SHOULD BE AVAILABLE MARCH-APRIL 2024
This is not a review and the information is based of publicity material
The Voigtlander 50mm f/1.0 Nokton is a lens that stands out for its high speed of F1.0, making it one of the fastest lenses available. It’s designed for full-frame cameras and is available in several mounts, including the Sony E-Mount.
This lens is part of Voigtlander’s Nokton range, which is known for its high-speed lenses. Despite its large aperture, the 50mm f/1.0 Nokton is impressively compact, measuring 79mm in diameter, 64mm long, and weighing a very reasonable 615g.
The lens has a manual focus design with a smooth focusing ring and a generous throw of around 180 degrees. It extends the barrel by about a centimeter when focusing.
Optically, the design of this lens follows well-established patterns for such a fast lens. The front of the lens is a six-element double-gauss design, which could have been found in any fast normal lens since the 1950s. Built into the rear of the lens is what has become misleadingly known as a ‘speed booster’ with three elements in two groups.
The front lens will have been designed with a longer focal length than the 50mm marked on the lens while the back part reduces that focal length to 50mm thereby reducing the f-number to f/1.0. This is a similar design to the 1966 Zeiss Planar 50mm f/0.7.
The front element of the lens is notable, as its front surface is aspherical. Aspheric surfaces can overcome spherical aberrations that can take many traditional spherical surfaces to correct. However, manufacturing them in quantity has always been very expensive.
The Voigtlander 50mm f/1.0 Nokton is highly regarded for its character and rendering, with beautiful colours and contrast. It may not match the ultimate sharpness or correction of the best mirrorless lenses available, especially wide-open, but more than makes up for it with character.
As of March 2024, the lens was expected to retail for around $1,799.