Kazuo is right about f/2.8. But Nokton is great lens for certain kind of footage. Its image just has charme and character, I love this lens. It is seriously usable at f/1.4 and by f/2.8 it is not so difficult anymore to focus it. Actually, also f/1.4 worked fine with me @kazuo which kind of motives did you have problems with?

Well, 21mm is ridiculously expensive in Leica-R or Zeiss Contax. The Zeiss 25mm is not their greatest lens of all, I like the Voigt better, but from 28mm onwards I'm all into Zeiss.

@kazuo
+1, we agree, Nokton indeed needs setup before the shooting for best results. I meant "subject"....and thanks for Zeiss info to you and to @nomad

Some more info on Zeiss C/Y:

There is also a 28mm 2.8, which is far cheaper than the so-called "Hollywood" 2.0 and it's tack sharp, while the 2.0 wide open is a bit soft in the corners. Same goes for the 1.4 vs. 1.7, you can get the 1.7 for a tad more than peanuts and it's sharper even at 2.0 than the faster one.

Anyway, if going for Zeiss C/Y make sure that you buy MM versions (the ones with the highest aperture value in green) not AE (all stops in white). The latter ones have the infamous 'Ninja' bokeh when stopped down one or two steps.

The 25mm Nokton would be in the running as a candidate for the MF3's best-choice "normal" focal length lens. This means a lens you'd choose to shoot an entire film with, looking for the extraordinary intimacy with characters sought by cinéastes like Yasujiro Ozu, who even invented special, eye-level tripods to bring the audience right into the scene.

That's what I'd like to do with mine. If anyone besides Phillip Bloom [read it] has had any experience with precisely this application, I'd be very interested in hearing about technique particular to the Nokton 25.

@Jasmin

I have known about the "normal lens" debate and, to quote Ozu, "I have decided I want nothing to do with it."

For those who want to peruse the numerous debates, see http://ww.google.com/m?q=35mm%20equivalent%20lens.%20site:personal-view.com&client=ms-opera-mobile&channel=new

Using a Nokton 25, we should be able to work within confines and use available light, show characters' body movements comfortably from 1.5-3 meters yet move in close for a CU without their facial features being distorted; bring our viewers to inhabit that space so that it begins to feel real - even if we sometimes have to show only part of something or someone from just the knees down (like a wood-cut) . We also need occasionally to move with the camera, to choose locations matching the lens's constraints and take a back seat to the actors.

All this single prime technique places demands on lens and operator and there must be people like P Bloom who've developed an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Nokton 25's adaptability, what works for them and what doesn't.

One man's trash is another man's treasure. 25mm 0.95 is my treasure.

25mm focal length on M43 captures z-axis distortion close to what we see.

@kazuo I thought in the same way. I am waiting for my new lens set up arriving next week. I just decided to give a try to the 2 - 2.8 world and see how I can live with it: Elmarit 90, Summicron 50, Minolta MD 24 2.8 and Minolta MC 16mm 2.8 (not very sure about this one?) and a Minolta MD 35-70 3.5 Zoom in the wider I keep the Panny 14mm + DMW-GWC1 wide angle adapter. This is after I took the decision to leave the Nokton 25mm for my next testing period. These lenses are all very affordable and have excellent reputation - obviously not as fast as the NK25 - but fast can be difficult.

I forgot to mention that the Nokton has .39x magnification ratio. Prolly that's the highest among non-macro lenses on m43.

@stonebat +1, I also love Nokton and agree with you about that, but also @kazuo likes it, he just has different needs, I belive. He never denied this:

Nokton is tack sharp at 2.8. That's my default.

It was only for him difficult to focus it once batteries of his monitor died as much as I understood.... I also didn't check at first what he meant.

Well, anybody of us who will need reading spectacles (me, soon) might get troubles with focusing Nokton on the GH1 or GH2, as the LCDs are really soooo small, and Leica f/1.4 has AF

@tetakpatak

For spectacle-wearers, this should become an automated process: whip off your glasses and let them swing by their string while snuggle your better eye up tight to your custom-tuned EVF; hold everything still and squeeze the shutter.

(Breathe again)

At a Xmas get-together last light I took a few candid shots by candle-light just at twilight. Some of the portraits isolate the individual from the crowd and seem to capture some sort of inner self or timelessness or something. Gives ya goose pimples.

Anyway, here's a non-goose pimple-producing flower. Quite happy with my first try. f/0.95 of course...

BTW, all my extended family is suddenly rushing out to "Buy a Lumix!"