My Noctilux Diary

[Cron]

have I mentioned - great thread here!

 

[maddoc]

oooooooh! i especially like the legs!

that's the thing that many people don't get. they obsess about f/1 on this lens, and i happen to love it's look stopped down as well. there is just something about it's draw that really appeals to me! horses for courses, i suppose 😀

horses for courses ! 😀

usable at f/1.0

... and good enough for some snaps stopped down !

 

[deepwhite]

＠Cron - Thanks for the nice people joining this thread. I know where my level is.... ;-p

@maddoc - I love that shot too, and am seriously considering choose a few frames from my two B/W rolls for wet prints. I'm not good enough, but I think I'm getting better. A few real prints are a nice memory in the future.

------

There was a big typhoon during the weekend. It's staying in the air for a long time (like Michael Jordan?) and bringing a lot of rain.

Water was entering the house through some leaks on the wall, and it was very close to the entrance of the studio. I had to use the dry/wet vacuum cleaner every 20~30 minutes to keep the studio safe. In the meantime I still had to work on the song that I had to deliver on Monday. Therefore I couldn't scan the rest of my 2nd B/W roll.

Then I said to myself, I gotta take a few shots of this tragedy.

With a Noctilux.

Yes, you heard me, I'm taking a few shots of this pointless, confined safely in the house, still lives only scene, with a Noctilux.

@ f1.

;-)

From the Noctilux + R-D1s:

The hero. The dry/wet vacuum cleaner. Without it I would've been twisting wet towels and mops til I hurt my arms and could not take any shot anymore.

You might be a high-tech robot. You might even be an R2D2. But when the flood comes, all you can do is run to the highground....

------

I hope the typhoon will be leaving soon so that I can scan the films. They look good.

- to be continued

 

[deepwhite]

I finally took a break and scan one strip of film (6 frames).

I love B/W.

------

[An Office]

I walked along the street and saw this. After 5 seconds (the exposure time if I'd used f16 instead of f1.4) I realized it was a fully functional office.


[Order in Chaos]

Actually it's not fair to say "order in chaos", since the "chaos" came later....


[Mom's Flower Work]

I never realized flower work can be like this, simple and hung on the wall.


- to be continued

 

[Petroleum V. Nasby]

I think most of you are seriously deluding yourselves re "saturation", "where else can you get these shots", etc etc.

I see out of focus, very pedestrian shots of mundane subject matter, with a lens that has extreme light fall off.

Nothing "dreamy" or "moody" about them other than being soft or out of focus. Certainly not $5000 worth of dreamy or moody.

You could easily get these almost these exact DOF effects with a f1.2 50mm lens from numerous makers.

I've got a Canon 50mm .095 that is just as good or better.

The soft sky shots being held up as a virtue of the lens are simply ludicrous, in my opinion.

You can't possibly really think you've got some kind of miracle lens, do you? Let's come down to earth.

 

[gdi]

I think most of you are seriously deluding yourselves re "saturation", "where else can you get these shots", etc etc.

I see out of focus, very pedestrian shots of mundane subject matter, with a lens that has extreme light fall off.

Nothing "dreamy" or "moody" about them other than being soft or out of focus. Certainly not $5000 worth of dreamy or moody.

You could easily get these almost these exact DOF effects with a f1.2 50mm lens from numerous makers.

I've got a Canon 50mm .095 that is just as good or better.

The soft sky shots being held up as a virtue of the lens are simply ludicrous, in my opinion.

You can't possibly really think you've got some kind of miracle lens, do you? Let's come down to earth.

That is one heck of a fast Canon you got there Valdemar! 😛

 

[Petroleum V. Nasby]

Canon 50mm 0.95. R-D1 @ ISO 1600. (typo in previous post noted)

I call my masterpiece "Broken Statuette and Bottle of Whiskey"




PS: Looks to me like wrong lens hood, or more likely, thick-walled filter.

.

 

[Petroleum V. Nasby]

Despite their serious delusions about their lenses, I will say that deepwhite and especially maddoc have a very good eye for photography.

.095 was a giveaway? Is that a mistake I made before?

 

[deepwhite]

We don't have delusion about our lenses. You have delusion about us Noctilux users.

