First Press of the Shutter: Leica M Monochrom with Voigtlander 40mm Nokton f1.4 SC

After enjoying a delightful Saturday evening at the home of some close friends I left the following morning having been loaned a Leica Monochrom, to test my Nokton 40mm as my own Leica M8 was in Solms having the locked shutter repaired.

I've used the Monochrom before at the Leica Academy in Mayfair, however back then I was in unfamiliar surroundings and didn't really have time to relax into using the camera. Now, though, I had my own lenses and could work at my own pace.

The day was windy, overcast, and with frequent showers. Occasionally the clouds parted to momentarily provide a strong contrasty light. I was keen to shoot so ventured out to York Cemetery.

I was eager to see what the Nokton was like, I had purposely bought the single Coated version of this lens for a more "classic" look. One of my favourite lens was a single coated Yashica 28mm that I used on my Contax SLR back in the 80's.

The Voigtlander is a fast lens, f1.4, so I tried to shoot at that aperture (or as close to it) as much as I could.
Wide open the DoF is obviously very shallow so focussing is quite critical. Maybe a lightweight monopod would assist in keeping the camera in place for wide open focussing? I shall have to investigate.

Processing the Monochrom files was done in Lr and Nix as usual, apart from being mono files they are no more difficult to process that other digital camera files.

The Monochrom was set to under expose by 2/3 of a stop, this has become the recommended setting for the Monochrom. I found the files exhibited a nice dynamic range.

The Voigtlander 40mm Nokton is certainly not a lens for everyone. It definitely has a "look. When focus is correct its is nice and sharp in the centre, this falls off a little towards the edges.
Bokeh, that difficult to define opinion dividing quality, to me at least, is very nice. Flare is visible, only to be expected really with an SC lens, but what I've seen so far has not been objectionable. It depends on the subject though.