Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Nokton 35mm f/1.2 Aspherical

Cosina Voigtländer · Leica M · 2003

single source, unconfirmed via machine translation — corrections welcome

Also known as: Voigtländer Nokton 35mm f/1.2 Aspherical · Voigtlander Nokton 35mm F1.2 Aspherical VM · NOKTON 35mm F1.2 Aspherical · NOKTON 35mm F1.2 Aspherical II · NOKTON 35mm F1.2 Aspherical III · NOKTON 35mm F1.2 Aspherical IV · Voigtlander 35mm f1.2 Nokton II · Voigtlander 35mm f1.2 Nokton III · Voigtlander 35/1.2 Nokton · CV 35/1.2 · フォクトレンダー ノクトン 35mm F1.2 · フォクトレンダー NOKTON 35mm F1.2 Aspherical VM · ノクトン 35mm F1.2 アスフェリカル

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
VM (2003–2010) · Ten elements in seven groups, three aspherical elements Leica M 2003–2010 — —
VM II (2011–2019) · Ten elements in seven groups, three aspherical surfaces Leica M 2011–2019 — —
VM III (2020–2024) · Nine elements in seven groups, four aspherical surfaces Leica M 2020–2024 — —
VM IV (2025–) · Nine elements in seven groups, four aspherical surfaces — the III's optics Leica M 2025 — —
  1. Family-level dimensions, weight, close focus and element count are the current IV; each earlier version's figures are in its own row. All four share f/1.2–f/22, twelve blades, a 52mm filter and a black finish.
  2. Every launch date, yen price and production-end month comes from Cosina's own product and discontinued-product pages, read through machine translation; no second source dates the ends of the I and II runs, so those months stand on Cosina alone.
  3. Cosina states no production figure for any version. The Nikon-rangefinder SC 35mm f/1.2 stopped at three prototypes (CameraQuest); it is not a variant here.
  4. The E-mount SE, the Fujifilm X and the Nikon Z D35mm f/1.2 Noktons are different lenses and are not part of this family.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Every version is Leica M bayonet only — there was never a screw-mount 35mm f/1.2 — and the mount brings up the 35mm frame on the M8 and later, and the 35/135 pair on the M6 and M7
  • The roman numeral after Aspherical on the front ring is the generation; the first version has none
  • Rangefinder coupling stops at 0.7m on all four; the II, III and IV focus on down to 0.5m by scale or live view
  • Hood mounts by a cutout that matches the lug on the barrel (I: standard hood supplied, LH-3 optional; II and III: LH-8; IV: LH-14)

VM (2003–2010):

  • Engraved NOKTON 35mm F1.2 Aspherical with no roman numeral; black only
  • The biggest of the four: 63mm across, 77.8mm long, 490g
  • Close focus 0.7m — the only version that stops at the rangefinder limit
  • Standard non-vented hood in the box; the vented LH-3 hood was an extra
  • Early lenses could bind near infinity on the Leica M8 through the rear-element guard; Cosina issued a retrofit, and CameraQuest sold only modified lenses from March 2008

VM II (2011–2019):

  • Engraved Aspherical II
  • 60.8mm across, 62mm long, 470g — shorter and 20g lighter than the first version
  • Close focus shortened to 0.5m; rangefinder coupling still stops at 0.7m
  • Hood LH-8, sold separately

VM III (2020–2024):

  • Engraved Aspherical III
  • A new optical design with one element fewer: 60.8mm across, 50.5mm long, 332g — Cosina's figures are about 20% shorter and 30% lighter than the II
  • Close focus 0.5m, LH-8 hood

VM IV (2025–):

  • Engraved Aspherical IV
  • Same glass as the III in a reworked mechanical barrel: 61.8mm across, 51.8mm long, 300g
  • Hood changes to the LH-14, sold separately

Specifications

Formula
Nine elements in seven groups with four aspherical surfaces (III and IV); ten elements in seven groups with three aspherical elements (I and II)
Construction
9 elements / 7 groups
Aperture range
f/1.2–f/22
Diaphragm blades
12
Min. focus
0.5 m
Dimensions
61.8 × 51.8 mm
Weight
300 g
Filter
52 mm
Years manufactured
2003
Country
Japan
Coating
Multi-coated
Original price
¥135,000 before tax (2003), a figure Cosina has kept for every version since (today ¥153,000)

What reviewers say

Optical Ratings

Aggregated from the reviews above — follow the links for the full picture.

Chromatic aberration
purple fringing
Vignetting
strong wide open
Flare & ghosting
surprisingly resistant
Distortion
wavy, visible
Optical formula — Nine elements in seven groups with four aspherical surfaces (III and IV); ten elements in seven groups with three aspherical elements (I and II)

History

At PMA in March 2003 Cosina’s president, Mr Kobayashi, handed Stephen Gandy lens number 14 of a 35mm f/1.2 in Leica M bayonet — one of two then on the North American continent, the other in Tom Abrahamsson’s bag. No maker had put an f/1.2 35mm on a rangefinder before. Cosina’s own page dated the claim, the world’s first 35mm f/1.2 for 35mm cameras as of March 2003, and Gandy sold it as the speed king that took the title from the Leica 35mm f/1.4 Summilux ASPH by half a stop. It went on sale in Japan in April 2003 at ¥135,000 before tax, a price Cosina has held through every version since, and it has never been offered in screw mount: this is a VM lens from the first day, four years after the Bessa L and the screw-mount lenses restarted the market, and the bayonet is what brings up the 35mm frame on an M6, an M7 or an M8.

