Voigtlander 40mm f/1.2 Z mount Review

Hello friends,

Been a while since I have one of these outs huh. I’ll been kinda slacking with posting to the newsletter. Kinda focused a lot of my attention to the youtube side these days. I’m sure yall already forgot about me.

And that’s probably going to continue, so, yeah… A lot of my writing has been going to writing scripts for the videos. I do have some stuff that I wrote and just let chill on the side, so maybe I’ll send that out sometimes.

Anyways, I made this youtube video a few weeks ago, but since I wrote a lengthy script for it, I thought it could reach more people as well in its written form. So dismiss this post if you already watched it 🙂 .

Here’s the video if you haven’t watched it and prefer watching to reading. Otherwise, continue on.

So I recently got the Nikon Zf, and let's just say that I'm in love with this camera right now. While I am collecting my thoughts and will make a separate full review on the camera once I get to know it better, today I want to talk about the main reason I actually got the Zf: the Voigtlander 40mm f/1.2 in the native Z-mount.

It is a beautiful lens that makes beautiful images. Let me explain why this might just be the perfect lens for the Zf.

Why 40mm is the Perfect Focal Length

For the last year, I've slowly come to the realization that 40mm is just about the perfect focal length for me. 35mm often feels a little bit wide for the type of photos I like to make, and anything wider usually feels reserved for "special occasions." While 50mm is generally my preferred focal length, it can sometimes feel tight, especially indoors.

That’s when I realized that 40mm is essentially a 50mm but with more margin for error. I frequently find myself cropping a bit in post-production to tidy up compositions or correct perspective, making 40mm incredibly practical. It's a very natural focal length; the size and relation of objects in your photos match how they appear in real life. When I put the camera up to my eye, it feels like it captures exactly what I'm focusing on, allowing the camera to disappear so I can focus on working the scene. If I could only have one focal length for the rest of my life, it would be a 40mm for sure.

The Search for the Best 40mm Lens

This realization led me down a rabbit hole to find the "best" 40mm lens. I wanted shallow depth of field and a lens with nice rendering, but surprisingly, there isn't a lot of competition.

The Viltrox and Sony options feel just a bit clinical to me. For a lens I plan to use most of the time, I prefer something with more romance. The Zeiss Batis 40mm f/2 is a bit large for just an f/2, and comes with its own quirks. Then there is the Leica/Minolta 40mm f/2, which is tiny but hard to find and quite expensive.

There’s also the Nikkor 40mm f2 “kit” lens that comes with this camera, which is great too and I think I’m getting that lens eventually anyways, just to have an autofocus option when the need arises (off camera flash photography, or just holding my nephew’s hands in public).

Ultimately, it came down to the Voigtlander 40mm f/1.4 and f/1.2. I ended up getting the f/1.2 in the native Z-mount because I heard it is slightly sharper and better controlled than the f/1.4, plus it opens up an extra half stop. I'm going for the endgame setup here, so I might as well spring for the best.

Aperture and the "Medium Format" Look

A very wide aperture combined with a versatile 40mm focal length means you can use this lens for pretty much everything—portraits, landscapes, street photography, and life in between. I really like shooting full-body portraits with a shallow depth of field, and this lens really delivers that look.

When shooting wide open at f/1.2, this lens gives medium format lenses a run for their money. I was looking for an alternative to the Mitakon 65mm f/1.4 for a full-frame camera that wouldn't break my neck, and this lens is perfect. While it might not be exactly the medium format look, it has a very special rendering in itself. I was debating between this lens and the Voigtlander 50mm f/1, but while the 50mm would probably be even more magical, it would also be heavier, more expensive, and less versatile.

Over the years, I've learned that there needs to be some romance between me and the photos I take. If the result doesn't speak to me, what's the point? Having a lens that renders a scene in a way I love is incredibly important.

The Mythical "3D Pop" and Rendering

More than just shallow depth of field, this lens has a beautiful way of rendering scenes. This is the secret that M-mount shooters often wax poetic about: that mythical "3D pop" quality. It’s something special in the rendering that cannot be quantified by MTF charts or flat sharpness tests.

Do I think it's a real thing? I think so, yeah. Let's just call it what it is: magic. Photography is an art form, after all, having a lens that renders a scene in a nice way is quite important to me.

Build Quality and Size

The lens is built very sturdily, and the manual focusing is quite smooth. The person I bought it from had installed a manual focusing gear ring that he threw in for free. I think it helps a bit with the manual focus feel, so I decided to leave it on. Otherwise, I probably would have bought a focus tab.

It’s a bit heftier than the Nikon 40mm f/2, weighing in at around 350 grams. Buuut this is an f/1.2 lens which lens it a crazy amount of light and can obliterate the background even in these full body shots for that faux medium format look.

You obviously trade autofocus for the size and speed, but manual focusing on the Nikon Zf is absolutely fantastic.

Why the Nikon Zf is the Perfect Match

I chose the Nikon Zf for this lens, not the other way around. The manual focus assist is the main reason I bought this camera.

When it comes to manual focusing, Leica used to be the only company giving you a great experience with their rangefinder technology. But then Nikon came along, offering green box confirmation and flawless Eye-AF on manual focus lenses. Since I bought the native Z-mount version, it records the aperture and gives me all the modern manual focusing tools (which are also available on newer Nikon bodies like the Z8).

I've bought and sold many cameras over the years, and have used rangefinders from other brands, but these assist tools on Nikon take it to the next level. It actually works flawlessly instead of being a gimmick, making shooting shallow depth of field and nailing the eye in portraits effortless.

The experience

This combination gives me an experience that mimics a film camera, with all settings available on physical dials. Since Nikon doesn't put aperture rings on their native Z lenses, pairing this Voigtlander with the Zf is a match made in heaven 🙏.

Controlling your settings with physical dials is not only fun but also very practical. You can dial in your settings before you even turn the camera on and put it to your eye. You are also far less likely to accidentally bump a dial and change your settings compared to command wheels. The Zf gives me the perfect blend of retro mechanics and modern tech like IBIS and Eye-AF.

Why Native Z-Mount?

You might ask why I chose the native Z-mount instead of an M-mount or E-mount with adapters. While the native version is better corrected for the sensor, the real reason is that I knew this was my endgame setup. And so I wanted the native version to get all the niceties with the least amount of faffing around with adapters.

The Endgame Setup

I’ve been rocking this combo for a few months now, and I’m still in awe whenever I look at the photos I've made. The results have this magical quality that rivals medium-format slides. I take this setup with me practically everywhere with my PGYTECH tote bag thing. I usually pack the Zf, the Voigtlander 40mm, the Nikon 26mm f/2.8, and the Godox IT32 flash. Unless I am going on a landscape-focused trip that requires a zoom, this is all I need.

I’d say this is all I’ll ever need, but we all know how that goes 😂. There’s always the next thing. The next piece of gear that will perfect our kit. For now though I think I’m sticking with the Nikon Zf and this Voigitlander for the foreseeable future.

… And that’s it.

I’m writing a Nikon Zf “comprehensive review” of sorts, which is already over 6000 words right now. I think I’ll make that into a blogpost too, so if you like reading then subscribe and stay tuned for that 😉 .

Until next time,
Peter.

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