Review on 📷 Voigtlaender Nokton Classic Lens 40mm/F1.4 by Courtney Hatcher

I recently bought a somewhat used Leica ME (latest M9 with CCD sensor) and was looking for a budget entry-level lens, I tried out a great Voigtlander lens Color Skopar 35mm F2.5 Pii. It's slightly sharper in the center wide open and offers better corner performance than the Nokton Classic 40mm F1.4 at all apertures. However, the Skopar's F2.5 maximum aperture was a bit slow for low-light shooting, so I opted for the Nokton Classic 40mm F1.4. I'm used to a 40mm field of view with a Panasonic 20mm on my Olympus Pen-F and a Fuji 27mm f2.8 Pancake on my Fuji X-M1. I find this a very practical focal length for everyday use. The Nokton Classic 40mm F1.4 is unusual and I certainly agree with Ken Rockwell's assessment of this lens. Apart from that, the performance of this lens is excellent with the 18 megapixel Leica ME CCD sensor. One quirk is that when using the optical viewfinder on rangefinder cameras like the Leica M series, there is a focus shift at F2.8 and F4 when focusing on close objects within 2 metres. This focus shift is absent at F1.4 and F2 and starts to disappear at F5.6. I read about it on the Leica forums and confirmed it is in my copy of the lens. (This issue will not be noticeable when focusing with the electronic viewfinder on mirrorless cameras.) Although the lens is slightly open at F1.4, I was able to take very nice portraits of my wife at this aperture. It looks dreamy and the vignetting is nice. With aperture up to F2, the image is quite sharp. I had to make a few adjustments to get this lens to work well on my Leica ME. I found these solutions online on range finder forums. (These settings are NOT required for mirrorless cameras as focusing is done using Live View.) This lens automatically outputs 50mm frame lines on Leica rangefinder cameras (except CL). In order to raise the lines of the 35mm frame, it was necessary to file the shoulder of the protrusion (indicated by the red arrow in the picture) of the rear lens mount. I used a nail file to file down about 0.5-0.8mm. It only took 2-3 minutes. Now 35mm frame lines appear automatically when installed on my Leica ME. (If attempting this, I recommend placing the lens in a zip-lock bag and cutting a small hole in the zip-lock bag for the tab to lay down. This will prevent sawdust from getting on the back of the lens. ) Leica M digital bodies have few problems with back focus. Obviously the Voigtlander Nokton Classic lenses are calibrated for Leica M film cameras and therefore have a small back focus on M digital cameras. To overcome this I put copper foil tape (2.6 mil = 66 microns total thickness) on the camera range finder on the Glued back of lens. (The HF camera is the outer black cylinder surrounding the rear element of the lens as shown in the picture with the copper foil tape applied.) First I had to clean the HF camera with a cotton swab to remove any grease. The adhesive on the copper foil will hold it fairly securely after you run the flat tip of a screwdriver across the surface. The back focus issue is now fixed and I'm happy camping! Here is a link to the copper foil tape I used: https://www.amazon.com/Tape-Conductive-Thickness-Shielding-Electrical/dp/B07TZNX87T/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=apt+copper+foil+tape&qid =1619392451&sr=8-3