

Feb 8, 2012permalink

David VL

hello ogl, thankyou for showing your absolutely little knowledge of micro fourthirds, that just makes you look like an idiot to all of us here.

mFT user have their own opinion of why they dont use FF. Size is the most common reason. go play with your FF camera there if you are happy with the weight. cheers and STFU

Feb 8, 2012permalink

Zebooka

Guys, you are speculating on the small size of MFT body forgetting that this 0.95 lens in quite huge and heavy.

Feb 8, 2012permalink

mister_roboto

Huge and heavy? It's not that big. "Huge" in µ4/3 terms at 80mm yeah, compared to APS-C lenses- no. Heavy- yeah, it's made out of metal and has a high build quality. It reminds me of many old lenses I've owned, but made for a modern native mount.

Feb 8, 2012permalink

BJL

If by "poorer sensor" you are talking about noise at equal ISO, then your f-stop equivalence fixes that: you need four times the ISO speed with a 35/1.9 on a far more expensive "legacy format" body.

Feb 9, 2012permalink

cgarrard

Sounds perfect to me, a bit heavy though. But good magnification and build and optical quality are assured from Voigtlander.

Feb 8, 2012permalink

Chris_in_Osaka

:-)

Feb 8, 2012permalink

453C

I'll add another thanks to Chris for helping get the word out.

Feb 8, 2012permalink

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Cosina announces Nokton 17.5mm F0.95 lens for Micro Four Thirds

Specifications:

Comments