The new Voigtlander Nokton 21mm f/1.4 Aspherical VM lens for Leica M-mount will be officially released on February 27. The suggested retail price in Japan excluding tax is ¥150,000 or around $1,300. The US price is not yet announced but the Sony version of this lens is priced at $1,099. Additional information 0n the new lens can be found here. Here are some sample photos:
Voigtlander Nokton 21mm f/1.4 Aspherical VM lens main features:
Technical specifications:
| Focal Length | 21 mm |
| Aperture Ratio | 1:1,4 |
| Minimum Aperture (F) | 16 |
| Lens Construction | 13 elements in 11 groups |
| Angle of View | 90,3° |
| Aperture Blades | 12 |
| Minimum Focus | 0,5 m |
| Maximum Diameter | 69,5 mm |
| Length | 69,7 mm |
| Mount | M-bayonet (VM) |
| Weight | 480 g |
| Filter Size | 62 mm |
| Color | black |
| Others | lens hood included, rangefinder can be combined |
The NOKTON 21mm F1.4 Aspherical VM is a large maximum aperture manual focus lens optimized for the imaging sensors of VM-mount digital cameras. The 21mm focal length covers an angle of 90.3°to create a super dynamic perspective.
Generally the wider a lens gets , the deeper the depth of focus of the lens; however, with the NOKTON 21mm F1.4 Aspherical VM-mount lens, the extremely large maximum aperture for a super wide-angle lens enables imaging that utilizes “bokeh”(out-of-focus blur). The lens utilizes a floating mechanism to maintain excellent imaging quality throughout the focusing range from close distance to infinity.
Furthermore, the lens features aspherical optics to eliminate distortion and chromatic aberrations in addition to enabling a compact optical design despite the large maximum aperture.
This lens is specially designed for manual focusing coupled precisely with the camera’s optical rangefinder system. Compared with a single lens reflex camera finder, the rangefinder focusing system focuses wide angle lenses with much more precision, enabling the photographer to use the shallow depth of focus offered by the large maximum aperture with peace of mind. The lens couples with the camera’s rangefinder from infinity down to 0.70m (differs depending on the camera) and features a helicoid that enable the lens to focus down to a minimum focus distance of 0.50m. The feature really shows its strengths when shooting using a camera with live view functionality. The included bayonet type rectangular hood is stylish, effective at shielding stray light and can be easily attached to and removed from the lens.
