Voigtlander NOKTON VM 40mm F1.4
Review and Photo example of the Voigtlander NOKTON 40mm f/1.4.
Table of contents
Gallery
- The Film photo example were taken with Rollei 35RF and KONICA SINBI200/KODAK PKR-64/KODAK ULTRA COLOR100
- The photo examples were taken with EPSON R-D1
Review
Nokton 40mm F1.4 is a standard VM mount lens released by Cosina Voigtlander in 2004.
This is the first VM lens from Cosina Voigtlander. Two types of lens surface coatings were released at the same time: MC, which has a multi-coat, and SC, which has a single coat. Although it has been remodeled to type 2, it is a long-lived lens that can still be purchased new as of 2023. The lens structure is a modified Gaussian type, with a wall-like lens in the center.
This lens was released at the time when film cameras and digital cameras were in transition, and I used it with both film and digital cameras.
If you look at the results from the photo archives, you can see that he used both reversal film and negative film, and that he liked them at the time. Konica and Kodak film are used in the photographic examples, but Fujifilm also uses film.
The bokeh is straightforward, and I feel that this lens is compatible with film. I used both SC and MC lenses, and I didn’t notice any noticeable differences between them.
In 2017, the Nocton 40mm F1.2 was released with the same name but an aperture of 1.2. However, it has a modern lens configuration that uses aspherical lenses, so you can hardly feel any connection to this lens.
It is well known that this Nocton name originally came from the 50mm F1.5 for the original Voigtlander Prominent, but Cosina uses this name generically for large aperture lenses with small apertures.
Specification
| Items | NOKTON F1.4 | NOKTON F1.2 |
| Focal length(mm) | 40 | 40 |
| Max aperture | 1.4 | 1.2 |
| Min aperture | 16 | 22 |
| Leaf blade | 10 | ← |
| Lens Construction | 7elements in 6groups | 8elements in 6groups |
| Aspherical lens | Not adopted | Adopted |
| Min distance(m) | 0.7 | 0.5 |
| Lens length(mm) | 29.7 | 43.3 |
| Max diameter(mm) | 55 | 60.8 |
| Filter Size(mm) | 43 | 52 |
| Weight(g) | 175 | 315 |
| Lens mount | VM | ← |
| Release date | 2004.4.10 | 2017.11.22 |
| Price(Yen/No-tax) | SC/MC 50,000- | 120,000 |
Reference links
- NOKTON 40mm F1.4(VM) Official Web-site
- NOKTON 40mm F1.2(VM) Official Web-site
- Leica Lenses of the World Part4 There is an introductory article on p. 74 in the Japanese book.
Update history
- 2024.04.22
- 2023.10.11
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