VOIGTLANDER NOKTON 58MM F/1.4 SLII - Best manual lens you can buy?
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- čas přidán 3. 08. 2024
- This is the VOIGTLANDER NOKTON 58MM F/1.4 SLII for Nikon, a manual focus lens that shows exceptional results.
A lens made as if it were from another era where build quality, top performance and durability were still the standard.
In this review I tell and show why this lens is currently one of the best lenses that should not be missing in your collection!
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TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Introduction Voigtländer
0:50 Construction and looks
2:40 Comparison Voigtländer vs Nikon
7:34 Conclusion
9:38 Final thoughts
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#Voigtländer #58mm #nokton - Jak na to + styl
Outstanding, thoughtful video on one of my favorite lenses. I've never tried it to photograph artwork, but when I have the chance, I will try it. This lens...every time I use it and review images in LR, I say "wow". It's rendering of colors and textures make it the most unique lens that I own. And the black and white images it produces are equally breathtaking.
Thanks, the black and white images coming from this lens are really great!
One of the best lens reviews I have ever watched, period. Great job.
Thank you so much 😊
Thank you very much for your time and effort in making this excellent presentation. You really helped me and I appreciate it. Kind regards from Peter Bennett (Victoria, Australia.)
Glad I could help you!
Great review! A bit off topic, just wanna say how much I love your paintings. Beautiful !
Thank you. I am first and foremost a painter.
This F-mount lens deserves no less than to be paired with Nikon D700 , D850 , Z6 , Z7.
For sure!
Nikon Df !!! ;)
Delighted to have discovered your channel and I greatly appreciated your well-reasoned evaluation of the Nokton 58/1.4, including your high regard for its build quality. I did not realize Cosina was building the high-end Zeiss lenses as well, but owning the Zeiss Milvus 135/2, I get a promising feeling for the Nokton's likely solidity and feel. In my case, I would look forward to mating it with both my Nikon film SLRs and my Canon D-SLRs (both APS-C and Full-Frame) via an adaptor with focus confirmation chip, which will add that extra assurance when shooting wide-open.
Interestingly, I discovered your review while considering purchase of the Cosina re-imagining of the Topcor 58/1.4 (with M42 mount) and learning that there is an apparent close similarity between internal design of that lens and this one. Looks like it's going to be a difficult choice, but your review certainly does have me leaning toward the Nokton, your comment regarding rubber focus rings being a factor. Aside from that, the Nokton does remind me of both the heavier/older Nikon MF lenses as well as the all-metal luxurious feel of the 1960s/'70s Asahi Pentax Takumars.
Anyhow, I have subscribed and will look forward to more of your equipment reviews.
P.S: Your cat painting is a genuine smile-maker!
Thanks Steve! This Nokton is a real gem that you will be very pleased and proud to own and use such a fine piece of glass. I highly recommend it!
Fascinating the effect of lead on color rendering. Also absolutely love ❤️ your paintings!
Thank you!
Exactly why I own both the 58 and now the 40 for my Nikon Df. The color rendition and Zeiss 3D pop are amazing. Goes well with my Zeiss Distagon T* lenses.
They are great!
How good is the Nikon Df? I’ve heard alot of bad reviews
@@yokakeshinowakane The Df is an excellent camera body. It has the sensor from the D4 and renders wonderful color. Try to rent one if you can find it and see for yourself.
@@yokakeshinowakane i was kinda disappointed. Ergonomics doesn't seem to make sense. Only make sense if u buy second hand for reasonable price.
I keep it as general walk around camera when I want film like experience.
Voigtlander lenses are great companions to this camera.
You have made me fall in love with this lens.
great! It is indeed a wonderful manual focus lens.
This is a very nice review. Thank you!
Glad you like it!
Very useful review. Many thanks!
Thanks for watching!
This lens lives on my Nikon D700. Works great as manual focus lens with the focus confirmation dot on my 12mp D700. I set my internal menu to allow the aperture to be set via the ring, just like an old school Nikkor. Also, I bought the expensive Voightlander hood made for this lens, which is very functional and includes a slip on cap.
Love this lens.
Great to hear that!
