Voigtlander Z 50mm f/1 w/Z8

[Larry S.]

I recently purchased the Voigtlander Z mount 50mm f/1. The build quality is impressive. The stop ring is on the forward portion of the lens barrel and this is manual focus only. At f/1 using a U/V filter w/hood there was slight corner vignetting which disappeared at f/1.2. Below are 5 images of a shoreline; f/1, f/2, f/4, f/8 & f/11 that I shot yesterday to evaluate DOF and definition falloff. This lens does have the contacts that assist with focus communication (red square turns green). There are some videos on “You Tube” that test this lens with the Zf also.

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f/1 1/2500 iso 64

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f/2 1/1000 iso 80

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f/4 1/400 iso 140

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f/8 1/160 iso 220

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f/11 1/100 iso320

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[beano]

It’s a fantastic lens, I prefer using it on my Zf over my Z8/Z9 bodies, as the ZF has eye-detect in MF. I wish they would bring this to the Z8/Z9, sigh.

Anyway, a superb lens, a bit of a challenge at F/1 and exceptionally shallow DOF. If you have the means, I can highly recommend the 40 f/1.2, as well as the 75 f/1.5. They very nicely complement the 50 f/1.0, especially the 40 f/1.2, a wonderful street-photography lens, with a beautiful double personality. Almost vintage at wide-open, stop it down to f/2.8 and it acts like a modern, sharp Mirrorless lens.

 

[Larry S.]

It’s a fantastic lens, I prefer using it on my Zf over my Z8/Z9 bodies, as the ZF has eye-detect in MF. I wish they would bring this to the Z8/Z9, sigh.

Anyway, a superb lens, a bit of a challenge at F/1 and exceptionally shallow DOF. If you have the means, I can highly recommend the 40 f/1.2, as well as the 75 f/1.5. They very nicely complement the 50 f/1.0, especially the 40 f/1.2, a wonderful street-photography lens, with a beautiful double personality. Almost vintage at wide-open, stop it down to f/2.8 and it acts like a modern, sharp Mirrorless lens.

Thanks for responding Beano… I love my Zf and it is a special camera…. However, I wanted the first outing to be with the Z8/9 at 45mp just to see what was there. I’m impressed so far and more outings to come… Your suggestions for other Voigtlander glass have merit which I will consider. This 50mm lens is not a lightweight except for price when you look at Nikon’s Z NOCT…$8K!….BTW…it’s manual focus too… This is my first experience with Voigtlander glass and I am impressed so far. Even at f/1 if you hit the “+” button on the Z8/9 the frame enlarges for focusing and f/1 is possible. I have most of my Z glass nailed down from near to far but had not settled on a standard (50-52mm) prime. Picked this one… I’ll post more as time permits… consider also that the above test images are reduced size for the forum. The focus point for the above images was center frame at the grass/waterline. No cropping or sharpening ……

 

[beano]

Thanks for responding Beano… I love my Zf and it is a special camera…. However, I wanted the first outing to be with the Z8/9 at 45mp just to see what was there. I’m impressed so far and more outings to come… Your suggestions for other Voigtlander glass have merit which I will consider. This 50mm lens is not a lightweight except for price when you look at Nikon’s Z NOCT…$8K!….BTW…it’s manual focus too… This is my first experience with Voigtlander glass and I am impressed so far. Even at f/1 if you hit the “+” button on the Z8/9 the frame enlarges for focusing and f/1 is possible. I have most of my Z glass nailed down from near to far but had not settled on a standard (50-52mm) prime. Picked this one… I’ll post more as time permits… consider also that the above test images are reduced size for the forum. The focus point for the above images was center frame at the grass/waterline. No cropping or sharpening ……

Yeah, it is a great lens. I do have the 50 1.2 S as well, but prefer to use all-MF on the Zf. The 50 1.0 is a hefty bit of kit, but oozes quality, it’s an absolute winner for BW pet-photography. If only I can get my cat to hold the pose, sigh.

And for sure, punching in helps with the focus, one can get it spot-on. Just takes a bit of practice, but with the wonderfully smooth focus-ring on these lenses, it makes for a fun experience. So nice just to slow things down and enjoy photography, hey.

Below my kitty, Milla, taken with the Zf and 40 f/1.2 Voigt wide-open. SOOC but cropped. Click for a larger view, focus was on the right eye as viewed, shows the shallow DOF. Left-eye out of focus. And this is only at 1.2, the 50 f/1.0 is even shallower, makes for wonderful artistic shots.

Edit: Lols, I have eyed the 58 NOCT, make no mistake, but I will be a ded man walking, if the Mrs ever finds out…