Originally posted by pepperberry farm Good job of nailing focus at f1.4. I've read a number of reviews that fault the Nokton's sharpness at f1.4, but what I suspect is that reviewers had trouble achieving focus (as most people would) because the DOF is so shallow.
Yesterday I did a comparison of every lens I own shooting the same house off in the distance, vineyard in between me and the house, so lots of detail. With Contax, Leica, and Voigtlander lenses at 21mm through 125mm focal lengths, plus the Pentax 60-250 zoom, I obviously had to extrapolate quite a bit to compare. All are lovely lenses but I was surprised to observe that the Voigtlander 58 stood out as uniquely fine. Just so solid all over the frame, no CA or distortion, great detail, micro contrast and color, a joy to focus and use . . . I didn't do comparisons for bokeh with it this time, but in the past I have and it does a superb (and easier) job at f1.8 and is still very good up to f3.5. I know I've sung its praises before, but I was nonetheless surprised again at its IQ. I've said this before too but . . . I think the CV 58 needs the resolving power of a full frame sensor to show its stuff.
Speaking of Voigtlander and bokeh, the bokeh possible with CV90 is notable even being restricted to f3.5. With prices rising for the Nokton and availability sinking, the CV 90 is more affordable and another brilliant lens. For some F3.5 is too slow, and can be concern for bokeh lovers, but the CV90 has a very unique ability in this regard. A true APO lens, the CV 90 is one of the sharpest lenses ever made (incredibly sharp across the frame at f3.5), but what surprises is how good a bokeh performer it can be. In the shots below I posted earlier in this thread, the tree leaves, branches etc. in all the pictures were not very far behind the subject, yet the bokeh is pretty smooth. Combine that with the amazing sharpness of the subject in the foreground and this lens can really make things look three dimensional.