Tags
Equipment, Equipment Review, film-photography, Japan, Leica, Lens, Lens review, lenses, Noctilux, Photography, reviews, SL2-S
Intro
So, recently I came back from a trip to Japan. Before that trip, I had the usual decisions to make about which lenses to take with me. I could have saved myself a lot of time and effort, but like so many did not have the courage to really narrow it down. On the long flight over, when I had the time to do some thinking, I resolved to double down on a thought that I’d had while packing. What if what’s holding me back in improving my work is not really getting to know a particular lens length as well as I should? During previous trips the best work I had produced was sticking to one lens length, usually the 28mm. In preparation for this trip, I wanted to improve on a body of work that has been growing over 20 years – the subject of Japan. When I started to dig in to what I had previously produced, it came to me that a lot of my best work had been produced with cameras like the Leica Q2 and Ricoh GR II/III. It wasn’t so much that it was a 28mm but that I hadn’t needed to think of lens choices, just react to what was in front of me with the equipment at hand. This appeared to be when I produce work which resonates with me the most, so the logical decision was to figure out which lens worked for me and stick to it over a longer period of time. I had some success with a Summilux 35/1,4, but I found it hard to get what I wanted out of the lens, which was the out of focus (OOF) rendering at the wide end. It appeared in fits and snatches, but not enough for my taste. This was not about bokeh, but about really digging into the overall lens rendering. Some research on the Leica LFI website (great tool for research) revealed that most of my favourite images from other photographers were shot with the 50/1,4 Summilux. Luckily enough, Tim Lei was able to find me a Summilux in good nick that I received a few weeks prior to the trip. Unfortunately the lens was tricky to focus wide open at infinity on my M11, and so I decided that the time had come to trade in my M10M Monochrome and dial into what I really thought I wanted – a Noctilux.
Forewarned is forearmed, I piled into research. It is difficult to find objective opinions by skilled photographers on what can be done with a Noctilux. The usual problem set applies – pro photographers generally don’t use the Noctilux as it is either not cost effective or not the look they prefer for commercial work. Those that do use a Noctilux are busy making money and not blogging about their experiences. A few decent YouTubes exist but for most are merely clickbait of the Is it worth $10k? variety – using the price for shock value. Blog articles usually aren’t worth the price of entry either as they all begin with variations on:
- “The lens that I was lucky enough to borrow for a few hours” = didn’t have the lens long enough to do anything than smash out a blog post using revised cut and pastes from other articles or “I am a YouTuber with rich students”
- “The Noctilux is a polarising lens” – adds nothing new to the conversation
- “Is a turbo-charged Summilux” – not helpful if you have never owned a Summilux
- “Surreal, dreamy” – not helpful if you can’t articulate the characteristics of the lens and how they might be worked into your own style
- “justification of ownership cost” – not a useful consideration unless you could demonstrate that you can get precisely the same characteristics in a cheaper lens – I haven’t yet seen an article which demonstrated such a comparison. This assumes that those characteristics are desirable for your own photography and that you have already made the decision to purchase this lens or something similar. There are certainly a plethora articles on comparing cheaper lenses (without the actual use of a Noctilux in comparison) with the usual “you get (fill in arbitrary number)% of the performance at (number)% of the cost.”
We’ll set aside the price for now, but it will be the subject of a future article as I also happen to own the Voigtlander 50/1 Nokton, a potentially direct competitor. It simply isn’t useful to talk about price – the art of photography is accomplished by tools – so our question will ask if its the right tool for the job. Talking about price is in many ways reflective of the audio industry – as though a Leica Noctilux was a goal to be worked towards the same way that eventually upgrading your hifi setup at home brings you to a better listening experience – the lens as an object of desire as opposed to a capability. Some writers have opined that the Noctilux isn’t particularly useful for street photography but that hasn’t been the case for me.
