LEICA NOCTILUX 50mm (3rd)

Review and Photo example of the NOCTILUX 50mm F1 3rd.

Gallery

Sample photo taken with the LEICA M-P typ240.

Sample photo taken with the LEICA M10.

Review

Noctilux 50mm is a large-diameter standard lens for Leica M mount.
The minimum shooting distance is 1m, and when the hood is attached, it will cover the viewfinder frame considerably.

The Noctilux is a large and heavy lens, and when attached to an M-type Leica, it seems that the lens has too much presence. Especially when attached to the thinner M10, the camera feels unbalanced and the rangefinder loses its nimbleness. The M Typ240 has a thick and rigid body, so it is reliable when attaching heavy lenses like this.

It’s no wonder that there are many fans of the unique depiction, but when the aperture is wide open, everything other than the focus area becomes too blurry and blurry, and false colors appear around the subject, making it difficult to use, so I stopped it down to around F2. I think it’s good to have well-timed images, but I think it would be more practical to use SUMMILUX at a reduced setting, but it would be naive to say that.

Especially in dark places, I often open the aperture to increase the shutter speed, but sometimes the bokeh turns into a rugby ball and the image around the edges collapses, which is sad. Since I was using a digital body, I didn’t have to worry about the number of shots I could take, so I was using it wide open at f/1, but I was able to take many shots without losing focus using the Digital M’s viewfinder.

When used with a 35mm full-size sensor, the edges of the lens are slightly kicked when the aperture is wide open, and the image circle feels narrow. It was really just a hobby lens, and I didn’t carry it around much, so I sold it to use as funding for other lenses.

The first Noctilux with a maximum aperture of F1 was released in 1975, and the lens I owned was a Nocchilux with a hook hood manufactured in 1995.

In the last days of film cameras, they were so impractical that they could be purchased for around 200,000 yen. There are times when I wish I had bought about 5 of them back then, but it can’t be helped.
I don’t think the 2017 version of the price I wrote in my old diary and the 2022 version have changed that much. Depending on the store, prices are bullish and even 2nd/3rd prices are over 1 million yen.

Noctilux 1st F1.2 hook fixed hood ＞Over 2 million yen
Noctilux 2nd F1 E58 Turn fixed hood ＞Around 800,000 yen
Noctilux 3rd early F1 E60 Turn fixed hood　＞Around 700,000 yen
Noctilux 3rd late F1 E60 hook fixed hood　＞Around 700,000 yen
Noctilux 4th F1 E60 Include hood. ＞Around 800,000 yen
Noctilux 5th F0.95 E60 Include hood. ＞Around 900,000 yen

Specification

項目	NOCTILUX	NOKTON	MS-ISM
製造者	LEICA	Voigtlander / Cosina	Ms-optics
焦点距離(mm)	50	50	50
最大絞り	1	1	1.1
最小絞り	16	16	16
絞り羽根	10	12	16
レンズ構成	6群7枚	7群9枚	5群7枚
最短撮影距離(m)	1.0	0.9	0.8
レンズ長(mm)	62	55	41
レンズ最大径(mm)	69	73.6	54.7
フィルター径(mm)	E60	62	55
重量(g)	600	484	178
定価(税別)	–	225,000-	120,000-

Item	Value	note
focal length(mm)	50
Maximum aperture	2.8
Minimum aperture	16
Leaf blade	6
Lens configuration	3groups 4elements	tesser type
Minimum distance(m)	0.7
Lens length(mm)	37.6	Distance from lens mount flange
Lens max diameter(mm)	52
Filter diameter(mm)	39
Weight(g)	170(Black)	245(Silver)
Release date	1994〜2007