Noctilux 0.95 Price Check

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eBay does typically list items at inflated prices the sellers hope to get. Popflash was mentioned above; they've listed a few over the past several months at around $9000 but these are most often QM2 models with full Leica Passport warranties. Considering that the hopefules on eBay are selling them without this and in unknown condition, it is doubtful they will get their lofty prices. As I mentioned above, Kurland had one (now sold) for $7850 that was in top shape (perfect glass, scuff marks to the barrel) that had been CLA'd too.

 

Understood and accepted; that said, $7,850 for one in excellent but not mint condition sounds about right; but that ain't $6,300...

[james.liam]

This may settle your doubts.

 

Black Leitz Leica 50mm F0 95 Noctilux ASPH E60 Lens for M6 M7 M8 M9 M9P MP | eBay

 

Scroll down in the linked page.

 

Whetehr it went through or not. we will never know....

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[coreystevens88]

It's not that I don't believe you, it's just that given the eBay listings asking prices (I checked just now), there is some compromise to a Noctilux 0.95 going for that price.

 

Go off of completed listings - not currently listed prices. Easier to get rid of the auctions that are asking for top dollar that will never get their asking price.

[algrove]

What made you change your mind about it?

 

I never use it since I got the APO50. Actually I hardly ever used it before the APO50. The APO50 got me back to using 50mm.

[Paul J]

Interesting Paul. And the reason is ...

 

It produces a look like no other, It's a look that I happen to love. Wide open it's sublime, painterly, impressionistic, stopped down it's razor sharp, an ultra high performing lens. You can just dial in the amount of either that you want. Wide open sharpness is excellent, relatively, it kills my Canon 50mm 1.2L. This split personality makes it exceptionally versatile, as does the hyper light gathering abilities. It's colour and contrast are something else, stunning. It's a truly special instrument and even after 3 years of owning I'm still blown away by what it can do. Long term M users may complain about the size, but relative to other cameras and systems I use and own, it's a small, even tiny, lens. I use it with the grip and I don't even notice the size anymore. I have the apo, no doubt it is a perfect and exceptional lens, but they are different lenses entirely and perfect is not what I always want, but that's a whole other post. The Noctilux is the one I mostly chose to reach for. I know it inside out, how it reacts, it's an utter joy to use and to look at the results. It's always felt like it was made for me and I will never, ever, sell it.

Edited January 20, 2015 by Paul J

[k-hawinkler]

It produces a look like no other, It's a look that I happen to love. Wide open it's sublime, painterly, impressionistic, stopped down it's razor sharp, an ultra high performing lens. You can just dial in the amount of either that you want. Wide open sharpness is excellent, relatively, it kills my Canon 50mm 1.2L. This split personality makes it exceptionally versatile, as does the hyper light gathering abilities. It's colour and contrast are something else, stunning. It's a truly special instrument and even after 3 years of owning I'm still blown away by what it can do. Long term M users may complain about the size, but relative to other cameras and systems I use and own, it's a small, even tiny, lens. I use it with the grip and I don't even notice the size anymore. I have the apo, no doubt it is a perfect and exceptional lens, but they are different lenses entirely and perfect is not what I always want, but that's a whole other post. The Noctilux is the one I mostly chose to reach for. I know it inside out, how it reacts, it's an utter joy to use and to look at the results. It's always felt like it was made for me and I will never, ever, sell it.

 

 

Many thanks Paul. It sounds like the Noctilux is the perfect match for your skill set and artistry. Wonderful!

 

What do you make of this comparison?

The GetDPI Photography Forums - View Single Post - No love for the Mitakon 50 f0.95? comparative images with Noctilux

The GetDPI Photography Forums - View Single Post - No love for the Mitakon 50 f0.95? opinion

 

Disclaimer: This lens is made for the Sony E mount and I am using it on my A7R.

[Paul J]

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Thanks for the link. The users comments are optimistic I think... Those particular samples aren't good for comparing the lenses. They are very constrained by the light and conditions in colour and tonal range, it's sorta pointless really. The final f4 shot, the Noctilux is front focused relative to the Mikaton so discount that one entirely. There isn't enough variation in the shots bokeh to make any real calls there but it is similar.

 

As an example, that same shot with the branch over the stream, the 0.95 settings, zoom into the branch over the water, align the two shots in your browser and click between the two and you will see the difference, even in this flat light, in colour depth and fidelity. The leica is sharper, has more detail, some of that is from it's greater colour depth. It's somewhat like comparing film to digital in that regard, you see a greater range of colour in film.

 

I looked at the rest of that thread and briefly at the samples on flickr and the thing that I notice most is the colour. It's always hard to tell because of peoples processing but the colour seems to be wanting. The reds seem blocky and the separation between greens and yellows is a not so defined, it can appear flat. The way people react to that is saturating images which leads to over saturation or further blockiness and screws with the tonailty. at native, the more saturated colours in the gamut seem blocked, losing detail. again it's hard to tell from people's processing but I'm guessing colour or tone is a bit flat. You will see less difference comparing shots like the snowy ones linked because the range is much thinner. Just looking through the flickr page - there are some shots which have some terrible bokeh. Some look really nice though.

 

For the price, I think the Mikaton looks good, it's impressive bang for buck. It gives, on the surface, a similar look regarding bokeh and it has good sharpness. I'll keep the Noctilux for now though.

[k-hawinkler]

Many thanks Paul for having a look. I always appreciate your perspective.

I'll keep my Summiluxes and Summicrons and in particular my WATE. :-)

I certainly didn't see the Mitakon coming and was curious what that was all about.

It certainly had gotten a bad reputation build-wise on fredmiranda already.

So curiosity got the better part of me and I bought one.

