Portrait photographers have some lovely lenses that one can choose from. From Canon to Sony, each company has introduced a fantastic portrait lens that meets the demands of professional photographers. However, there is one model that has stood the test of time, one that is perfect for Micro Four Third photographers. Have a look.
The lens we are talking about is Voigtlander 17.5mm f0.95 Nokton, a Micro Four Thirds lens that comes with a 5.9-inch close focusing distance. Designed with 13 elements in 9 groups, 10 aperture blades, and weighs just 540g. It is a manual focusing lens, and so, it really is on your how to work around this short coming.
The lens is hefty, with a large focusing ring and a moderately sized aperture ring. The lens also offers two caps, one with a hood, and one to use without it. There is a depth of field scale for hyperfocal length shooting, also known as zone focusing. The aperture ring also helps to enable stepless aperture changes.
The image quality is pretty fantastic. When attached to EP2 or EPM1, it is a perfect lens to go out to shoot every day. The colors are perfect, and they change when you work with different apertures. Wide open, the colors are sharp and saturated, and when stopping down, you get cooler colors. At f2.8 everything is balanced well. The colors are good, and the sharpness is perfect. The bokeh is lovely, and on a full frame, the lens is equivalent to f1.4. As we added in our review:
This lens was ultimately designed for street photographers and photojournalists. And if you love photographing people, you’ll be pleasantly content to hear that the skin tone rendering with this lens in second to none even in the lowest of lighting situations.
The lens’ focusing ability is better achieved with the VF2 viewfinder or the OMD EM5’s electronic one. These LCDs have enough “resolution for one to see what is clearly in focus.” This, however, applies to when you are shooting wide open. The focusing ring is really smooth, but there can be instances when you won’t be in time to shoot a candid moment. So, it is best to be at least 6 inches to 4 feet away from the decent work around this.
The lens is available between $300 to $700, based on the condition of the lens. The company has really gone out of their way to get the most cinematic images for the Micro Four Thirds. If you are someone who is looking for something in this range, this Voigtlander lens is for you.
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