Good video! I have that lens also and love it. When I focus manually, I focus on what I want. It is not always the case with autofocus 😊
Absolutely true, although focusing on f1/4 can sometimes be a challenge.
I bought this a couple of years ago and love it. Totally agree.
Yes, a great lens!
Excellent video , thanks Wim .
Thanks Pierre 👍
Great video, I am now your subscriber. I shoot Nikon and Fuji and this lens is a visitor on several of my camera bodies. Thanks to a feature called focus peaking, the Fuji is better in manual focusing and that is how I prefer using it. A very inexpensive first generation Fuji X-M1 is a wonderful tool combined with this Voigt 58.
Love to hear that!
one more coment and than I leave it by that 😊 during my analog times I worked myself up to Leica, Rollei (Karl Zeiss ) Voigtländer, Meyer Görlitz and Schneider Kreuznach Lenses and so I was not to convinced by the new Voigtländer lenses made by Cosina, knowing that Brand still from the old day's. This Video changed that. When you mentioned that you are a painter and you use this lense for reproduction ,it made '' click '....' now I know where I can catecorise this lense for best use.. that convinsed me. I realy love your videos, they are from good value to me. Even shooting for more than half a centurie SLR's I still learned something today. Keep up your good work,
Thank you very much, I often use the Voigt 58mm to photograph my paintings, the colors are very accurate.
Superb review. I have a few normal lenses including the Sigma Art 50mm f1.4 and had been using the Zeiss Otus 55mm f1.4 routinely in my model photography. I owned this same Voigtlander 58mm f1.4 for a couple of years but never really gave it a thorough try even though i love the bokeh...so recently i was shocked to find out that it's rendering and contrast and of course the colors were even a bit more appealing at f1.4 than my Zeiss Otus 55mm. So now it's starting to take more center stage in my collection so i definitely agree with all of your points. It's one of the little known gems in the photography world.
Hi Tom, thank you for your nice comment!
Thank you! I found this review just now.
You are the first painter 🎨
who has spoken of lens qualities for reproduction of artwork.
I, too, am an artist and need lenses to be distortion-free.
I chose the now discontinued Zeiss ZM Biogon 1:4,5/21mm for it's zero distortion, over the f2.8 version. (although the 4,5 /21 has problems with digital sensors.) I document on both digital and film.
I am guessing this Voigtlander is also perfectly rectilinear.
Thanks. Kevin.
Hi Kevin.
For reproduction I prefer the old Nikon 55mm f/2.8
AF MICRO-NIKKOR for zero distortion and color rendering.
I own the Voigtlander 58mm f/1.4 SL IIs (latest version of this lens). The focusing experience is so smooth that it makes me enjoy manual focusing on my Nikon Z6 with the FTZ II adapter. The focus peaking function of mirrorless cameras make accurate manual focusing a lot easier. I also love the fact that the SL IIs was designed to look like Nikon's AI-S lenses including the rabbit ears. However, the Z6 (and other Nikon mirrorless cameras I believe) do not recognize the aperture you are using unlike with DSLR cameras. It will only show the maximum aperture on the EXIF data based on what you entered in the non-CPU lens menu. That is not an issue for me personally because I can set the aperture with the aperture ring on the lens.
Thanks, focus peaking is a great feature indeed!
Got mine about 3 years ago and I highly recommend it.
I prefer it over my 50 f1.8.
Excellent review!
Thanks!
Great review - I also have the 58, it is one of the best lenses I own
Glad you like it!
excellent review. I have used the Voigtlander 40mm f2 on my Nikon film cameras for over 10 years. I think I need a 58mm now for portraits
The 58mm is even better!
Nice to meet you, I'm Japanese.
Until now, I have only used Nikkor lenses.
I recently bought this lens.
I haven't taken any pictures yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out.
I don't understand English very well, but I can understand what you're saying.
Great, nice to hear from you.
verry interesting, I didn't know, that there is lead in the glas of that lenses... learned something new... good video.
thanks!
