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Leica Noctilux-M 50mm f / 0.95 ASPH


bernard_odonovan

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'A new Leica in the 1930's was a years salary for the bloke trying to survive during the depression; was that

considered "demented" then too?'

 

I would hope so! :-)

 

Sure Leica equipment was always expensive - and I have been fortunate enough to buy quite a few new Leica lenses

in the past 3-4 years - but £6000 for a 50mm lens (no matter how exotic) is beyond extraordinary. Good for Leica if

they can find people who are prepared to do it and I hope this is the route to success they need.

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Leica didn't make the new Noct to appeal to Nikon or Canon or even Leica photographers. It is made for people

with new money who think buying an Aston Martin makes them distinguished. And Leica is right in that assumption.

As someone else said the two new WA f1.4 are decent products and price is not bad for a highend lens, if you

don't mind to depart from $5-6k, someday.

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<i>Oh dear. Being laughed at would be hard to take. What oh what will I do. :-)</i>

<p>Nothing! Just stand there looking like a fool with your $10,000 lens mounted to a defective $5,000 camera that can't take a better picture than a $500 digital Rebel. At least, if I bought a Ferrari I know I could accelerate, out-corner and out-brake a Camry. Hypothetical situation: How does it feel to spend $200,000 on an Aston Martin only to find out a $20,000 Corolla actually handles better and is faster? There's Leica for ya. :D</p>

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hmmm.... interesting el fang.

the thing is for a "defective" camera mine seems to take pretty nice photographs?!? what gives?!?

comparing an m8's files to a "$500 digital rebel" is a pretty clear indication that you've never printed a single photo from an

m8 have you? it's ok, you wouldn't be the only fella condeming a camera he's never made a print from.

 

i'm beginning to think you're nothing more than a troll my man.

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There are other valid reasons for Leica, or any other old name in cameras to build exotic lenses. Bragging rights. These types of lenses are saying "we have the skill and design acumen to build high spec equipment, so you can have confidence in our other products also" Back in the 70's Nikon built a 6mm f2.8 220 degree fisheye. The front element was the size of a dinner plate. I would imagine that only a few were ever made but just having it in the lens catalog made a statement about Nikon's abilities. Top of the line Nikons and Cannons make more money for their companies by "selling" their basic consumer models that by sales of the high end gear.
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The high USD price some people mention is not really Leica's fault, more that Texas guy's who let the dollar sink to unbelievable (and dangerous) lows...

 

Imho Leica will successfully sell his three new 2008 lenses (21, 24 + Noct) by relying on traditional markets (Europe, Japan) and by targeting NEW rich markets (China, Saudi Arabia...). USA, with its degraded buying power, will therefore be a secondary market/target. ee

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Kelly, I was not talking about the 6mm f5.6 fisheye, but the 6mm f2.8 retrofocus fisheye of 1972. The angle of view was 220 degrees! Holding the lens level meant you were in the photo from the knees down! It had a huge protruding front element that must have been 9 inches in diameter. google it and check the first listing. I also agree with Fred that Leica does not make consumer cameras in the same way other companies do, but they do have the less expensive summarits. I still think some products are made just to prove they still got it.
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OK per this website's cached page* "Formulé en 8 lentilles (dont 2 asphériques) et réunies en 5 groupes". So with 10 surfaces at 1% loss a piece the T-Stop of the lens is 0.999. I am impressed.

 

The definition of a T-stop is T = F/sqrt(t) where F is the value

of an f-stop, T is the value of a T-stop, t = (1 - L)^N, with

N being the number of surfaces, and 0< L <1 being the loss at each

surface. BTW Dante Stella has a great discussion on this matter -- however his math is needlessly overly complicated.

 

The definition of a T-stop comes from the fact the light through a lens is proportional to 1/F^2 that is the area of the lens opening. The light through a lens is equal to 1/T^2, and by inserting a constant t into the f-stop expression making it an equality, and equating the two expressions, the definition is arrived at. Further, the constant t is the transmission factor of the lens. The transmission factor of this lens is 90.4%.

 

*http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:Nfi4m_LySqMJ:www.miwim.fr/blog/+noctilux+.95+%225+groupes%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=ca

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I've already paid enough for a summicron 2/28mm asph., plus a apo-summicron 2/75mm. I added an Heliar 12mm. I didn't pay for Capture One, which can give me results very close to a 0,95/50mm. I expect to enjoy with cats'eyes and/or churches, both taken by night.

But mainly, I do think that Leica couldn't afford the orders for such a lens if the price was 3000 euros less, which seems to me the right price, Considering that one part of the former 1/50mm was made of very special glass, this made its price high enough...

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