Re: Noctilux - First Six months

On Apr04 12:59, Feli di Giorgio wrote:
> I've had my Noctilux for about 6 months now.
> Having shot a good amount of film with it, here are a few observations:
> 
> 
> a) It's big. Too big for a standard, everyday lens.

i'm not a particularly big guy, 5'7" or so, and i have never considered
the lens too big or too heavy for me.  in fact, i was at my son's 
baseball game and a fellow with an M7 and 50 summicron came up and
of course we had a conversation.  he felt the summicron was too small for 
his taste.  he liked my noctilux very much in terms of ergonomics.  
it is by far my most-used lens, always wide open, sometimes with
an 8x ND filter.

to keep things in perspective, an m6 with noctilux is a couple of
oz's lighter than the F100 and the f1.2 50mm.  the way some
describe the lens, it transformed the leica into a super technika.

> h) It's not an easy lens to learn. At first you are incredible excited. 
> Super fast lens and all of the hoopla that surrounds it. Then you start 
> to shoot and realize how big and heavy it is and how long the focus 
> throw is. It feels clunky and most of your shots taken at f1 are out of 
> focus. I think that this is the point where most people sell the lens. 
> I stuck with it and after a while you get used to it. The extra weight 
> and size become a plus, when shooting at slow shutter speeds. You 
> discover that f1 sounds great on paper, but isn't always the answer. In 
> the beginning I shot mostly without the hood, because I felt it blocked 
> too much of the finder, but after a while I didn't even notice it 
> anymore. I sill don't use the Noct as my everyday lens, because it's 
> just to big to carry around slung over the shoulder, but it has earned 
> a permanent spot in my bag for when it gets dark and it becomes time 
> for "The Queen of the Night" to rise. 8-)

i agree it does take practice.  having a 0.85 viewfinder helps.  as does
the 1.25x eyepeice magnifier.  sometimes you discover that your rangefinder
is slightly off (at one time or another mine have been off on 3 of my 4
bodies), so i recommend a focus test.  the focus throw is long, but i
am usually at the short end of it, since at distances of 20 ft or so and
beyond  you lose the "noctilux effect."

i never tire of using this lens.

however, i acknowledge  that the egonomics of the lens , and 
the images produced by it have always been controversial, if not 
polarizing.

-rei

-- 
Rei Shinozuka shino@xxxxxxxxx
Ridgewood, New Jersey

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