Use Case
My use case is generally that I want documentary style photos in low light conditions, in colour (day time is black and white for me), in inclement weather. Other writers have been of the opinion that the Noctilux is better for black and white photography because of the amount of chromatic aberration/purple fringing – it does produce very nice black and white images. Because of this lens my preference has now shifted to a 50mm viewpoint as I find it very flexible. Setting aside the usual babble and loud harrumphing about Henri Cartier Bresson (who if I’m honest doesn’t even crack my top 10 photographers) and his preferences, the 50mm allows you to vote with your feet to get what you want. Like many other reviewers, yes, I wish it could close focus closer, but that hasn’t been a deal breaker for me. Is it heavy? Sure, but since I find the best pairing is with a Leica SL2-S, I don’t find it unreasonable. Is the filter size annoying? Yes, but I find the only filter I use is a B&W 3xND filter (3 stops is the minimum and works for all but the brightest conditions – essentially I was trying to avoid the use of the electronic shutter with my M11), the Leica filters being outrageously priced. It’s an absolute must have if you want to shoot wide open during daylight hours – build in the annoyance of swapping the filter on and off, along with the cleaning.
I spent a lot of time making sure that filter was clean and tidy. I used it with both the Leica M11 and the SL2-S. While it could be used during the day, I found it very difficult to get accurate focus during the evening unless I had some serious contrast to work with. Anyone who has produced quality work with a Noctilux/Leica M setup has been using either the rear LCD or the Visoflex (I trialed a Visoflex 2 – I didn’t like it because of the blackout and because it’s a serious downgrade from the SL EVF). the other reason to use the SL series is fairly obvious – you don’t have to centrally focus and recompose as you would on an M rangefinder – leaving me free to perform my favourite party trick of using a 50mm lens as though it was a cinematic movie lens with layers of detail adjusted just as I wanted them, frequently with the subject at the fringes.
I think something important to note is that I didn’t baby this lens. I used it everywhere – in crowds, in poor light, in alley ways, in the rain, and even in the snow. I didn’t let the lens price affect my use of the lens – while hiking in a park I slipped and smacked my arm something fierce in an attempt to protect the lens, fortunately only bending the hood (which frankly isn’t very useful anyway).
You will be noticed – it’s just too big not to notice. I did an unscientific comparison which in hindsight was quite amusing. Using the M11 with a Summilux 50/1,4 I was more or less ignored. Using the M11 with the Noctilux I had people stepping out of my way to give me a clear shot, immediately joining me in my vicinity looking for the same shot, or while on a train tour having one of the tour guides give me exclusive access to a train car so that “the tourists wouldn’t bother me.” Turns out he was a camera nut and knew exactly what I was packing. Leicaphiles of the world unite.
Rendering – It’s not magic
Let’s try and avoid the usual guff about the Noctilux rendering: it’s magical gush some. It’s rock n’ roll bleat others. It’s overpriced crap which would be characterized as lens flaws in any other manufacturer fulminate many. Most argue that this particular Noctilux gets its best rendering when used as a portrait lens. I don’t disagree, but I rarely shoot portraits. If I did, I do concur that this would be an attractive lens to use. What I have found is that this lens dials up the street stink factor in my photos. The rendering of the lens introduces more visual chaos into the lens, which leads to a more cinematic look. The cinematic look that I’m looking for is the obvious, that an image could have been a frame from a movie, and that it really feels like you’re on the street. It has been much easier for me to get what I want from a scene, which is the feeling that the noise volume has been turned up in an image. If you push the lens in dramatic lighting, shooting directly into high contrast in low light with changing weather conditions, it rewards you with a return on that investment.
It requires a substantial amount of training to understand what will happen when you push off highlights into corners. Depending upon conditions I was able to produce flare, corner vignette, onion skin bokeh, coma, and chromatic aberration. The horror! bellow those in search of a clean and modern rendering –how dare you charge me so much money, I could get a much cheaper lens with those same issues. I’m not sure that’s true – the opposite side is to consider those negatives as “character.” I haven’t come down on either side of that fence. But what I have done, is to build those characteristics into my shooting style. I don’t think Leica is going to approach me to be an Ambassador soon – I’ve uploaded many images to their LFI site that are so much more interesting than what’s there, but they clearly don’t have any interest in my work, likely because it not only embraces the lens flaws but encourages them. I’ve worked them into my style, love it or hate it. I think, but I don’t know it empirically yet, that what I’m going to find when I do a more direct comparison with the Voigtlander Nokton 50/1 is that I don’t like it as much because Voigtlander have made a much “better” lens that doesn’t have those flaws. Watch this space, but it won’t come as a surprise that the Voigtlander is sharper wide open (it’s a much newer lens design taking advantage of modern optical formulas and lens coatings) and has less chromatic aberration.
