Sony NEX-5n tested with two ultraspeed lenses (Leica and Noktor).
The fastes lens we have for our NEX systems are the just announced Zeiss 24mm (Click here to preorder) and the 50mm (Click here to preorder), both having f/1.8 aperture. But what to do if you need faster lenses? Steve Huff (Click here) tested two 50mm f/0.95 lenses on the new Sony NEX-5n.
1) The expensive Leica Noctilux 50mm f/0.95 (Click here to see that on eBay).
2) The new Noktor 50mm f/0.95 with E-mount (!) which is now available on eBay (Click here).
Steve says: “For the last two shots I focused on different points so I did not put up a crop. The one thing we can say for certain is that the Leica is sharper not only on the focus point but at the edges as well. I guess we are paying for something huh? The Noktor is built VERY well, almost Leica like but it is a bit bigger. Then again, it is a f/0.95 lens. With the EVF and focus peaking, these lenses are a breeze and joy to manual focus.” Read the full test with image sampels at Steve Huff (Click here).
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Comment from Erational: See where you are coming from, Carl. Yes...
Comment from Carl: Bokeh, yes, though some people seem to l...- Comment from Erational: Will trash the Noktor even more; not onl...
- Comment from Carl: The appeal (assuming one's photographic ...
FullFrame NEX! (24x36)
9 months ago |Why didn’t he put the “Hyperprime” Noktor against the Voigtlander Nokton 50mm 1.1? The Voigtlander Nokton would have stomped the “Hyperprime” Noktor into the ground at around the same price.
NEXfive
9 months ago |…that’s the main reason why: http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2011/06/13/i-welcome-a-new-site-sponsor-noktor-slr-magic – nevertheless it’s quite honourable he’s not hiding this sort of relationship!
ben
9 months ago |Well if he does that…. it might kill his deals with noktor…. or he did not have one available to test with…
kybel
9 months ago |he tested Leica 50 Summilux ASPH 1.4 not Leica Noctilux 50mm f/0.95
FullFrame NEX! (24x36)
9 months ago |Good question, Ben. Huff praised the “Hyperprime” Noktor in the past. The lens is a piece of trash, it’s a sightly redesigned Senko CCTV lens. It has been available for M4/3 for about a year now, the consensus from M4/3 users is that the Noktor is a horrible lens.
You can find image samples of this lens online. It’s bad!
Here’s a discussion about it on DPReview with some image samples:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1041&message=34923721&q=Noktor+95&qf=m
Frosti7
9 months ago |its not the same lens, newer hyperprime is improved over old hyperprime
there is going to be yet another, m-mount hyperprime soon
lollo
9 months ago |The main problem with the Noktor is that it has a bokhe of a 200$ lens. Appalling for 1000$.
Erational
9 months ago |The Leica 50 Summilux ASPH 1.4 is sharper than the Noctilux, but the $10,000 Noctilux still would have beaten-down the surveillance-cam-derived Noktor. No change in ownership or fancy marketing/pricing is going to change the fact that the Hyperprime is woefully inferior. Steve already compared the Voigtlander 1.1 to the Noktor (twice) and each time the Voightlander came out on top.
NEX owners: be patient- the Sony 50mm f/1.8 OSS E-mount lens will be out in December for $299.
FullFrame NEX! (24x36)
9 months ago |The patents were leaked in the past about two new 50mm’s for the Sony Alpha Mount. One will be 1.4 the other will be 1.2 with a concave front element, any more word on those, Andrea???
My guess is that Sony will release them around the same time as the new Full Frames in 2012. Hopefully sooner, but I’d rather have quality than a rushed product.
pancanikonpus
9 months ago |Now I just understand what is call sharp image
i thought the noktor is out of focus 100% crop… lol
Jay
9 months ago |The sample images look decent to me, but there so small you can’t really tell for sure. Any Full Res Links out there??
Jay
Sune
9 months ago |What is the point of the Noktor? A $300 f1.4 lens is ten times sharper than the $1000 Noktor at f1.4.
EvanZ
9 months ago |Another option is to use a Nikkor 50 mm f/1.4, which I found for $130 on ebay.
Erational
9 months ago |The Sony patents for a new 50mm F1.2 and 50mm F1.4 were filed in 2009, they have had more than enough time to get these lenses out. It’s a mystery to this day how they can churn out a new model of camera from start to finish in some months, but a DSLR/SLT/ E mount lens apparently takes years upon years. They have at least 3 DSLR lens factories that I am aware of, and probably more. They have powerful computers to model the lenses optical properties, yet they are willing to rest on 25 year-old designs and 15 yearold lens coatings.
