jlindstrom Posted June 12, 2019 Share #1 Posted June 12, 2019 Advertisement (gone after registration) I know this horse has been somewhat beaten to death already, but yet here I am asking it again... I’ve got the Noctilux. It’s roughly 2 years old now and I do like shooting with it. I haven’t used it as one trick pony either and when do take it out, I don’t really mind the weight. However, mentally I guess I’m limiting the use due to size/weight before going out... so it does sit in the drawer quite a lot. I went through the pictures I’ve taken with it and 95% could have been achieved with the summicron. Naturally the remaining being wide open, where nocti-effect really kicks in. So it got thinking: - I’d probably use the apo 50 more - are those 5% worth the bulk? I could get a 1:1 swap from my nocti to apo. But would it be stupid to do so? I was also thinking of swapping my m10 to m10-D, but I think I’ll pass on that. There’s nothing to gain in performance and the swap costs a lot... for the cost of the swap I could just buy 50 summilux and keep the nocti. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted June 12, 2019 Posted June 12, 2019 Hi jlindstrom, Take a look here swap nocti to apo summicron?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
otto.f Posted June 12, 2019 Share #2 Posted June 12, 2019 (edited) %% don’t mean anything in terms of artistic quality of the images. Are these 5%, or 1%, or 0,01% really better/special/artistic than the 95%? That is the question. A price-winning dutch photographer once said that it is hardly possible to make more than one really good photo per year. It’s not about “I made 95% quite nice photo’s”. Edited June 12, 2019 by otto.f 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlindstrom Posted June 12, 2019 Author Share #3 Posted June 12, 2019 I hear you Otto. I’ll rephrase, out of the photos I’ve taken that I like, approx 95% I could have taken with any Leica 50mm lens. The remaining 5% of the keepers have been shot with Nocti wide open and are unique in that sense, amongst the keepers. None of them would probably classify as any kind of art. They’re just photos that are special to me or my family. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
evikne Posted June 12, 2019 Share #4 Posted June 12, 2019 If you don't use the Noctilux wide open, it's not worth having it. If you only use it wide open very seldom, you must ask yourself if these few pictures make it worth keeping. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdlaing Posted June 12, 2019 Share #5 Posted June 12, 2019 Keep them both. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
a.noctilux Posted June 12, 2019 Share #6 Posted June 12, 2019 I'd not swap . Had you tried out the Apo-Summicron-M ? For me I've tried out the Apo- Summicron and keep my Noctilux even if I use it only 1% or less. But that only me ...and I do use other 50mm to vary pleasure. For me there is no magic in Apo-Summicron but there is with Noctilux (1.0) when used right. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMAL Posted June 12, 2019 Share #7 Posted June 12, 2019 (edited) Advertisement (gone after registration) .... Edited June 12, 2019 by SMAL Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMAL Posted June 12, 2019 Share #8 Posted June 12, 2019 (edited) vor 4 Minuten schrieb a.noctilux: I'd not swap . Had you tried out the Apo-Summicron-M ? For me I've tried out the Apo- Summicron and keep my Noctilux even if I use it only 1% or less. But that only me ...and I do use other 50mm to vary pleasure. For me there is no magic in Apo-Summicron but there is with Noctilux (1.0) when used right. I am assuming he owns a f0.95, since he says he could swap it 1:1. the f1 doesn’t go for such a high price. At least not in my place. Edited June 12, 2019 by SMAL Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
a.noctilux Posted June 12, 2019 Share #9 Posted June 12, 2019 Sorry, Smal you are right. So OP, in your place I'd swap then to try out the Apo-Summicron. For me the 0.95 has no magic (in my use of course). 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMAL Posted June 12, 2019 Share #10 Posted June 12, 2019 vor 5 Minuten schrieb a.noctilux: Sorry, Smal you are right. So OP, in your place I'd swap then to try out the Apo-Summicron. For me the 0.95 has no magic (in my use of course). I absolutely agree with all points you made otherwise. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