I’ve also got a Light Lens Lab 50mm f/1.2 ASPH “1966” on order – if my theory is true then I should also like that lens better than the Voigtlander in spite/because of its flaws. Another interesting thought I’ve read/heard anecdotally from Noctilux users – a lot of the pictures on their walls were shot with the Noctilux. It doesn’t deliver the mail often, but when it does, it’s a beautiful package. You can easily dial down the chromatic aberration by stopping down to f1,4, but I haven’t found it to be a significant issue in my own photography. “Meh” says I, continuing to blast away into high contrast scenes, shooting directly into the sun, and otherwise not caring much. Probably why I’m not a world famous shooter, but I digress.
First impression
It’s big, heavy, and has a crummy short hood which doesn’t do much and as I found when I slipped and fell, bends easily. My lens hood is now wonky and doesn’t quite hold position well, but I am not inclined to have it fixed. It has a long focus throw – some don’t like it but I do as it is extremely precise. The aperture ring is clicks smoothly and reassuringly stays in place.
My experience
I shot with the Noctilux for 6 weeks straight for days on end. At my most extreme I was shooting in 3 x 3 hour sessions a day, covering up to 25km on my tired feet. In some locations I returned to the same location during different times of the day, in others I developed a patrol route, covering roughly the same ground on different side streets. Options that I brought with me:
Leica M11
Leica SL2-S
Ricoh GR IIIx Street Edition
Leica Noctilux 50/0,95
Leica Summilux 35/1,4
Leica Summilux 50/1,4
Leica Super-Elmar 21/3,4
Voigtlander Ultron 28/2 v2
I experimented with various combos but ultimately settled into using the Ricoh GR IIIx/Leica M11 w/Summilux 50/1,4 during the day, and the SL2-S Noctilux 50/0,95 at night. I did initially work the M11 with the Noctilux 50/0,95 during the day, but found I wasn’t quite hitting focus as often as I would like or getting the shot off a half second too late because of the long focus throw. The Summilux was just much faster in those reactive type situations. The opposite was true at night because the SL2-S EVF shows you exactly what you’re getting, with the disadvantage of not seeing outside the frame. By the end of the trip, I was using only the SL2-S/Nocti combo with a great deal of confidence, my only heartache being the lower megapixel count. The BSI sensor in the SL2-S made up for this at night, along with the image stabilization. It was so good that I can only recall a few times when I increased the ISO above 400. It’s not that I wasn’t willing to, but why would you if you don’t need it? But that’s more the subject of an SL2-S review. The point of this incredibly fast lens is that you can shoot in near dark conditions, protecting your highlights at slow shutter speeds. This is important to my style of photography as I prefer to, for example, preserve detail in those wonderful neon lights and orange/red izakaya lanterns that so characterize Japanese cities in the food and drinking areas. This lens opened up options and everything became intentional. Back in the film days I shot with a given film ISO because I had to. Now it’s totally up to me whether even on the darkest nights I want a scene completely sharp, with motion blur,
I tried using it for two weeks with the M11 with mixed results. My eyesight is excellent and I could grab shots of even moving subjects with success, but I didn’t see much point in using the M11. My M11/Summilux 50/1,4/Voigtlander Ultron v2 28/2 setup is small and stealthy and attracts little attention. The Noctilux doesn’t balance well on the M11 (you’ll hold the lens and not the camera when walking) and works against the small/fast Leica ethos. At that point it was much easier to use the SL2-S with its truly class leading (OK, maybe the latest Fujifilm GFX is better) EVF. The SL series cameras are a perfect match for the Noctilux aesthetics, weight, and design. It isn’t difficult to use with the SL cameras, most of the complaints about focus difficulties appear to be with the M-series. What’s more important is your ability to imagine what can be done with the Noctilux before you start mashing on the shutter button. Shot wide open It does make even banal subjects look otherworldly, but you’ll very quickly tire of that look without an interesting subject. Portrait photographers might like the look more than most, but I very quickly tired of looking at bokeh blasted backgrounds (BBB, my term) with women in various stages of undress – the very definition of banal to my mind.
