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the last Noctiluxes - if you own a Nocti, you are a rich man ;-)

didier

By didier
in Leica and Rangefinders

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Brad_

Brad_

Posted
Posted

>>> Is the fact that it comes shipped in a coffin supposed to be ironic?<P>

 

And people still post here with a serious face wondering if leica is a good choice for

"pro" use!<P>

 

Actually, with respect to the box, I would have gone a couple of steps further to

enhance viewing enjoyment. <P>

 

Put an inset heavy leaded glass window in the top - for viewing purposes - and then

seal it up. Kind of like Lenin's tomb. And for an extra 2,500 Euros, you could send

the box back to the mothership in Solms and have the contents and inert

preservation gases annually rejuvenated - <a href=

"http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n21_v46/ai_15930008">just like

Lenin himself.</a>

www.citysnaps.net
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john_shriver

john_shriver

Posted
Posted

Well, if they want to do a faster 50mm Noctilux, it should be a 0.88, since that's a round "third stop" faster than f/1, and it would be faster than the Canon 0.95 was.

 

That said, they might be wiser to think about a 35mm Noctilux for the M8 market.

 

If they want to make a practical photographic tool, they should think about smaller size and weight. Maybe the floating element technology of the recent Summilux would help?

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carbon_dragon

carbon_dragon

Posted
Posted

The sad thing is that Leicas really are superb photographic tools. I know I've taken some of my best pictures with a Leica M2. Their lenses might not be magic, but they're as good as they get. But Leica has evolved from a company that produces tools for photography to a company that mostly manufactures collectors items that happen to also be cameras.

 

As long as we were in the film era, one could buy an older M, some late model lenses and take some great pictures. But now that digital is upon us, it's just increasingly hard to defend spending $5K for the current digital M (for me at least).

 

So it's not that the modern Leica is any slouch at photography, it's just that there are so many more excellent and cost effective solutions that Leica finds itself a shrinking niche of well-heeled collectors. Very sad really.

 

I'm going to feel like my best friend died on the day I hear that Leica has finally gone out of business because all those rich collectors have finally gone to Leica heaven. I doubt there are too many young and up and coming new photographers lusting after Leicas as I was. THEY'RE lusting after Canon 1Ds MkIIIs or Nikon D3's. And as stodgy and conservative as I am in this sort of thing, even I'm using a Canon 5D these days for an increasing amount of my photography. The sad thing is that I REALLY take better pictures with it -- except maybe for Kodak HIE with the M2 and my supplies are dwindling.

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ryan_peck

ryan_peck

Posted
Posted

so many people knock this lens, but I have to say it is my favorite lens of all time.

Sure it's heavy, sure it's expensive, but that doesn't change the fact that it is unique.

People have claimed for years that other lenses can duplicate the qualities of it, or fast

films make it obsolete. Nonsense.<div>00PaOP-45127784.thumb.jpg.b6b3d125337a7e14add4001b82c25d85.jpg</div>

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terry_rory

terry_rory

Posted
Posted

The 'barometer' detects that there has been a pressure difference when the wax seal is broken and the box opened.

 

It triggers the other mechanism, a battery operated 802.11g 'beacon' that detects any nearby wireless internet and sends the information that your lens is no longer 'sealed' to a special Leica website.

 

The other owners can log into this exclusive website and find out how many 'Special Editions' have been opened and therefore how much rarer and more valuable their own un-opened, sealed boxes have become.

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pc_b

pc_b

Posted
Posted

Funny, nobody remembers now those tens of thousands of M6s and Summicrons of all focal lengths in use that produced and still produce so many memorable pictures, historically relevant ones or not.

 

...

100 Noctiluxes fit into a normal 3 feet wide industrial shelf at Solms. Dr. Main-Shareholder-and-CEO seeing this exclaimed: 'I want a million (Euro, of course) for this!'

The marketing departement did the simple math....

1.000.000 : 100 = 10'000 a piece.

Easy! Now we put them into crazy boxes to help silly partiy guests at recognizing which ones were those last Noctiluxes and bang, we extract a million Euros from the Middle/Far Eastern economy - this time around without even putting their names on the lenses!

 

Of course all this is fictional and I do not refer or imply any yada-yada...

 

I applaud Leica's move. It shows quick and market oriented thinking at the marketing department. I mean, a easy million is still a million (Euros!), right?

 

I am already looking forward to buying a mintish 2k 1.4/50 ASPH from somebody funding his 8k used Noctilux.

