Leica M Glass On GFX: Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f1.5 II First Impressions
Those pursuing a more "analogue" look on FujiFilm’s GFX system may want to consider the Voigtlander 50mm f1.5 II even despite the smaller image circle
After months of peering around Amazon, eBay and Camera Quest I’ve finally been able to pick up a Voigtlander 50mm f1.5 II in the Leica M Mount.
Like any other adult-child who has just received a new toy, I was keen to try it out as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, I was due to travel out of state the next day so I only really got one day to play with the lens and I knew if I wanted to see results immediately, it would have to be on digital.
As part of my ongoing series using the Fujifilm GFX 50R, my most-used camera in 2025, I chose it to test this lens.
Background: Leica M Mount on Digital Medium Format:
I’m sure most who play ball in the Leica M Mount or digital Medium Format spaces know this but Leica’s M Mount lenses are made to tight tolerances and tend to be smaller than SLR/mirrorless lenses. This also means that the image circle of a lens for the M Mount also tends to be small; Just big enough for an exposure on film or full frame sensor.
What the smaller image circle means is that typically an image projected via M Mount lens to a medium format sensor won’t be big enough for the whole sensor. At least, not without compromise via vignetting, smearing, softness, etc. Despite this, I still wanted to try my shiny new lens on my GFX camera because I simply hadn’t seen anyone else do this combination before. With how small these lenses are, it’s hardly a chore to go out with this duo and experiment.
M Mount on GFX Impressions:
Quite honestly, the vignetting is no joke. Having peeked at my 40mm f1.4 on the GFX in the past I knew this would likely be the case but it was immediately clear that if you want to use the 50mm f1.5 on your GFX, you’ll need to learn how to work with or avoid the vignetting of the lens.
Worst Case Scenario example of the vignetting found at infinity focus
The image above is probably the worst case scenario as shots of the sky at infinity focus seemed to be where the vignetting was the worst. In the other sample images, vignetting was less noticeable and much easier to clean up in post if you wish to do some work after the fact.
Center sharpness of the lens is more than acceptable and resolves well on the GFX sensor. It’s not really a surprise as the Nokton is a great contender in sharpness charts. Maybe not Leica sharp but at the price point it comes in at, it puts up a great showing.
With a 40mm full frame equivalent FOV but a 50mm’s compression, I found composing images to be really enjoyable. Getting my subject with its environment melting away created a really lovely look.
Example of flares. I did not expect this amount of flaring but it’s something fun for daily snapshots
Something I personally love about these Voigtlander lenses is the way they flare. There are going to be people who don’t love or want such dramatic flares but in my shooting style I love to embrace flares as part of the “filmic” look that so many modern lenses try to get rid of.
If you don’t want flares this severe though, no problem. In average shooting scenarios you will almost never see anything this dramatic. You’d have to go out of your way to shoot towards the sunset or towards bright light sources to make this happen. Since this impressions piece, I’ve shot with this lens as my main M mount lens and have not seen any flaring this bad.
When shooting with the XPan crop, the vignetting and softer corners become less of an issue due to the fact that you’re just cropping out the “problem” areas of the photo.
Conclusion
While it’s hard to say if this will be a combination I’ll continue to use after just one day of shooting, it IS easy to say that this lens performed above and beyond what I was hoping for. I loved the handling, size, weight and appearance of the lens and I’ll surely be using it lots in the future.
I don’t think that anyone should be going out and buying this lens with the intention of adapting it to their GFX system but if you’re using a Leica/Voigtlander/Pixii/etc camera and also happen to own a GFX camera too I think they’re a fun enough combination to justify buying an adapter.
One thing to note is that I did read that Voigtlander lenses on other systems do have a larger image circle and may have better coverage of a medium format sensor. That could be a potential avenue to consider if you want the Voigtlander 50mm f1.5 II lens + the GFX color science/film simulation. I don’t have any Voigtlander lenses in non-Leica mounts to test this out
Additional Samples:
Samples show back lighting, subject isolation, chromatic aberrations and black and white performance
I hope this helps someone who may have been considering using this odd combination of gear!
The black and white Kentmere 400 recipe I’ve ended up using with this lens can be found here!
Note: Originally written in mid-2025, migrated here from my Substack archive