One of the most common criticisms of Canon’s RF mount is the perceived lack of third-party lens options. While that’s largely true, many photographers are surprised to learn that Voigtländer currently offers four fully licensed RF-mount lenses—with a fifth, the 35mm f/1.4, expected later this year.

Unlike Chinese reverse-engineered third-party lenses, Voigtländer’s RF lineup is officially licensed by Canon. Although these are manual-focus lenses, they communicate electronically with the camera body, recording full EXIF data and providing complete compatibility with Canon’s excellent manual focus assistance features, including focus confirmation and focus guides.  The improvement to the manual-focus shooting experience that comes with this full lens-body integration cannot be overstated.

Why would you consider any Voigtländer lenses for the Canon RF platform if they can’t autofocus?  I can give you several good reasons:

COMPACT SIZE:  All of the Voigtländer  RF compatible lenses are smaller and lighter than comparable focal length Canon-made RF glass.

EXCEPTIONALLY FAST APERTURES:  All of the Voigtländer lenses for the Canon RF platform are very fast – nothing over an f stop of 1.5.  Canon only makes a handful of RF lenses wider/faster than f2.

OUTSTANDING VALUE:  Almost all of the Voigtländer  RF mount options retail for less than $1000.00, with the most expense option retailing for $1300.00.  The price for performance ratio of these lenses is ridiculously good.

With these factors in mind, you may be trying to decide on your first Voigtländer lens for the Canon RF platform.  So I’m going to compare the two most logical options from which to choose – the Voigtländer RF 50mm f1.0 Nokton, and the Voigtländer RF 40mm f1.2 Nokton.  Before proceeding, you may want to read my individual reviews of both the Voigtländer RF 50mm f1.0 Nokton, and the Voigtländer RF 40mm f1.2 Nokton – each will go into much greater detail on the technical attributes of each lens.  This article really is intended to help some one new to Voigtländer choose between these two excellent lenses.  

The Voigtländer RF 50mm f1.0 Nokton:  The Flagship Choice?

The Voigtländer RF Nokton 50mm f1.0 Lens mounted on my old Canon R5.

The Voigtländer RF 50mm f1.0 Nokton is considerably more expensive than the Voigtländer RF 40mm f1.2 Nokton.  ($1399.00 vs. $749).  Sure, it has am f1.0 aperture vs. the 1.2 on the 40mm lens, but that doesn’t entirely explain the price difference.  You have to understand that Voigtländer started out making exceptional quality lenses for Leica cameras, at more affordable price points.  And in the Leica world, 50mm is king.  50mm sits atop a lofty mountain with a halo over it’s head, with Leicaphants gathered at its feet staring up in quiet reverence.  So of course Voigtländer will give this RF mount lens the widest possible aperture and halo pricing.  That said, the Voigtländer 50mm lens does not produce nearly 2x better images than the 40mm – the price difference doesn’t correlate to image quality.     

The Inevitable Focal Length Debate

The Voigtländer RF 40mm f1.2 Nokton

Without a doubt, the biggest difference between these two lenses is their respective focal lengths.  No, I’m not going to call on inherently better than the other.  I suspect that if you the reader felt that way, you wouldn’t be reading this article – your choice would have already been made.  But in my case, I do have focal length preferences – I’m not a dyed-in-the-wool 50mm guy.  That’s why I don’t own the Canon RF 50mm f1.2.  I just don’t shoot enough 50mm to justify the cost.  I purchased the Voigtländer RF 50mm f1.0 Nokton because I wanted an excellent quality 50mm lens but I wasn’t invested enough in the focal length to look past the price of admission for the Canon lens.  But I was also looking for a more Leica-like look and experience.  A palate cleanser lens if you will.  A welcome distraction from a steady diet of lenses from Canon engineered toward optical perfection rather than artistic rendering.  And the Voigtländer RF 50mm f1.0 Nokton provided that in spades.