But that's ok. I'm glad it's been peaceful in this thread, so we're still having room to make things clear.

------

When I heard a lot of fuzz about something, but could not clear things up other than try one myself, I tend to try one myself and clear things up.

That's why I got a whole studio of great audio gears. They stayed because I love them.

I've waited for a long time until a more reasonable-priced Noctilux show up (mine is at least 1/3 cheaper than the least expensive you can find on eBay, and it's in very good condition). With the price still going higher, I figured if I don't like it in the end, I could simply sell it and would probably get more money back. $1000 at least, from what I've seen now.

But it turns out I love it.

I don't care if I can do that with other lenses. I'm not a professional photographer, and I don't have the time to compare all the lenses to find out which one I'm going to stick to. As a professional record producer I'm always looking for the better gears, but as a hobbyist in photography, I think I'll just stick to the Noctilux for a long time.

Now you guys should understand: I never said the Noctilux is the king of all lenses. It's just my personal favorite, from the limited experience I have.

There might be better lenses out there, and some day I might have the chance to try one myself; but until that happens, I will use my Noctilux happily.

------

More on "not deluding myself":

This is blunt, for me to say this, so please don't feel offended. Petro, after seeing your Canon 0.95 shot, I feel good about choosing a Noctilux over the Canon, again.

Not that you're a bad photographer, just that what's good in your eyes are apparently not in mine. I believe it's vice versa, and therefore you guys have been thinking that we Noctilux lovers are deluded. And that's why you guys are talking about what's wrong with us, while we're thinking what's wrong with you guys.

(The reason why we're only "thinking", not saying it out loud, is because it would be VERY impolite if we say it out loud.)

------

The reason why the color photos in this page do not "suffer" or "benefit" (choose one you like) from vignetting is because they were taken with the R-D1s, with which the vignetting parts were all cropped out with the 1.5 crop factor of the APS-C size CCD.

And the reason for the heavy vignetting in the B/W photos is, I guess, as you guys suggested, due to the 60mm filter. I'm not a rich guy; one Noctilux is my limit. I gotta protect it with a filter, no matter how flare-prone it's going to be.

------

Last but not least, I thank you for not starting another war here in this thread. Yet. I stayed away from the 0.95 Noctilux thread, for, you know why. Please don't take it here.

This is not a thread showing "why the Noctilux is the best lens of all". It's just my personal notes about my own thoughts about this lens, from day 1, and I'm sharing it with other members here. If you are aware of this, I believe most arguments are not necessary.

I'm not saying that negative comments are not welcomed, but I'd like to see that, if you're talking about "me", please say it like you're talking to "me", instead of two people having a chat about me as if I were not here. I AM always in this thread after all.

Sorry for the heavy words. Now let's chat on. ;-)

 

[kevin m]

The reason why the color photos in this page do not "suffer" or "benefit" (choose one you like) from vignetting is because they were taken with the R-D1s, with which the vignetting parts were all cropped out with the 1.5 crop factor of the APS-C size CCD.

That's not true. The Canon 1.2 doesn't vignette on a film body, either.

 

[sepiareverb]

Very well said deepwhite. I'm quite enjoying seeing you play with this lens and please keep 'em coming.

 

[kevin m]

Sorry, deepwhite, I misread your post. 🙂 I'll delete the link to my pic, too. 😀

 

[cam]

deepwhite,

you're starting to get me really mad! first you find the SA at a great price, and now the Nocti? sheesh!!!

not fair, not fair, not fair :bang:

i can only take solace in the fact that at one time i was surrounded by better audio gear than you 😀 those were the days...

 

[cam]

Sorry, deepwhite, I misread your post. 🙂 I'll delete the link to my pic, too. 😀

also, as far as the vignetting on the R-D1 goes -- Epson RAW is pretty awesome about automatically getting rid of it if you remember to set your focal length. i usually don't correct it (if a lens vignettes, let it be part of the character, etc.), but on a few occasions i've messed with it to give me a vignette 😛

 

[urban_alchemist]

We don't have delusion about our lenses. You have delusion about us Noctilux users.

But that's ok. I'm glad it's been peaceful in this thread, so we're still having room to make things clear.

------

When I heard a lot of fuzz about something, but could not clear things up other than try one myself, I tend to try one myself and clear things up.

