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Own the Night


Jager

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(Reflections on the Noctilux)

 

F1.

 

If you’re a photographer, those two simple characters represent a mystical place, one without peer. It speaks of lens speed so fast that light itself seems to bend in strange and magical ways. A prism through which the world is revealed via a new dimension.

 

The reality, for the few photographers fortunate enough to have experienced it, might be more plebian. To the optical designers chartered by their bosses with coming up with a piece of glass of such luminosity, an f1 lens is a nightmare of conflicting demands and compromises. It seems an impossibility, their very own Gordian Knot. And so what results, if they are able to build it at all – most never do - is a thing both wondrous and difficult. Like a beautiful, talented, and yet recalcitrant child, an f1 lens remains an enigmatic challenge to most photographers. It’s magic seems forever wedded to heartbreak.

 

Like most photographers who have fallen down that rabbit hole, I debated long and hard the merits of the Noctilux – Leica’s own fabled f1 lens – before sending along my credit card information. The stories surrounding that storied lens were legion, with as many shaken heads as there were smiling faces. I’d guess no lens in Leica’s long history has ever been sold by disappointed owners as often as has the Noctilux.

 

Mine arrived on a cold winter night. Dense and heavy, the thing seemed foreign to the Leica ethos – which is all about small and light. But gingerly removing the lens cap and peering at the large globe of glass was like looking at a mystery. The lens seemed otherworldly. The weight itself seemed to speak of things indescribable within it.

 

After a hurried supper, I tentatively mounted the pristine, new piece of glass on my M6 with its half-spent roll of Tri-X inside and climbed in my truck.

 

Two miles away, the bridge with the waterfall was shrouded in darkness. I knew that even the Noctilux couldn’t make that work. But the other side of the road, where the creek flowed under the fence, was lit by a couple of small sodium lights. There wasn’t much of it, but just enough light to reveal a hint, an intimation, of a beautiful scene.

 

The M6 felt heavy, strange in my hands. Raising it to my eyes, the single red triangle of the meter glared back at me. Click, click, click – trying to make it go away. By the time it did my shutter speed was flat on the floor. I couldn’t see the dial in the darkness, but I knew.

 

And so there was my first lesson with the Noctilux. Despite pulling out all the stops and injecting all the arcana that the then-current lens maker arts would allow, Walter Mandler’s magnificent creation bought only… one stop.

 

Like I said, heartbreak.

 

 

[ Sorry for the external link, but apparently my little story exceeds the character limit for a post on the forum here. Here's the link to the rest of it... Own the Night ]

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Jeff, use it like a Noctilux F1.

Enjoy it like a Noctilux.

 

Just do not forget that this lens is a very nice 50mm len's when you have it.

So enjoy it close down a bit, say F:2.8 or even F:5.6 and you will discover that this Noctilux is unique.

 

Arnaud

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Excellent and intriguing post, Jeff. Since I've had the new 50mm Summilux ASPH for awhile with my M9, I decided to enter this particular pool via a 50mm Nokton 1.1. I've had it two weeks, and I must say I really like its extra stop and light gathering abilities. Is it different than the 50mm Lux? Yes. Did I need the extra stop? Likely not, but as you so well note, there's a Siren Song aspect to ultra fast lenses, and I was drawn onto the rocks.

Rich

Edited by rcerick
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Nice article but too much emphasis is placed on the large aperture role in regards to night photography and its light gathering ability. The original Nocti was built for this purpose but is not needed with the M9 considering its relatively high ISO capabilities (it can be useful with film cameras which I believe is your point).

 

My Nocti benefits the most from the unique 0.95 bokeh that it produces in any light. An added benefit is that stopped down a bit, it is, imho, the sharpest lens available today in a 35mm format. The weight is a consideration but the magnificent optical qualities of this lens is well worth lugging it around all day!

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If you really want to own the night, I have two magic words for you: TOOUG and FIAKU ( or their later incarnations). There was "available darkness" photography back in the days of Berek. Besides, you won't ever find yourself wondering what to do with F/1 on a sunny afternoon.

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The 2/2008 issue of LFI had a very nice article on the F/1 Noctilux, which I'd been intrigued by for several years. That article - along with the subsequent termination of production of the lens - inspired me to aquire a Noctilux in spite of the financial bloodletting that doing so required.

 

I have never regretted that purchase and I will never part ways with the Noctilux - it is definitely a keeper. Some don't care for the Noctilux, it's true. To my eye, it makes magic.

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Nice article but too much emphasis is placed on the large aperture role in regards to night photography and its light gathering ability. The original Nocti was built for this purpose but is not needed with the M9 considering its relatively high ISO capabilities (it can be useful with film cameras which I believe is your point).

 

My Nocti benefits the most from the unique 0.95 bokeh that it produces in any light. An added benefit is that stopped down a bit, it is, imho, the sharpest lens available today in a 35mm format. The weight is a consideration but the magnificent optical qualities of this lens is well worth lugging it around all day!

 

 

...got to disagree mildly with you there, Mike - close down the Noctilux and you lose the artistic edge that it has over other Leica 50mm lenses. For me, the aesthetic element of full aperture Noctilux photography would absolutely be the single strongest justification for lugging it around. Anything else can be replicated by the other 50mm lenses. And definitely none of that high ISO twiddling with me - I am strictly film.

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