I got the Voigtländer 58mm/1.4 SLII Rubberband version back in 2009. Since then I added the 40mm/2 Ultron, 90mm/3.5 APO-Lanthar and the 28mm/2.8 Color-skopar. The 58mm and the 28mm works perfect for travel (using D600) - the 28mm is crazy sharp at all apertures, and wow the colors are nice :D
Great collection you have there.🤩
I have Nikkor 28mm 2.8 and 85mm 1.4, both of them AI-S. Despite they both have the same mulicoating, colors on 85mm are much better than 28mm, but 28mm is so small and can be focused almost few inches from the front lens - it gives good magnificatin ratio 1:4, so I've recommended try this lens, they very cheap, Shooting on my old D600 too
I still think the best manual lens you can buy for any system is the Zeiss Distagon 35mm f/2. There's also a couple of well known leica lenses which may just edge it out, but they are way more expensive. But the 58mm voightlander is definitely in my top 5 all time best manual lenses.
100% true
Well done. Thank you.
Thanks!
That model is so pretty 😅
Had this lens and sold it. Now I’m getting back for my “new” FM2.
That seems like a nice combination!
Nice review :) I came in contact with this lens after researching the best 50 overall for my Nikons. I had pretty much all the 50s i the past, and also had the Nikkor 58 Noct in past as well as the 58 G lens. When i fell in love with Film photography for the second time and got myself some Nikon FE2s and FM3a etc i wanted a manual 50 lens i soem reviews pointed to this Voigtländer. In the end i decided to get it, its a beautiful lens. And while i agree with most of what you say one has to remember one thing that i noticed on mine. It overexpose the image by about 2-3 stops. I was horrified at first to notice it on my DF while shooting , but after doing some research on the net i saw many others had the same thing and while some apparently seemed to have copies without that problems, many people even sending it back to get a new one fro Voigtländer got a new sample back and had the same problem,
Knowing that compensating for it is not a big deal, also i find the problem worse on a digital body, its not as prominent on film. And the film bodies was my main reason to get it. Also i ended up getting a 3 stop ND filter which i now use on my 58 together with the Df. A great combo now:) Other than that its a lovely lens!
/Regards Martin.
Thanks for your story Martin.
I follow you in the fact that the Voigtländer has a tendency to overexpose. Although on my copy it goes to 1/3 to 2/3 of a stop.
Knowing your gear is extremely important in photography to achieve great results.
On my D810 and D500 I use the highlight-Weighted Metering Mode in 90% of the cases because I want to retain as much information as possible in the highlights.
Shadows are a lot easier to recover versus highlights in post-process. Especially with this Nokton, this is a point to keep in mind.
If you do indeed know how to deal with this 'shortcoming' then this lens can be a fantastic lens.
Something that I have seen.... when I use this lens on my Nikon D700 and the aperture set to the minimum to allow control of the f-stop via the control wheel, I also got over exposure. I went into the F menu and set it to allow control of the f-stop via the aperture ring and every exposure is perfect.
This is the same on this 58mm and the Voightlander 40mm f/2.
@@albertsmith9315 Wow really :) i hope this is the case for me on mine as well, going to try it out tomorrow. Thank you for the info! /regards Martin.
El viernes encargué esta lente.
Dentro de unos ocho días la tendré a mi disposición.
Hasta ahora tenía el Zeiss Planar 1,4/50 ZF.
Un cordial saludo.
Good luck Josep!
Thank you for a superb review! I started my voyage into photography in the seventies, with an Asahi Pentax ESII and a Takumar SMC 50mm f1.4 lens. I now have so much modern equipment, but how I miss the feel of that old Takumar focusing ring! I am now seriously considering both this Voigtlander and the Zeiss Planar T 50mm f1.4 ZF.2 for my Nikon D850. I think they both recapture the magic of the old bokeh kings.
So true Willem.
Manual focusing is absolutely doable on modern DSLRs, although I found it easier, faster and more accurate on a film camera. Perhaps nostalgia plays a part in this as well, I must admit.
Thanks for a very well considered review which gives me nearly all the information I need to determine whether this lens is for me - or not. I'm inclined to think it is. My remaining doubts are about whether my eyesight can manage manual focus wide open but using my 50mm 1.8 d I have realised that focusing by hand, while it might not be as accurate as autofocus can be, allows me to appreciate where I have focused within my compositions much better - and the plastic nikon's focus ring is physically horrible to turn. Guess I'm going to have to try...
