I have to agree that the Nokton adds some 'mojo' that normally can't be found in modern lenses anymore. There's a good reason why so many use vintage lenses on GH1, GH2 ect. Modern lenses are built to take images with clinical precision, vintage lenses take pictures. The Nokton, even though I find it unusable wide open, does so too.

Character is what I call it...Panasonic lenses lack character...classic lenses like voigt,schneider,old canon etc have loads of character warts n all!

We need peaking feature... from Panasonic.

Yes NEX. I think peaking is great for shallow DOF focusing. I don't like NEX bodies though.

Prolly only by official firmware upgrade. But it might never happen...

@ickejohannes

I think the GH2 hack will help with gradients as rate is increased by 42Mbit/s ...

I bought a Nokton last May and it very quickly became my favorite lens for still photography on my GH2. I love the control over depth of field and low light situations. However the lens also has a certain character that it imparts to the images it takes. Also it is a beautifully machined piece of metal. Both the aperture and focus rings slide with a silky feel that is kind of sexy. I haven't owned a manual focus lens since the late 80's. Aside from it's other qualities that manual process makes me think more and make many more deliberate decisions while shooting. I have since bought a series of ND filters to shoot wide open in bright sunlight. If I had to describe the lens in one word it would be "elegant."

It really isn't that heavy or large compared to longer autofocus lenses that have microchips, motors and other mechanical components. The Nokton is just glass and a metal body holding everything in place. The 14-140 kit lens is much heavier.

My next favorite lens is my pancake Panasonic 20mm f1.7. I will grab that in situations such as live events when I need fast reliable autofocus in an instant and do not have the luxury to fiddle with manual.

I recently joined this forum as I want to explore m4/3 video for a project I'm planning. I look forward to using the Nokton to shoot video.

I initially had hesitations over the sticker price, $1100 in store at Photo Village in NYC. It really was out of my budget at the time. After shooting god knows how many photos with it in the past few months, I have definitely gotten my money's worth and haven't had a second thought about the price. I'm also deliberately using it at live events that I am less worried about missing a quick moment to practice quick manual focus and aperture adjustments in the field.

If you want the lens, don't wait till it is available at B&H for $819. Photo Village NY is Cosina's East Coast distributer. Cosina is not able to meet the demand for every store and individual customer wanting to buy the Nokton from Photo Village. Many stores like B&H aren't getting their Noktons. Also the price PV listed the lens before the earthquake was less than the $1100 I paid for a lens in a shipment that was manufactured prior to the earthquake but shipped after. When and IF Noktons become available to B&H, it is very likely they might wholesale at the price by which B&H calculated $819. Also by now so many people from across the US and the world have registered with B&H to be notified when the Nokton is in stock, you might be better off buying a lottery ticket to finance your next big purchase. If you want the Nokton and see one available for $1000-1200, just snag it now instead of waiting for a deal that realistically may never come.

Shot w/ Nokton 25mm:

Fairground & Fireworks Düsseldorf 2011 - Kirmes from Axel Schreiter on Vimeo.

>how do I embed a picture?

Old poor HTML, see img tag syntax :-)

@ andres ....Love the cream cheese BOKEH of the Nokton.... wish I could afford one.

@jimtreats @fchris Mine does that as well. It really would have been more user friendly if it stopped at infinity. Still a great lens. By the way, I've noticed recently that sometimes when I start moving the focus ring I can feel that the piece of metal with the red point moves slightly like it has some play. It's not the mount because it also happens when the lens is not attached to the camera. Otherwise, everything seems fine, but it kind of worries me a little bit. Have you noticed something like that in yours?

Neither can replace each other. Nokton can't focus faster than m43 lenses. The m43 lenses can't mimic tone/rendition of Nokton. I'm gonna get it when I get enough $$$$.