[Leica] Noctilux DOF Film vs. M8

[drodgers at casefarms.com (David Rodgers)]

Whew! Finally got caught up on my LUG reading. Got behind a month ago.
Couldn't seem to get caught up and didn't want to skip anything. 

This whole Noct thread made my head spin a bit, though. It sort of
reminded me of my golf game. I'd been worried so much about so many
different things that I never could score decently. I finally stopped
thinking and just played. Suddenly everything fell into place. It was
fun again. I shot some great scores, too. 

I fall into the same trap photographically. I think (worry) too much
about things that are inconsequential. OK, so maybe focus is important,
but my Noct seems to work OK. I even took some of the better photos I've
taken with it recently. No pics to post, unfortunately. They're chem.
prints. 

Also, for those into bw film photography I'll put in a good word for
Adox CHS. It's a very interesting film. It doesn't look particularly
sharp (OTOH maybe it's the Noct :-) ). But the tonality is really nice.
(And honestly it's plenty sharp, although if you're looking for
lith-like acutance you may be dissappointed). It's marketed as an old
style film with high silver content, and it does give a sort of retro
look. I don't think I've seen all it can do. I'm still playing with
developers. My favorite thing about it is how skies look. I like a
darker sky but I normally prefer to us light green filters rather than
darker red. Don't know how it scans. Haven't tried that yet. 

And speaking of focus issues I did have a scare. My first prints were
really OOF. Then I realized that I hadn't aligned my enlarger. I have to
set it up and take it down now with each printing session. I used my Zig
alignment tool. That certainly made all the difference. So maybe details
are important. One thing I will say is that the Noct is not an easy lens
to use. But that's what makes it fun to use!

DaveR