lenses, Review

REVIEW: Artralab Nocty-NONIKKOR 50mm f/1.2 – An Homage to Classic Nikkor 50mm f/1.2

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Introduction

The Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 is a manual lens that clearly evokes the nostalgic look of classic Nikkor lenses from the 1960s to the 1980s. Combined with the fact that it’s designed and built using modern technology—without being a direct replica—it makes for a lens that feels both exciting and appealing. Its fast aperture in a relatively compact package is also an intriguing combination. Let’s see how it performs!

camera-icon2I tested this lens on a 46 Mp Nikon Z7ii (Sample images were taken with a Nikon Zf )
You can see this review as a YouTube video here!
Sample images in high resolution here.

Sample Images

Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2

Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2

Most of the sample images in this review and many more can be found in higher resolution here.

Specifications

Focal Length 50mm
Angle of View 46°
# of Aperture Blades 11
Max Aperture F/1.2
Min Aperture F/16
Min Focus Distance 0.35 m
Filter Size 52mm
Lens Mount Sony E , Nikon Z, Fuji X
Weight 560 g
Size (D x L) 72 x 83 mm
Elements/Group 8/6
Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 on a Nikon Z7ii
Buy new: B&H, Amazon (anywhere), Artralab store for $550 (Affiliate links)

Disclosure

Artralab kindly provided this lens for test and review purposes. This review is of course, as always, completely independent.

Handling and Build Quality

The Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 is relatively small for a lens of this specification, but it feels dense and heavy for its size due to the all-metal construction. It gives a solid, high-quality impression when held.

It’s clear that Artralab drew a lot of inspiration from the classic Nikkor f/1.2 lenses in designing this one. However, I wouldn’t say it’s an exact replica of any specific model in terms of shape.

The lens features a generously wide, hill-valley style focusing ring that is well-damped and turns smoothly through about 190–200°. The scalloped design is reminiscent of 1960s Nikkor lenses, somewhat similar to the original Nikon 1.2—the Nikkor-S 55mm f/1.2 from 1965.

Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2

This lens carries the “Nocty” designation, which immediately brings to mind Nikon’s second f/1.2 lens—the Noct-Nikkor 58mm f/1.2 from 1977. The silver collar with the depth of field scale uses the same colour coding as the Noct, as well as the third Nikon f/1.2 lens.

The aperture ring features full-stop clicks (except at f/1.2, of course), with values engraved and ink-filled. The colour coding here also matches what we see on the second and third Nikkor f/1.2 lenses.

And lastly, the 50mm focal length matches that of the third Nikon 1.2 lens.

So, you get something from each of the historical lenses in this design.

Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2

The lens is fully manual, with no electronic contacts on the mount, and it does not feature autofocus or in-lens stabilisation. There’s no weather sealing either, but the build feels tight and solid. It comes with standard plastic rear and front caps, plus a metal lens hood that is secured with a small thumbscrew.

Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | Front/rear caps + lens hood

Unlike most Chinese manual focus lenses, the aperture values on the ring are evenly spaced, similar to classic Nikon lenses. This is good. However, a rather peculiar thing, my tests showed that moving from one aperture click to the next does not always result in a precise doubling or halving of the light passing through the aperture. In the following table you can see my finding, I have also included values from a Nikon 50mm f/1.4 for comparison.

Aperture change vs. light transmission change for Nocty-Nonikkor 50/1.2 and Nikkor 50/1.4 AIS

Practically, this means you’ll get 1/3-stop increments at the wider apertures and 2/3-stop steps in the middle range—which can be useful, but also a bit confusing, especially if you’re used to standard full-stop spacing. It also means you don’t get actual f/8 or f/11 positions on the lens. The f-stop markings are there and the aperture ring clicks at those points, but the aperture itself never closes exactly to those values.