UliWer Posted June 12, 2019 Share #11 Posted June 12, 2019 Well, a Noctilux and a 1:2/50 Apo are no similar lenses - besides the extraordinary price you have to pay for either and the status symbol they might stand for. If your aim is to get photos with very narrow depth of focus a Noctilux may be a means to achieve it. If you aim for photos with extreme micro contrast, it may be the Apo. You better make up your mind about your aims - and perhaps find out that a Summilux, a „normal“ Summicron or even an Elmar might be more appropriate to your wishes than one of the „super“ lenses. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlindstrom Posted June 12, 2019 Author Share #12 Posted June 12, 2019 Yeah, I own the .95 version. I see the magic in the lens, that’s not really an issue. It’s more about wether that magic is ”worth” the size. But reading all these answers, has made me think. In trying not to over use the nocti effect, I might have actually restrictred myself from ejoying it at what it was designed to do. Since this isn’t by any means matter of any kind of urgency, but rather careful consideration, I’ll shoot some more with it. Leaving for a month long vacation in Spain beg. July. I’ll take it with me and keep it at .95 and see how it goes. I have the ND to manage it in bright daylight as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff S Posted June 12, 2019 Share #13 Posted June 12, 2019 Lenses don’t make magical pictures; people do. Buy a lens that you’ll use more. Jeff 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlindstrom Posted June 12, 2019 Author Share #14 Posted June 12, 2019 6 minutes ago, UliWer said: Well, a Noctilux and a 1:2/50 Apo are no similar lenses - besides the extraordinary price you have to pay for either and the status symbol they might stand for. If your aim is to get photos with very narrow depth of focus a Noctilux may be a means to achieve it. If you aim for photos with extreme micro contrast, it may be the Apo. You better make up your mind about your aims - and perhaps find out that a Summilux, a „normal“ Summicron or even an Elmar might be more appropriate to your wishes than one of the „super“ lenses. Ideally I’d have both or actually four of them... 50 pre-asph summilux, 50 summilux asph, 50 apo and the nocti. Unfortunately I cant fund that.. or I could over time, but won’t. Having several lenses is not for me. I have 2 lenses and that’s already hard to choose from 😂 I’ve had both the summiluxes earlier and liked them both. I ”upgraded” from the pre-asph to asph to nocti. And I’ve gone through more than enough cameras. Sometimes owning several cameras and lenses for each. None of that is for me. So I guess the one thing certain is that I’m bad at deciding about my aims when it comes to photograpy - really bad. At times severe GAS kind of bad. Probably the wise thing to do would be to embark on some kind of one lens, one camera policy and use only the nocti and then after a while decide. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fedro Posted June 12, 2019 Share #15 Posted June 12, 2019 I love the .95. and I think that it offers a lot more than just the one trick pony wide open. I am always amazed by the colours and sharpness when stopped down. I would give it a second chance, but that is me. I was about to sell it, like many do, after a year, but decided to keep it and use it more often, I am glad I did 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
otto.f Posted June 12, 2019 Share #16 Posted June 12, 2019 Wait for the new APO Summilux 50-M with closer focus than 70cm 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMAL Posted June 12, 2019 Share #17 Posted June 12, 2019 (edited) vor 34 Minuten schrieb jlindstrom: Yeah, I own the .95 version. I see the magic in the lens, that’s not really an issue. It’s more about wether that magic is ”worth” the size. But reading all these answers, has made me think. In trying not to over use the nocti effect, I might have actually restrictred myself from ejoying it at what it was designed to do. Since this isn’t by any means matter of any kind of urgency, but rather careful consideration, I’ll shoot some more with it. Leaving for a month long vacation in Spain beg. July. I’ll take it with me and keep it at .95 and see how it goes. I have the ND to manage it in bright daylight as well. In my opinion the f0.95 at F2 can easily compete with the APO. That’s the only good thing about the New f0.95! There is no focus shift and it’s amazingly versatile. I went back to the F1 Nocti, cause the f0.95 was too boring and clean to me, but for me it sounds like it be your ideal lens and that you have a lot of GAS. Edited June 12, 2019 by SMAL Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMAL Posted June 12, 2019 Share #18 Posted June 12, 2019 vor 3 Minuten schrieb otto.f: Wait for the new APO Summilux 50-M with closer focus than 70cm Closer than 70cm? I am pretty sure that won’t happen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff S Posted June 12, 2019 Share #19 Posted June 12, 2019 17 minutes ago, SMAL said: Closer than 70cm? I am pretty sure that won’t happen. Leica Rumors suggests otherwise, as current version is 70cm.... https://www.google.com/amp/s/leicarumors.com/2019/05/06/the-latest-leica-rumors-sl2-m10x-m-with-evf-apo-summilux-m-50mm-f-1-4-asph-lens.aspx/amp/ Jeff 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMAL Posted June 12, 2019 Share #20 Posted June 12, 2019 vor 16 Minuten schrieb Jeff S: Leica Rumors suggests otherwise, as current version is 70cm.... https://www.google.com/amp/s/leicarumors.com/2019/05/06/the-latest-leica-rumors-sl2-m10x-m-with-evf-apo-summilux-m-50mm-f-1-4-asph-lens.aspx/amp/ Jeff Let’s see what happens. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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