Meet Cosina’s new 50mm f/1 Nokton lens for Canon RF-mounts
News | By Stephan Jukic | February 23, 2023
Cosina is increasing its support for Canon RF-mount cameras in 2023 with the release of this new Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f/1 aspherical manual lens.
The new optic only offers manual focus, but it does indeed communicate with the cameras it attaches to electronically. Furthermore, the new lens comes with a host of other attractive features.
This Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f/1 Aspherical lens is the first in Cosina’s lineup to be designed for Canon RF mount cameras. It also reportedly delivers the brightest aperture so far in the Voightlander full-frame lens lineup.
Despite the lack of autofocus, the new lens will still be able to transfer EXIF data through its electronic connection to host RF-mount Canon cameras. As for aperture control, the new Nokton comes with an external aperture ring.
Cosina has designed the 50mm f/1 with nine elements in seven groups, giving it a broad aperture range of f/1 to f/16. It achieves this through its 12-bladed diaphragm.
All of these are impressive specs for a lens that’s only 6.4cm long and 7.9cm across (roughly 2.5 x 3.1 inches). Its front filter thread is 6.4cm across too.
Weight-wise, the new lens is nonetheless quite hefty for its size at 650 grams, or 22.9 ounces, but its metal build and load of internal optics have a lot to do with this.
Cosina has likely made the internal electronics of the lens work with Canon cameras without help from the camera maker. This is because Canon is generally quite hostile to third-party lens makers who try making optics that deliver AF functionality to Canon’s closed system of camera electronics.
Since Cosina generally sticks to manual-focus lenses, Canon’s hostility to third-party AF isn’t significant anyhow.
Another notable detail about the 50mm f/1 Nokton lens from Cosina is that it’s very similar to a previously released version designed for Sony E-mount cameras and another also similar but much pricier model for Leica M-mount cameras
Cosina hasn’t yet released any details about the availability or pricing of the new Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f/1 Aspherical lens.
However, given the roughly $800 price of the 50mm f/1 for Sony E-mount cameras, we expect the Canon version to be similarly priced. We’ll cover these once they become public.
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Stephan Jukic is a technology and photography journalist and experimental photographer who spends his time living in both Canada and Mexico. He loves cross-cultural street photo exploration and creating fine art photo compositions.
