First impressions of the Voigtlander Nokton 55mm F1.2 SL IIs – 24 hours on the Leica SL

Once a while, a lens or camera that I never expect to test drops into my hands and this time round, I was given the kind opportunity by Riceball Photography to test the Voigtlander Nokton 55mm ƒ1.2 SL IIs for a first impressions review.

Riceball Photography is located at Peninsula Shopping Centre Singapore and the local authorised distributor for Voigtlander.

Design intent of the Voigtlander 55mm F1.2

Cosina (manufacturer of Voigtlander lenses) presents the Voigtlander Nokton 55mm ƒ1.2 SL IIs as a high-quality piece of optic for Nikon Ai-S mount with an Ai coupler. The styling of the lens is reminiscent of the early days of Nikon’s SLR cameras and pays homage to the ƒ1.2 class high-speed standard lenses released in the 1960s.

An interesting note is this Voigtlander release lens seems to be heavily inspired by the released in 1981 Nikkor 50mm ƒ1.2 AI-s I have deep inside my dry cabinet.

In this first impressions review, despite the short time I have with the lens, I will try my best to share samples from using the Voigtlander Nokton 55mm ƒ1.2 SL IIs in street photography and of course portraits.

I understand not all of us will be clear about what Ai or Ai-S infers, here is a good explainer by Nikon themselves if you are keen.

Designing the Voigtlander Nokton 55mm ƒ1.2 SL IIs as an Ai-S mount lens makes it compatible with a wide range of cameras, from 1980s-era film bodies, to more modern Nikon DSLRs, though it will be useful to note that camera bodies with an Ai and Ai-S coupler will be capable of controlling aperture via the body.

So.. having electronic contacts and AI-s means?

Having the electronic contacts makes a real life positive difference if you are using a more modern Nikon body, say the Z5 to Z9 bodies with the FTZ adapter, EXIF information is recorded, taking you out of the brain-draining work of having to remember your settings used during your shoots.

While a full manual focus lens, the Voigtlander Nokton 55mm ƒ1.2 SL IIs comes with its own updates for a few modern conveniences.

Another important point is even if you are using the most modern Z-mount bodies , you can now control the aperture settings with the FTZ adapter and setting the lens to ƒ16. 

Technicalities

The Voigtlander Nokton 55mm ƒ1.2 SL IIs comes in an optical design of 7 Elements in 6 Groups featuring classical spherical elements with 9 aperture blades for a smooth bokeh effect to emphasize subjects when the aperture is wide open, seeking to produce sharpness throughout the whole image and entire aperture range.

Aperture range goes from to ƒ1.2 to ƒ16, and considering the compact form factor of 69 x 48.1 mm with a 52mm filter size at 365 grams, puts the Voigtlander 55mm ƒ1.2 SL IIs at a very good position if we look at size versus aperture size comparisons.

A key point to note is that despite the array of contacts on the mount, the Voigtlander Nokton 55mm ƒ1.2 SL IIs is a full-manual focusing lens and does not have any electronically-enabled stabilisation, autofocus.

So, let us go with the Voigtlander Nokton 55mm ƒ1.2 SL IIs on a 7:20 a.m. to early afternoon photo-journey.

Handling, Performance and Samples

As my dear friend Bobby Tonelli will likely be testing this lens on a Nikon body, I decided to go with a Leica SL body, with an Nikon (G) to Leica (L) mount adapter from K&F.

Similar to the recent releases from Cosina, the Voigtlander Nokton 55mm ƒ1.2 SL IIs is extremely well built with the focus and aperture rings made of metal and featuring large, machined finger holds and a precision-machined knurled barrel.

The entire lens is finished in black with markings engraved and filled in with different colours to provide an interesting vintage vibe to the lens, one might find it ‘colourful’ but fact is the different colour lines can be useful if one bothers to learn how they correspond to certain settings on the lens.

One of most attractive part of all, in my experience of it, will obviously be the sheer compactness of this full frame ƒ1.2 lens at 365 grams.

The focus throw is pretty long, giving one accuracy across the whole focusing range of 0.45m to infinity. The focusing rings are very nicely damped and smooth with clear clicks for the aperture ring. 

Image output is pleasant, and it is important to note that the Voigtlander Nokton 55mm ƒ1.2 SL IIs at ƒ1.2 will not be tack sharp, howevers details are crisp and sharp once one stops down from ƒ2 onwards. There is a fair amount of purple fringing wide but again, this is easily resolved in post-processing or once one stops down from ƒ1.8 to ƒ2 onwards.

Once one moves into the ƒ4 to ƒ8 region, the Voigtlander Nokton 55mm ƒ1.2 SL IIs renders details very well and sharp.

The Voigtlander Nokton 55mm ƒ1.2 SL IIs is an interesting modern interpretation of the 1981 Nikkor 50mm ƒ1.2 AI-s, and to be clear, a lens designed to be very different from say, the Voigtlander 50mm ƒ1 VM Aspherical

(my review of the Voigtlander 50mm F1 VM Aspherical is here)

Reminiscent of the Nikkor 50mm ƒ1.2 AI-s lens. The Voigtlander Nokton 55mm ƒ1.2 SL IIs will not win any contests for sharpness but can render quite soft wide open with it’s fair share of purple fringing.

As a portrait lens, the Voigtlander Nokton 55mm ƒ1.2 SL IIs obviously shines. This is the part where as a portrait photographer, I will actually prefer a lens that is not pore-level sharp and actually a bit of softness in the image at wide open can bring an advantage to the image output.

The Voigtlander Nokton 55mm ƒ1.2 SL IIs’s character of tending to render soft wide open, can be seen as an advantage or disadvantage depending on how the photographer works with the lens.

Conclusions

The Voigtlander Nokton 55mm ƒ1.2 SL IIs is an interesting release from Cosina, especially for Nikon AI-s mount which has been pretty quiet for a while with Nikon’s push into Z-mount.

To use this USD799 piece of optics effectively, one will need to learn how to work with it, as like all character lenses, the Voigtlander Nokton 55mm ƒ1.2 SL IIs is characterful and not designed to be another one of those ‘boring modern clinical’ lenses.

Thank you for reading.

Disclaimers.

1. All product photos and samples here were photographed by me. I believe any reviewer with pride should produce their own product photos.

2. All images were shot with the Voigtlander Nokton 55mm ƒ1.2 SL IIs, mounted on the Leica SL with an K&F adapter. All the items listed here were returned within 24 hours.

*The Leica SL actually belongs to a dear friend, Sam Wong, and this is actually my 1st time using the SL despite me being so involved in reviewing Leica equipment.

3. This review is not sponsored.

4. I do not do affiliate purchase links to keep myself neutral. I write as a passion and a hobby, and I appreciate that photography brands are kind enough to respect and work with me.

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