Voigtländer VM 40mm 1.4 Nokton Classic on Minolta CLE
After my experience with the Voigtländer 35mm 1.4 Classic I haven’t exactly been interested in spending any more time with lenses from Cosina’s Classic line (which is not to be mistaken for their Vintage line). That being said the acquisition of a Minolta CLE got me interested in a compact 40mm M-mount lens and this Voigtlander VM 40mm 1.4 Nokton Classic is actually the cheapest option available, so here we are. This lens will be reviewed on the 42mp Sony A7rII and the 24mp Leica M10 as well as some analogue cameras.
Sample Images
Leica M10 | Voigtländer VM 40mm 1.4 MC | f/1.4Leica M10 | Voigtländer VM 40mm 1.4 MC | f/2.0Leica M6 | Voigtländer VM 40mm 1.4 MC | f/2.0 | Portra 800 | Push +1Minolta CLE | Voigtländer VM 40mm 1.4 MC | f/11 | Wolfen 500 NCLeica M10 | Voigtländer VM 40mm 1.4 MC | f/4.0Leica M10 | Voigtländer VM 40mm 1.4 MC | f/1.4Minolta CLE | Voigtländer VM 40mm 1.4 MC | f/1.4 | APX400Leica M10 | Voigtländer VM 40mm 1.4 MC | f/1.4
The MS-Optics 28mm 2.0 Apoqualia must be a bit of a fan favorite, as it has been rereleased – and the mechanical design improved – several times over the years, making it the first MS-Optics lens available in a Mark III version. I will be having a look how it all started though by reviewing a first generation Mark I version provided by a long-time reader. Lens is being tested on 42mp Sony A7rII (UT) and 24mp Leica M10
The Kodak Portra 400 is Kodak’s midspeed film from the Portra series sitting inbetween the Portra 160 and Portra 800. It is also the more expensive ISO 400 color negative film in the Kodak lineup, the cheapter alternative being the Ultramax 400. Processing (C-41) and scanning was done at urbanfilmlab in Germany.
In 2023 there are plenty of lens manufacturers originating from China speaking to various different target audiences. While some are the Primark of the lens industry – simply trying to offer cheaper alternatives to the reknown manufacturers of lower quality – others have become the actual innovators in the photography lens business.
Having used more than 60 of those lenses from 14 different manufacturers I thought it is a good time to highlight the best ones I came across.
The Tessar is a very old design (1902), actually one of the oldest optical designs of all consumer lenses. It was produced before WWII for the first Contax rangefinder cameras and early Exakta cameras and post-war both in East and West Germany for several other camera brands.
Fun Fact 1: In 1932, when Leica II by Leitz of Wetzlar was the king of 35mm cameras, Zeiss Ikon of Dresden decided to produce a competitor that would be superior in every way. Thus the first Contax camera was born; the “Contax I”, which was designed to outperform the Leica in every aspect including the optics; thus the first Tessar 50/2.8 for 35mm format was born (a redesigned Tessar to cover 24x36mm negative), from Zeiss Jena.
Fun Fact 2: This lens was famous during its era and was called “Adlerauge” in German, which means “Eagle’s eye” because it was considered super sharp. Let’s see about that further down!
Sample Images
Nikon Z6 | Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 2.8/50 | 2.8 Nikon Z6 | Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 2.8/50 | 4 Nikon Z6 | Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 2.8/50 | f/5.6
Sony α | Leica M | Nikon F/Z New article every week
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