35/1.2 Aspherical Nokton

Although this lens is not particularly old, it is destined to be a classic. This lens is described here and has been thoroughly tested by Erwin Puts< from the pratical perspective his review can be summed up in two quotes. First, "...the performance at the wider apertures is quite acceptable and quite uniform over most of the image area. When using films like Tri-X, its high acutance and good edge sharpness can compensate the softness of the Nokton edge detail" and secondly, "The Nokton 1.2/35mm Aspherical is a good performer at smaller apertures, but at the wider apertures, it is just acceptable". There is an article about the lens on Luminous Landscape.

I have used this lens on an Epson R-D1 and a Voigtlander R2. I have also placed it on a Leica CL. This latter combination is unweildy. Such a big lens really needs to mounted on a largish body for balance.

I used the lens extensively to produce a series on my fotopage called Edinburgh City of Darkness and Shadows. The lens was mounted my Olive R2 and the film was XP2 Super. The pictures were taken during the festival so there were actually plenty of people about (although I was careful to exclude them from some pictures. I used these to produce a slide show for my friends. I used the program PROSHOW GOLD (I am typing this on a laptop at my parents and do not have the show available but I will put on the web when I get home). Here is an example of the pictures:



Here is an example using it on an R-D1


My view of the lens is that it is good enough in the extreme circumstances that it is likely to be used.

The obvious conclusion is that if you photography is mainly in good light conditions and you wish to travel light then the Nokton is not the lens for you. However, if you work at the limits of handheld available light photography then the lens is a suitable obtion.