Toad of Toad Hall. Pictures taken at an exhibition in very low light indeed on a Voigtländer Nokton 17.5mm f0.95 Aspherical lens wide open. A light giant indeed.

This exhibition was a series of vignettes representing scenes from the play of Mr Toad Of Toad Hall by  A. A. Milne itself an adaption of the much beloved novel The Wind In The Willows by  Kenneth Grahame.

Comprising painted background scenery with miniature models and figures each scene was very dimly lit with one or two low output bulbs in a blacked out corridor through which one processed.

Whilst very atmospheric, it made photographing each vignette just with available light a significant challenge. Enter the Voigtländer Nokton 17.5mm Aspherical 'Light Giant' with its f0.95 wide open aperture and its 16cm close focusing capability.

This 35mm crop factor full frame equivalent lens is a Light Giant indeed sucking in huge quantities of available light onto the camera's sensor. Well OK so this a metaphor for the fact that its maximum aperture of f0.95 is just over one stop faster the more traditional f1.4 fast lenses which is a big deal in these situations and ensures that the maximum light possible, in a practical, usable lens, can be transmitted onto the sensor. 

This lens is built the old fashioned way in the manner of a Leica M lens in that it has an all metal body with aspherical lens elements and manual focusing. It oozes quality both in terms of its build and optics.

Being a manual focus lens, you are heavily reliant upon the focus peaking and zoom magnification features in your camera's viewfinder to focus effectively at which my OM Systems cameras are really good. At f0.95 even with a focal length of 17.5mm the depth of field is pretty shallow though this can be used to good effect if you want create pictures with blurred backgrounds giving excellent subject separation.

Finally, this a fun though heavy lens to work with at 540g and really is a low light specialist piece of kit. I borrowed this from a friend and used it on a couple of walkabouts but was honestly glad to return it afterwards as it was just too heavy for my style of working. Shame really as it is beautiful optic, sigh...