I asked Artralab about this behaviour. Here is Artralab’s explanation regarding the design philosophy behind it:

“To maintain the lens’s balanced aesthetic and achieve a full circular bokeh, we intentionally adjusted the spacing between each aperture stop for visual harmony. This approach means the light transmission doesn’t strictly align with standard EV increments, which we acknowledge. However, we’ve found this has minimal impact on digital photography workflows, especially given modern cameras’ dynamic range and exposure flexibility.

Our core goal was to craft a lens that evokes a nostalgic shooting experience—emulating the focal plane design of 1980s-era lenses to render images with a vintage character. We believe this intentional trade-off between technical precision and artistic intent helps users capture unique, timeless visuals.”

Well, now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s get into the lens’s optical characteristics.

Optical Features

Sharpness (Infinity)

For the infinity sharpness test, we look at three areas of the image, centre, mid-frame, and corner, see highlighted areas in the image below!

Infinity sharpness reference image
Infinity sharpness | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | Nikon Z7II

Sharpness is excellent in the centre of the image right from wide open at f/1.2, while the midframe is only OK and corner is not good.
Stopping down helps but as we saw in the handling section, to see the real effect of 1 stop closer aperture or two, you need to stop down to 3 to 6 steps on the lens. Midframe becomes good at f/4, very good at f8 and excellent from f/11. For the corners to become good you need to stop down to f/16.

Sharpness (Portrait)

Let’s look at the points of interest for portraits at the portrait distance: the very centre, the centre’s inner periphery  (1/3 rule intersection), and the centre’s outer periphery (1/4th intersection).

Portrait Sharpness Points of Interest

  • Nonikkor 50/1.2 @1.2 Portrait sharpness

  • Nonikkor 50/1.4 @2.8 Portrait sharpness

  • Nonikkor 50/1.2 @2 Portrait sharpness

  • Nonikkor 50/1.2 @2.8 Portrait sharpness

  • Nonikkor 50/1.2 @4 Portrait sharpness


From wide open, sharpness is excellent in the centre, good in the inner circle, and acceptable in the outer circle. However, the image lacks contrast and appears quite hazy across the entire frame. To eliminate the haze, you’ll need to stop down to f/2.8, which also significantly boosts contrast. Sharpness in the inner and outer circles gradually improves, with the outer circle achieving good sharpness by f/4. it looks like that his lens, like the vintage lenses in this class, suffers from spherical aberration.

Sharpness (Close-up)

  • Nonikkor 50/1.2 @1.2 Closeup sharpness

  • Nonikkor 50/1.2 @1.4 Closeup sharpness

  • Nonikkor 50/1.2 @2 Closeup sharpness

  • Nonikkor 50/1.2 @2.8 Closeup sharpness

  • Nonikkor 50/1.2 @4 Closeup sharpness

  • Nonikkor 50/1.2 @5.6 Closeup sharpness

  • Nonikkor 50/1.2 @8 Closeup sharpness

  • Nonikkor 50/1.2 @11 Closeup sharpness

  • Nonikkor 50/1.2 @16 Closeup sharpness


Even at close distances, the image exhibits a good amount of detail from f/1.2, but it is accompanied by even more noticeable glow and low contrast. To eliminate the haze and improve contrast, it’s necessary to stop down to f/4. This behaviour is consistent with the presence of spherical aberration.

Lens Distortion

The Nocty-Nonikkor 50/1.2 has excellent control of distortion.

Lens distortion | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | Nikon Z7II

Vignetting

Vignetting is not bad compared to lenses with similar specifications It is noticeable at f/1.2 and f/1.4, improves steadily by stopping down. It reaches an acceptable level at f/2.8 and neligible at smaller apertures.

Vignetting | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50m f/1.2
  • F/1.2: 2.0 EV
  • F/1.4: 1.9 EV
  • F/2.0: 1.6 EV
  • F/2.8: 1.3 EV
  • F/4.0: 0.9 EV
  • F/5.6: 0.7 EV
  • F/8.0: 0.4 EV

Focus Shift & Aberrations

We can also here see clearly signs of spherical aberration. Very hazy, soft and contrastless images wide open, and the focus that shifts away from the focus point as the lens is stopped down. Note the image at f/8 and the same image when the lens is refocused.

