Hello all. I recently posted a review of the Noctilux on a new section of my site, at http://www.vothphoto.com/spotlight/reviews/noctilux.htm.

I'd welcome feedback from Noct users, particularly if I've gotten anything wrong .

Thanks and good shooting,

-- Gary Voth (garyvot@vothphoto.com), April 22, 2002

Answers

Nice review Gary. I had to go to your home page though first though, as I got a "not on this server" message when using your URL.

-- Tim Franklin (tim_franklin@mac.com), April 22, 2002.

here is a link to the site: http:// www.vothphoto.com/spotlight/reviews/noctilux.htm. This is a great and thorough review. Exactly the type of review i would want everybody to write, no MTF charts (which are usless unless the camera is on a tripod anyways), but rather an explanation of how it works in the "real world". Thank You.

-- Matthew Geddert (geddert@yahoo.com), April 22, 2002.

Excellent review Gary, thank you! I agree with Tim here, it is an easy to read, yet very practical and well balanced document with great examples. Makes me want the Noctilux even more! :-)

-- Eric Kragtwijk (e.kragtwijk@hccnet.nl), April 22, 2002.

Sorry, I meant to type that I agree with Matthew...

-- Eric Kragtwijk (e.kragtwijk@hccnet.nl), April 22, 2002.

Gary,

Bravo! and how fortuitous this timing. I am leaving for NYC tonight and will most definitely stop at the Leica gallery now. I have been sitting on the fence for far too long, and an impending trip to San Miguel de Allende next month and a possible glimpse of an M7 this week, might push me over the ledge! outstanding photography my friend. thank you for sharing.

-- daniel taylor (lightsmythe@agalis.net), April 22, 2002.

use this link. (fyi - the prob was the dot after "htm")

Gary, nice and personal review. I enjoyed it. I better play some more Power Ball...

-- pat (modlabs@yahoo.com), April 22, 2002.

A nice, straightforward review of a unique lens. My only (very minor) quibble would be that the 1st example photo, which you use to illustrate the vignetting @ f/1, doesn't do show that phenomemon that clearly on my monitor as some others you've probably taken (perhaps something w/your subject against a light background).

-- Chris Chen (furcafe@NOSPAMcris.com), April 22, 2002.

Good stuff - I'll add it to the Noctilux (and other f1 lenses) write-up I have in the FAQ at:

nemeng.com/leica /040b.shtml

-- Andrew Nemeth (azn@nemeng.com), April 22, 2002.

Thanks for all the comments so far. (Sorry about the period at the end of the sentence getting muddled with the URL I posted.)

Daniel, enjoy your trip! I bought an M a year ago after 20 plus years using SLRs, and it's been a joy to explore this great system. (Unfortunately for my accountant, I can't shake my love affair with fast lenses.. hee hee).

-- Gary Voth (garyvot@vothphoto.com), April 22, 2002.

Gary, an excellent review. One minor quibble:

Focus is a bit on the tight side, though no more so than some other M lenses; but it is smooth and well dampened

I'll bet the focus is well damped rather than well dampened. The former means that the vibrations or play have been reduced or eliminated; the latter means to make moist.

-- Douglas Herr (telyt@earthlink.net), April 22, 2002.

dampened has more than one definition, one of them being decay as damped. Gary, you need to check out the late Morrie Camhi's 'Faces and Facets - The Jews of Greece'. Leica M, tungsten bulb and natural light source ... gorgeous. your work has much the same feel. I am sure I would love the Noctilux as much as my Zeiss 110FE F2 ... love fast lenses. I solved the accountant problem ... fired him.

-- daniel taylor (lightsmythe@agalis.net), April 22, 2002.

Gary: Thanks - I'll reread it in more detail as soon as I straighten this out....

Webster's New World Dictionary (3rd College edition) - "Dampen: 1) To make damp, moisten. 2) to deaden, depress, reduce or lessen....."

Doug, I agree with you that it SOUNDS like his lens was all wet - but technically the verbs work the same way - you can damp your flowerpots, or your fire, or your piano strings, or your focusing movement - or you can dampen them. Identical equivalence (to be redundant).

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), April 22, 2002.

