Voigtlander NOKTON 1.4 / 21 Aspherical

A review and photo examples of the NOKTON 21mm f/1.4

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Gallery

Sample photo taken with the HASSELBLAD X2D.

Review

Cosina Voigtlander’s Nokton 21mm F1.4 is a large-diameter wide-angle lens released in 2020.

With this lens, I used Cosina lenses for the first time in a while. It was a lens with specs that made me want to use it because I love the focal length of 21mm. Compared to the Leica Summilux M 21mm with the same specs, it’s a good thing that the price is within the reach of the average person.

Perhaps because it is a Leica M lens that does not have high-performance electronic contacts, negative aspects such as distortion correction and color bleeding that tend to be corrected with software are not noticeable. Not only is it a large aperture lens, but I feel that the optical performance of the lens is high among various lenses.

The thick lens barrel with a 62mm filter diameter is heavy and makes you feel like you’re using a SLR lens. This time, I attached it to HASSELBLAD X2D and took pictures. Even when the aperture was wide open, I was able to easily find the focal plane using the X2D’s EVF.
Thanks to the crop function added in X2D firmware 2 0.0, images are produced without problems even at the periphery in 35mm 3:2 format, but when the 44*33 sensor is used to its fullest, light reduction is seen in the periphery and the resolution decreases. If you want to make the center of the image stand out, you can enjoy a wide image equivalent to 17mm. The X2D does not have a mechanical shutter, so it uses a sensor shutter. I didn’t have a Leica M-type camera with me when I had this lens, so I couldn’t confirm the focusing accuracy due to double images. This is a lens that I would like to try on the Leica M Digital someday.

X2D crop

The Nocton 21mm F1.4 has a Sony E-mount version with the same name, and although the lens configuration is the same as the VM version, the functions and other product specifications are different. The biggest difference is the minimum focusing distance, which is 0.25m for the Sony E version, which is shorter than the 0.5m for the VM version. The Sony E-mount version is about 100g heavier and has a slightly larger lens barrel, and the price is 165,000 yen (excluding tax), a 10% increase. It seems to be a trend of the times that they are optimizing the functions, rather than simply changing the lens mount like in old Cosina products.

Cosina has released lenses with a focal length of 21mm in four apertures under the Voigtlander brand: F1.4, F1.8, F3.5, and F4. Personally, I have used many lenses with a focal length of 21mm, and the Voigtlander brand used the Color Scopar 21mm F4 in the R-D1 and M8 in the past.
I also used other companies’ 21mm lenses, such as MS-Optics’ PERAR 21mm, CONTAX G 21mm, LEICA’s SUPER ANGLON, and ELMARIT M, but I don’t have many of them left on hand.

Specification

Items	NOKTON	ULTRON	COLOR-SKOPAR Vintage Line	COLOR-SKOPAR
Focal length(mm)	21	21	21	21
Max aperture	1.4	1.8	3.5	4
Min aperture	16	22	22	22
Leaf blade	12	10	←	←
Lens Construction	13 elements in 11 groups	13 elements in 11 groups	9 elements in 8 groups	8 elements in 6 groups
Min distance(m)	0.5	←	←	←
Lens length(mm)	69.7	78.4	30	25.4
Max diameter(mm)	69.5	69.0	52	55
Filter Size(mm)	62	58	39	39
Weight(g)	480	412	180/220	136(VM)
Lens mount	VM	VM	VM	VM/L
Release date	2020.2.27	2012.12.19	2019.1.25 2021.12.16	2007.4.25(VM)
Price(Yen/No-tax)	150,000-	118,000	95,000-	55,000(VM)