Considering its low price, not much of a risk, even if a total failure.

So far for me it has been an interesting positive experience though.

I don't see it as competition to the Noctilux but as a fairly low cost option to gain some experience with relatively fast glass.

I also enjoy using my Noct-Nikkor, an f/1.2 lens, that IIRC was Nikon's entry into aspherical lenses.

That lens cannot compete with its modern counterpart but is an interesting historical milestone.

So, I'll see where this path will lead me.

Having choices is what's it all about as far as I am concerned.

Thanks again for your feedback.

[Paul J]

Hey Karl-Heinz,

 

I love my Noctilux but Bokeh is down the chain in IQ, for me. Colour, contrast, sharpness, micro-contrast etc are more important to me. Bokeh for the sake of Bokeh, at the expense of other things is not so smart, IMO. The Noctilux works because it's on top of the fact that it performs like a summilux, you can call on the Bokeh when you want and it's strengths also lay elsewhere. It's another string to the bow, so to speak. The mikaton looks like a fun lens in a Lomo/Holga way and one that will complement a decent 50 OK if you like the look, as in certain parameters it looks to produce a nice pic but from the samples I've seen not really one I'd use. If there's build issues too then more-so.

[jrp]

Despite the availability of sensors that perform well at high ISO, the Noctilux has its uses when you need to handhold or to stop motion.

 

The extra stop between the Noctilux and Summulux has its uses.

 

I think that the Summulix produces better results (bokeh, sharpness / contrast) at 1.4-2 or 2.8, but after that, the Noctilux is no slouch. I think that the difference between the two is also a matter of field curvature / waviness (which I'm still exploring). And the Noctilux seems to have a narrower depth of field (more abrupt sharpness falloff) at overlapping apertures.

 

Whether any of this is worth carrying double the weight, if a matter of personal appreciation.

[james.liam]

Interesting technical discussions about the extra stop, sharpness and all that but is it the raison d'être of this technical triumph? I've long admired the work of our esteemed visitor here, Mr Overgaard, and am always captivated by the ethereal 'atmospheric' imparted by the abrupt subject isolation and unique bokeh of his work that defies easy description. I dare say that no other super fast lens has that signature (personally own the 50 Summilux ASPH, Nikkor 50/1.2 AIS and NOCT Nikkor). It either aesthetically resonates (and merits the staggering cost + lumbering mass) or doesn't. A lot of the finest captures I've seen on the Noctilux aren't even in perfect focus either, but does it really matter?

Edited January 25, 2015 by james.liam

[mirekti]

Also, bear in mind the dollar has apreciated a lot recently compared to Euro.

This might be the reason for lower prices in the US.

[james.liam]

Also, bear in mind the dollar has apreciated a lot recently compared to Euro.

This might be the reason for lower prices in the US.

 

Predictions of a $~€ parity later this year will make for interesting times for buyers outside the Eurozone. Until, of course, the Germans are forced to resurrect the Deutsche Mark...

[Anil Kalagatla]

A quick note on the suspiciously super cheap noctiluxes on eBay - be very wary :-) I ended up purchasing one for $6000 which never shipped (of course) - I had to go through eBay money back guarantee to get my payment refunded. After that I noticed the exact same lens being listed at least twice (I know because the pictures used were exactly the same).

 

What most likely happened was that the scammer was using hijacked ebay accounts to list the lens - you could tell because these were all different accounts, with very little recent activity and most of the activity limited to low price listings. The poor account holders were probably not even aware that this was happening. What I'm confused about is how do these guys expect to make any money as eBay will inevitably refund the payment for these items.

 

Bottom line: no, I don't think the price of a mint Noctilux F/0.95 has fallen below $6500 :-) The lowest legit sale seems to be ~$8K.

 

Anil

[macjonny1]

As much as a potential buyer would like, one *possible* sale of $6300 doesn't set the market. Multiple sales in that range would. Sales seem to be occurring in the $8-9k range on average so that's what the market is.

[Jennifer]

Predictions of a $~€ parity later this year will make for interesting times for buyers outside the Eurozone. Until, of course, the Germans are forced to resurrect the Deutsche Mark...

 

Leica publish their Sterling price list online, but I've not found an equivalent online Eurozone price list. Given the fall in the value of the Euro, it'd be interesting to compare prices.

[james.liam]

The exchange rate has gone from about 1.40 in early 2014 to 1.13 today. If Grexit goes through, who knows where the bottom will be.

Either the US buying price will fall or Leica will raise the price on everyone.

[Jennifer]

The exchange rate has gone from about 1.40 in early 2014 to 1.13 today. If Grexit goes through, who knows where the bottom will be.

Either the US buying price will fall or Leica will raise the price on everyone.

 

My bet is Leica will raise their Euro prices, which will, in the short term, improve their bottom line. However, in the macroeconomy any improvement in competitiveness will soon be undone by price inflation, wage inflation, complacency and state profligacy. Devaluation only works as an illusionary 'fix' letting governments off the hook of having to pay in real money the bribes they've offered their electorate .......... well that has been my experience having watched the inexorable decline in Sterling over the past 50 years.

[james.liam]

My bet is Leica will raise their Euro prices, which will, in the short term, improve their bottom line. However, in the macroeconomy any improvement in competitiveness will soon be undone by price inflation, wage inflation, complacency and state profligacy. Devaluation only works as an illusionary 'fix' letting governments off the hook of having to pay in real money the bribes they've offered their electorate .......... well that has been my experience having watched the inexorable decline in Sterling over the past 50 years.

 

The fantasies of fiat currency.

 

Soon, on this side of the Atlantic, a day of reckoning will come as well.

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Hallo,

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