Filmmakingetc has reviewed the ultra fast Voigtlander Nokton 17mm F0.95 lens for Micro Four Thirds system. This lens is a sequel of F0.95 lens manufactured by Voigtlander for Micro Four Thirds System being the Voigtlander Nokton 25mm F0.95 their very first.
Panasonic GH2 Micro Four Thirds Compact System Camera With Voigtlander Nokton 17mm F0.95 Lens
This 17mm lens provides a full frame equivalent field of view as a 34mm lens with a depth of field provided by an aperture of F1.9.
Panasonic GH2 Micro Four Thirds Compact System Camera With Voigtlander Nokton 17mm F0.95 Lens
The first impression this lens gives to users is its high quality and durable construction with barrel made out of metal instead of plastics providing lens a high durability coupled with high precision engineering to its construction. The focus ring and iris are butter like smooth and easy to operate without any big effort which is crucial specially when shooting video. As a result of its all metal lens barrel construction the Nokton 17mm F0.95 is not a lightweight lens. It weighs 540 grams making it the heaviest of all lens specially made for Micro Four Thirds mount. Due to its all manual interface the micro four thirds mount lacks a chip and therefore no EXIF information is passed out to camera.
Panasonic GH2 Micro Four Thirds Compact System Camera With Voigtlander Nokton 17mm F0.95 Lens 1
A well thought of part of engineering of this lens was the inclusion of a lens hood which prevents glare from occurring at a high rate (which is not easy to control when shooting wide open).
Voigtlander Nokton 17mm F0.95 Lens for Micro Four Thirds Compact System Cameras Plastic Lens Cap
Although this lens is full of many pluses there also some minuses specially the usage of a plastic lens cap.
The lens has a minimum focusing distance of 15cm which makes it quite versatile and where you can take some up close photos of flowers or other interesting objects you may be interested and have superb results when shooting wide open making you able to truly isolate the focus parts from the non focus ones.
Voigtlander Nokton 17mm F0.95 Lens for Micro Four Thirds Compact System Cameras sample photo
Voigtlander Nokton 17mm F0.95 Lens for Micro Four Thirds Compact System Cameras sample photo
Voigtlander Nokton 17mm F0.95 Lens for Micro Four Thirds Compact System Cameras sample photo
Voigtlander Nokton 17mm F0.95 Lens for Micro Four Thirds Compact System Cameras sample photo
Voigtlander Nokton 17mm F0.95 Lens for Micro Four Thirds Compact System Cameras sample photo
Also below we can find some videos taken with the Panasonic GH2 and the Nokton 17mm F0.95:
Their overall conclusion on this lens is that besides having a superb construction quality, smooth operation rings for aperture, focus it also provides superb image quality in both video and stills modes. However all this comes out at a high price as this lens can not be purchased for less than 1299 EUR and a heavy weight being actually the heaviest native lens for Micro Four Thirds Compact System Cameras.