Thank you for your comment David. The Voigtlander focuses very smoothly. For safety's sake, I always take a few extra photos when I focus manually. Zooming in during live view is of course also an option when the opportunity arises.
I have had this lens for a few years now. I cannot say enough about this lens. The all metal focus ring is BUTTERY SMOOTH to turn (1,000,000 times better than the plastic Nikon 50mm 1.8G lens) and has a LONG focus throw. Which means, you can make really fine focus adjustments with ease. The ONLY negative with this lens is that you can get minor chromatic aberrations when shooting wide open in high contrast environments. In that case, use an ND filter in bright light or stop down to 1.6 or 1.8. Otherwise, it's a lens that is a DREAM to use.
This is the best lens I've had even though I prefer Nikkor 55mm f 1.2 for its outstanding, quirky character.
Voigt 58mm makes well corrected, pleasant & beautiful pics in ff class which is alike leica or mf (just closest I can think of).
I've been trying to sell it for long time but could not justify selling it for less than 350$. So far just settled to keep it as long as it lasts )))
Great review, keep it up!
Thanks for your comment! The colors of this lens are so great!
What price?
About $550 new.
@@WimBals thanks
I have the 55mm F2.8 micro Nikon AIS. Very sharp little lens and I prefer the little extra focal length over the 50mm.
Great lens indeed!
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
You’re welcome!
Interesting lens. I’ve been trying to figure out what it is about the rendering of the 58mm 1.4G. There’s just something special about how they render images which captivates me. I’ve also heard other statements made about lead glass being a major contributor to how some of the other lenses such as Zeiss render colors and 3D subjects. I find this all super intriguing and fascinating. Two questions pop out to me from all this: can optical filtration match this, can we do some post processing wizardry, or is this something which truly boils down to the optical engineering of both the glass and trade offs in glass manufacturing? I find it really interesting that you spoke as highly of this lens from an art reproduction standpoint, as many would have us believe that a lens cannot “accurately” reproduce art if it’s introducing imperfections (eg it’s not sharp enough). So, the million dollar question here is whether leaded optics is a necessary evil or if there’s other ways of attaining the magical rendering qualities of these lenses. I cannot find any faults with them. The more I learn about lens design the more confused and fascinated I become with it all. Thanks for doing this insightful review!
Thank you for your comment. I also have the Nikon 58mm 1.4G and it has the advantage of being an autofocus lens.
Compared to the Voigtlander, the Nikon has a different 'character'
A review of the Nikon 58mm will follow on this channel.
To answer your question, it's hard to match the physical properties in post process.
For me personally, I think the Nikon 58 mm has a nicer bokeh than the Voigtlander, and a better color reproduction.
Although the Voigtlander remains a very nice lens for its price!
Amazing art work reproduction. That’s a topic you should cover if not done so already. Thanks
Thank you Jon! The videos of my paintings are among the photography videos on my channel.
I love my hexagon 58mm 1.2 but the the Nokton is a sensational lens 🤠
Great lens indeed.
I recently bought the Voigtlander 55mm f/1.2 sliis. The color rendering is very nice and this lens contains even a Nikon cpu for F-mout for a lens with aperture f1.2 The cpu give better control with the dslr.
Great, Voigtlander lenses are unique indeed.
Groetjes! Very nice!
Very interesting, thank you for this video! Could you tell me, how this lens works in night cityscape shoting if you did it? What about ghost, glares, photos against sun, is voigtlander lens multi-coating better than modern af-s nikkor's? And which lens is better - manual focus Zeiss Ikon 50mm 1.4 or that lens?
Thank you!
I have not noticed much flare with this lens.
The Voigtlander is superior to my Nikon and Sigma glass in my opinion.
I have not been able to make a comparison with the Zeiss 50mm.
But the 8mm difference in focal length is perhaps also an element to take into account.
I don't think you can go wrong with the lens for cityscape photography.
This 58mm Nokton is an exceptional lens at a very good price.
Cheers,
Wim
Very good information, thanks! With my Nikon D300 I'll get a 87mm portrait-lens look. Especially for this purpose a 1.4/87mm for about 550 euros it's a bargain and also lightweigt (Nikkor 1.4/85 AIS = 620 g).