Thanks for the review and the lovely sample photos. I must resist the urge to whip out the plastic and hit up my fave mail-order site! Kristian, how do you think the nocti would look on YOUR M6? *evilgrin* I know it'd look quite at home on mine hehehe.

-- James (snodoggydogg@hotmail.com), April 22, 2002.

I've been told I'm all wet before; I'm just glad my Noct is still dry... ;-)

(Believe it or not, I looked this up when writing. Neither of the two dictionaries I had on hand (Random House New World Collegiate and Encarta CD-ROM) have the form "damped" which is how I wrote it first. Probably because this word is from the technical literature, e.g. wave physics, meaning to reduce in amplitude... which of course, is what I mean.)

-- Gary Voth (garyvot@vothphoo.com), April 22, 2002.

I've had my Noct for a few weeks now and LOVE it!!!This lens can do anything with it's f1 performance!I never thought I would love a f1 Leica lens this much.

-- Emile de Leon (knightpeople@msn.com), April 22, 2002.

Gary, the American Heritage Dictionary has it in the sense you mean. (Online at www.dictionary.com. ) As does my free downloaded pop-up dictionary and thesaurus (wordweb 1.63 www.wordweb.co.uk)

Great review and public service Gary. Thank you.Thank you.

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), April 22, 2002.

Nicely done, Gary. I enjoyed reading the review, and found you hit the points I was most interested in regarding the performance and operation of the lens. The downside, of course, is that now I want one even more.

-- Ralph Barker (rbarker@pacbell.net), April 23, 2002.

Hi Gary

Many thanks for a very user-friendly, real-world review :-) Makes me appreciate my Noct even more, and maybe someday after lots of practice I can produce great pics like yours.

Greg

-- Gregory Goh (GregoryGoh@hotmail.com), April 23, 2002.

Dear Gary,

Really a good review and a fine website. However "dampened" this lens may be it has certainly "wetted" my interest in it.

Best,

Alex

-- Alex Shishin (shishin@pp.iij4u.or.jp), April 24, 2002.

isn't that whetted? rofl!

-- James (snodoggydogg@hotmail.com), April 24, 2002.

Just perusing this list for the first time. Nice article, Gary, and great photos.

Without trying start any flame wars, I think that wide open, the Noctilux makes for an inadequate lens for portraiture at close distances, and in most cases it's completely inappropriate for any group portraiture. I had a brief flirtation with the Noctilux, and while I could wax poetic about DOF and OOF effects, most of my viewing audience would simply lament how terrible my focussing skills were! "Well, um, you see, the left eye is * supposed* to be the only thing in focus", I would say in defense. And I had even convinced myself that spherical aberration was a good thing for *all* of my photos. I woke up one day, smelled the coffee, and traded the lens for an entire 35mm outfit.

Granted, those OOF effects makes the Nocti a special-purpose lens, but for me, I ache when I see so many Noctilux photos taken at f/1 which would have been so, so, so much better at f/ 2.8 or f/4. I love my Summicron 50.

-- Jay Hyung (jaymhyung@hotmail.com), April 25, 2002.

I just ordered an SF-20 flash. Any photography requiring beyond f/1.4 with my 35-75 luxes will get zapped with the flash! *grin*

-- James (snodoggydogg@hotmail.com), April 25, 2002.

Whetted of course! Shows how low the Comic Muse will let one go just to make a pun!

But, seriously, thanks to Gary I am interested in this lens seriously for the first time. Let me ask this. Has anyone used the Nocti as a regular all around lens, not simply an available darkness lens? Would love to hear your stories.

Best,

Alex

-- Alex Shishin (shishin@pp.iij4-u.or.jp), April 25, 2002.

I sold mine and now have more of a general purpose lens in the 75mm Summilux. From time to time I wish I still had it but the bottom line is that the narrow plane of focus does not fit in with my photography. I found myself stopping down for the dof which made it rather pointless. The 75mm will pretty much give the same effects wide open but stopped down it becomes sharp as nails more so than the 90AA IMHO.

-- ray tai (razerx@netvigator.com), April 25, 2002.

Sharper than the 90 AA? Awesome, thanks for that bit of info. I feel more intelligent about the choices I made now : )

-- James (snodoggydogg@hotmail.com), April 26, 2002.