  • Nocty-Nonikkor 50/1.2 @1.4

  • Nocty-Nonikkor 50/1.2 @2

  • Nocty-Nonikkor 50/1.2 @2.8

  • Nocty-Nonikkor 50/1.2 @2.8

  • Nocty-Nonikkor 50/1.2 @4

  • Nocty-Nonikkor 50/1.2 @5.6

  • Nocty-Nonikkor 50/1.2 @8
  • Nocty-Nonikkor 50/1.2 @ REFOCUSED

One more thing you can see in the image series is the obvious longitudinal aberration that does not disappear completely even at f/8, which actually is f/3.5 if it had accurately marked f-stops.

There is also some Lateral chromatic aberration as seen in the images below but it is not very bad.
Here there is a 100% crop of the image corner out of the camera and corrected.

  • LaCA | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | Nikon Z7II

  • LaCA CORRECTED| Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | Nikon Z7II

Flare Resistance

The Nocty-Nikkor 50mm f/1.2 is prone to flare when a strong light source is in or near the edges of the frame, as shown in the first series of images below. Using the lens hood is recommended whenever the sun is near or within the frame.

That said, a strong light source doesn’t always cause flare. As you can see in the second image series, it’s possible to include the sun in the frame without issues in certain situations, but you need to be very cautious.

  • nonikkor 50/1.2 - Flare
  • nonikkor 50/1.2 - Flare
  • nonikkor 50/1.2 - Flare
  • nonikkor 50/1.2 - Flare
  • nonikkor 50/1.2 - Flare
  • nonikkor 50/1.2 - Flare
  • nonikkor 50/1.2 - Flare
  • nonikkor 50/1.2 - Flare
  • nonikkor 50/1.2 - Flare
  • nonikkor 50/1.2 - Flare

 

  • nonikkor 50/1.2 - No Flare
  • nonikkor 50/1.2 - No Flare
  • nonikkor 50/1.2 - No Flare
  • nonikkor 50/1.2 - No Flare

Coma

The Nocty-Nonikkor 50/1.2 suffers from coma in the image edges and corners. It improves relatively slowly by stopping down but to get rid of it you need to stop down to at least f/11.

  • Coma Nonikkor 50/1.2 @1.2

  • Coma Nonikkor 50/1.2 @1.4

  • Coma Nonikkor 50/1.2 @2

  • Coma Nonikkor 50/1.2 @2.8

  • Coma Nonikkor 50/1.2 @4

  • Coma Nonikkor 50/1.2 @5.6

  • Coma Nonikkor 50/1.2 @8

Sunstars

The Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 has an unusually high number of aperture blades — 11 in total—which is more than most lenses. Despite that, it still manages to produce some pretty nice sunstars, but only when stopped down to the two smallest apertures.

  • Sunstars Nonikkor 50/1.2 @16

  • Sunstars Nonikkor 50/1.2 @11

  • Sunstars Nonikkor 50/1.2 @8

  • Sunstars Nonikkor 50/1.2 @5.6

  • Sunstars Nonikkor 50/1.2 @4

 

Focus Breathing

This lens suffers from quite strong focus breathing, while not important for still photography, something video makers should be aware of.

Focus breathing | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | Nikon Z7II

Bokeh

Let’s look at the bokeh itself first!

  • Bokeh balls Nonikkor 50/1.2 @1.2
  • Bokeh balls Nonikkor 50/1.2 @1.4
  • Bokeh balls Nonikkor 50/1.2 @2
  • Bokeh balls Nonikkor 50/1.2 @2.8
  • Bokeh balls Nonikkor 50/1.2 @4
  • Bokeh balls Nonikkor 50/1.2 @5.6
  • Bokeh balls Nonikkor 50/1.2 @8
  • Bokeh balls Nonikkor 50/1.2 @11
  • Bokeh balls Nonikkor 50/1.2 @16

The bokeh highlights are round near the centre and appear smooth, without onion rings. Cat’s eye shapes are noticeable near the edges, mostly wide open at f/1.2, but improve when stopping down. Importantly, stopping down doesn’t affect the round shape of the bokeh balls much, thanks to the lens’s 11 aperture blades and its specific aperture behaviour. However, a slight colour outlining is visible, which can be a concern in some situations.

