I like using flare in my photography so there is a very high chance that I will not fit the lens hood. The v4 has built in slide out hood but the v2 is lighter and often cheaper than the v4. Many people praise the v4 as being the most sought after of all 5 models released. I bought the v2 model that has an E60 thread and removable Leica hood.
More about the Leica Noctilux 50mm f1.0 Specs I hope to prove that the older Nocti f1.0 is more than a match for its newer sibling for some types of photography.
Most of the reviews I had read for the Summarit 50 were terrible but it turns out the lens is a real gem. I have not even received my lens yet but this is my conclusion to date drawn from the research I did prior to my purchase. Having a lens that appears to paint on the detail with a big fat brush rather than etch in the finer details with micro precision is exactly why I chose the Leica Noctilux 50mm f1.0 over the 50mm f0.95. I like to ‘paint’ things of beauty with the majority of my photography regardless of the subject. The vintage Summarit really is a fantastic lens if used correctly but I feel I will be able to get even more out of the Leica Noctilux 50 f1 lens. Painting with my camera not etching with micro precision I think the f1.0 images capture many of the best bits seen in the Summarit 50 photos yet 10 fold. A particular favourite characteristic is the misshaped bokeh balls of the f1.0 that are more akin to bokeh of the Summarit 50 lens. The older Noct f1.0 however has real character and ‘proper’ imperfections that you just cannot make or add to an image after in Photoshop. Both these lenses give clinical sharpness. f0.95 are not dissimilar from those taken with the Lux 50 ASPH. Many people say photos taken with the Noct. If I compare photos taken with the older Leica Noctilux 50mm f1.0 vs the current Leica Noctilux 50mm f0.95 I would say it is like comparing the 1954 Summarit 50/1.5 vs the current Leica Lux ASPH 50/1.4. Sample image using the Summarit 50/1.5 on my Leica M9 It is soft, low contrast and prone to flare yet I absolutely love its quirks and the vintage imperfect look it applies to images. I then bought a 1954 Leica Summarit 50mm f1.5. Until recently I favoured the Zeiss ZM Sonnar 50mm f1.5 for a combination of sharp, contrasty, punchy images with a nicely rendered OOF area/ bokeh. That said, it is not my first or even second choice when selecting a 50mm lens to use for my portraiture photography. I own the famous ‘Lux ASPH 50mm f1.4 and it does indeed have edge to edge clinical sharpness at f1.4. I do like my apparent lens sharpness combined with a shallow DOF however my taste seems to be changing as my photography matures. Was I tempted by the newer sharper faster Noctilux f0.95? Most of the Leica shooters that I know use a f0.95 not the older f1.0 but I was not in a position to spend that kind of money on one lens. Used Noctilux lenses hold their value well but this is more than double the cost of a used Noctilux 50mm f1.0. (Canon actually made the first 50mm f0.95 lens years earlier) Here in the UK the retail price to buy a new Noctilux 50/0.95 is in excess of £7.2k.
The fastest Leica lens and in current production is the latest Leica Noctilux 50mm f0.95ASPH that was released in 2008. No price can be placed on the enjoyment I get from my photography and as Leica lenses retain their value well I see it more as an investment than an expense. Today I decided to make that dream come true and reinvest some savings that had matured into Leica glass rather than a low interest deposit account. Invest your money in glass not low interest accounts!ĭespite owning all those mentioned lenses the dream lives on. I love shallow depth of field (“DOF”) and my best lenses for this to date include Carl Zeiss Planar 80mm f2 (medium format lens on the Contax 645 – equal to 50mm f1.1 approx on a 35mm camera), Nikon 200mm f2 AI-s, Nikon 50mm f1.2 AI-s, Carl Zeiss Pancolar 80mm f1.8 (M42) and more recently on the Leica cameras Voigtlander Nokton 35mm f1.2 ASPH ii, Leica Summicron 90mm f2, Leica Summarit 50mm f1.5 (1954) and Leica Summilux ASPH 50mm f1.4 (to mention a few). Leica Noctilux 50mm f1.0 v2 + YouTube 2 Part article covering the Leica Noctilux 50mm f1 review and sample photos Part 1: I just bought a Leica Noctilux 50mm f1!Īs a Leica photographer and even before owning a Leica camera I always dreamed of owning a lens that was faster than f1.2.