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First Noctilux f0.95 in Norway - sample images


Arne Helme

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The problem I find with lenses like the Noctilux is the difficulty of focussing and recomposing without losing critical focus. The OP has done what I often find myself doing when shooting with a wafer thin DOF (and when the focus point is absolutely key) and that is do little or no recomposition. The problem is that you end up with often pretty boring compositions (eyes in the centre of the frame) and/or cropping in post (something I hate doing). The alternative is to go for the stronger composition and focus bracket but this is not always possible if you after anything like a decisive moment.

 

One of the reasons I ended up selling my F1 Noctilux was the feeling that it was a lens that would have been better suited (if it were possible) to being focussed on a ground glass.

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...ground glass or a live view sensor. That's what makes putting a Noctilux on a Panasonic G1 so interesting and is also why I think optional live view in a future M camera would be welcome.

 

I found the following on the net, a Noctilux f0.95 on a live film camera:

 

http://www.purgatorymagazine.com/_downloads/lenstests/Noctilux095_720p02H264.mov

 

-- Arne

Zenfolio | Arne Helme Photography

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I tend to agree with you. I find the 50mm focal length is not ideal on the M8, neither fish nor fowl.

 

Hopefully, in the future, we'll have a FF camera which will restore the usefulness of the 50mm focal length. Either that, or we need a 35mm Noctilux...

 

Absolutely LOVE the 50 lux on my M8.2...perfect focal length and rendering for my purposes...to each his own, and why these things come in all varieties.

 

Incidentally, another poster here referenced the new nocti in comparison to the lux...I'll gladly stick with the latter, but Erwin Puts' review...part 2 just posted...compares the two.

 

Jeff

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Absolutely LOVE the 50 lux on my M8.2...perfect focal length and rendering for my purposes...to each his own, and why these things come in all varieties.

 

Incidentally, another poster here referenced the new nocti in comparison to the lux...I'll gladly stick with the latter, but Erwin Puts' review...part 2 just posted...compares the two.

 

Jeff

 

I've taken the liberty to include Erwin Puts' conclusion:

 

The new NX 0.95 combines many of the characteristics of the previous Noctilux 1/50 and the Summilux-M 1.4/50mm Asph in one design. Stopped down it delivers state of the art image quality and wide open the performance has been optimized in such a way that it can be used at all distances and ambient light levels (clear daylight and near darkness). In particular I would like to mention the improved imagery at close distances which allow for strong portraits with a minimal depth of field, and a clearly defined sharpness plane while maintaing pleasant out of sharpness outlines. The manufacturing quality of the NX is superb and there is no reason to be afraid that the lens will not focus correctly on any Leica M body with a well adjusted rangefinder. The absence of focus shift is another characteristic that needs to be mentioned in a positive sense. The historical fact that the original Noctilux 1.2/50 had to be hand adjusted to find the best balance between focus shift and rangefinder alignment is a thing of the past.

Most classical Leica high speed lenses suffered from curvature of field and astigmatism. The new NX is practically free from these aberrations. The result is a pictorial smoothness over the full image (capture) area that especially wide open delivers a sense of depth and clarity not seen in a superfast lens before.

While the lens is a major improvement on the predecessor, some character traits are not changed: the propensity to flare, the blue fringes and the softer representation of subject outlines. It is a matter of great progress in a superfast lens that these are the only aspects that deserve critical attention.

This lens is a specialist lens, price tag and size/weight put it in a category of its own. If you can see the added value of the unique performance characteristics for your type of imagery and accept a lengthy learning curve to get the best out of the lens, a new pictorial style might be your reward.

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It does sound like a wonderful piece of lens design/engineering. However, as with the F1 Noctilux, I wish that Leica had designed it for an SLR (and thus opening up the possibility of more easily focussing the lens wide-open with the subject off centre).

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It does sound like a wonderful piece of lens design/engineering. However, as with the F1 Noctilux, I wish that Leica had designed it for an SLR (and thus opening up the possibility of more easily focussing the lens wide-open with the subject off centre).

 

I have a vague recollection that an R Noctilux got to prototype stage, but not into serial production.

 

Am I having a brainstorm here, or does anyone else recollect seeing a picture of such a lens which came up for sale somewhere?

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I've taken the liberty to include Erwin Puts' conclusion:

 

The new NX 0.95 combines many of the characteristics of the previous Noctilux 1/50 and the Summilux-M 1.4/50mm Asph in one design. Stopped down it delivers state of the art image quality and wide open the performance has been optimized in such a way that it can be used at all distances and ambient light levels (clear daylight and near darkness). In particular I would like to mention the improved imagery at close distances which allow for strong portraits with a minimal depth of field, and a clearly defined sharpness plane while maintaing pleasant out of sharpness outlines. The manufacturing quality of the NX is superb and there is no reason to be afraid that the lens will not focus correctly on any Leica M body with a well adjusted rangefinder. The absence of focus shift is another characteristic that needs to be mentioned in a positive sense. The historical fact that the original Noctilux 1.2/50 had to be hand adjusted to find the best balance between focus shift and rangefinder alignment is a thing of the past.