And now, let’s have a closer look at the background blur at different distances!

Short Distance

Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Z7II | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50m f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2

At close distances the background blur is soft and to my eye mostly pretty.

Mid-Distance

Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2

In the mid-distance we get lot of background blur, while not as soft as in the close distances, quite soft.

Long Distance

Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Z7II | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50m f/1.2 | f1.2

At long distance the background blur remains soft.
Bokeh is definitely subjective, but to my eye, that wide f/1.2 aperture helps create pretty bokeh and soft background blur in most situations. I’ve got quite a few images here for you to decide how you feel about it.

Conclusion

I LIKE AVERAGE I DON’T LIKE
Look
Centre sharpness
Across the frame sharpness stopped down to f11
Distortion control
Bokeh
Build quality
Sunstars		 Vignetting
Focus shift
CA		 Coma
Aperture behaviour
Focus Breathing
Spherical aberrations

The Artralab Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 looks great—though as a longtime Nikon user, I might be a bit biased. It delivers very good centre sharpness right from wide open, and when stopped down, it becomes pretty sharp across most of the frame. Distortion control is excellent, it produces nice sunstars, and the bokeh is quite pleasing—all packed into a well-built, compact design.

Its vignetting and focus shift are on par with other lenses of similar specs, while coma, focus breathing, and spherical aberration remind me of those classic 50mm f/1.2 lenses from the ’60s and ’70s.

The Nocty-Nonikkor really nails that classic Nikon AI/AIS look that many photographers love. Handling feels similar to a modern manual lens, with smooth manual focusing and a clicked aperture ring—though the way light transmission changes per click is unusual, and unlike vintage Nikkors or any other old lenses I’ve seen.

If this lens had existed back in the film era, before off-the-film metering, that would’ve been a real problem. But in today’s digital world, the inaccuracies in aperture values don’t make a difference. Still, I can understand how it might annoy some seasoned photographers.

That said, while this quirk is certainly strange and annoying to some, it doesn’t affect the lens’s optical quality at all. In fact, it renders bokeh so softly that few other lenses can match it. The spherical aberration is something to be aware of, but it contributes to the dreamy mood of wide-open shots.

One last interesting note: we’ve noticed a lot of similarities between this lens and the Mr. Ding 50mm f/1.1 M-mount. In at least 95% of cases, images shot in similar conditions — as well as the overall optical character — are strikingly similar.

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Buy new: B&H, Amazon (anywhere) , Artralab store for $550 (Affiliate links)

Alternatives

Here, just a couple of f/1.2 lenses for F-mount, which can be adapted to Nikon Z and most other mirrorless cameras.

Nikon Z 50mm f/1.2 S
Nikon’s own f/1.2 lens for Z mount cameras, autofocus, clinical sharpness (best of all in this list), and minimal optical flaws. It is a huge lens, though, that gives a modern rendering with across-the-frame sharpness from f/1.2. It is about four times as expensive too.
Buy new: Amazon (Anywhere), B&H, for $1947 (Affiliate links)
Buy used: ebay.com, ebay.de, ebay.co.uk from $1500  (Affiliate links)

Voigtländer 50mm f/1.0 Nokton Aspherical
This is a modern lens, also in Z mount, but manual focus. This is the fastest standard lens for Z mount cameras, except for the Nikkor Z 58mm f/0.95 Noct. A very sharp lens
Buy new: amazon (anywhere), B&H for $1700 (Affiliate links)
Buy used: ebay.com, ebay.de, ebay.co.uk from $1230  (Affiliate links)