That's why I got a whole studio of great audio gears. They stayed because I love them.

I've waited for a long time until a more reasonable-priced Noctilux show up (mine is at least 1/3 cheaper than the least expensive you can find on eBay, and it's in very good condition). With the price still going higher, I figured if I don't like it in the end, I could simply sell it and would probably get more money back. $1000 at least, from what I've seen now.

But it turns out I love it.

I don't care if I can do that with other lenses. I'm not a professional photographer, and I don't have the time to compare all the lenses to find out which one I'm going to stick to. As a professional record producer I'm always looking for the better gears, but as a hobbyist in photography, I think I'll just stick to the Noctilux for a long time.

Now you guys should understand: I never said the Noctilux is the king of all lenses. It's just my personal favorite, from the limited experience I have.

There might be better lenses out there, and some day I might have the chance to try one myself; but until that happens, I will use my Noctilux happily.

------

More on "not deluding myself":

This is blunt, for me to say this, so please don't feel offended. Petro, after seeing your Canon 0.95 shot, I feel good about choosing a Noctilux over the Canon, again.

Not that you're a bad photographer, just that what's good in your eyes are apparently not in mine. I believe it's vice versa, and therefore you guys have been thinking that we Noctilux lovers are deluded. And that's why you guys are talking about what's wrong with us, while we're thinking what's wrong with you guys.

(The reason why we're only "thinking", not saying it out loud, is because it would be VERY impolite if we say it out loud.)

------

The reason why the color photos in this page do not "suffer" or "benefit" (choose one you like) from vignetting is because they were taken with the R-D1s, with which the vignetting parts were all cropped out with the 1.5 crop factor of the APS-C size CCD.

And the reason for the heavy vignetting in the B/W photos is, I guess, as you guys suggested, due to the 60mm filter. I'm not a rich guy; one Noctilux is my limit. I gotta protect it with a filter, no matter how flare-prone it's going to be.

------

Last but not least, I thank you for not starting another war here in this thread. Yet. I stayed away from the 0.95 Noctilux thread, for, you know why. Please don't take it here.

This is not a thread showing "why the Noctilux is the best lens of all". It's just my personal notes about my own thoughts about this lens, from day 1, and I'm sharing it with other members here. If you are aware of this, I believe most arguments are not necessary.

I'm not saying that negative comments are not welcomed, but I'd like to see that, if you're talking about "me", please say it like you're talking to "me", instead of two people having a chat about me as if I were not here. I AM always in this thread after all.

Sorry for the heavy words. Now let's chat on. ;-)

Everything he said...

Despite their serious delusions about their lenses, I will say that deepwhite and especially maddoc have a very good eye for photography.?

I think I'm gonna cry myself to sleep tonight...

 

[cam]

I think I'm gonna cry myself to sleep tonight...

now now now! your puppy shot was my favourite of the canine crop -- once i got over my feminist angst that you weren't actually calling your girlfriend moody 😛

 

[urban_alchemist]

now now now! your puppy shot was my favourite of the canine crop -- once i got over my feminist angst that you weren't actually calling your girlfriend moody 😛

Oops... I meant the dog....

... but there may or may not be bit of truth to that one - although I probably did something to deserve it... 😛

 

[cam]

Oops... I meant the dog....

... but there may or may not be bit of truth to that one - although I probably did something to deserve it... 😛

and i was feeling incredibly moody when i read it 😀

 

[cam]

@cam - You want a good price? Patience. And leave Europe!

As for the "vignetting correction" in Epson RAW, I never used it. Not that I love vignetting so much, but to my eyes the correction always leaves its scar and makes the photo look unnatural.

i'll just have to have you find it for me and hand deliver it 😛

as for the vignetting correction in Epson RAW -- it does that automatically, even if you have it set in the neutral position. if you don't believe me, next time you use it change the setting of the focal length to other lenses. it changes, trust me (even if it's very subtle at times). look at the outer edges.

 

[urban_alchemist]

What the hey - I should be getting two rolls back in the next few days, but seeing as I haven't contributed any photos to this for a while, I thought I may as well post some oldies up...

All with Noctilux and Leica MP - can't be bothered to check what film 🙂