Voigtlander Nokton 58mm f/1.4 SL II

Great build quality, pleasing images, excellent "retro" feel. Love it. It charms you before you even take your first shot. The build quality reminds you of the solidly built Nikon lenses of the 70s, or the current manual focus Zeiss lenses. That's no surprise, Cosina builds both these Voigtlander lenses and those Zeiss lenses in the same factory. It's a touchy lens to focus at f1.4 on a D90, even with a split image screen, but the f1.4 and f2 images have good sharpness in the (very shallow) plane of focus, and a smooth, fairly neutral bokeh in the background. I wouldn't put it up against what an 85mm f1.4 does on a fullframe camera, but it certainly holds its own against an 85mm f1.8. The focus action, though, is perfect, no backlash, the silky feeling comes from precise machining, not making things "loose" and packing them with grease. There's about a half turn for full range, very retro, nothing like the "short throw" manual focus lenses that became so popular in the 70s. Contrast is also very good, especially for a "legacy" design, and flare resistance is excellent. Looking into the lens at angles, and you can see why, the interior has more really flat, non-shiny black than typical lenses, and some nice ridged baffles. More examples of the care they put into the design. All in all, it's a fun lens in the studio or on a walk-about, and a heck of a bang for the buck.Read full review

A throwback to yesteryears If you are not a fan of manual focus lenses then you would probably not like this lens. However if you are intrigued by the old fashion process of focus acquisition then this is an excellent starting point. The all metal build is excellent, I would say as good if not better than the non-AI Nikon lenses of the 60s with its solid construction. The aperture ring clicks softly and has a nice resistance. The scalloped focusing ring is smooth with a decently long throw to focus from infinity down to .45m. The best part is unlike most older manual focus lenses, this lens has CPU contacts that allow you the luxury of focus confirmation which does away with the guesswork so most of the shots would be in focus. Pictures are sharp with very little vignetting wide open. Stopped down to f/4 and it's all but gone. The bokeh is creamy and very pleasing. This lens has excellent micro-contrast giving pictures a more "3D pop" which is super pleasing to the eye. The only proper way to describe this lens is that it has a "soul" rather than one that is flat and boring. It has been said that the Nokton 58mm is by all account a Zeiss in disguise and after using it for awhile, I'm inclined to believe it. At its price point of around $500, this is an absolute bargain.Read full review

Old School Construction and Quality Ordered a excellent used copy of the lens based on recommendations from a web review (Angry Photographer). Mounted on my NIkon D610. Did not miss the automatic focus at all. Lens feels like old school construction, nice tactile feel and silky smooth focus mechanism. Shot it wide open at 1.4 and found myself in awe of the bokeh. Can't wait to shoot some portraits and landscapes with this. So far, I have purchased (3) other offerings from Voiglander - 40, 90 and the famous 125/2.5 and am impressed with the old school construction and quality of all of them.