Re: [Leica] RE: Noctilux as a GP lens

[TTAbrahams@aol.com]

 I did spend a year in Paris in the 80's and the only 50 I had at the time was
a Noctilux as well as one of the first 75/1,4's, a 35/2, a 28/2,8 and a
21/3,4. Bodies were M4-2's and an M4P. We had decided to take a sabbatical
(actually it became a sabbatical and a half year). My wife studied French and
I took pictures. A couple of rolls a day, mainly Tri-X and some K-25. Every
day during the week I would take the Metro to a station far, far away and then
walk back, shooting, drinking coffee, hanging out in bookstores and then in
the evening we would go to the movies or read (with red wine and cheese for
dinner)!  I used the Nocti as a standard lens, shooting in low light and
during the bright hours with Tri-X. It works fine as a 50, probably not as
good as a Summicron would have been, but I have pulled 16x20's from those Tri-
X negs (developed in the bathtub in the small studio we rented, D-76 1:1 for
10 minutes). As a travel lens it is heavy, but it allows you to shoot indoors,
low light (and Paris has some of the dimmest cafe's, churches and lanes you
can imagine) as well as handling bright light. Logic says that one should go
home and change lenses when the light dims — you dont 'just" carry a Nocti in
the pocket or bag. It is either on the camera, or at home!
 On the other hand, I really learned to appreciate the 35/2 and the 21/3,4 as
walk around lenses there! The Nocti can do things that amazes you, and with
todays filmtechnology the quality of low light shooting has dramatically
improved.
Neopan 1600 and a Noctilux, or even the Delta 3200, it can pull magic out of
that little box with the taped over red Dot.
Tom A