The lens is vignetting due to my 62mm ND filter. You should need a 68mm or 72mm with a step up ring.
In answer of a "c-mount" copy, here is the answer of Andrew Chan, Product Manager of SLR Magic:
“It is not possible to keep light loss to such a minimal from teleconversion. It would result to soft corners as well. We made a survey on dpreview forum asking what the most wanted lens for
micro four thirds was. Everyone voted and this was what they have requested for
us to design. This is an all new lens design and not converted from anything as
you said. 58mm filter thread was chosen so that there is no lens shading from
internal flash of the G3 and GH2. The front is large for optical distortion
correction and large aperture. It is a very common design for MF wide angle
prime lens.”
Satay tune Noktor VS Olympus soon online :)

I can see visible vignetting in the corners on the shoots even without ND. Nothing to disturbing or that that could not be corrected in post.. but still, for such a price I would expect a little more. Maybe they should have gone 13-14 mm without this vignette then... anyhow.. chrismas is coming and I still need some present for myself. ;)

@sebfarges

Thanks.
Good comparison.
Hands shaking slightly distract, otherwise ok.

http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2010/03/03/the-noktor-50-f0-95-lens-review-diary/

@Rerberg, thank you ...
found also a review at philip bloom


I'm convinced that glass quality used here is not a cheap CCTV, even watching videos for
12mm 1.6 , hope they reduce the price or we can get some deal via VK :-)

@pingpongcomputer absolutely agree. and the smaller minimal focal length. any wide angle converter would affect the aperture so I don't see any competition here. though 500 is a lot of money indeed

It is extraordinary how you can find like a campaign against this lens on every forum. You see people telling everyone that it is just some cctv lens with a wide angle adapter, they tell about all the component, how you can assemble it for a very low amount but they decline to fork the money to do so. They are talking about lens formula etc. They should perhaps try to put a wide angle adapter to transform a 50mm nikon into a 24 mm and thus save us hundred of dollars. If you follow their logic we could just adapt a wide angle adapter to make some super fast primes for a fraction of the price. Anybody who knows the quality loss of these adapters would know that it is not the case for this lens.

They talk like this, even if day by day you can see more and more example and reviews that show a very high quality lens. I don't know what is the reason behind this hate campaign, but it is clearly unjustified. It is like $ 300 cheaper than the Olympus, for filmakers using manual focus only it is a god send. Now if anybody can do a diy version at the same quality for one quarter the price as they claim, I am all ears... but until they do so, could they please stop because it is becoming painful and so transparent to see that their are some bias motives.

There will always be armchair critics out there who embarrass themselves with silly or outrageous claims without having touched the lenses they criticise.

We all know, that talk is cheap.

I have handled and shot with the Noktor, and I can tell you, like any other lens in the market, it has its own strengths and weaknesses. I am not saying I am an expert, but what i know comes from observation, and experience working with the lens. It is an informed judgement.

At the end of the day, a bad carpenter will always blame his tools

@danyyel...Its not a campaign...its education.
Slr magic/Noktor are a company that rebrands lesser priced cctv lenses (see fujian25mm f1.4,see goya 50mm f0.95,see kowa 25mm f1.6) and then sells them at a higher margin (and making a tidy profit)

If you want to take away the middleman then to save money you research and buy the cctv lens...
if you want it all done for you...then buy from Slrmagic.

What isnt good is the high price for that little bit of middleman...
for example of that "slrmagic" (uk prices)

Fujian lens 35mm f1.7 + cmount adapter 29 quid-ebay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CCTV-35mm-f-1-7-Lens-C-Mount-Micro-4-3-GH2-GF2-/180603474787?pt=UK_Lenses_Filters_Lenses&hash=item2a0cce5363

slrmagic 35mm f1.7 + permanant cmount 140 quid-ebay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SLR-Magic-35mm-f-1-7-MC-lens-w-Macro-EP2-EPL2-GF1-G2-/250800919268?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item3a64e652e4

Same lens. Slr magic tried to state its been "optically refined" to justify the price different...but its not. Ive used both. Same lens. BIG price difference. Rip off in fact.

btw theres also another one trying it on...michael lens...but at least they dont try sell it for silly money

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Michael-Lens-35mm-F1-7-f-EP1-EP2-EP3-EPL1-EPL2-EPL3-GF1-GF2-GF3-G1-G2-G3-GH1-GH2-/180736232376?pt=UK_Lenses_Filters_Lenses&hash=item2a14b80bb8

also the "premium" noktor 50mm f0.95 is just a rebranded goyo optical 50mm f0.95 cctv lens with different mount (this is old news) search around and you will save money.

Now with this Noktor 12mm f1.6...I would say its a bit different in that its a pain in the ass to find the right cctv lens and wideangle adapter (god knows ive tried)...so they took the hassle out of it.
Going by slrmagics reputation...Im not convinced they built it from the ground up (as they proclaim)...I reckon it is a mutated cine/cctv lens but at very least its a not so common product with good peformance.

So Kron hit it right on the head....except for the dig at Seb.
The guy's been offered a lens to test...who wouldnt?
Besides Seb loves fast wides with character...and the Noktor it gives that.

Indeed its widely known for a long time but gives a insight to the companies dealings.
So its not unreasonable at all to question or doubt the 12mm given their past products.

Well fine. You have read my comments wrong as its not about "country of origin" or brand name...its about helping saving other videographers/photographers spending more for something thats costs less.
Funny I thought this was a forum and a open discussion.
Delete my posts and continue your propganda as you are worried about free gifts.

Going to collect my 12mm from the UPS depot in Berlin today. All the stuff I've seen from Seb has been lovely looking I've no reason to doubt it. I think it should be judged on it's own merit not by whether past SLR Magic lenses have been rebadged c-mounts or good value or not. This isn't a cheap toy lens and the 12 blade iris hints more at cinema lens than industrial. As far as I know from my talks with SLR Magic it is a custom design. I think people will be grateful for having such a fast 12mm, you can't get a equivalent 24mm F1.4 on the 5DMkII or 16mm F1.6 on APS-C for as cheap can you? Both this and the Olympus 12mm F2 are pretty unique and I am glad they exist for the GH2 and not a rival camera that isn't as good. Canon and Nikon should be ashamed for not making a fast 24mm equivalent for their EFS or F mounts. They have had 10 years and $XX billion to do so yet it is left to SLR Magic to do one first.