Re: [Leica] Noctilux - shooting wide open

[Thomas Kachadurian <kach@freeway.net>]

John:

I will give you an angle you might not have considered.

I have used a noctilux, i gave it a good workout, and I now own (and 
Love) a Summilux.  You lose 1 full stop,  so at f 1.0, there is just 
no contest, the noct always wins.

At 1.4 and above the Summilux makes a few points of it's own. 
Regardless what everyone says about the balance and heft of the 
noctilux are good for keeping it steady. But it's clunky and huge. 
unless your a big person who likes folk looking at your big lens, you 
just won't take it with you all the time. I couldn't imagine putting 
a M6 with a Noct over my shoulder on the way to the grocery store, as 
I often do with my m6/summilux. A lens you have with you is a lens 
that can make a photograph.

Also, the  noctilux has a very long throw on the focusing collar, and 
it isn't a quick lens to focus. I found I missed more shots at 1.4 
with the noctilux that I do with the summilux because of missed 
focus, and it was nearly always related to the amount of turning you 
need to do with the noct.

There is more to a lens than it's absolute sharpness. In fact, it has 
been my experience with all of the current Leica lenses that I've 
used that in real picture taking situations, looking a photographs, 
they are all up to the job. If you must have 1.0, there is nothing 
like the noct. But it coomes with an ergonomic price that is at least 
worth considering.

Tom (owner of 5 leica lenses, who uses a 50 summillux 60% or more of the time)

At 5:07 PM -0800 3/11/99, John Hudson wrote:
>Can anyone opine of the comparative edge to edge quality and sharpness of
>low natural light photos taken with a Canadian made Noctilux at f1.0 and a
>50mm Summilux at f1.4 using the same type of film in the same lighting
>conditions.
>
>Where the natural lighting allows for the use of apertures at and above f1.4
>would there be any discernable differences between two photos, one with the
>Noctilux and one with the Summilux,  using the same aperture, shutter speed,
>and type of film?
>
>John Hudson

Thomas Kachadurian
WEB PAGE: http://members.aol.com/kachaduria