Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2008/12/15

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Subject: [Leica] Hey, is anyone shooting with the 50/0.95 Nocti?
From: freakscene at weirdness.com (Marty Deveney)
Date: Mon Dec 15 04:35:54 2008

I've tested a sample of the new 0.95 Noctilux.

>Is it the greatest thing since sliced bread?

Sliced bread is softer.  More people will buy it.  Sliced bread goes better 
with butter.  Any comparison to sliced bread is probably not valid.

>How is the focus accuracy with an M8?

Like the 50 and 75 mm Leica M lenses with aspherical elements and a floating 
element, the new Nocti focuses spot on wide open with the M8 and other well 
calibrated Leica M cameras and displays negligible focus shift.  It is 
likely that this lens was designed with avoiding focus shift on the M8 as a 
priority.

>How about with film, are you getting the shots you want?

The new Nocti is a very nice lens but it will not make me discard my f1 
Nocti.  The price is a significant consideration here.  I got very nice 
shots on PLus-X, Tri-X, Neopan 400, Neopan 1600 and TMZ with the new lens.

The field is flatter than the f1 version.  I was able to make the new lens 
flare more readily than the f1 version.  The bokeh on the f 0.95 is very 
nice, but it's not as "dreamy" as the f1.  Conniseurs will argue about which 
is better, as always.  The contrast at comparable apertures is much higher 
with the f 0.95.  Lens design has come a long way since 1976.

It's very like the difference between a DR and a current 50/2 Summicron, 
except the f1 Noctilux is essentially flare proof and the f 0.95 can be 
induced to flare if you put it into sufficiently unfavourable circumstances.

Marty



Gallery: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/freakscene


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