Leica's $11,000 Noctilux 50mm f/0.95 Lens

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Linky: http://leicarumors.com/2008/09/09/new-leica-50095-noctilux-asph.aspx :huh

ziggy53

I wonder if it's soft in the corners?

Moogle Pepper

$11k for a lens?!

gtc

hmmmm
I'm with Ziggy(its not hard to agree with him)...it would be way soft wide open and the DOF would be so thin as to be virtually impossible to focus....we all love fast glass but clean high ISO has solved lots of low light problems. these super fast lenses were designed in the days of ISO800 being super fast film.Personally I would rather an infrared flash..

Andy

Yeah, what gtc said - though some of the bigger fast glass (200 f/1.8, f/2) has a great use - indoor gymnasium and hockey games - requiring fast fast shutter

jogle

gtc wrote:

.Personally I would rather an infrared flash..

If you want a flash without the flash, you know you can stick an infrared pass filter over a normal speedlight, they throw out a lot of light in the infrared spectrum. couple that with an IR modded dslr and you have the perfect stealth shooter.

jogle

Andy wrote:

Yeah, what gtc said - though some of the bigger fast glass (200 f/1.8, f/2) has a great use - indoor gymnasium and hockey games - requiring fast fast shutter

and primes like the 85mm f1.2 are fantastic for focusing in light so dim you can barely focus your eyes. No high ISO is going to help with that.

gtc

i love fast glass too
Oh yes-I love fast glass too,especially for high shutter speeds and bokeh,as per Andy's suggestion,however even f1.2 is so fast that I doubt ,especially in extremely low light , that I could focus it manually.

I wonder whether the AF would be able to do it accurately either... these super fast 85mm are really designed for well lit, ultra thin DOF portraits.

Dont get me wrong I would luuuuurvvve a 'magic drainpipe' 200mm/f1.8,
for sports and nicely compressed outdoor portraits.200m/f2.0 would be good enough...whats f.02 worth anyway? About $2000!

I have thought about the IR filter over the flash too-I wonder whether it might result in a reduction in heat dissipation and damage the unit?

jogle

gtc wrote:

Oh yes-I love fast glass too,especially for high shutter speeds and bokeh,as per Andy's suggestion,however even f1.2 is so fast that I doubt ,especially in extremely low light , that I could focus it manually.

I find with the 85mm f1.2 L (the first version that is known for very slow af) on my 5D that the af is better then my eye, I've read that the focusing screen is only accurate down to f2.5 anyway, with lenses any faster then that you can't make out where the focus point actually is. It's all down to how the focusing screens are optimised. I've been tempted to get a the Ee-s screen as all my lenses are f2.8 or faster.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/slrs/5d/focus-screens.htm

gtc wrote:

I have thought about the IR filter over the flash too-I wonder whether it might result in a reduction in heat dissipation and damage the unit?

Yeah it does to some extent, also seeing as the filter (a cokin IR pass filter cut in half and doubled up) absorbs all the visible light, it heats up to the touch. I did some tests with this and spaced the filter 1cm off the front of the flash, it didn't seem to harm the flash but I was carefull not to do any rapid fire shooting

jogle

Also you might be interested in this page of lenses that a workmate of mine owns:

http://www.muellerworld.com/exhibits/fast_lens/

Big pieces of industrial glass with Nikon mounts machined onto them.

gtc

thanks
thanks for the info-will try that IR flash-glad the AF works too-impressed with the monster glass link too!

jogle wrote:

I find with the 85mm f1.2 L (the first version that is known for very slow af) on my 5D that the af is better then my eye, I've read that the focusing screen is only accurate down to f2.5 anyway, with lenses any faster then that you can't make out where the focus point actually is. It's all down to how the focusing screens are optimised. I've been tempted to get a the Ee-s screen as all my lenses are f2.8 or faster.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/slrs/5d/focus-screens.htm




Yeah it does to some extent, also seeing as the filter (a cokin IR pass filter cut in half and doubled up) absorbs all the visible light, it heats up to the touch. I did some tests with this and spaced the filter 1cm off the front of the flash, it didn't seem to harm the flash but I was carefull not to do any rapid fire shooting