Nikon 58mm 1.2 Ai Noct-Nikkor
The most famous of the three classic Nikkor f/1.2 lenses and somewhat mythical, hence an unjustified premium price. Optically, it is not better than the reviewed lens, with less sharpness and flaws on par or worse than the reviewed lens. This is a lens for collectors.
Buy from ebay.com | ebay.de | eBay.co.uk (affiliate links) starting at $3000

Nikon 50mm 1.2 Ai(-s):
The latest of the classic Nikkor f/1.2 lenses. It had better contrast and the best sharpness at 1.2 and 1.2 among all the classic Nikkor 1.2 lenses. The number of apertures is less than half of the Nonikkor, so the smallest stopping down leads to ugly bokey balls. It is quite expensive if the condition is good in the used market. If the aperture behaviour of the Nonikkor does not bother you, I’d recommend the Nonikkor on Z cameras.
Buy from ebay.com | ebay.de | eBay.co.uk (affiliate links) starting at $270

Nikon 55mm 1.2 Ai:
A little better contrast but softer at f/1.2 and f/1.4 at infinity. It gets sharper much quicker, mostly because it stops down by one EV per aperture click. Very old lens and while quite good for such an old lens, it is pricy for being that old. Fine on film cameras but on Nikon Z, I’d recommend the Nonikkor.
buy from ebay.com | ebay.de | eBay.co.uk  (affiliate links) starting at $240

Voigtländer 55mm 1.2 Nokton SLIIs
This is also a relatively new/modern lens with a somewhat vintage rendering, but not as much as the reviewed lens. It is also in Nikon F mount so using on Nikon Z requires an adapter. Bokeh is not as soft as the Nonikkor. The stopped-down bokeh is a little better than classic Nikkors thanks to the 9-blade aperture, but it is not as soft as the Nonikkor. The flare resistance on this lens is better than the Nikkor classic 1.2 lenses discussed here and the reviewed lens, and it is much sharper, too. It is more expensive than the reviewed lens, though. If the bokeh and vintage rendering is your primary priority, go with the Nonikkor, which is native Z mount too, otherwise or if on Nikon F mount, go with this one!
buy new: Amazon.com | B&H for $645  (affiliate links)
Buy used: ebay.com, ebay.de, ebay.co.uk from $580 (Affiliate links)

More Sample Images

 

Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2
Nikon Zf | Artralab Nocty-Nonikkor 50mm f/1.2 | f1.2

Most of the sample images in this review and many more can be found in higher resolution here.

Further Reading

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Martin

Martin M.H. lives outside Stockholm, Sweden. He is a M.Sc. in Computer Technology but he has been a passionate photographer for over 50 years. He started his photographic adventures when he was thirteen with an Agfamatic pocket camera, which he soon replaced with a Canon rangefinder camera that his mom gave him in his teenages. After that he has been using Canon SLR, Nikon SLR manual focus and Autofocus, Sony mirrorless crop sensor, Nikon DSLR and Nikon Mirrorless. He has photographed any genre he could throughout the years and you can see all kind of images in his portfolio. During the later years though it has been mostly landscape, nature, travel and some street/documentary photography.

12 thoughts on “REVIEW: Artralab Nocty-NONIKKOR 50mm f/1.2 – An Homage to Classic Nikkor 50mm f/1.2”

  1. Interesting lens. I like the rendering very much! I could not see the across the frame sharpness stopped down though. Even at F11 it looks quite soft. Or is this a result of higher resolution sensor bigger magnification?
    Very ínteresting remark about Mr.Ding 50 which sadly is no longer available.

    Reply

    1. Two different companies contacted me that they are working on improving the Mr. Ding design.
      Both promised me review samples, so you will read about it here when it happens.

      Reply

      1. Oh! That sounds promising. I hope the price will remain as low as the “original”! 🙂
        I would not hesitate to buy the original product without improvements even. I arrived too late for that party.

        Reply

    2. I understand you liking the rendering. The across-the-frame sharpness is “good” for a vintage lens, which this lens is trying to mimic. Not comparable with modern lenses.
      Mr. Ding was only available in M-mount.

