Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f/1.4

Photo courtesy of Voigtlander


When I purchased my Leica, I had to choose a lens. I like the idea of a nifty-fifty lens and its classic look. But I've often found that 50mm just isn't wide enough at times (I know, I can always just step backwards). There's an old saying that the 50mm is the closest lens to what your eye sees, but I've personally found that maxim to lie with the 40mm.

My wife Christine back-lit by the sun on the dock of Log Boom Park, Kenmore WA | Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f/1.4 lens.

The 40mm is considered to be the red-headed step child by many photographers (it's okay, I can say this - I know a true redhead): not quite wide enough as a 35mm, but lacking the zoom of the 50mm. But I think therein lies the beauty of it. It can be used as a landscape or portrait lens. I was still on the fence, however...

The lens has superb bokeh but suffers from flare wide open. Sometimes, I'm okay with that | Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f/1.4 lens.

After reading this great review of the Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f/1.4 lens on a Toronto-based photographer's website, I decided to bite. And I'm glad I did.

I absolutely love this lens. It has an awesome, classic look to it. It's surprisingly sharp, creates great bokeh, and is a perfect "walk-around" lens. The only downside is that when attached to a Leica body, the lens produces incorrect frame lines within the viewfinder (apparently, this can be fixed...to an extant). But overtime, your mind and your eyes get use to it. And in the end, there's a little magic to be had in not knowing exactly what you're going to get in terms of composition.

Click here to check out other photos taken with this fantastic lens.

Top Gun Seafood

Last week, I went with some co-workers to a nearby Dim sum restaurant: Top Gun Seafood in Bellevue. For Dim sum virgins (like myself before this trip), it's a style of Cantonese food served in steamer baskets by servers with carts (thanks Wikipedia!). You basically pick out what you want as they come by. We let our resident Dim sum expert pick our dishes for us.

A delicious pork barbecue roll sits on the left | Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f/1.4 lens.

The food was delicious. Still not sure why it's called "Top Gun" though. The parking lot was a bit of a Danger Zone (I know, I know). It sounds like they get a lot of visitors, and have created chaos in the little parking lot area they inhabit.

A steam basket that the food is served in can be seen in the foreground | Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f/1.4 lens.

Afterwards we made a quick stop at Jing Jing, a nearby Asian food market. I had always wanted to try a century egg, so I picked some up. While not bad, I think I'll stick to hard-boiled eggs.

The cashier at Jing Jing | Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f/1.4 lens.

Still working on navigating in a manual focus world after switching to Leica, but I'm getting use to it. This pic is a little out-of-focus, but I still love it.

Discovery Park + Fisherman's Terminal

A few weeks ago, Chrissy, my dad, and I took a float plane tour of Seattle on Kenmore Air. It was unbelievable, and thanks to my very predictable dad who alerted the pilot about my birthday, I was able to sit in the co-pilot's seat. Seeing the city from the air made us realize all the things we had yet to see, one of them being Discovery Park. So, after dropping my parents of at SeaTac last weekend, we decided to check it out. It was also the first major outing with my new Leica M-E camera.

The West Point light | Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f/1.4 lens.

Discovery Park is a pretty large park just west of Seattle on the sound, close to the Ballard Locks. It has some great trails, but the highlight of the park is the beach, and the West Point Lighthouse. The best part is, it's absolutely free. And for being the city's largest park, it wasn't crowded at all.

A man-made pile of driftwood on the beach | Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f/1.4 lens.

One of the major bummers about the park is that while dogs can visit on leash, they aren't allowed on the beaches. With Seattle being a dog-friendly area, this was somewhat surprising, especially compared to the very dog-friendly beaches of Oregon.

Some of the smaller vessels docked | Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 lens.

Afterwards, we decided to check out the Fisherman's Terminal, where the many fishing vessels dock in Seattle. We had previously visited here in 2009, and saw some of the boats featured on Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch docked. We were hungry, and decided to grab at bite at the Fisherman's Green Market & Deli. I highly recommend their sandwiches.

One of the many docks you can meander on | Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 lens.

Visitors are free to walk up and down the docks during the day. While Pike's Market may be the more well-known fish market of Seattle, the Fisherman's Terminal is definitely more enjoyable. On the Saturday we visited, there was almost nobody there. Fittingly, Pike's Market makes you feel like a sardine packed in a can.

A fisherman and his catch stands atop the memorial | Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 lens.

There is also a fisherman's memorial at the terminal, listing all of the fisherman who have been lost at sea. Most are of Norwegian descent, and with my wife also of Norwegian ancestry, we searched for any fisherman with her maiden name, but (luckily) couldn't find any. On the way out, we grabbed some fresh cod from the famous Chinook's market that my wife later turned into an unbelievable meal.

My Time with Film

Below are some older shots taken with a Canon FT QL 35mm film camera + 50mm f/1.8 lens. I was introduced to this camera by my wife Christine's Aunt Mary, who was quite the photographer when she was younger. I always love looking at her pictures at my wife's parent's house running up their staircase.

Our Tomato plant, taken in our old Ann Arbor apartment.


There's a beautiful look to film that digital will probably never capture, similar to how even lossless audio still can't beat vinyl. It's simply physically there. I use to try replicating film with digital, and while there is some great software out there to do this (Nik Silver Efex Pro), nothing ever came close.

While it was a great camera, at around 40 years old it was hard to find the proper battery to run the metering system. In the end, I could never find one that worked (the correct voltage and size is no longer made), and the system seemed to be showing its age (see the light creep on the above photo).

The camera itself (I owned two), taken in our window.