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The Nokton Thread (35 mm f/1.2, 40 mm f/1.4, 50 mm f/1.5, 35 mm f/1.4)

ashwinrao1

Active member
So I just got me my Nokton 35 mm f/1.2 back, thanks to Kristian's overtempting, beautiful captures taken with this lens...I believe I have seen superman, and it's Kristian with his camera capturing "superman" in Hollywood.

All of this, along with some playful banter, has gotten me motivated to start a Nokton thread here....

So here goes, my first few revisits to the Nokton 35 mm f/1.2 chrome on the Leica M9....nothing to arty, but heck, I am having fun.

PLEASE share your efforts with this series of lenses which is vastly underrated....



1st shares with the Nokton 35 mm f/1.2








Fun family shots of friends, taken this evening. Surely, there are many out there with fantastic caps with this lens....I'm gonna keep it as a lens cap for a couple of weeks and see what happens...;)
 

leicashot

New member
A very nice start Ashwin, very nice candids indeed, let me see what I can do.....

...so here's a couple from today. All wide open with the 35/1.2 on the M9-P...not amazing photography but I think the lens's character speaks out. All full frame, un-cropped.







 

D&A

Well-known member
1. Ashwin, an auspisious start! Some great candids there. I love that 1st shot...where I presume it's the dad holding his son. What at first appears to be the dad having some fun...just look at the expression on the little ones face and especially his expressive eyes. Looks like he's trying to make eye contact with mom and the other adults with a very worried/puzzled look as though saying, "what the heck is going on..is dad going to take a bit out of me?" Looking forward to see how you progree with the lens, being reaquanted with an old friend (the 35mm f1.2).

2. Kristian, what can I say...besides these which are lovely as usual (and it's hard to decide which are my favorites). I also have a vivid memory of others images you've taken with the 35mm f1.2, that you posted on another forum that were extremely impressive and really showed the character of this lens. Looking forward to seeing more as you have impressive control of both this lens as well as the 0.95 Noct.

3. Simon, I especially like your 3rd image taken with the VC 50mm f1.1 on the Olympus. I agree, the VC 50mm f1.1 shouyld be included in this thread regarding the Noktons.

Dave (D&A)
 

Jerry_R

New member
Good thread Ashwin to start and watch what these lenses, including Nokton 50 1.1 can bring :thumbup:

QUESTION :toocool:
(in the name of your children :LOL: )

What percentage of your family\friends photos are wide open? I mean private memories, not paid job.

The reason I ask is - as I look at family childhood pictures from past, I really value most - the ones that show me the background. Show me environment. Show me the yard I was riding bicycle on, show me the room, parents, dogs, etc.

They were all made with analog 35mm camera. When I look on old family shots from weddings - I mostly search for the ones where I can see faces, people, church, etc. Then I can ask questions to older family members - who was he, who was she :p

You see what I mean?

I am absolutely not against photos with very shallow DOF, but just wanted to remember you, that even if you LOVE them today, after time, in future - you and your children may be more interested in surroundings you were living in. So - do you also, in parallel - take family\friends pictures slightly closed down?

What YOU think?
What are your observations, statistics :rolleyes:
We do not need to talk about opposite extreme, like f/16, but more about f/4 or f/5.6, maybe sometimes f/2.8 or f/8.
 

ashwinrao1

Active member
All very good points, Jerry. I think that there are certainly moments, both present and future, where one wishes to capture foreground and background to capture the essence of a memory. In other cases, it's an expression, a look on the face, that's most important, and subject isolation through narrow depth of field is more appropriate. Both are worthwhile memories and require differing composition. Knowing your photo stream, I know that you appreciate this already. At times, I'll pull out my tri-elmar, which limits me to f/4, in order to capture the "story telling" shots...at other times, subjective isolation is more my flavor. It varies moment by moment, scene by scene. Thankfully, the Noktons afford us cheaper glass to be able to create both looks and lower-than-Leica costs....

though I do love my Leica glass ;)
 

ashwinrao1

Active member
Thanks, Dave. yes, I very much enjoyed that capture and its spontenaeity. The Nokton is an old friend, and I think it's worth another spin. Modeern aspherical Leica glass definitely providers a "look", and the Noktons seems to render a gentler, less critical look, which is good for people photos and other instances....horses for the courses...we'll see if I like getting back on that horse ;)
 

leicashot

New member
Good thread Ashwin to start and watch what these lenses, including Nokton 50 1.1 can bring :thumbup:

QUESTION :toocool:
(in the name of your children :LOL: )

What percentage of your family\friends photos are wide open? I mean private memories, not paid job.

The reason I ask is - as I look at family childhood pictures from past, I really value most - the ones that show me the background. Show me environment. Show me the yard I was riding bicycle on, show me the room, parents, dogs, etc.

