The Nokton series from Cosina-Voigtlander is highly praised by those who want to work under very difficult light conditions and aspire to have blurred backgrounds. The Nokton family for Micro Four Thirds includes a series of lenses: 10.5 mm, 17.5 mm, 25mm, 42.5mm and 60mm, all with an aperture of f/0,95, in a clear invitation to shoot in semi-darkness with excellent results and a wonderful bokeh.
These lenses are presented by Voigtlander as a solution that filmmakers will appreciate due to the selective iris control system, that allows a flowing and noiseless shutter control. The very short minimum distance in conjunction with the low focus range with open aperture provides the basis for completely new shots, adds the company. Now the Nokton family has a new member, again for Micro Four Thirds: the Voigtländer Super Nokton 29mm f/0.8 Aspherical, the brightest interchangeable lens for photography currently on the market.
According to the information available – original press-release is in Japanese – the large aperture of the lens allows users to “to shoot with just “as-is light” even under extremely low light conditions. It is also the best lens for shooting with shallow focus and beautiful bokeh when the aperture is open.”
“By adopting a proprietary GA (ground aspherical surface) lens for the optical system, it is possible to design with a high degree of freedom using a glass material with a high melting point that cannot be used with a glass mold aspherical surface”, says Cosina-Voigtlander, adding that that ultimate lens design allows to feature an ultra-larger aperture of F0.8, while a compact size and weight that are easy to handle are achieved.
Wide open, the lens offers a straightforward and gentle bokeh that emphasizes the focused motif and creates a three-dimensional effect, but if you stop down the aperture, you will get a very sharp image, meaning you can express a variety of photographs with a single lens. The number of aperture blades is 12, and the out-focus part of the point light source is depicted in a neat shape.
Filmmakers will also appreciate the aperture click switching mechanism. Voigtländer says that with the newly designed system it is possible to open and close the aperture ring steplessly without generating a clicking sound. This eliminates the need to worry about picking up the aperture ring operation sound when recording movies, and also enables absolute depth control by fine-tuning the aperture ring.
Manual focus is also available, and the adoption of an all-metal helicoid unit that has been processed and adjusted with high precision and high-quality grease that produces an appropriate torque, enables a smooth and reliable focus operation.
A metal lens hood with excellent shading effect is standard equipment with the Voigtländer Super Nokton 29mm f/0.8 Aspherical. The lens will be available to preorder in December 2020, with a suggested price around $2100.