Thanks Reinhart!
Informative video, but I think the magenta cast you speak of comes from the magenta lights in the subject area.
Thanks for your input Chris.
Should the magenta cast be from the environment, both lenses would display it.
However, only the Nikon lens shows this light magenta cast in the white areas of the photo. Due to the rendering of this video by CZcams, this cast may be more difficult to see in the video.
I really miss that lens. I hope and pray they make the 58mm 1.4 for the Fuji XF Mount one day.
You never know what Voigtländer might do...
You can buy a K&F F mount adapter
Excellent presentation. I would like to know your opinion compared to the NIKKOR AF 55 f2.8mm lens.
Thank you very much, the Voigtlander shows a drop in depth of field faster than the 55mm. This gives you more separation between the subject and the background. The bokeh of the Voigtlander is also a lot more pleasant than the Nikon, even at the same aperture values.
Also, the construction of the lens is night and day difference.
Naturally, this lens does not have AF, so you spend more time focusing. If you can live with this, then you have an exceptional lens for relatively little money.
Thank you very much
Thank you for all this great information. Can this lens be compared to the Nikor 50 mm f 2.0 AI which supposedly is sharper than the summicron? I recently purchased a d610 and also the 50 1.8g. Now I am a bit disppointed in the colours and character and like the old 50mm f 2.0 more. I also have the 1.8 pancake ai but this one also has less contrast. Today I took some pictures with my 85 1.8 afd and these are far better and sharper than with the 1.8 50mm G.
The Voigt is a lot better than the 50mm g in terms of color. Sharpness is comparable to the 85mm d.
I can’t give you any advice on the other options because I don’t own them.
@@WimBals Thank you!
Excellent video. Thank you.
I was looking for a Nikkor-S.C. 55mm f/1.2 AI, but your video has convinced me otherwise.
Glad I could help. You will not regret purchasing this lens.
On top you have a brand new lens without a 'past' versus the Nikkor-S.C. 55mm f/1.2 AI.
Have fun!
❤️🙏
I just purchased it, along with its lens hood LH-58s, from B&H Photo.
Let us know what your findings are with this lens.
Wonderful review. This lens is very impressive. However, I already use my old Nikon 55mm f3.5 lens with an adapter on my Fuji XT3, with very good results, and I am not sure whether it is worthwhile buying another manual focus lens with a similar focal length that has perhaps slightly better color rendition.
Depends if you want a f/1.4 vs a f/3.5.
@@WimBals Thanks
I had it,i have the new one and the only other lens that i would use except this is the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 for it's sharpness but except that.....the voigtlander 58 it's the best lens money can buy,there is no competitor in the 50-60mm lens.
I completely agree with you. I also use the Sigma 50mm ART for ultimate sharpness and when I need AF.
This lens is magical on skin tone rendition
I did multiple Art Nude photo shoots with this lens, with great results.
Regards Rien from The Netherlands.
Hartelijk dank voor je inbreng!
Graag gedaan Wim
wish you would do a follow up and post some shots wide open to show how much CA and LoCA it renders in high contrast situations. i have not used it but have seen shots under these situations that required PP to remove. i know the reasons and i know how to correct it, so no need to state that. i just want to know what to expect under these situations and whether this corrects or not. yes, i know it's not an APO lens either :-) TIA // rick in japan
In my experience, there is some chromatic aberration present at full aperture of this lens, in high-contrast situations.
Now you will be able to see that almost with every lens fully open.
Not disturbing enough for me to ignore the further qualities of this lens.
Is this lens perfect?
No, definitely not, but I can't deny that this lens has its own 'character' that I like.
Can you compare it to the Carl Zeiss 50mm F1.4 ZF2? I'm using CZ 50mm ZF2 and don't know if I should switch to Voigtlander?
Sorry, I don't have the Zeiss lens I'm afraid.
Thanks for the comparison. Its very helpful. Is it better than nikkor 50 mm f/1,4. If yes I would love to sell mine to purchase Voigt 58
If you have the cash, the 58mm f/1.4 Nikon is becoming my favorite lens of all time.
So much character!
Yet, the Voigt is better built.