This leads to another point – I’ve noticed certain photographers buying top end equipment to separate themselves from the pack, and then quickly abandoning those lenses in favour of something even more unobtainable when companies like Voigtlander and Light Lens Labs make those looks available to the common hordes. So before you buy a lens like this, ask yourself if you are just buying it to separate yourself from the chattering classes, or if you genuinely want the look. What I like about the BBB is that it when it’s done right, it makes pictures more classic – what I mean by this is that because of the bokeh destruction of backgrounds (another technical term I invented) it makes it more difficult to identify when a picture was taken by obliterating signs of current technology, trends, or fashion. This, to my (admittedly not famous or influential) mind, increases the chances of you taking an enduring photo which will not be quickly dated because of the presence of elements like smart phones or trends like tattoos and piercings which make it easy to determine when a picture was taken. Combine that with some identifiable background elements (buildings which are 50 years or older, signs like the “Hollywood” sign, etc.) and you could make a photo which is timeless and lasts a lot longer. To be fair, others might be shooting for archival value – we have all seen “famous” photos which are utterly unremarkable other than the fact that they are easy to date because of fashion, street signs, hairstyles, automobiles, etc. So your boring photo of the dude with the sleeve tattoos and skinny jeans might not be worth much now, but 50 years from now it might be. Your mileage may vary. Back to the original point – is it the lens that’s distinctive or is your use of its characteristics distinct? Again, let’s pretend you could get this look on the cheap (let’s say $500 USD) – would you still want it if it was cheap and easily accessible?
For me the answer is yes – based upon what I’ve been able to produce with this lens. I have gone the vintage route in the past (Minolta Rokkor, Canon Super Takumar, Helios, Voigtlander Nokton Classic, etc.). You can look at these kinds of lenses as a genetic offshoot of the aperture wars of the 1960s. The intent was to be able to shoot in lowlight – the bokeh was an undesirable side effect (for some) of having to shoot wide open. But now with modern sensors which are perfectly happy at high ISOs, fast lenses are no longer necessary. The happy side effect is that I rarely use a tripod anymore – I can shoot at speeds of 1s because of optical stabilization technology. The only reason for me to use a tripod now is if I need some kind of light trail effect or if I am intentionally trying for motion blur in moving subjects but I want to keep the background steady. So we get back to the question again – unless you want the characteristics/defects of a fast lens (which increasingly are disappearing because of the edge to edge sharpness of modern lenses even when shot wide open), why bother? Food for thought.
Turning back to practical matters, to get the most character out of the lens, you have two options depending on the closeness of the background to the subject. Either do the obvious of making sure your subject is within 1-3 meters, or feel free to shoot a subject much farther away making sure that any identifiable background subjects are much further away (20-30m minimum). The Noctilux has me constantly thinking about subject-background distance, which if I’m honest should be the case with any lens.
It also has the desirable characteristic of making it look like a centrally located subject is somehow lit because of the contrast/fall-off. Others have described it as though the Noctilux picks up more ambient light than is actually available – I concur with this assessment. It makes it particularly effective in my my use case of shooting in low light. I also notice the same in heavily overcast conditions – the colours are exceptional in the sense that they contribute to my remembered experience of what it looked like with my eyes. I also made a decision not to shoot for black and white compositions – many shooters seem to stick with black and white because of the chromatic aberration. I’ve only got my own experience to go on but I shoot intentionally ie. I don’t try to “save” photographs by converting to gray scale. Most of the time I stuck to my guns except in my preferred “film noir” look – strongly backlit subjects.
To buy or to wait?
