The Nokton seems to be a quite interesting lens on the Nikon APS-C. I am desperate to see how it performs on pentax. It is arguably the only moderately priced high quality "85/1.4" lens currently available for Pentax system(The native 55/1.4 seems to be a quite controversial lens and its price is just ridiculous; no other third party offers a lens with similar focal length). Would you guys please give it a try on Pentax? PLZ....
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[quote name='Albert' timestamp='1305215087' post='8263']
The Nokton seems to be a quite interesting lens on the Nikon APS-C. I am desperate to see how it performs on pentax. It is arguably the only moderately priced high quality "85/1.4" lens currently available for Pentax system(The native 55/1.4 seems to be a quite controversial lens and its price is just ridiculous; no other third party offers a lens with similar focal length). Would you guys please give it a try on Pentax? PLZ....
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The Nikon 10MP and Pentax 10MP tests seem to align very closely, fortunately for us Pentax users. There's a few common lenses that you can use to cross-reference between the 2 sets, such as the Tamron 90mm and you'll see that there is very little difference, even in the LW/PW. So, you can see how well the Nokton 58mm does on Nikon and it will do as well on Pentax.
I do have the Nokton 58mm in Pentax mount and it's for sure the sharpest lens I've used, better than the DA35 Ltd Macro, the A50/1.4 and APO-Lanthar 90/3.5mm.
The lens that I would like to see tested on Pentax is the DFA 50/2.8 Macro, which is supposedly even sharper than the Nokton 58mm, but which I have never seen objectively tested on any of the test websites.
Yes! It really makes sense to refer to the Nikon test. Good idea Dave!
As for macro... Ever since I came across some pictures shoot with the Voiglander 125mm macro, it became the ONLY apple in my eyes.... However, it seems it's almost impossible to get my hands on one. No idea why Conisa has no plan to reproduce this and other legendary SL series lens...
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[quote name='Albert' timestamp='1305256887' post='8281']
Yes! It really makes sense to refer to the Nikon test. Good idea Dave!
As for macro... Ever since I came across some pictures shoot with the Voiglander 125mm macro, it became the ONLY apple in my eyes.... However, it seems it's almost impossible to get my hands on one. No idea why Conisa has no plan to reproduce this and other legendary SL series lens...
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The APO Lanthar 125mm is a different animal.
I heard some conjecture that it was discontinued because it was too similar to the Zeiss 100/2 Makro, except it was a bit better (going to 1:1 and was truly apochromatic), so Cosina discontinued it in deference to their customer. The other Voigtlaender SLR lenses don't compete with Zeiss as the compact offerings (20, 40, 90mm) complement their customer's faster larger optics. (The exception is the Nokton 58/1.4 but it's difficult even for Zeiss to complain about a nifty-fifty, I suppose?)
As great as the Lanthar 125mm is, it's a massive, slow focusing beast. I've never owned one, but I've had the chance to handle my friends' and it's unwieldy if hand-held on even the bigger Pentax bodies. My friends even prefer the compact metal Pentax DFA100/2.8 WR Macro. If you don't need 1:1, the APO Lanthar 90mm SLII goes to 1:3.5 or 1:1.8 (with the included close-up lens) and it's even smaller than aforementioned Pentax lens.
[quote name='dave9t5' timestamp='1305318397' post='8298']
The APO Lanthar 125mm is a different animal.
I heard some conjecture that it was discontinued because it was too similar to the Zeiss 100/2 Makro, except it was a bit better (going to 1:1 and was truly apochromatic), so Cosina discontinued it in deference to their customer. The other Voigtlaender SLR lenses don't compete with Zeiss as the compact offerings (20, 40, 90mm) complement their customer's faster larger optics. (The exception is the Nokton 58/1.4 but it's difficult even for Zeiss to complain about a nifty-fifty, I suppose?)
As great as the Lanthar 125mm is, it's a massive, slow focusing beast. I've never owned one, but I've had the chance to handle my friends' and it's unwieldy if hand-held on even the bigger Pentax bodies. My friends even prefer the compact metal Pentax DFA100/2.8 WR Macro. If you don't need 1:1, the APO Lanthar 90mm SLII goes to 1:3.5 or 1:1.8 (with the included close-up lens) and it's even smaller than aforementioned Pentax lens.
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Well...so if the conjecture is true, we'd never expect to see any new phenomenal lens from Voigtlander to live up with its reputation in the old days.That's just not fair... <img src='http://forum.photozone.de/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/angry.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':angry:' /> Maybe Cosina should really focus only on Zeiss OEM and sell Voigtlander to some more ambitious party...
