Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/07/14
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Jul 14, 2007, at 7:05 PM, Luis wrote: > Today I've saw on a shop this lens, it was a nice one but my > thoughts is > that price was to expensive 400 Euro, and on the other hand, I have > the > Summilux 50, and 1,2 is not very much more than 1,4. IMO is better > go for a > Nocti. The Canon 50 mm f 1.2 lens is quite good but I feel that 400 Euro is too high a price. I've seen them on e-Bay for approximately 150 to 200 Euro. I've used mine sporadically for 40 years. I can't really compare it with a Noctilux since I've never used one but, within its limitations, the Canon is more than satisfactory. Canon really intended the lens to be standard equipment on the Canon 7 and it was optimized for general photography rather than wide open performance. Wide open, the lens is a bit soft, probably due to under corrected spherical aberration. The images have a hard core surrounded by a slight halo. This is not much of a problem in low light, high contrast situations in which such ultra-fast lenses are often used. It sharpens up nicely when stopped down. By f 4.0 it is almost as sharp as a Summicron and than a 50s era f 3.5 Elmar. I have not noticed any focus shift at different apertures as some have attributed to the Nocti. Like all f1.2 or f 1.0 lenses, it is best used on cameras with as large a focusing base length as possible. It works perfectly on my M3, with a LTM to M adapter. The edge of the lens is visible in the viewfinder but doesn't block more than a small portion of the field It is one of my favorite lenses for available grab shots at weddings since the wide open softness makes every woman look beautiful. If you want to give ultra-fast lens photography a try, the Canon f 1.2 is a good entry point. But don't pay 400 Euro for it. Larry Z