2 weeks with Voigtländer Nokton 21mm F1.4 E

Des Plaines River Trail, Algonquin Woods, IL.

I fall in love with lenses so easily.

It honestly doesn’t take much for a lens to impress me. The fact that a bunch of metal and glass and plastic can, in conjunction with a camera, capture the world around me is fucking mental already. When the lens can do that with fidelity and character (two different spectrums which often have a hostile relationship to each other), it’s usually instant fascination. Voigtländer Nokton lenses are notorious at excelling at both at the same time, and so I wanted to immediately be enamoured with this lens.

It was hard, because it was challenging. And I guess that’s what the best kind of love does—challenges us.

Starved Rock, IL. 

As I was paying for the privilege of using this lens (I rented it from the excellent LensRentals.com), I used it as my default lens on my Sony A7IV throughout the two-and-something weeks I spent in Chicago and the south Bay Area. I did have my steadfast Voigtländer Nokton 40/1.2 and the Tokina 90/2.5 (MD mount) with me, as well as the RX100V—I’ll post the photos separately as I thought I should dedicate an entire post on the 21/1.4. I’m not going to do a technical review as there’s plenty of that online—I thought it would be nice to chronicle my experience with it, and the photos I have gotten out of it.

A municipal building at Des Plaines, IL. 

21mm is at the frontier of ultra-wide-angle (UWA) lenses, and UWA lenses as a category is something that’s still foreign and difficult for me to understand—not technically (optical physics whooped my ass in high school), but in terms of practice and play. Composition with it is still beyond what I can instinctively imagine, especially the way it so exaggerates reality. Using it for environmental portrait would be my first and best instinct, but I didn’t have access to models on this trip. I was (and still am) wary of the photos ending up looking like ubiquitous smart phone UWA photos (incredibly economical and utilitarian photos in the sense that you try to squeeze as many things or people as possible into a single frame), or action camera screenshots (in which the environment in the shot is a supporting cast to the POV mind-blowing action taking place).

I can take plenty of snaps with my own phone for my own memories, but when I use my camera and a beautiful piece of engineering like the Nokton 21/1.4, I guess I want to take Photographs with a capital ‘P’. Something that tells a story and evokes emotions instead of just a way of and showing others and my future self that YES I WAS HERE, I EXISTED, I LIVED.

Oof, that definitely sounded pretentious. I’m sorry! I need to justify this expensive hobby somehow.

Most of the photos in this post would be trees and flowers, because they are main characters in their own right, and they deserve their own portraits. Most other photos can probably be described as taking photos of lights and lines, and vibes. As a good wise friend (an amazing talented photographer himself) likes to say, “it looks nice, so I took a photo of it”.

Morning in the kitchen. 

Handling wise, this lens is as much a delight to use as any of the other Nokton lenses I’ve tried so far. It’s a hefty and sturdy all-metal construction, and the focus ring moves smoothly and accurately like an extension of your finger. Like all the other Nokton lenses, this lens too does not have weather sealing. It’s supposed to come with a hood, although my rental copy didn’t. It also takes a 67mm filter thread, which I unfortunately I don’t have any filter or step-up rings for.

Handling a lens like this makes me want to be worthy of it.

Dreamy sunset at home.

One of the coolest features of the Nokton 21/1.4 is its close MFD of 0.25m, which when combined with its bright aperture lets me take shots unique to this category of lens like this:

This spider has food security locked down. At Independence Grove Forest Preserve, which is also part of the Des Plaines River Trail, IL.

This spider isn't as lucky in the food security department. This picture is also the best one I have to showcase the bokeh balls of this lens. Redwood Grove Nature Preserve, CA. 

Being a UWA, I can lower the shutter speed enough even after the sun sets, and the camera knowing the appropriate focal length for some IBIS boost thanks to the electronic contacts certainly helps too.

Is it alright for that pole to be leaning like that? Des Plaines, IL.

This was taken in the evening after 7PM. Chīsai Sushi Club (their vegan omakase was truly a culinary experience), San Francisco, CA.

I also enjoy using this lens to emphasise a path, because we humans love roads and trails and paths and bridges. They signify a journey, and journeys are the foundation of a story.

Independence Grove Forest Preserve, IL.

At Lake Park Golf Course & Marina, IL.

San Francisco, Embarcadero. 

Algonquin Woods, IL. Aperture was 2.8 with the focus on the bark of this tree trunk closest to the camera--the background bokeh is still pretty busy and retains most of the form of the foliage and trunks.

F8 is more than enough to get everything in focus for this lens. Algonquin Woods, IL.

I shot against the high noon sun here--peep the lens flare at the top left corner. The rental didn't come with hood, so most of the time it's been Voigtländer's lens coating doing heavy work, sometimes assisted by my hand covering the lens. Redwood Grove Nature Preserve, CA.

Not really a road, but a bridge whose arches makes me feel like it was a portal to another dimension. Des Plaines, IL.

The shallow DOF of this lens combined with the UWA perspective exaggeration makes it a fun way to isolate a subject enough for a portrait while grounding it in its environment.

Trying to catch that sunflower with a shallow DOF while it was blowing furiously in the wind was certainly an experience I don't tend to have in Singapore. Lake Park, IL.

Muir Woods National Monument, CA.

The humongous trunk of a redwood tree. Redwood Grove Nature Preserve, CA.

Curly docks (or some kind of dock--feel free to correct me) at Baylands Nature Preserve, CA.

My rental bicycle at Redwood Grove Nature Preserve, CA.

I was wistful after returning the lens. I feel like I was just starting to feel more comfortable with it. It will never be the only lens stuck on my camera if I have a gun to my head and am forced to choose between all my lenses—that would probably be the Nokton 40/1.2. As wonderful of an optical instrument as the Nokton 20/1.4 is, I feel like I can’t really get a complete picture without at the very least, a normal lens (ie in the 35-60mm range).

Will I get a copy for myself? Maybe if I come across a good used copy at an astonishing price (it retails easily above S$1,600 brand new), because otherwise I can’t justify getting another UWA lens, even as good and lovely and endearing as this one is. It’s actually a pretty chunky and hefty lens, plus it comes with no weather sealing, meaning this is not a guaranteed travel companion for many people including myself. It is definitely a luxury item in every sense of the word.

I do already miss it. The Nokton 21/1.4 is such an easy lens to love, on paper, and on hand. Hopefully our paths will cross again one day. I was just starting to get to know it better.