Re: [Leica] Noctilux performance....

[Andrew Moore <dmm@bronze.lcs.mit.edu>]

Steve:

> Often discussions of Noctilux performance center on its speed and properties
> at f 1.0  in  low light situations.......
...
> I am interested in its uses ,  and performance  in  less demanding light,
> and at  the rest of its aperture range.  Could Nocti....

I think the Noct is highly under-rated in its "less demanding light"
applications.  I used to own this lens, and I've made photos with it
outdoors under bright sunlight on both Astia 100 color transparancy film
and Ilford XP2 Super 400 (B&W) negative film.  In both cases, the images
were so good there were no signs of trade-offs or sacrifices due to using
a lens optimized for f/1.  These shots were made at apertures from f/2
through f/5.6.  The B&W shots weren't 50/2 Summicron quality in terms
of sharpness and contrast, but they certainly weren't *lacking* in
sharpness or contrast.  The color images were also very sharp and
contrasty, with pleasing out of focus areas.  Simply beautiful.  I also
made an image directly into the sun and it flared something awful; it's
not immune from that.

Try it as a general purpose lens.  If you aren't obsessive over sharpness
it might be the only 50 you ever need (if you can carry it), and one of
the most versatile  I wish I still had one.

- --Andrew