Re: 50/1.5 Nokton

[Stephen <cameras@jetlink.net>]

Marc James Small wrote:
> 
> At 01:43 AM 7/8/97 -0700, Patrick Sobalvarro wrote:
> >At the recent San Mateo show, I saw a Voigtlander -- a Prominent, I
> >think it was -- with a 50/1.5 Nokton lens.  At a brief look I couldn't
> >see whether this was an interchangeable-lens camera.  It was equipped
> >with a rangefinder, though.  It occurred to me later that Nokton was a
> >name I had seen on the LUG, possibly when Erwin Puts reviewed 50mm LTM
> >lenses.  And I seem to remember that the lens was considered quite
> >good...  was this lens available in LTM?

There were three versions of the Prominent.  The I with a knob advance
and small RF/VF, the same I with a lever advance, and the II a very
large Albada type brightline RF/VF which tends to self destruct with lot
of flare and a foggy image quality.  It is the type II which the
collectors seek out and pay serious money for.

Its a leaf shutter camera, larger and heavier than the M3, with a top
speed of 1/500.  Very well made, but a backward design which was not
very successful in the marketplace when compared to Leica/Nikon/Canon. 
I do have to hand it to Voigtlander though for making the BEST camera
and lens cases of the era.  Strange, but they did a much better job than
anyone else IMHO.  Beautiful workmanship.

> 
> The Prominent was offered with three normal lenses, one wide angle and
> medium tele-photo, along with a reflex housing and a 150mm lens.  I have
> owned several and find them wonderful, albeit quite quirky, cameras.

Don't forget the 100/5.5 for the Reflex housing.

> 
> The 1.5/50 Nokton is a fine lens:  it was offered in small numbers in LTM
> and in minute quantity in Contax RF mount -- in fact, the 'Contax IV'
> prototypes Zeiss Ikon played with before deciding on the Centrex SLR
> system both sported Nokton lenses, as Zeiss owned Voigtlander at the time.
> 
> It is a telling indicator of the lens' worth that an LTM Nokton sells for
> six to eight times the price of an LTM 1.5/50 Sonnar, perhaps the finest
> normal lens of the era.

The reputation of the LTM Nokton is outstanding, but its price is even
more outstanding due to collector interest.  Bargains can happen, but if
you are paying retail for a user's lens, there are clearly much better
dollar to performance values.

Stephen Gandy