Voigtlander has finally awoken! Fuji fans love adapting lenses too! What better way to inaugurate their first Fujifilm X-Mount lens than reimagining the popular Voigtlander 35mm f1.4 Nokton but as X-mount instead of M-Mount. First, my initial thoughts below , followed sample photos used in all sorts of scenarios and lastly by some more methodical analysis against 2 other popular 35mm focal length glass for Fujifilm cameras; the Fujifilm Xf35 f1.4 (a classic for sure) and the new 7Artisans 35mm f.95 lens which is arguably a strong competitor to the Voigtlander. Special thanks to Cameraquest for this loaner lens and borrowed Fujifilm XT4 camera which was used to take all of these photos.
Images below taken with XT4 with image label corresponding to the aperture used.
Initially i was really blown away by the build of the lens. In typical Cosina fashion as of late, the lens feels really well built, with dampened aperture clicks, smooth and fairly short 120 degree or so focus throw and communication with the camera body to populate EXIF data! There is no apparent weather sealing, at least no rubber seal at the lens mount as is normal on weather sealed lenses; a disappointment but not a deal breaker for the lens’ intended audience. The lens is a svelte 201 grams of all metal construction and smallest of the three tested; even with the hood screwed on. The first thing that occurred when I focused the lens after mounting was the slick automatic zooming-in of the EVF image to show a magnified view of the focus area. This brought memories flooding back to our Sony Zeiss Loxia days, which had a similar implementation. And just like then, I was impressed but after a few dozen clicks disabled the feature as it makes quick photography harder to compose. The EVF is too good on the Fuji XT4 that focus peaking serves as good enough focus assist while allowing a full image to be composed on the fly; your mileage may vary in this regard. Speaking of composition, the Voigtlander has a magnificent minimum focus distance of just under 12 inches; much better than its M-mount counterpart in case this matters to you.
Flare: Not much to say other than yes it exist in cases with the sun directly behind the subject. Its flare is just like the 35mm Nokton M-mount would flare and can be used artistically. See image on right>>>
More image samples below. Again the aperture detail is on the bottom left of the image for reference.
When comparing the Voigtlander to the Fujifilm XF35 f1.4 as well as the 7Artisans 35mm f.95 its clear the Voigtlander is meant to have distinct character for a very unique look. If you have any experience with the 35mm f1.4 Nokton M-mount lens, you will recognize this look right-away. All files can be downloaded for closer examination here. Below, a gallery of results. What we found was that unsurprisingly the 213gram, Xf35 is the sharpest wide open with most contrast. The 7Artisans next in the order of being sharper wide-open (most distortion tho) than the Voigtlander and with more contrast but missing the glowy look designed into the Voigtlander. The Voigtlander was just a tad less sharp wide-open than the 7Artisans but trading that in for a glowy look reminiscent of legacy glass from the 1970’ and 1980’s; a look very cool for the right occasion. Simply dialing the aperture down to F2 to 2.8 really adds contrast and sharpness when needed. When examining the images below, look for the way the background text looks in comparison to each other as the image was focused at the center of the Spyder LensCal.
Here the target was placed further from the lens and not at the minimum focus distance. Examine the images for “pop” as you compare at wide-open and then stopped down aperture to f4. Downloadable files can be found here.
Conclusion: pass on the Voigtlander 35mm f1.2 if you need autofocus or a clinical photo IQ in which case the Fujifilm xf35 f1.4 would be our choice. The 7Artisans 35mm f.95 stands somewhere as an outlier. Theres’ no autofocus either and thought its also fully mechanical, the lens is less well built, 50% heavier and lacks clicked aperture ring; it does however out-bokeh them all while maintaining crazy sharpness wide-open. However do get the Voigtlander 35mm f1.2 for its character rich bokeh, fully mechanical buttery focus throws, EXIF transfer, auto-magnification features and the sexiest look between all three tested.