It isn’t difficult to find the 50/0,95 on the used market in open box condition for between $6-8k USD (mine was approx. $6.8k USD). They are not difficult to find as long as you stay outside of North America – I wouldn’t buy one new in the US as you pay a premium of $2k USD and you would be taking an immediate price hit of $5k USD if you decided to sell. But from that point the price won’t adjust much unless you beat the crap out of your lens. The chances that Leica will update the lens in the next few years are quite high, likely something similar to the Noctilux 75/1,25. At that point this lens will become vintage and you’ll be making a decision in terms of rendering similar to if you were deciding between the more modern 50/0,95 and the Mandler-era 50/1 or 50/1,2 lenses. What will be a potential game changer for many is if Leica continues the trend of making close focus lenses out of their designs – would you still buy this lens if you had one of the new close focus Summilux 50/1,4 lenses? I’d love to hear from someone who got one as I’ve definitely thought about it.
Conclusion
This lens is currently my go to lens after 6 weeks of intensive use. Most reviews are based off of “I borrowed a lens from a friend/camera store for an hour or two.” It could be that the love will wear off after a few months, or maybe a year or two. I think that if I still own the lens after a year that I won’t be selling it. But I don’t think so at present due to the number of classic images I was able to produce – I was able to significantly increase the quality of a project of Japan related images. Part of it was the effort and thought I was putting into the use of such an expensive lens, but at least some of the results have to defer to the characteristics of a very fine lens. An average photographer won’t realize the creative potential of the lens and will produce a bunch of sharp subjects situated against a background of mush. It will never be the lens of choice for most street/documentary shooters because of its size and weight, but that hasn’t stopped me. If you’ve got money to burn, the close focus capabilities and smoother bokeh of the latest Summilux 50/1,4 would be much better suited. The Summilux is lighter, faster to focus, better edge to edge, and cheaper. Initially, be prepared to produce a lot of crap. Some reviews and comments state it has taken them years to get out of the bokeh ghetto – I don’t think this should take that long particularly if you have already used fast lenses in the past. Unlocking the creative potential of the Noctilux is worth the effort – I’ll resist the temptation to post my best work because I’m saving it for the book. If it helps, at my peak I was shooting about 500-600 images per day, of which I would be happy to put 1 towards my portfolio, as many as 3 on an exceptional day. There were days when I thought I was getting nothing until I did my review at the end of the day – this was particularly true towards the end of the trip. Keep in mind that I am also in search of deeper and more meaningful images in a Japanese context than the standard surface tropes of kimonos, temples, geishas, and weird animation characters. The Noctilux is a lens for the more creative and expressionist photographers – more about what could be (art) than what is (documentary). Yet, as stated in the intro, I have found that if you apply the lens carefully, you can draw more out your subject by reducing the distracting elements – not just with BBB. If you want razor sharp images from corner to corner nothing is preventing you from stopping down and getting that. Other websites have already compared the various lenses in sharpness and all the other characteristics – I will say my one complaint is the sunstars which are not to my taste (essentially too many blades) but since if I’m shooting stopped down I don’t need to have this comparatively large and heavy lens on my camera, it’s not an important point.
It really isn’t a surprise that this lens is the subject of so much vim and vigor – if you’re looking for sharpness, reducing your costs, and a more modern rendering with less unpredicatable characteristics, the Voigtlander Nokton is a better choice. If you want to double down on weird artifacts and artistic rendering (and still much cheaper at 1/3 of the cost), the Canon Dream Lens on an M-mount is an option along with the Angenieux 50mm F0.95 or Schneider Xenon 50mm F0.95. You will lose sharpness going down this road but if this is your chosen path you probably weren’t too worried about a bit of haze anyway. The Canon Dream Lens is only going up in value so even if you lose interest in the lens as long as you take care of it you’ll get your money back and more. I don’t think this lens merits either the limitless Leica fanboy enthusiasm or the scathing criticism of the Ralph Nader crowd – the difficulty is in ignoring the price tag (not an option for everyone) and looking at it strictly as a tool. With this mentality most will find that it really doesn’t suit their particular style or that you could get more of what you’re looking for in terms of rendering in a cheaper lens. Having said all that, as always with Leica, if you take care of what you buy (once it comes time to sell) you may find that you’ve just made a cheap (or even profit making) rental over the years.
匠音の考え方 