Cosina is further adding to its RF line of lenses by bringing its Voigtlander Nokton 75mm f/1.5 Aspherical lens to Canon’s mirrorless mount in April.
The lens, which is already available for Leica rangefinder VM-mount, is getting an RF version that features a differently styled housing. The company signaled that it would be bringing this prime lens to other mirrorless mounts ahead of the CP+ exhibition in Yokohama, Japan last month. While it also mentioned it would be coming to Nikon Z and Sony E mounts, the Canon RF mount version is first up.
Described as a large aperture medium telephoto lens, Cosina says the Voigtlander Nokton 75mm f/1.5 Aspherical is compact yet will perform well optically even if it is used with its aperture set to its widest f/1.5. While it is a manual focus lens, like all of Cosina’s Voigtlander optics, the optical arrangement has been optimized for the RF mount, works for both full-frame and APS-C sensors, and engages electronically with the camera it is attached to.
As such, the Voigtlander Nokton 75mm f/1.5 Aspherical will work correctly with Canon’s in-body image stabilization (IBIS), three types of focus assist functions (enlarged display, peaking, and focus guide), and will transmit EXIF data.
In a design decision that is very unusual for a lens as fast as the 75mm f/1.5, Cosina designed the aperture to close down to f/32, letting it achieve extremely shallow depth of field at one and and highly deep focus at the other end. For reference, it is not uncommon for lenses wider than f/2.8 to only close to f/16. Even lenses that are slower typically only close to f/22. A range of f/1.5 through f/32 is rare. For example, the Nokton 75mm f/1.5 for VM-mount, while it shares the same optical formula as this RF version, only has a range of f/1.5 through f/16.
Speaking of the optical arrangement, it is constructed of seven elements arranged into six groups, including three extra-low dispersion lenses and one aspherical optic. The aforementioned huge aperture range is facilitated by a 12-bladed diaphragm, which again is borrowed from the VM-mount version.
Below are a few sample images captured with the lens, courtesy of photographer Yuta Senba for Cosina:
The Voigtlander Nokton 75mm f/1.5 Aspherical lens is scheduled to become available starting in April for 135,000 yen, or about $900.
Image credits: Cosina