Re: [Leica] Noct vs 50 'lux

["Mxsmanic" <mxsmanic@hotmail.com>]

David writes:

> The Noct is on a pedestal. And rightly so as an
> f1 lens. At all other apertures the pedestal
> should be no higher than the Summilux. In fact,
> maybe it should be a a tad lower.

I have a Summicron and the Noctilux; I take the Noctilux out only when I know
that I will need the extra two stops, which typically means nighttime exteriors
or dark interior shots (I never use flash).  If I'm confident that f/2 will
suffice, the Summicron goes with me instead; it is lighter, cheaper, and should
be optically superior at all the apertures that it supports (although the
difference is of course quite small).  The same would be just as true if I had a
Summilux.

The Noctilux is a very fine lens, but it's really, really hard to make a lens
that opens up to f/1 and still keep it a good performer across the board.  Given
that, plus the weight, I figured after some careful consideration that it wasn't
necessarily a good idea to use it as an all-around 50mm lens, if budget permits
two or more 50mm lenses.

I suppose the same argument could be made for the Summilux versus the Summicron,
although the differences are so small between those two that they would probably
be too insignificant to justify having both unless one really has a generous
budget.  Once I have a full set of Summicrons, I'll start on a full set of
Summiluxes, although I have no idea when that will be, as my budget won't
stretch to this right now.

On my Nikons I manage with f/2.8 without too much trouble, but I use them mostly
for exterior shots, and in low-light conditions I use a flash with the Nikon
(Nikon flash management is such that you cannot go wrong with a flash, although
I'm still not too keen on using flash if not absolutely necessary).