[Leica] 75mm 1.4 - Any pics?

[mattmorgan1 at mac.com (Matt Morgan)]

Dan, (sorry I haven't replied to your earlier post yet).

You're right of course, the optimum aperture is never going to be at 
the extremes. The reason I'm sort of fixed on this wide-open bit at the 
moment, is that I bought it specifically with this in mind. I had the 
vision of what I wanted of close-up intimate portraits where  there was 
a very shallow area of focus. Of course, with eyes sharp and 
end-of-nose out, then this type of shot isn't going to be the everyday 
use.

I have seen examples of the 75 and 50 Noctilux wide open in low-light 
that to me, really show the difference of Leica glass and where the 
look of the image excites me because of the (am I allowed to mention) 
'bokeh' elements.

I've been sent some nice shots from people and rarely are they wide 
open. Last night I shot a roll at 1.4 and around 50 or 60. Actually 
used the Leica mini tri-pod, but as the shots were of my four year-old 
daughter who moves quite a bit, we'll see what develops. Without doubt, 
the best use of this lens will be stopped down a bit, and I guess to 
have a great low aperture at around 2.8, then it has to be a 1.4 to 
start with. I'm just keen to know what my parameters are, and then 
gravitate to how I work best with the lens, and how it works best for 
me.

I'll also take Steve's advice and give it a go with all sorts of 
situations to see what its all about. I know I sound a bit flakey on 
the whole thing at the moment, but as I previously said, I actually 
dragged the bag out to sell this redundant kit, and am literally only 
now starting to use it again after a long spell and am just going 
through the thought process of it all. Hopefully all the dots will 
connect back up soon. :-)

Cheers, Matt.


On 08/10/2004, at 6:56, Dan C wrote:

> As I mentioned earlier, I use this lens at f2.8.  I don't think I have 
> ever
> used it for a keeper at anything wider.  Maybe this is sacreligious 
> (sp?),
> but I just like the look of the lens at 2.8, I don't really care about
> shooting it where the DOF is 2cm, and everything in the background is a
> complete mess.