Cosina Announces Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f/1 Aspherical lens for VM-mount

Cosina has announced f1 version of its Voigtlander Nokton 50mm lens. It is the fastest lens that Cosina has ever produced for a 35mm full-frame camera and the VM mount is compatible with Leica M. This can also be attached with mirrorless cameras with an adapter.

The Cosina 50mm f/1 lens is has nine elements bunched together in seven groups. Cosina says that this Nokton 50mm f1 aspherical lens features a “grinding aspherical surface” (GA) element on the first element of the lens. This has been produced inhouse. According to Cosina it is difficult to control the manufacturing of this style of aspherical lens as compared to the general molded approach of manufacturing aspherical lenses. Cosina has managed to do it by using high melting point and high refraction glass. They had started designing this lens with the goal of creating a compact lens but with a large diameter and a wide-open aperture of f/1. They wanted very sharp lens with a very large bokeh.

According to Cosina the GA element helped simplify the lens configuration and also gave very high-quality performance. This ensured a high class and compact lens. The Voigtlander Nokton F1 lens weighs 484 grams and is 73.6mm in diameter by 55mm long (about 2.9 by 2.2 inches). This design helps in suppressing vignetting in the corners by shortening the length of the lens and also helps in ensuring a good balance between the body and the lens enhancing the esthetics. Some of the most iconic lenses are also aesthetically pleasing.

The Nokton f1 lens has an aperture till f16. It has a diaphragm with 12-blades which ensures a very nice rounded and pleasing bokeh. The front filter element is 62mm and the lens has a 47.8-degree angle of view.The Cosina Nokton 50mm f1 lens is a fully manual focus lens. Cosina has used an all-metal helicoid unit that has very high precision as well as uses high-quality grease. It is designed to produce the appropriate amount of torque for smooth focus as well as for helping in fine focusing adjustments. This is especially important because at f1 aperture the depth of field would be very shallow and slight miss in critical focus would result in an unacceptably soft image.The Nokton f1 lens is also equipped with a rangefinder interlocking system. This ensures close focusing near the maximum aperture and depending on the camera the rangefinder interlocking range is from infinity to about 0.9 meters. The Cosina Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f/1 lens will be available in January 2022 with an expected price of $2000 US Dollars.