[Leica] f/1.4 and be there...at ISO 25K!

[mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)]

FASCINATING TESTS to me its all about what the results might be with letter
sized or 11x14 prints in terms of what the results might be at 6400 vs. 3200
or Hi or 1600 and what the 1.4 gives you in terms of these ISO's in these
ultra low light situations that a 2.8 or f4 does not. Three or four stops of
a very high ISO change is what. But what numbers and what does the noise or
lack of look like.
Seeing the lens in scale with the cameras is daunting.
Twould seem to dwarf a Noctilux!
72 vs. 60 filter size....
I'm guessing we're going to be seeing a lot of photojournalists and
commercial photographers using this lens; as well of of course a lot of
serious armatures.


Mark William Rabiner



> From: Howard Ritter <hlritter@bex.net>
> Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug@leica-users.org>
> Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2009 23:58:45 -0500
> To: Leica Users Group <lug@leica-users.org>
> Subject: [Leica] f/1.4 and be there...at ISO 25K!
> 
> See, I wanted to treat the D700 to a dose of raw SPEED, but despaired
> of ever seeing the new Nikkor 50/1.4 G-series prime lens actually
> becoming available. So I started to read about that Sigma 50/1.4 that
> I've been seeing advertised for a while, and the more I read the more
> I was intrigued. So I sprang for it the other day and have been
> playing around with it. Thought I'd post a few photos taken with lens
> and camera at the extremes of their capabilities. Naturally one cannot
> resist the twin temptations of 1.4 on the aperture ring and 25600 on
> the ISO knob forever, so eventually they came into conjunction, as you
> will see.
> 
> First, let me tell you that the reviews are right. This is one
> bodacious hunka glass and metal! Filter size the same as on the Nikkor
> 28-70/2.8 (77 mm) though thankfully only half the length and weight.
> But when one carries the D700 into battle, one has already given up
> hope of tripping the fantastic lightly. On the other hand, despite its
> bulk and avoirdupois, this is the smallest and lightest lens that this
> camera has ever borne.
> 
> We had a mostly-clear night recently and so I went prowling the
> countryside. All outdoor shots in this gallery link are at f/1.4, ISO
> 6400, 12800, or 25600, handheld, at exposures of 1/5 to 1/20 sec?you
> can see some smearing due to hand-holding if you look closely. Nothing
> unusual about these night shots...except that they were made with
> exposures short enough to allow hand holding. As you might expect, the
> biggest problem shooting with this lens at full aperture and virtually
> in the dark is getting good focus. Neither my eye nor the AF is to be
> trusted, and the light was too low even to read the focusing scale on
> the lens (as with most modern AF lenses, the Sigma 50/1.4 focuses past
> infinity, so you can't just rotate the focus ring until it hits the
> stop and be assured of infinity focus). In most cases, I cranked off a
> dozen shots while advancing the focus ring just a tad between shots.
> While hand-holding.
> 
> See: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/hlritter/f1point4+and+be+there/
> 
> Although the photos from the countryside look like they were taken
> during the day or at twilight, they were actually taken around 2300
> local time; it was really rather dark, and the only illumination of
> any consequence was from the gibbous Moon in a hazy sky. Visually, I
> could barely make out the blades of the wind turbines even though I
> was close enough to hear their "whoosh...whoosh". The exception is the
> one of the rocks and evergreens at the edge of the lake, where a glow
> from the town is seen in the background. Even in this one, the
> moonlight dominates, as shown by the shadow on the snow below center.
> This is the one shot where the screen appearance approximates the
> visual experience. For all the others, the pictures are much brighter
> than the live scene. Looking at the LCD after a shot and then back to
> the barely visible scene itself reminded me of looking at a night
> scene, alternately live and then through a third-gen image intensifier?
> bright, detailed image/dim murky scene. It's like this thing
> manufactures photons out of thin air! Did I mention this was
> accomplished with the camera hand-held? And that it was too dark to
> read the focusing scale? Look at the stars in the sky in a couple of
> shots!
> 
> One other thing worth noting is the huge increase in noise in going
> from ISO 6400 to the HI settings. ISO 6400 images taken under, say,
> indoor lighting conditions are remarkably pleasing and useable?I'd say
> comparable to the M8 at ISO 640?while the higher ISOs produce images
> for record only. Full disclosure: I did apply Noise Ninja. Also posted
> for your edification is a photo of my three implementations of the
> 50mm f/1.4 full-frame prime lens and their respective wearers. Sublime
> to necessary to ridiculous.
> 
> 
> --howard
> 
> 
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