@@WimBals so you are saying the only difference is of built quality
No, the Voigt has a harsher bokeh, different kind of rendering, and lacks the AF of course.
At f/1.4 it isn't always easy to nail focus on a dslr.
You can see my review of the Nikon 58mm on my channel.
Both are great lenses.
May I ask if this also fit a Nikon f3 film camera ? Thank you !
Normally that should work.
Good video, but why you didn't compare to Nikon's 58mm 1.4? It is amazing lens and the comparison would be more fare and accurate imo.
You are absolutely right, I just didn't have the two together when testing this lens.
If I still had to choose a winner, I would choose the Voigtländer.
@@WimBals I had the 40mm f2 and also had the Nikon 58mm 1.4 and loved them both... A lot. It would be very close fight between the two 58mm imo
It is all very subjective... rightfully so; enjoy what you love and cherish!
That's right, a lot of options to choose from.
Hey there, how can you shoot this lens using the lens's manual aperture settings ( NOT CPU ) on a DF/810/850 in Aperture Priority Mode ( like on a F3 ) ????
Set this lens to f/16, then you can use the aperture priority setting like any other lens.
Menu > Custom Setting Menu > Controls > Customize Command Dials > Aperture Setting > Aperture Ring ON
Would be interesting to compare the VOIGTLANDER NOKTON 58MM F/1.4 SLII with the Nikon 58mm f1.4 AF-S G and with the Voigtlander 50mm f1.2 Nokton.
Hi, the Voigt 58mm is better than the Nikon for me.
@@WimBals I have the 58mm F1.4 G and i love how it renders the photos for portraits, but do you think the NOKTON 58MM F/1.4 is better?
Hmm. since the nikon is more expensive it would be cheaper to switch...
whish is better with the new voiglander 55 1.2?
I think the 58mm has a more classical look. The 55mm has a more modern rendering.
I prefer the 58mm, but the difference is minimal once stoped down.
If you have to chose between this lens and Voltrox 56mm 1.4, which one would you go for?
Unfortunately I have not used the Viltrox yet. The Voigtlander, on the other hand, is a dreamy, sharp, well-built manual focus lens.
by the way....used Minolta at my analog times too.... I still havent forgiven Minolta for given it all to Sony 😄😄😄
I used the Minolta X700 in the early days.
If this lens is the 7artisan 50mm f1.1 Leica lens, which one is better?
I don't have the 7artisan lens so I can't give you any advice.
Is there any way I can use it on a Canon camera?
To do so, you'll need a Nikon to Canon lens adapter.
@@WimBals does it loses performance?
No, it just change the mount.
How can I get this lens Bangalore India I am having D6 Nikon
www.mysticfocus.in is the official distributor in India.
Good luck!
Q: Does Nokton mean that this lens has no coma smear with points of light? (that seems to be the implication)
I didn't tested it for coma smear, however the 58mm f/1.4 G Nikon is really good for that.
This lens put all 50mm lenses to shame. However, I don't think it's fair to compare it to Nikkor 50mm 1.8G, it should be compared to at least the Nikkor 50mm 1.4G or 58mm 1.4G.
I was also able to test this lens after the video against 50mm f:1.4 and 58mm f:1.4 and here too the Voigtländer was clearly the best.
Maybe I'll make a new video with all these lenses in a test.
Cheers
Look like an old Nikon Ais lens
It certainly does, it's a huge difference with the current plastic lenses.
Cosina lens
That's right
Ecellent review. I have used this lens even to photograph insects with pretty good results. My Sigma 105 macro lens is dead in comparison when it comes to color rendition. One aspect of this lens that you did not evaluate is micro contrast. Micro contrast is the inner tonal detail that can be seen in an image when it is converted to B&W. Uncle Kenny demonstrates this phenomenon in this video. czcams.com/video/9JuqgS5KC2E/video.html
Thanks for your comment.
Maybe the aspect of micro contrast is missing in this review.
I’ve a review of the 55mm micro where I speak about this phenomenon: czcams.com/video/OyG3YbnxxoA/video.html
No, il disegno è basato sul Topcor 5,8cm 1,4 della Tokio Kogaku Kikai.
Thanks