      Reply

  2. Looks like an interesting lens, especially for that price. No idea how trustworthy the Artra website is but it’s about 381€ on it, which is fairly insane for a new 50mm f/1.2.

    I think I checked like 2 weeks after the original mr ding lens to see if it was available and it wasn’t. Basically whenever I checked it was always out of stock in some way or another or just not available literally anywhere, so if its design is straight up copied by manufacturers who can actually make and sell lenses rather than make 10 of them in total, all the better to me.

    Reply

  3. Interesting that you’re not really addressing the speculations that ALL the “Atralab”/”Mr Ding” lenses are in fact ONE and the same optical design, including their even more expensive Noctilux clone? Having used a 50/1.2 Nikkor Ai for a long time, and having looked at a lot of Noctilux images as well, I at least see NO similarity in rendition with this “Atralab”! What I do see is a hipster product STYLED to entice the ignorant. Paired with an aperture that is 1.5 stops off by f/8, by your measurement, and a disclaimer that suggests that you got to keep the lens (and thus that more might be forthcoming under the same conditions in case of a decently positive review), I wonder what we are told here, and what we are not told, be it by you or “Atralab”?

    Reply

    1. As you say, there are some speculations, but I have no proof. No conspiracy and nothing that I know that I don’t share. No conspiracy. Nonetheless, I have said what we have realised and seen similarities between this lens and Mr. Ding’s one. and indeed, this lens like the Nikon classic 1.2 suffers from spherical aberration, sharp centre but soft otherwise wide open. Both this and those classics get decently sharp when they are stopped down. It is a hyped product helped by its visual resemblance to classic Nikon. You may have other info, which I don’t, but I got a lens for review and wrote what I saw, that’s all. I found this anomaly, I wrote about it and asked Artralab if they could explain, they gave med an answer and I without any change quoted that without analysing or drawing any conclusion. I left it to the readers. I have not seen any other review that has highlighted this behaviour, so this should be the most honest review after all.

      Reply

  4. that justification for having uneven EV drops from clicks stops is total bullshit. what is happening is they linked the iris directly to the aperture ring which results in a logarithmic scale. old lenses were constructed like that and apertures had wide spaces between low f/numbers and progressively smaller spaces when stopped down.

    They have this kind of old style aperture adjustment, but they printed a linear scale instead without a special link to transform to linear aperture, so naturally the effective aperture does not match.
    given your measurements , at f/3.5 on the scale the aperture is really set at F2 for instance.

    that’s just plain wrong engineering . they messed up and try to cover it up . too bad because it looks like a great project but this spoils it.

    Reply

    1. Your description about how aperture works and its linking to the scale ring is completely correct. I found this anomaly, I wrote about it and asked Artralab if they could explain, they gave med an answer and I without any change quoted that without analysing or drawing any conclusion. I left it to the readers.

      Reply

  5. I don’t think they “messed this up” I think they do this deliberately.

    I had the Artralab 35mm f1.4 and it had fantasy aperture markings meaning that if you’re going for greater depth of field you might struggle to get it. For example when set to f8 the aperture looked to be something like f3.5. So how do you get depth when going for it when their f16 is nothing like it and more like f8? Artralab initially ignored by emails until I sent them a snotty one and their reply was…

    “What you are experiencing with the aperture markings is indeed a known characteristic of this lens. For aesthetic reasons, the marked aperture values do not perfectly reflect the actual aperture sizes.”

    What tosh. If this new 50mm has similarly inaccurate apertures I wouldn’t touch it if it was free and I think reviewers should shout this issue from the rooftops and if possible embarrass Artralab into making lenses with believable aperture settings.

    At the very least potential buyers need to be aware that these lenses may have misleading aperture markings which may lead to shots being taken with much wider apertures than you think you’re using.

    My solution, I just use my Sony mount Voigtlanders. They’re better anyway and the apertures are believable.

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