Noctilux: First impressions at Leica Mayfair

[Mixalis]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Yesterday I took part in a Leica Milestones training session at Leica Mayfair and had the chance to spend 15 minutes with the demo 50mm Noctilux 0.95. There's a full report on my Macfilos.com site but here are a few of samples. Bear in mind I had never used the lens before, so these were definitely first experiments. All were shot wide open on my M (Typ 240) with the latest firmware. I can say that the Nocti is a big beast that takes some focusing when wide. But do I want one, I wonder?

 

The Leica Milestones 3-hour course is offered free to M purchasers and our excellent session was led by Leica Mayfair's resident pro, Robin Sinha (seen in the last photograph below). A visit to one of these events is well worthwhile in my opinion, whatever the level of your knowledge or experience.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[wda]

Mike, thank you for your brief report and highlight on that useful short session offered by Leica Mayfair. Apart from a review of the camera's operation, did you learn any new tips worth sharing here?

 

Regarding your illustrations, I thought the picture of Robin was a fine casual portrait with perfectly adequate depth of focus. Having admitted to the use of cropping with the Noctilux lens, how much was cropped from this shot in pp?

 

Having read much about the controversial colour issue with the new M, your results look fine. Did you learn anything new about the colour rendering issue?

[Mixalis]

Mike, thank you for your brief report and highlight on that useful short session offered by Leica Mayfair. Apart from a review of the camera's operation, did you learn any new tips worth sharing here?

 

Regarding your illustrations, I thought the picture of Robin was a fine casual portrait with perfectly adequate depth of focus. Having admitted to the use of cropping with the Noctilux lens, how much was cropped from this shot in pp?

 

Having read much about the controversial colour issue with the new M, your results look fine. Did you learn anything new about the colour rendering issue?

 

David,

 

The photograph of Robin Sinha was cropped by approximately 50%. I had very little time to play with the Noctilux and all of it was taken up in completing the set project of taking portraits of the other participants. As a result I didn't get much of an impression of the ergonomics (although it is heavy....). I also spent all the time at f/0.95 and really would have liked to try smaller apertures to check the sharpness. Everyone tells me the Noctilux is a bit soft wide open. All things considered, I would probably have been happier at f/2 for these portraits but, after all, it was an experiment.

 

We did discuss the colour rendering and, frankly, I am quite happy with the results after the firmware update. I think the skin tones now look more natural.

 

The Leica Milestones course is essentially a run through all the controls and the menus. We did get some personal tips from Robin, such as sticking with Classic rather than Advanced metering and trying to work with manual ISO wherever possible. But I wouldn't claim to have learned any specific new tricks.

 

Mike