The original was ten elements in seven groups with three aspherical elements, f/1.2 to f/22 in half stops, twelve blades, a 52mm filter, and it was big: 63mm across, 77.8mm long, 490g, with a focusing throw of about 95 degrees and a close focus of 0.7m. Gandy’s Wayback-archived pages give US prices of $869 in February 2004, $819 in December 2006 and $879 in January 2010; the launch price itself is in no capture reached here. The first Leica M8 owners found some lenses binding as they focused toward infinity, which Cosina traced to the rear-element guard touching the focusing mechanism and fixed with a retrofit part; from March 2008 CameraQuest sold only modified lenses and converted others for $150. Cosina ended the first version in December 2010. Jonas Rask, shooting one on a Fujifilm X-Pro1, found it good at f/1.2 and really sharp by f/2.8, with lower microcontrast than current lenses that he thought flattered black and white, and a tad less contrast wide open than the II that replaced it.

That II arrived in September 2011: the same ten elements and three aspherical surfaces in a barrel cut to 62mm long and 470g, with the close focus shortened to 0.5m for mirrorless bodies while the rangefinder cam still stopped at 0.7m. Steve Huff paid $1,399 for one, called it large and slightly heavy but not offensive, put its sharpness just about on par with the 35 Summilux ASPH at a third of the price, and rated it the bargain of the century among super-fast 35s for Leica. It ran until November 2019 and was followed in March 2020 by the III, which is a different lens: nine elements in seven groups with four aspherical surfaces, 50.5mm long and 332g, which Cosina put at about 20 percent shorter and 30 percent lighter. Bruno Chalifour set his II beside the III for 35mmc and found the new lens definitely sharper at the edges and in the corners, where the II had been a little soft wide open, at the cost of somewhat more vignetting and $100–150; Bastian Kratzke measured it on a Leica M10 with glow and purple fringing in the centre at f/1.2, soft midframe and corners that improve a great deal by f/2, almost no focus shift, about 3.3 EV of falloff, surprisingly good flare resistance and distortion he called really nasty — wavy and easily visible on straight lines. His conclusion was that an M-mount user has no reason not to buy it if the size is acceptable, and that an E-mount user should take the SE version instead. Cosina’s discontinuation notice of 17 July 2024 lists the III, and the IV followed on 23 May 2025 with the III’s glass in a reworked barrel: 61.8mm across, 51.8mm long and 300g, the LH-14 hood in place of the LH-8, still ¥135,000.

Telling the four apart is easy from the front ring: the first version carries no numeral, the others say Aspherical II, III or IV. The dimensions confirm it — anything near 78mm long and 490g is a first version, anything near 62mm and 470g a II, and the two nine-element lenses are 50.5mm at 332g or 51.8mm at 300g. All four are black, take 52mm filters, and stop down to f/22 across twelve blades. What to check when buying is the same thing every reviewer mentions first: the size. Even the III and IV block a corner of an M6’s finder, and the I and II block more; Ryan HK thought the intrusion not outrageous on an M4-2, while others complained. A first version for use on an M8 or a later digital M should be one that has had the rear-guard retrofit, and any of the first three should be checked at infinity for the binding that retrofit cured. Focus at f/1.2 takes practice on a rangefinder — depth of field at two metres is a few centimetres — and the lens is optimised around 1.5–2m, so a copy that seems soft at infinity wide open may simply be behaving as designed. Cosina states no production figure for any version. The three SC prototypes in Nikon rangefinder mount that Gandy photographed, cancelled when the S-line failed to sell, are the only other 35mm f/1.2 Cosina ever built for a rangefinder, and none was sold.

Expand Collapse

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Example photos

Sample photo taken with the Nokton 35mm f/1.2 Aspherical
The first version (2003–2010) from the front, photographed in 2011 — Andrew Xu, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Sample photo taken with the Nokton 35mm f/1.2 Aspherical
The first version mounted on a Leica M9 — the size that every review mentions — Andrew Xu, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Nokton 35mm f/1.2 Aspherical? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $800 across 40 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-19 (middle half $640–$1,000). First day tracked.

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Show 62 more listings

Buying from Yahoo! Auctions outside Japan. It is a domestic marketplace: sellers ship within Japan, and most will not register an overseas buyer. A proxy service bids on your behalf, receives the item and forwards it, for a fee and a wait. Buyee, Jauce and ZenMarket each accept a Yahoo auction number directly. Listed alphabetically for information — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.

Listings updated 2026-09-19. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: APO-Lanthar 35mm f/2 Aspherical · Color-Skopar 35mm f/2.5 · Nokton 21mm f/1.4 Aspherical · Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 · Nokton Vintage Line 35mm f/1.5 Aspherical · Nokton 40mm f/1.2 Aspherical · Nokton 50mm f/1 Aspherical · Nokton 50mm f/1.1 · Nokton 50mm f/1.2 Aspherical · Ultron 21mm f/1.8 Aspherical · Ultron 28mm f/1.9 Aspherical · Ultron 35mm f/1.7 Aspherical · Ultron Vintage Line 35mm f/2 Aspherical

Sources (18)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this lens, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.