Re: [Leica] Available darkness - a Northern affliction?

["Bryan Caldwell" <bcaldwell@softcom.net>]

Simon,

When I'm thinking about buying a new lens, I always ask myself the same
question: Can I take pictures with the new lens that I can't take now? (not
that this is always the deciding factor). With the Noctilux, the answer is
almost surely yes. Then ask yourself if those are the kind of pictures you
really plan on taking. Maybe a Noctilux will extend your picture-taking into
places and times where you've never ventured before.

If you want a lens for low or no light there really is no peer. But, there
are other reasons to look at the Noctilux. It can produce a limited depth of
field that no other lens can match (I know, I know, there is a Canon f1.0L).
If that's an effect you like, the Noctilux is your lens. It also has the
ability to let you use a slower film than other lenses in similar
conditions. If you love the look of a projected Kodachrome 25 slide or Fuji
Velvia or Kodak Tech Pan, the Noctilux opens up a whole new world of
lighting conditions in which you can use those films. These are not the
things everyone looks for in a lens, but if they're what you're after
there's isn't much of a choice.

On the down side, it is, by M standards, a very big and heavy lens. I will
admit that mine often stays at home when I just want to take a body and a
couple of lenses and travel light. It also is, again, even by Leica
standards, very expensive. But, if you've found a good deal as you've
described, you'll probably never lose money if you decide to sell in the
future.

No one can tell you whether a lens is right for you or not. But the Noctilux
is a strange beast and capable of doing things other lenses can't. Think
about how it will fit in with your other lenses and your style of shooting.
If you take the plunge and regret it later (not too likely) post the lens
for sale here and you'll probably have your investment back in a few days.

Let us know what happens.

Bryan


- ----- Original Message -----
From: Simon Pulman-Jones <spulmanjones@lbs.ac.uk>
To: Leica-Users@Mejac. Palo-Alto. Ca. Us <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: Monday, July 05, 1999 10:22 AM
Subject: [Leica] Available darkness - a Northern affliction?


> For the past few days I have been driving myself slowly mad wondering
> whether to buy a Noctilux that I have seen at a (relatively speaking!)
> reasonable price, knowing that if I didn't make up my mind it would be
sure
> to be gone soon. In spite of it's technical shortcomings I love the
pictures
> I get with my very early (1960) 35 Summilux wide open - as well rehearsed
on
> this list it has a wonderful glow which appears to be both clear and soft
at
> the same time. But it's also the content of the pictures that I like - the
> 35 Summilux is what I use most often for pictures of relaxed people in
> softly lit social contexts - and so I suppose I'm definitely an available
> darkness kind of person.
>
> And yet... the same questions that go round and round on this list are
going
> round and round in my head. Grain size... slowest hand-holdable speeds...
> portability of the lens... shorter or longer focus travel on the lens
barrel
> for speed and/or accuracy of focus...
>
> The moment I pick up the phone to order the Noctilux a voice sounds in my
> ear telling me to use a Summicron carefully and develop well to minimise
> grain size...
>
> And so I have been going slowly mad, and out of the madness an idea
dawned.
>
> Thinking about my lens use over and over again I realised that when I was
> recently on holiday in the south of France it was definitely a Summicron
and
> Elmarit time. Even in the shadows there was enough light, and even in the
> evening too. And being from further north I noticed that the sun went down
> so much more quickly that there wasn't much of an available darkness
period
> anyway. So I wondered whether Leica-available-darkness wasn't in fact an
> affliction of those of us from Northern parts, where days are often gloomy
> and evenings are long drawn out. And I remembered that one of the most
> eloquent advocates of the Noctilux on this list, Ted Grant, is from
Canada,
> and that another Northerner's consolation, single malt has seemed as much
a
> LUG topic as the Noctilux.
>
> So is this available darkness madness that I have fallen into because of a
> 'cheap' Noctilux in fact just another sickness of angst ridden, gloomy
> Northerners? An Anglo-Saxon, Celtic kind of a thing? Did those German, and
> Canadian, lens-meisters invent super-fast lenses just to give us an
> especially difficult photographic dilemma to gnaw away at with a bottle of
> the finest at our side?
>
> Do I just need a blast of the bright southern light of common sense to
> banish this Noctilux fever? Or should I pick up the phone and tell the
> dealer to send me that northern gloom-buster? :-)
>
>