 

Bottom line: let's be cheerful, Leica is alive and kicking, grazing happily on the wide and uncontested pastures of the collector's market and we all get consistantly razor-sharp pictures with all of their latest 1.4 lenses. Who wants more? Handheld night photography with new-old Velvia?!?

 

More good news, please!

Cheers, Pete

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pc_b

pc_b

Posted
Posted

Hi Ryan, next time you try to f1 Baby Ryan you might consider strapping him up in his baby car seat.

Moving the sexy baby chair a few feet closer to the window and using 1.4 might work even better. Oh, no! Focus shift! D***! ;-)

 

Cheers, Pete

 

For the technically inclined: CN400 and a 2.0 rids your photography of garish colors and 3mm DOF quite elegantly and has you sit snuggly on 4k to spend.

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terry_rory

terry_rory

Posted
Posted

"Funny, nobody remembers now those tens of thousands of M6s and Summicrons of all focal lengths in use that produced and still produce so many memorable pictures, historically relevant ones or not."

 

Yes I remember.

 

I remember my old M6 TTL and Elmar-M and Summicron and I am aware of many of the historic photos taken using such gear. (Erik Petersens and Robert Frank spring to mind as I am re-reading Erik Petersens 'Besaettelse Fotografier 1940-45' and the Steidl Verlag 50th year re-print of "The Americans" is due to be delivered next week.)

 

However Leica is no longer the same company who made my (1974 vintage 340 GBP used) Summicron or the workaday engineering/optical company who made Petersen's or Frank's cameras.

 

Despite the evolution of the product and the inprovement in their optics over the years, they no longer make 'revolutionary' products. Probably not since Mandler retired at least.

 

Not even the M8. Cosina got there first with a working M mount digital rangefinder. Leica had to follow.

 

Leica has been a 'boutique' since (at least) the Hermes ownership period a few years ago.

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kelly_flanigan1

kelly_flanigan1

Posted
Posted
Epson RD-1/s Noct At F1 exp; 4 seconds with alot of city steetlight fog. ; and a moon rising in the sky too. Notice the DOF is many lightyears.<BR><BR><img src="http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y148/ektar/EPSON%20R-D1/_EPS2428OrionBelt4secF1.jpg?t=1211646185"><BR><BR><img src="http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y148/ektar/EPSON%20R-D1/_EPS2428500widefull4secf1.jpg?t=1211646396"><BR><BR>Here is a shot with a new LTM summicron; the new LTM version with the RD-1<BR><BR><img src="http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y148/ektar/EPSON%20R-D1/_EPS0544ORION50mmF28secondsiso800CR.jpg?t=1211646994"><BR><BR><img src="http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y148/ektar/EPSON%20R-D1/_EPS0544ORION50mmF28secondsiso800.jpg?t=1211647028"><BR><BR>With an F3.5 Elmar waide open and a clock drive one would get a better shot of Orion than the Noct or the Summicron. The F3.5 would capture less sky fog and allow a longer exposure.
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kelly_flanigan1

kelly_flanigan1

Posted
Posted
Whats funny is to get a shot like the Orion Noct one back in the late 1960's I would use GAF 500 slide film with say a 50mm F2 camera piggybacked on my 6" Edmund reflector and do a hand corrected motor/closk shot that was say 5 minutes. One would carry out a motorcycle 12volt battery a homemade invertor and attach the camera piggyback on the telescope and then fart around balancing the rig. sometimes with a wideangle shot one would get part of the rig in the field of view. Or a stupid neighbor would turn on his outside lights during a long exposure; drumroll; 'to help you see the stars better" X@M& % 5S!
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tomasz_widlak1

tomasz_widlak1

Posted
Posted

Oh well, I'm glad I did get one before they went crazy with the prices.

 

And Noctilux is not about being half a stop or stop faster than other lenses, it is about the character it has that is visible in almost every picture taken with it. I can honestly say that this is the best lens I have ever used when it comes to the end result.....................and also the hardest to use at the same time :-)

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john_r._fulton_jr.

john_r._fulton_jr.

Posted
Posted

I didn't realize the full horror of the "presentation" box until I looked at Trevor's link. I'm

stunned. I'm flabbergasted. I mean, what do you do? Do you have people over to your

house and present a lens to them for viewing? Do you do this was with a serious,

straight face? I'm overwhelmed. I need to rest for a few minutes.

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