The new DFA100/2.8 WR Macro is indeed a lovely creature. In my opinion it is the most "beautiful" 100 Macro currently in the market. Maybe I'll end up with it any way. But then I'll still need another mid-tele for portraiture...Uhhhh, my girl is right, I always need one more lens to go with <img src='http://forum.photozone.de/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='  ' /> .
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[quote name='Albert' timestamp='1305371933' post='8318']
Well...so if the conjecture is true, we'd never expect to see any new phenomenal lens from Voigtlander to live up with its reputation in the old days.That's just not fair... <img src='http://forum.photozone.de/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/angry.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':angry:' /> Maybe Cosina should really focus only on Zeiss OEM and sell Voigtlander to some more ambitious party...
The new DFA100/2.8 WR Macro is indeed a lovely creature. In my opinion it is the most "beautiful" 100 Macro currently in the market. Maybe I'll end up with it any way. But then I'll still need another mid-tele for portraiture...Uhhhh, my girl is right, I always need one more lens to go with <img src='http://forum.photozone.de/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=' ' /> .
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Well, I'm more angry that Cosina discontinued all lenses in the Pentax K-mount. My guess is that they shared the actual K-mount parts with both the Voigtlaender and Zeiss lenses. Voigtlaender discontinued the K-mount immediately after Zeiss did. Without Zeiss to share the production costs, it wouldn't make sense to continue alone.
The Nokton 58/1.4 is classic portait focal length. 58mm x 1.53 crop-factor = 89mm on 135 format film.
One sneaky thing about Nokton 58mm is the extra 8mm makes the DOF at f/1.4 slightly thinner than typical 50mm lens. It actually has the DOF similar to a 50mm f/1.2 lens. Heh, heh, since they couldn't offer Voigtlaender f/1.2 lens in this range (google cosina 55/1.2) without stepping on Zeiss' toes, they got their design goal another way.
[quote name='dave9t5' timestamp='1305502328' post='8341']
Well, I'm more angry that Cosina discontinued all lenses in the Pentax K-mount.
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What! They did?! I knew their Zeiss dept did so and I wasn't all that upset 'cause after all those Zeiss ZK lenses were not all that attractive on APS-C(especially considering their price). But Voidgtlander... I thought I'd just found a new lover... <img src='http://forum.photozone.de/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='  ' /> Sigh...Maybe I should hurry up to grasp a 58 when they are still in stock. It seems there are still plenty of them out there.
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Well, Zeiss did not drop the Pentax mount because they have something in particular against Pentax... It is just that Zeiss on Pentax hardly sells any lenses.
Partly to do with the small market share of Pentax, partly to do with the Pentax cult users only buying Pentax lenses, and I am sure also to do with Pentax not having any full frame body, where the Zeiss (and even Voigtlander) lenses make most sense.
The relation between Zeiss and Voigtlander is more complex, where Cosina makes all lenses for Zeiss (Zeiss moved production there to try and survive due to high German labour costs) and where Voigtlander used to be a Zeiss brand.
Whatever, just ordered a 58/1.4 on line <img src='http://forum.photozone.de/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=' ' /> ...The only upset thing is that Voigtlander asks about $100 for the lens hood. I know Zeiss and Leica do the same thing, but a $100 hood for a $400 lens? Any way I'll leave the lens "naked" for a little while unless the flare is actually unbearable...
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[quote name='Albert' timestamp='1305556723' post='8370']
Whatever, just ordered a 58/1.4 on line <img src='http://forum.photozone.de/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=' ' /> ...The only upset thing is that Voigtlander asks about $100 for the lens hood. I know Zeiss and Leica do the same thing, but a $100 hood for a $400 lens? Any way I'll leave the lens "naked" for a little while unless the flare is actually unbearable...
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Ya, the hood is a bit of a rip-off (although it's only $39 at cameraquest.com).
The good news is it's not a dedicated bayonet item, just a simple threaded one so you are not missing much. You can find [url="http://www.camerafilters.com/detail.aspx?id=744"]a similar one here for a few dollars[/url].
Or, since you are using a full-frame lens on an APS-C body, you could run a deeper hood than the original one. The hood I use on my Nokton 58mm is 45mm deep (it came off an old 80-210mm zoom lens). The hood in the link about is only 23mm deep, for comparison.
A step-down ring might work as a hood also (similar to the type of hood on the Ultron 40mm), although I haven't tried it to see how small one could go. I'm planning on trying a 58mm-->49mm step-down...if it worked then I could share hoods and filters with the APO-Lanthar 90mm....
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