[Leica] Leica Quality Falls Off?

[jbcollier at shaw.ca (John Collier)]

That, and the fact that the plane of focus would have all but  
disappeared.

My criticism of the Noctilux was more an explanation of why I was  
selling a lens that I otherwise loved. The signature of the Noctilux  
was wonderful, and at all apertures. It is just a marvelous 50 that  
happens to go to f1. I used it as my primary lens for a year and a  
half and every time I moved in close, I would have to back up a step  
to find focus. It was very hard to sell a lens that I loved the  
results from but, with the 50 Summilux Asph I replaced it with, I  
never had to back up once. Funny what 0.3 of a meter can do.

Now the Summilux Asph is gone, glitches in the focus action on all  
three that I had, and I am now using a 50 Summilux BP. It is not  
going to be as sharp as the Asph, though anyone who loves the  
Noctilux is not all about sharpness, but I think I finally have a  
fast 50 which does it all... for me.

John Collier

On 11-Mar-07, at 3:04 AM, Frank Dernie wrote:

> BTW I read that you did not keep the Noctilux because it did not  
> focus close enough. There is a clue to the reason behind this in  
> Erwin Puts book. The close performance of the lens is weak and he  
> recommends stopping down if used near closest focus distance -  
> perhaps Leica don't let users descend into a focusing distance  
> where it is still worse?