Most classical Leica high speed lenses suffered from curvature of field and astigmatism. The new NX is practically free from these aberrations. The result is a pictorial smoothness over the full image (capture) area that especially wide open delivers a sense of depth and clarity not seen in a superfast lens before.

While the lens is a major improvement on the predecessor, some character traits are not changed: the propensity to flare, the blue fringes and the softer representation of subject outlines. It is a matter of great progress in a superfast lens that these are the only aspects that deserve critical attention.

This lens is a specialist lens, price tag and size/weight put it in a category of its own. If you can see the added value of the unique performance characteristics for your type of imagery and accept a lengthy learning curve to get the best out of the lens, a new pictorial style might be your reward.

 

After having used the lens extensively last week my impression is exactly that: the characteristics of two lenses combined into one lens. With all the talk about rangefinder alignment and such - the Noctilux f0.95 is actually the first M lens I have which seems to be perfectly aligned to the rangefinder in my camera. There is definately a learning curve involved in exploiting its potential, though. However, a surprisingly large part of the photos I made during the focus at f0.95 were in focus.

 

-- Arne

Zenfolio | Arne Helme Photography

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It does sound like a wonderful piece of lens design/engineering. However, as with the F1 Noctilux, I wish that Leica had designed it for an SLR (and thus opening up the possibility of more easily focussing the lens wide-open with the subject off centre).

 

I would have to disagree entirely - I own an f1.0 and am waiting for delivery of the f0.95. I use the former regularly for street-shooting at night with only street-lamps for illumination. With a rangefinder, it is possible to focus (relatively) accurately BECAUSE of the binary nature of the overlapping image. An SLR would be virtually impossible to focus with any accuracy.

 

The off-centre recomposition is simply a quirk of the lense (something I find with all fast lenses) - one of its charms, foibles and ideosyncracies. Thinking in planes can help, but easy it ain't. That being said, I find it a uniquely satisfying tool with which to work BECAUSE of its inherrent flaws...

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I would have to disagree entirely - I own an f1.0 and am waiting for delivery of the f0.95. I use the former regularly for street-shooting at night with only street-lamps for illumination. With a rangefinder, it is possible to focus (relatively) accurately BECAUSE of the binary nature of the overlapping image. An SLR would be virtually impossible to focus with any accuracy.

 

The off-centre recomposition is simply a quirk of the lense (something I find with all fast lenses) - one of its charms, foibles and ideosyncracies. Thinking in planes can help, but easy it ain't. That being said, I find it a uniquely satisfying tool with which to work BECAUSE of its inherrent flaws...

 

Hi Julian,

 

so, you are going to keep the F1 and getting the F0.95?

 

DL

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Am I having a brainstorm here, or does anyone else recollect seeing a picture of such a lens which came up for sale somewhere?

 

John,

 

you are correct, there was one for sale on ebay towards the end of last year I believe. It did not look like a prototype at all, so the entire development must have gone pretty far until it was decided that stop the project. It was a 1.2/50 (or was that 58?) lens.

 

Andy

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Hi Arne--a question: The fact sheet for the 0.95 Nocti says that it takes 60mm screw-in filters *by way of a filter adapter*. Is that true? If so, why the devil can't it have a straight filter thread like its predecessor?

 

Or--considering the previous Summilux filter ballet--are Leica producing lenses for a future filterless M?

 

The old man from the Age of A36 Slip-On Filters

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Hi Arne--a question: The fact sheet for the 0.95 Nocti says that it takes 60mm screw-in filters *by way of a filter adapter*. Is that true? If so, why the devil can't it have a straight filter thread like its predecessor?

 

Or--considering the previous Summilux filter ballet--are Leica producing lenses for a future filterless M?

 

The old man from the Age of A36 Slip-On Filters

 

Lars - On the Noctilux f/0.95 ASPH you screw the filter just like in the f/1 version and no adapters are needed.

 

Cheers,

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Hi Daniel - at present, I have no plans to sell the f1.0 (I believe you should never sell anything unless you have to).

 

Hi Julian,

 

I agree with you that we should never sell anything unless we have to but, how are you going to decide when to use which lens as they are ideally the same lens?

 

tks

DL

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Lars - On the Noctilux f/0.95 ASPH you screw the filter just like in the f/1 version and no adapters are needed.

 

Cheers,

 

So why are Leica raving about a filter adapter? (See their downloadable pdf about the Nocti.) Have they come to think that a filter adapter is something every Leica lens must have?

 

The old man who is still compos mentis.

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