Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2018/01/05
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]It used to be in the mid 70?s the more you?d pay for a lens the less sharp it was.
That is to say the fast glass was the soft glass. And even after stopping down to 5.6 or 8 they were still softer then glass costing half as much. Sure an f 1.2 but even a 1.4. A larger outer element can be a problem for lens designers it seemed.
Now when you pay big money for fast glass you get better results at 5.6 or 8 then you do with the medium priced spread maybe it?s the coatings or computer design. So it really is worth the money now to not go too slow.. No one thinks you are serious photographer unless you are dragging around a two pound huge chunk of glass costing thousands.
I think in the current land of ASA one million things have changed on that account. The old needs of groundglass focusing are not the same.
I never much bought into the speed thing and most my glass is on the medium side. F 1.8 and be there.
My Zeiss for Hasselblad glass most of them are a blazing f4.
Thing is here in Leica-land they are constantly putting out that there is no reason whatsoever to stop down just shoot it wide open all the time to get the most out of your Leica buck.
That being unqualified baloney. It?s just not the way glass works or has ever worked or is ever going to work regardless of price.
By the way I?ve shot my Noctilux at all f stops when the occasion occurred but at f 1 it rendered quite an interesting image and was the best f 1 lens I ever shot with.
I found it in practice not to be an f1 and be there workflo but an f 2000th of a second be there kind of thing.
The shutter speed dial stayed at 2000 only the f stops moved. Sometimes it?s even dim enough for f 1 but more often than not you take what you get. I still have my Noctilux and as the economy works I can sell it for far more than what I paid for it.
I?ve not used it?s as a nest egg for when things get boring and I don?t have any spare cash to play with.
Someday it will be refreshing for a person to come on the LUG and say ?I?m selling my Noctilux because I just wanted people to think I?m rich and now I just want to play with the money?.
The reverse of a begger on the sidewalk holding a sign and a cup; ?Money for Crack?. I always give them a dollar. It?s so amazing when people don?t lie!
Or if they play the violin. Or sing like Edith Piaf.
--
Mark William Rabiner
Photographer
On 1/4/18, 2:46 PM, "LUG on behalf of Paul Roark" <lug-bounces+mark=rabinergroup.com at leica-users.org on behalf of roark.paul at gmail.com> wrote:
?I've worked up my first landscape test shot taken at f/1.2? by the new
Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f/1.2 for the Sony a7rii. Wide open it is somewhat
soft across the frame. However it looks like it sharpens well enough in
Photoshop that I think I'll be able to use it for gallery quality 20x24
inch B&W display prints on either matte paper or canvas. By f/2.8 it's
excellent.
So far there is no profile for it in my Photoshop CC, but it doesn't seem
to need one.
What's on my home page now is my first a stacked image of hand held f/1.2
frames at different distances from the foreground to the sharp ridge I look
at over a little canyon.
See http://www.paulroark.com/
I've had older Canon f/1.2 optics and never kept them. This Nokton,
however, looks like it's made the grade for a spot in my lineup for travel
and hiking: Loxia 21, Nokton 40, Leica-M Macro-Elmar 90.
Paul
www.PaulRoark.com
On Thu, Jan 4, 2018 at 10:44 AM, Frank Filippone <red735i at verizon.net>
wrote:
> I bought one of these from Amazon last year ($369). Only over Christmas
> did
> I get to really try it out..
>
>
>
> I own a Noctilux, 3rd version. Not the new F0.95 version, but the 1.0
> version. I thought that maybe I could buy this cheapie, and sell off the
> Nocti.. Put several thousand dollars back into the coffers...
>
> I also own a 50mm F1.4 Summilux ASPH, the sharpest lens I have ever run
> across.
>
> My Monochrom is back from its stay in Allendale.. So it was the right time
> to try the lens on the Monochrom body and run it against the Summilux.
>
>
>
> The focus seems right on. There is the possibility to adjust the RF cam,
> but I did not have to do the adjustment, everything worked just fine.
>
>
>
> I shot wide open. why else buy this lens?
>
>
>
> There is a creamy edge to all of the images taken, from F1.1 to about F2.8
> After that, the creaminess disappears. It is a pleasant effect. Soft
> renditions of an earlier time and place. But if you think this is in the
> less well focused areas, you are wrong. It is creamy all over. Focused
> areas or not... May will love this for portraiture. Maybe for some
> landscapes.
>
>
>
> But it you LOVE sharpness, and pursue tit with lenses like the 50 ASPH Lux,
> this lens is so different it takes some time to comprehend. I am not there
> yet.
>
>
>
> Do I like what I shot? Depends, as a shot of my Son worked out real well.
> But a shot of my future DIL was way more interesting ( technically?) but it
> showed every pore on her face... The shot of her with the 7 artisans, was
> much smoother. Of course, it also means there was nothing sharp. So I
> like
> everything smooth or everything sharp?
>
> Not so sure yet..
>
>
>
> Next thing to try out is the 7 Artisans against my Nocti.
>
>
>
> Maybe this week...
>
>
>
> BTW, the Techart Leica M to Sony A7II (and other) AF adapter worked real
> well.. That was a real win.
>
>
>
> Frank Filippone
>
>
>
> Red735i at verizon.net
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>
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