Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/07/16

[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]

Subject: Re: [Leica] Should I buy a Noctilux?
From: "stephen holloway" <stephen.holloway@balcab.ch>
Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 18:59:47 +0200
References: <NBBBIDNIGLFOKNLJCPLHKELGGJAA.ddh@home.com>

Dan Honemann wrote:
> 
> I'm curious about this...
> 
> > The vignetting is pretty much gone by f1.4 (and I do use it at that
> > aperture a fair amount - depending on how much I can overexpose my film
> > when stuck at 1/1000s!). [stephen holloway]
> 
> ...and this...
> 
> > I did use the Noctilux a lot that day at f/1.4 and was very impressed
> > with the results. [ray tai]
> 
> Has anyone compared images from the Noctilux vs. the Summilux at f1.4?  Does
> the Lux produce that same creamy bokeh?  If so, and if the Noct's aperture
> ring stays pretty much glued to f1.4, why not shoot with the smaller lens?
> 

I would say 75% of my Noctilux pictures are taken at f1.0 (you've got to
really!), the rest at f1.2/f1.4 (mainly due to light constraints),
hardly any at other apertures. It's pretty well known that there's a
slight focus-shift problem between f2.0 and f5.6 (read about it in
Erwin's Noctilux article) but that wouldn't really worry me for street
work (accurate focusing is always sacrificed for the moment if need be).
If I did shoot a lot at smaller apertures I'd probably get a Summicron
as well (although the Summarit is very sharp between f2.8 and f5.6).

One big advantage of the current Summilux 50 is its 0.7m closest focus
(as against 1.0m for the Noctilux). This alone makes it very desirable
for me, so it's probably in my future. If the Cosina Nokton 50/1.5 could
do that (it's only 1m too) I'd have already purchased one.

- --
Stephen Holloway
http://www.deepturtle.com/steve/photos

Replies: Reply from Dan Cardish <dcardish@sympatico.ca> (RE: [Leica] Should I buy a Noctilux?)
Reply from David Degner <ddegner@morris.com> (RE: [Leica] Should I buy a Noctilux?)
In reply to: Message from "Dan Honemann" <ddh@home.com> (RE: [Leica] Should I buy a Noctilux?)