Well even though i own the 35mm Lux Asph and APO 90mm f/2 Asph, I have been missing the 50mm. I have the opportunity to buy a mint/unsused Nocton for US$250.

So my questions are, is it a good lens, particulary at f/1.5 and f/2 and is it a good buy? Even just to try?

-- Kristian (leicashot@hotmail.com), March 13, 2002

Answers

Kristian

The answer has to be yes. Performance is said to be better or the equal of the Summilux 50mm, but quality of construction is below, and they have the screw to M mount adaptor issue. For that price I would certainly give it a whirl. Mind you you probably pick up a used Summilux for $450-500 too.

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), March 13, 2002.

Kristan, I do own the CV Nokton. Frankly I'm not impressed with my pics from it. Somehow it does not have that 'zing' which I expected. Maybe I got a bad sample or maybe I haven't found it's sweetspot. At infinity, in my personal opinion this lens is like any other. At nearer distances, it's better.

-- sunil (yatsunil@hotmail.com), March 14, 2002.

Wow, found an niteresting site with some pretty impressive pics taken with the lens at open apertures.

http://www.leicafanclub.org/noktonvsnoct2.html

-- Kristian (leicashot@hotmail.com), March 14, 2002.

Kristian, I use it and it's an excellent lens optically, wide open also. Build quality is the same as C/N/M. Try it.

-- Richard (richard.srienz@swissonline.ch), March 14, 2002.

I went to the site you mentioned. Wow!! The pics there sure have lots of 'zing'!! Looks like I really must go and shoot a lot more with my Nokton. I'm praying that I don't have a lemon.

-- sunil (yatsunil@hotmail.com), March 14, 2002.

The website certainly has impressive pictures from the vc lens. Does anybody know what is being said (?in Japanese). I wonder what the "Epson" references mean.

-- Steve Jones (stephenjjones@btopenworld.com), March 14, 2002.

Nice pics - but the one of the sunflowers has quite a bit of flare - is this an issue with this lens?

-- John Griffin (john.griffin@millerhare.com), March 14, 2002.

Steve,

That's traditional Chinese. You may download Big5 code to support. Writer put two pictures at same time onto Epson scanner to make sure in the same scanning codition.

Mark

The website certainly has impressive pictures from the vc lens. Does anybody know what is being said (?in Japanese). I wonder what the "Epson" references mean.

-- Steve Jones (stephenjjones@btopenworld.com), March 14, 2002.

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-- Mark Mao (markmao@ms18.hinet.net), March 14, 2002.

My opinion is that Nokton is the best CV lens, period (I shot with almost all of them). And a giveaway at $250. Excellent build quality, *no flare* with lights in your face, nice "bokeh" (but some people don't like it). Here are some shots at f/1.5:

http://www.electric mist.com/fire/index.html

As always, YMMV.

-- Alexander Grekhov (grekhov@wgukraine.com), March 14, 2002.

Article compare Nocton, Noctilux, and Nikon 58mm. Although it's in Chinese Big5, you can still look at the color pics taken and guess which is which...

http://leicafanclub.org/noktonvsnoct2.html

-- Fred Ouyang (yo54@columbia.edu), March 14, 2002.

Alexander, I've passed through your website before. Nice pics. Great exposures and lighting. It makes me NOT want a Noct! Which, financially, is a good thing.

-- Kristian (leicashot@hotmail.com), March 14, 2002.

John, In the "sunflower" pic, the author is trying to show small aperture with direct sun inside the frame, he didn't use any shade with but guess it's typical to have flare like this.

Kristian, I think I'll get one Nokton my self to compliment my 50'cron, instead of buying a 'Lux.

-- Fred Ouyang (yo54@columbia.edu), March 14, 2002.

Wow, people who can evaluate lens performance by looking at small, low res images processed who knows how much through a computer imaging program. I've seen scanned Lomo shots that look good at that size and resolution. One could save even more money going that way. By the way, isn't the point of having Leica interchangable glass one of consistancy of look and feel to the images? To me, the net result of Leica images is a collective emotional feeling that's hard to quantify logically. But it's there to see, or the Leica company wouldn't exist for very long. I sure wouldn't send my hard earned cash off to Germany just to feel puffed up about sporting a Leica over my shoulder. In fact, I left Leica for a short time, tried other stuff that logically seemed correct, and my work suffered for it. It's cost me an arm and a leg to return, but the first 11X14 prints were all the justification I'll ever need. I think one can evaluate content and composition on the web,but little else. For posting web photos I have a 2 meg snapshot camera. For expressions from my soul I have my Leica. Sorry, I can't provide a graph or chart to prove it all, but I intuitively know it's ther every time I make a print. Your Leica Prodigal Son...Marc Williams

-- Marc Williams (mwilliams111313MI@comcast.com), March 15, 2002.

Quite right Marc. A lousy picture can be formidably sharpened up using Photoshop for web use. How any one can tell from a 72 dpi screen is beyond me. Most people tell me all that counts is the "image", whatever that means. Oh yes and sharpness is a bourgeous obsession. HCB said that, I think (perhaps that is why many of his shots are not sharp).

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), March 15, 2002.

Got it. A review to follow soon....

-- Kristian (leicashot@hotmail.com), March 19, 2002.