My choice to later purchase the Voigtländer RF 40mm f1.2 Nokton was driven by entirely different reasons, but very much inspired by how much I loved the look of the images I’d been taken with the 50mm counterpart.  I consider myself a 35mm guy.  And as I talked about in my review of the Voigtländer RF 40mm f1.2 Nokton, Canon has yet to bless us with a flagship RF 35mm f1.2 lens.  Rumors persist that one is “right around the corner.”  I’m beginning to have my doubts (keep in mind Canon never produced a 35mm f1.2 on the EF mount either).  Canon seems “all in” on producing lighter, cheaper VCM lenses.  A big, heavy, and expensive 35mm f1.2 seems contrary to their current product development direction.  The Voigtländer RF 40mm f1.2 Nokton may be the closes I’ll ever come to a 35mm f1.2 on the RF platform.  And knowing how much I appreciated how a Voigtländer lens renders from my experience with their 50mm lens, I gave the 40mm lens a try.  And I like it better than the 50mm lens, and not just because of the focal length.  But I’ll get into that more below.

If your decision between these two lenses primarily comes down to focal length, here’s a rule of thumb:  wider than 50mm keeps the environment, while tighter than 35mm still isolates the subject.  In other words, ask yourself one simple question: do you want your images to tell more of the story, or do you want them to tell more about the subject?  Which is more important to you?   Your answer will likely point you toward the right lens.

DIFFERENCES IN RENDERING

Surprisingly, these lenses do have different rendering characteristics.  They’re similar – but different.  Fans of ThruMyLens know I often whine and complain about wanting a Canon RF 35mm f1.2.  I like shooting at f1.2. The Voigtländer RF 40mm f1.2 Nokton at f1.2 does not disappoint:

Canon R5 Mark II and the Voigtländer Nokton RF 40mm f1.2 @f1.2

Canon 6 Mark III and the Voigtländer Nokton RF 40mm f1.2 @f1.2.

But I don’t always shoot wide open.  One of the characteristics I love about the Voigtländer RF 40mm f1.2 Nokton is that it has a very defined aperture blade structure and can produce sun stars that are quite attractive:

Canon R5 Mark II and the Voigtländer Nokton RF 40mm f1.2 @f8

As you might expect, the closer to wide open you shoot with this lens, the more “character” will be present.  If character isn’t what you’re looking for in a particular photo, stopping down to ~f4  or above will make it render much more closely to what you’re used to seeing with a conventional Canon lens.  And no…I almost never shoot with it that way.  That’s not why I purchased this lens.

The Voigtländer RF 50mm f1.0 Nokton is different.  The vintage lens character traits you see in the 40mm lens are amplified in the 50mm version – particularly vignetting.  I rarely shoot wide open with this lens – f1.0 makes for a pretty darn shallow depth of field.  I usually stick to between f1.2 and around f2 with this lens:

Canon R5 Mark II/Voigtländer 50mm f1.0 @f1.2

Canon R5 Mark II/Voigtländer 50mm f1.0 @f1.4

This lens is an absolute bokeh beast and will obliterate the background in the best possible way.  It’s also a lens I reach for when I want to do portraits – here again, the fact that it doesn’t render images with the same clinical digital sharpness as many of Canon’s top lenses makes it ideal for portrait work.

Canon R5 Mark II/Voigtländer 50mm f1.0 @f1.8

Unlike the 40mm lens, the Voigtländer RF 50mm f1.0 Nokton cannot produce pleasing, defined sun stars.  If interested, you can see many more example photos in the stand alone reviews of the respective lenses.

In my mind, the 40mm lens is a more general purpose lens, while the 50mm lens is more of a specialist lens.  It could be my focal length bias talking, but I feel like the Voigtländer RF 40mm f1.2 Nokton is just more usable in a wider variety of situations.  You could make the argument that the fact that the 50mm lens will open up to f1.0, making it more versatile in low-light shooting.  Except I’ve never been in a shooting situation where f1.2 wasn’t wide open enough to get the low-light exposure I wanted, with perhaps a slight bump in ISO.

The lower price on the Voigtländer RF 40mm f1.2 Nokton as well as the fact that it’s a bit more versatile by comparison makes it a great choice of lenses for anyone on the Canon RF platform.  That said, while the Voigtländer RF 50mm f1.0 Nokton is almost twice the cost of it’s 40mm sibling, it’s also better than half the cost of the Canon RF 50mm f1.2 – a genuine value choice from this perspective.  Or just throw caution to the wind like I did and buy both – no regrets.