With fast, long glass that’s both portable and affordable apparently out of fashion, it looked like a good time to grab some that’s short.
Although I’ve never been a 50mm shooter, I’ve recently encountered a few situations with the 90mm ‘cron where it was impossible to step back to fit more in the frame. Having previously struggled with a Mandler 50mm f/1 Noctilux without ever figuring out how to get good shots out of it, it seemed like a good time to give it another try, albeit with a more modest example of the focal length.
Voigtlander’s choice between their 50mm f/1 and 50mm f/1.2 seemed like a tradeoff, pitting ultimate speed against shorter MFD and lighter weight—until the lack of local availability of the former made the decision for me. Setting out this morning to see what I could do with some familiar targets, I quickly discovered that the Nokton is a good bit easier to focus wide open than the Noctilux was.
And instead of a 600+ gram chunk of metal and glass tilting the camera forward, I had a lens that, with metal hood and filter attached, didn’t even reach 400 grams. At the very least, the ease of nailing focus helped me start to feel as though I “get it” this time around. Whatever the case, it was fun to use and will likely be in the bag whenever interiors are on the agenda.