Carl
9 months ago |I certainly share your annoyance, but three years is not that long by Sony’s standards. The 500/4 was designed before the buyout, and still hasn’t been released.
Hopefully we’ll get a bunch of new lenses when the full frame models come next year.
John D.
9 months ago |Steve has already indirectly trashed the Noktor hyperprime by posting many photos taken with the lens in a review posted here on SAR a couple weeks ago. ALL of the images are unacceptably soft which makes the Noktor a waste of time and money.
Carl
9 months ago |While I certainly wouldn’t call it tack sharp, I wouldn’t say the shots were that bad personally. With super fast lenses, the majority of the image is out of focus, which makes the image appear soft, even on optically impressive ones like the Canon 50/1.0L and the Leica Noctiluxes.
Matt
9 months ago |Apart from the razor thin DOF, wouldn’t the stabilized 50mm 1.8 E-Mount be a better choice? Couldn’t we expect at least an extra 2 stops from that and AF in supposedly a brand new design AND smaller?
This is a geniune question – what is the advantage here? I assume because it isn’t as fast it will be sharper by default (assuming it isn’t a completely woeful lens)?
Carl
9 months ago |The appeal (assuming one’s photographic interests are so inclined) is ultra-thin DOF, and nothing more.
Ultra fast lenses with longer focal lengths are of limited appeal in low light, as too little is in focus to be generally usable, unless you shoot permanently at infinity (and infinity will not be as sharp as a slower lens properly focused). For normal photography, image stabilisation and a camera with better high ISO performance is a much better choice.
With shallow DOF photography, there’s a limit to how close you can focus (you can’t do 20 shot panos for portraiture for example), so you need faster glass to be able to properly frame your subject.
Erational
9 months ago |Will trash the Noktor even more; not only does it have awful bokey, and is soft, but the colors out of this lens are just gross. Perhaps the lenses coatings really shine when it comes to the interior of 7-elevens with their laser-like florescent tube lights, but in normal lighting, the colors make people look deathly ill. I have seen many pictures (new and old from this lens), and everyone looks like the have Dengue Fever.
Was going to put a note in my last post about how long you guys have waited for the 500mm, it’s got to be a twisted joke some Sony executive keeps playing on the few shooters still hanging on, waiting for the 500mm to finally drop. This is the company that want’s to appeal to sports shooters ? Really ? Sony, PROVE you want the sports shooter business with more lenses. Yes, thank-you for the great zooms, now get to work on prime lenses.
That Sony refuses to roll out lenses on a timely basis isn’t something we should accept. We need to pressure our chosen camera company to do better. In two years I have watched Samsung roll out an entire line of NX lenses, what’s to keep Sony from doing that for the E-mount ? I don’t run E-mount, but know it’s messed-up that there have been more NEX camera models than NEX lenses currently available.
Carl
9 months ago |Bokeh, yes, though some people seem to like busy backgrounds. Colour, well we’re spoilt by the lovely colour of Minolta lenses, but compared to Canon and Sigma lenses it doesn’t see that bad to me.
I don’t remember Sony ever claiming they were after sports shooters, I’ve gotten the impression they think that Canon and Nikon have that market pretty much sown up, and isn’t worth the expense chasing after. Also, 400/2.8s are much more popular for field sports than 500/4s are, a lens type that there has never been any suggestion Minolta or Sony has been interested in making.
Erational
9 months ago |See where you are coming from, Carl. Yes when we have the rich colors of Minolta/ Zeiss lenses it’s easy to cast dispersion. I have never really hated on Sigma or Canon insofar as colors go.
BUT, you don’t think Sony wants the sports shooter ?… RU kidding me ?
Look at the promo videos for the A55/A77. Sony’s promotional film-ettes show; heli-skiers, BMX’ers, Jet-Skis, Dancers, Wakeboarders, Motocross, and 8-year-olds lapping the backyard at 100mph.
They want the sports shooter- and bad. It’s the killer app of SLT. Your point that Canon/ Nikon own that market segment doesn’t change the fact that Sony sees plenty of Yen to be had in that segment. Sure, Sony’s Pro service is non-existant and their lens lineup is lacking depth. They basically shot themselves in the foot by crowing about the fastest frame rate while hampering fast shooting with too-small a buffer in the A77.