They were all made with analog 35mm camera. When I look on old family shots from weddings - I mostly search for the ones where I can see faces, people, church, etc. Then I can ask questions to older family members - who was he, who was she :p

You see what I mean?

I am absolutely not against photos with very shallow DOF, but just wanted to remember you, that even if you LOVE them today, after time, in future - you and your children may be more interested in surroundings you were living in. So - do you also, in parallel - take family\friends pictures slightly closed down?

What YOU think?
What are your observations, statistics :rolleyes:
We do not need to talk about opposite extreme, like f/16, but more about f/4 or f/5.6, maybe sometimes f/2.8 or f/8.

What percentage of your family\friends photos are wide open? I mean private memories, not paid job.


10% are shot wide open because like you said, depth of field is important to memories, unless the background is pointless and I feel more like shooting an isolated portrait instead.

The reason I ask is - as I look at family childhood pictures from past, I really value most - the ones that show me the background. Show me environment. Show me the yard I was riding bicycle on, show me the room, parents, dogs, etc.

They were all made with analog 35mm camera. When I look on old family shots from weddings - I mostly search for the ones where I can see faces, people, church, etc. Then I can ask questions to older family members - who was he, who was she :p

You see what I mean?

I am absolutely not against photos with very shallow DOF, but just wanted to remember you, that even if you LOVE them today, after time, in future - you and your children may be more interested in surroundings you were living in. So - do you also, in parallel - take family\friends pictures slightly closed down?

When dealing with Leica photographers, they love to show off the ability to shoot at shallow depth of field, while maintaining a lot of sharpness at the focus plane, compared to other cameras. While this 'can' make for a nice unique looking image, the photograph does lack the 'more important' information needed to make the picture work as all of the relevant information has been made out of focus. I do bring this up a lot, but really in a thread like this for a super speed lens, you're not going to be seeing images stopped down much past 1 stop from open aperture. A lens's signature is usually only evident around open aperture. Otherwise the picture will look like it was taken with just about any lens.

I'm not sure f/16 is even needed. I haven't shot at f/16 for some time. I find that at close range, shooting people against a background f/4-f/11 is enough to give either good separation to the subject or enough focus to see what's going on in the background. f/16 also usually introduces diffraction making the image less sharp as fast lenses reach their maximum sharpness around 2-3 stops down. but sometimes if maximum focus throughout the image is required, f/16 will take you there.
 

D&A

Well-known member
Wow is right! I've always felt the 35mm f1.2 had a most desirable look without it dominating an image, but simply added to it's character. This pic in my opinion illustrates this nicely.

Dave (D&A)
 

D&A

Well-known member
What percentage of your family\friends photos are wide open? I mean private memories, not paid job.


10% are shot wide open because like you said, depth of field is important to memories, unless the background is pointless and I feel more like shooting an isolated portrait instead.

The reason I ask is - as I look at family childhood pictures from past, I really value most - the ones that show me the background. Show me environment. Show me the yard I was riding bicycle on, show me the room, parents, dogs, etc.

They were all made with analog 35mm camera. When I look on old family shots from weddings - I mostly search for the ones where I can see faces, people, church, etc. Then I can ask questions to older family members - who was he, who was she :p

You see what I mean?

I am absolutely not against photos with very shallow DOF, but just wanted to remember you, that even if you LOVE them today, after time, in future - you and your children may be more interested in surroundings you were living in. So - do you also, in parallel - take family\friends pictures slightly closed down?

When dealing with Leica photographers, they love to show off the ability to shoot at shallow depth of field, while maintaining a lot of sharpness at the focus plane, compared to other cameras. While this 'can' make for a nice unique looking image, the photograph does lack the 'more important' information needed to make the picture work as all of the relevant information has been made out of focus. I do bring this up a lot, but really in a thread like this for a super speed lens, you're not going to be seeing images stopped down much past 1 stop from open aperture. A lens's signature is usually only evident around open aperture. Otherwise the picture will look like it was taken with just about any lens.

I'm not sure f/16 is even needed. I haven't shot at f/16 for some time. I find that at close range, shooting people against a background f/4-f/11 is enough to give either good separation to the subject or enough focus to see what's going on in the background. f/16 also usually introduces diffraction making the image less sharp as fast lenses reach their maximum sharpness around 2-3 stops down. but sometimes if maximum focus throughout the image is required, f/16 will take you there.
Even though some lenses loose their "signature" when stopped down significantly...there are those that maintain a great deal of their character, even when shot at f4 and f5.6. It may be nothing more than their "roundness" and pleasing rendition as opposed to ultra sharp presentation of subject. The Leica 75mm Lux falls into this former category.

Dave (D&A)
 
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