A new lens arrives, a Voitlander 29mm f0.8, hmmmmm
There are a few different schools of thought when it comes to getting to know a new lens. It is widely recommended that you put it on your camera and don’t take it off until you can understand how it works. It is the process of using something that we get to understand how it works. This is the same for taking photographs of something. Sometimes when I explore a lens and as I get to know it, I eventually reach the conclusion that it isn’t for me. Some of my wide angle lenses have been like that, as have the few zooms I have owned. So some get sold and moved on.
Well, this time the opposite is happening… This new lens is now in strong contention to take my revered Voitlander 25mm f0.95 lens off its perch as my favourite lens. I still haven’t really decided, but it is in hot contention atm and in so many ways it is pulling ahead so easily.
So I just have to keep using it and see. I will write a review. Once I start to make some conclusions. Right now I can tell you, that it is just lovely. Have a look for yourself.
So what is this new lens? It is the latest offering from Voitlander. It is the Voigtlander Super Nokton 29mm f/0.8 Aspherical Lens for Micro Four Thirds. It’s magic secret ingredients are two ground elements. This lens equates to a 58mm. Though as I shoot square I really should work out the equivalence between square medium format cameras as I am always cropping so much of the image away.
Basically it is a fast normal lens, with a little bit on the tele end. Manual focus, heavy and made of metal.
It renders so so differently to the Voitlander 25mm f0.95. Gone are the blurry adorations that made so many of my photographs glow in such an unusual manner. The glow for close up flowers was in some ways similar to the Oriton Effect. Which is a technique gorgeous in it’s own right. That is where you combine two photographs together, one in focus and one out of the same subject. This new lens has removed that totally from what I can see so far. This softness was also the reason I didn’t bond so well with the Lensbaby velvet too.
This is a good thing as so often it used to upset me. Not being able to control it.
The other thing about the 29mm is that the bokeh is much much more ‘buttery’ smooth. A term I borrowed from Kai W. The 29mm is so soft, while the 25mm often leant towards chattery.
Lastly, this lens is noticeably sharper wide open. Stopped down it far out resolves my sensor and I am sure is sharper that my 25mm which for many years actually held the record as the sharpest micro four thirds lens for quite a long while. Not that I do tests, I just look at my photographs and see what I notice. Anyway so far so good.
Well, it is beautiful, and I will continue to play with it in the spring flowers. I’ll let you know once I write a full review. Subscribe to the Len’s Journal Newsletter so that it arrives in your inbox.
I have my feet up this week after the exhaustion of the presentation to the Royal Photographic Society. I haven’t put so much effort into a presentation before. I was still nervous though, and each time I look at it I can only see my mistakes. Cyan is here, so we are off canoeing again today.
All photographs taken with the Voigtlander Super Nokton 29mm f/0.8 Aspherical Lens for Micro Four Thirds on an Olympus EM-1 mark ii. All are shot wide open at f0.8.
You can order one from Scott, a climbing buddy from my teenage years, if you live here in Australia. https://mainlinephoto.com.au/voigtlander-super-nokton-29mm-f-0-8-aspherical-lens-for-micro-four-thirds-pre-order-for-dec-delivery/
Photographs and text copyright © Len Metcalf 2021
