Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/11/26
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 06:29 PM 26/11/97 -0500, you wrote: >DUANE wrote: > ><<<<<I have also heard those statements and I have read that Leica designed >the Noctilux for wide open shooting only, assuming that users would switch >to the Summicron for stopped down shooting in several magazine >articles.>>>>> > >I'd bet a Canadian Loonie coin that it's a myth! :) Despite the fact that I >use my Noctilux as often as I can wide open, it's still a damn fine lens at >any other aperture. > I'll go along with Duane on that one. I've read it too, I think in a book by Benser or Eastland. The statements about shooting with the Noctilux only in dim light may be a myth, based on the lens' performance stopped down, but the fact that the myth is propagated isn't. Look at Leica's lens catalogs, for instance, where they show Noctilux photos. They shoot something under extremely dim lighting, in conditions for which the lens excels. It is no wonder that some may get the impression that those are the only conditions for which the lens is suitable. I've never seen a Noctilux photo in a Leica catalog showing what the lens can do at 1/125 at f/8, because stopped down like this the images could easily be mistaken for something shot with some other lens. Naturally, the lens is designed for low light levels, so those are the conditions which require its use, and that is how it is best to market it. - -GH