Voigtlander 50mm f1.1 Nokton Test Shots

I have finally entered the world of super fast 50s with The Poor Man's Noctilux: Voigtlander 50mm f1.1 Nokton. First impression: HUGE, its bigger than any 50mm lens I have ever used, include Canon and Nikon's 50mm f1.4. That said, I was pleasantly surprised when I lift the camera to my eye and found it did NOT block a quarter of my M9 viewfinder. It is a heavy lens, it may not feel as dens as a Leica 50mm f1.4 Summilux, but it is non the less hefty. Which is only natural when you take the lens cap off and discover the huge chunk of glass that makes up the front element. 

I put on a 58mm ND8 filter immediately and shot some photos in the afternoon sun and later at a near pitch black resturant, the dinner plan somehow worked out to be perfect for testing this lens. All shots were taken wide open at f1.1 (thats what I bought it for right?). The first thing I noticed when I saw the photos on my computer was how sharp it was wide open, I was expecting Nikon and Canon 50mm f1.4 kind of performance wide open, but the Nokton is head and shoulders above these two, actually more like full body length above them. Then I noticed the purple neon light, oh wait that is the chromatic aberration. This lens does not hold back when it comes to giving you purple fringe, however that was expected with lens of this "speed", even Leica's f0.95 monster can not avoid it, the chromatic aberrations can be fixed in Adobe lightroom with a few clicks, and is not something to be overly concerned, its just a price you have to pay. 

I was amazed at how much light this lens can take in, mind you that 2 shots in the resturant (#4 and 6) were only lit with candle light, and were shot at ISO1600 at f1.1 on the M9. I will follow this up with a review after in a few month.