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12mm f/1.6 Noktor
  • 739 Replies sorted by
  • SangyeSangye

    Has anyone noticed any variation in the flare quality between copies? I've seen some ugly, ugly flares in footage and stills shot on this lens. Since I like artistic flares in my work, I am hesitant about this lens.

  • stoneystoney

    I don't know about artistic flares but the ugly flare goes away at f2.

  • feonnfeonn

    @daisuke and do you know how I can order the lens with the focus gear? Thanks!

  • feonnfeonn

    @P13DM I just did that, thanks!

  • dtrdtr

    I've had the noktor for over a year and I'm not happy with its performance below about f2.0 or even smaller. I need extreme low light performance and for my uses its blurriness and flaring there is unusable. Kinda defeats the point of having a f1.6 lens. I got me a pana leica 25mm f1.4 and it's night and day difference. It gets slightly blurry wide open but is perfectly usable for me. I haven't had the Noktor on my GH2 since getting it. I love the aperture ring on the Noktor but I can do without. The Leica and Noktor are more or less in the same price bracket and for me the Leica is the clear winner in terms of wide aperture performance. Of course you might have other priorities.

  • stoneystoney

    Apples to oranges. Why compare 12mm to 25mm?

  • dtrdtr

    Sure but one can compare f1.6 to 1.4, no? For me it's much easier to work around the difference in focal length than the difference in sharpness.

  • vicharrisvicharris

    None of the SLR's are going to be as sharp as that Pany 25mm. That's pretty much a fact and been stated over and over again. All of those native Pany lenses are much sharper, especially wide open than manual 3rd party glass. Everyone has options here. You want sharp, video like footage, go with the Pany glass, you want some character and soul, go with the others.

  • stoneystoney

    Ummm... I don't know about videoish crap or soulish stuff, but SLRMagic 25mm 0.95 seems sharper at 1.4 than Leica 25mm 1.4. But the Leica lens would be sharper at 2.8. Subtlety as usual.

    BTW this is a topic about SLR Magic 12mm :)

  • FlaaandeeersFlaaandeeers

    I've had the PL 25 1.4 and sold it at a good price to fund the SLR 12mm and a couple of other little things. Despite the look and FOV of each lens, where stonebat and vicharris are clear enough, what bothers me more about Panny and Oly glass is focus by wire. For narrative work, where racking focus can be a must, electronic focus becomes a real PITA.

    Edit: and yes, this is about 12mm 1.6, which I'm eagerly waiting :)

  • dtrdtr

    You want sharp, video like footage, go with the Pany glass, you want some character and soul, go with the others.

    I want a lens that's usable in its full aperture range... And as I said outright: "Of course you might have other priorities."

  • tinyrobottinyrobot

    So people who have the cine version, have many of the problems reported in the first and second batch fixed?

  • htfhtf

    I just received my 2nd copy of this lens (first one had play within the lens construction, might have been off the first batch) and recognized some kind of unsmootheness in the focus wheel. I'm not sure if I already read something similar in this post, if so I can't remember the exact page, but I'm assuming this is not a special feature the lens offers? Do your copies out there have all smooth focus rings? Thinking about returning it for the second time and getting less amused every time I receive a bad copy...

    @tinyrobot if still of interest: either my seller is trying to trick me or they still haven't solved all their qc issues.

  • vicharrisvicharris

    It's been the same style of lens people. All they did was snap on that focus ring. There's no cine vs non cine lens here. As for unsmoothness, mine is fine but I think I have one of the earlier batches. Mine has the slight slack in the body construction but I just live with it now. I've made enough money off this lens where I realized all my bitching was childish and stupid and everyone always love the look.

  • fosterchenfosterchen

    I'm currently thinking about adding a zip gear to the aperture ring somehow...

  • htfhtf

    Update: after sending in my lens for the second time all I got was a lousy comment: company apparently can't meet my quality standards (not being satisfied with either a wobbly lens or unsmooth focussing) and will cancel my purchase. Only I have to pay for the shipping costs. My complains about the copy have been turned down without any further explanation for the second time, even though the latter copy I got didn't show the first one's limitations. Long story short:

    I'm left with no lens, a shitload of wasted time and anger plus probably around 15€ for the shipping (still haven't heard from the seller how much it is going to be exactly).

    My conclusion: can't recommend buying this lens from Foto Walser respectively off german ebay (the guy actually only forwards your order to Foto Walser). I strongly suspect them of selling old copies (from the first, apparently more faulty batch) / previously returned lenses as new ones.

  • labalbilabalbi

    I would love to buy this lens..but since I live in Brazil and I cant afford sending the lens back and forth to US to replace/fix ...I am giving up ...many reports of problems make this one a unreliable piece of glass ...or am I being a little harsh ?

  • FlaaandeeersFlaaandeeers

    I've had it for a couple of months, no problems so far. Nice wide lens.

  • peaceonearthpeaceonearth

    bought a used from a guy in my country. He ensured that it was fine - and so it was. Nice lens and which was charged off quite soon

  • vicharrisvicharris

    Yep, said many times, I've made a lot of money from this lens. I've completely done a 180 on my opinions of this one. Great for shooting night exteriors mounted to the side of a car where you need a fast, wide lens. Car headlight and street light flares look awesome on it, IMO.

  • jfilmmakerjfilmmaker

    @vicharris I know you showed me this lens, but, what's your thoughts @ 1.6, wide open, night time, in terms of focusing towards infinity. Is there decent enough sharpness on the background to have buildings decently enough rendered for a 1080P feature film/doc, or am I stuck at F2.0, or beyond? thx!

  • vicharrisvicharris

    @jfilmmaker That's hard for me to say man. Look for that old Fun at the Santa Monica Pier video I posted in this thread. It was all shot at 1.6-2.0. Judge for yourself there. Everyone is different but it is soft wide open but I kinda like it. If I want tack sharp I go with my Pany 20 1.7

  • gh2simongh2simon

    This was shot a few weeks back using the 12mm exclusively. I have a step up ring and a 72mm 0.9ND filter from Tiffen, adding a bit of vignetting. I meant to showcase some of the lens characteristics and flares, which in my opinion are absolutely amazing with this lens. I have the panasonic/leica 25mm f1.4 also, but I rarely ever use it anymore since I got the 12mm. The focal length is great for all kinds of fun stuff and everything just looks really good with it on.

    hope you enjoy!

  • swaneonswaneon

    Are the flares the only difference between the 1st and 2nd version?

  • vicharrisvicharris

    What version 2? Why do you people keep talking about 2 versions. It's all the same glass, they just snapped a gear on it. Yep, it's official, the search function must not be working on PV.

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