Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/02/11

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Subject: [Leica] here's a concept, Summilux vs. Noctilux
From: Eric Welch <ewelch@ponyexpress.net>
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 10:27:12 -0600

Just to break with tradition and talk about using Leicas, and not disposing
or acquiring them, I want to mention something from my visit to Victoria
this past few weeks.

Ted and I went out one night and photographed the Parliament building in
Victoria. I used my M6 and 35 Summilux ASPH on a tripod and then Ted's
Noctilux.

What I noticed, that surprised me, was that the shadow detail between the
two lenses was very similar. The Noctilux did not seem to have any
advantage. That's for this given set of circumstances. Of course, the
difference in magnification had something to do with how the picture
looked, but the sharpness of the 35 ASPH was visibly better, and the
Noctilux had coma in the corners that was pretty severe, and was
nonexistent in the 35 ASPH. None at all. But overall image quality was
similar otherwise.

Even so, the Noctilux at f/1 is amazing. I took a picture of the Empress
Hotel with the moon hiding behind clouds. Absolutely gorgeous picture,
given the shallow depth of field. I can see why people like to use this
lens for available light handheld work. It really has no peer in that kind
of situation. Wish I'd had that lens to photograph comet Hale-Bopp.

Eric Welch
St. Joseph, MO
http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch

My Karma ran over my Dogma..