By Jonathan Slack
Introduction
This is the third lens in
Leica's historical lens series where they revisit classics and remake them with
modern glass and coatings, but with the original basic design. The two previous
lenses are the 28mm Summaron which is a tiny lens, originally released in 1954
with a screw mount. Then came the Leica Thambar M 90mm f2.2, a quirky soft
focus portrait lens from the mid 30's.
The Leica Noctilux 50mm
f1.2 is rather a different beast. Released in 1966 it was the state of the art
lens for shooting in low light, it was very expensive, and very difficult to
make, estimates of how many were produced vary between 500 and 2,500. But I
understand that the actual number was 1,757. As a result of this it has become
a photographic legend and a serious collectors item with production lenses
selling for well over $20,000 and even lens hoods changing hands for around
$4,000! Sadly I do not have an original lens to compare with the new one, but I
guess that will be true of most of the people who buy this lovely lens.
Leica M10-r Noctilux
f1.2 1/3000 f1.2 ISO 100
I've been lucky enough to
have a prototype copy of the Noctilux for almost the whole of the lockdown.
I've used it on both the SL2 and the M10-R and have very much fallen in love.
Of course it has it's vices and would not come out well in a technical
comparison between the current f0.95 Noctilux (or the 50 f1.4 Summilux come to
that!). Just a glance at the MTF curves shows that pretty clearly. But this
lens is an important part of Leica's history and it's great that Leica should
re-make it so that us lesser mortals can have a go with it!
The Dawn of Austen
Leica M10 Noctilux
f1.2 1/125 f4 ISO 200
History
In 1966 Leica was still a
big player in the photojournalism world, and there was an increasing demand for
fast lenses for shooting in very low light. Nikon, Minolta, Canon and Leica all
produced f1.2 standard lenses in the 1960's. Canon was first out of the block
in 1962 with the 58mm f1.2, they improved it to 55mm in 1968, but it was not
until 1980 that the focal length was changed to 50mm. Nikon hit the market in 1965 with its 55mm f1.2, in 1978 they managed
the 50mm f1.2 AI Nikkor. Minolta brought out their 58mm f1.2 in 1966, the same
year that Leica trumped them with their 50mm f1.2 double Aspherical.
Work started at Leica in
1957 on the production of aspherical elements: The first lens prototype
produced in 1958 was the Summaron 35mm
1:2.8 ASPH This featured 2 Asph surfaces, but never went into production.
A 52mm f1 Asph prototype
also featuring 2 aspherical surfaces was produced in 1959, But Leica realised
the image quality wasn't good enough at f1 and settled for f1.2.
The first prototypes were
made in April of 1964 Designed by Helmut Marx and Paul Sindel (Helmut Marx was
Professor Max Berek's successor as head of the photographic lens design in
Wetzlar, and creator of the first Summicron 50 in 1953). The Noctilux 50mm f1.2
was released as the 11820 in 1966.
Professor Helmut Marx used
an Elliott 402F computer helping design and saving lots of time ray tracing.
This was before he had begun to develop his COMO optimisation program for lens
design in the late 60s
Leica M10 with Noctilux 50
f1.2
Leica SL2 ISO 1600 1/100 f3.2 APO Summicron SL 50 f2
The Leica Noctilux 50mm
f1.2 has two aspherical elements (front and rear) which were made on a
specially built grinding machine that had to be operated manually. There was
only one machine, and only one person capable of operating it (Gerd Bergmann),
he had to discard many elements as rubbish.
After the release in 1966
there was much research to produce an f1 version of the lens with 3 Aspherical
elements, but in 1970 the project was abandoned because the aspherical
technology was in its infancy, and the production costs were immense. The f1.2
lens remained in production only until 1975.
In 1975 Walter Mandler in
Canada designed an f1 Noctilux without any aspherical elements. It was launched
in 1976 and was a great success, staying in production until 2008. In 2009
Leica introduced Peter Karbe's stunning f0.95 Noctilux, a double Gauss design
with 2 aspherical elements.
Cracked and Tracked
Leica SL2 Noctilux f1.2 1/100 f11 ISO 200
The Modern Lens
The original Noctilux did
not have a filter thread on the front element, it was part of the clip-on lens
hood. The new lens does have a filter thread, and as far as I'm aware that's
the only obvious difference between the new and old lenses. Even the lens hood
is superficially identical (although it says "LEICA CAMERA WETZLAR"
and misses out the 'GERMANY' on the original lens - or at least my prototype
does!.) Otherwise the size, handling and appearance of the modern lens is just
the same as its illustrious predecessor.
Bottle Green Dawn
Leica M10r Noctilux
f1.2 1/350 f4.8 ISO 100
By modern standards it's a
small lens, about the same height as the
current 50mm Summilux Asph and only a little fatter. It handles beautifully on
an M body, perfectly balanced, but with a much longer focus throw than the more
modern M lenses. It only focuses down to 1metre, I was hoping it would focus
closer, but apparently that wasn't possible.
Sleepy Leica
M10r Noctilux
f1.2 1/90 f2.8 ISO 1250
Image Quality
First of all I should say
that I had quite an early prototype lens, but I expect that the image quality
is pretty representative. It almost behaves like two different lenses.
At f1.2 nothing is quite
sharp, even in focus at the centre, by the edge of the frame it's very soft and
there is quite a lot of vignetting. It doesn't sound so good, but it's actually
rather a lovely dreamy look.
By f2 the centre is quite
sharp and the vignetting has mostly gone, however, the edges and corners are
still quite soft. At f2.8 things have improved further and by f5.6 everything
but the corners are incredibly sharp, however the corners are still soft and
remain so at all apertures.
Splish Splosh
Leica M10r Noctilux
f1.2 1/500 f5.6 ISO 100
Overall Contrast is fine,
but not like a modern Leica Aspheric. However, stopped down, in common with the
rigid Summicron the Noctilux has incredible micro-contrast and really great
acuity. In fact the image quality is very comparable to the rigid summicron
from about f4 and on.
Bokeh is lovely (well, I
think so, it's rather a personal subject). Stopping down a little the 16
aperture blades ensure that the aperture remains completely circular.
I can See You
Leica M10r Noctilux
f1.2 1/1000 f1.2 ISO 100
Which Version?
The Noctilux f1.2 is
coming in two versions. The simple version is €7,000 and is black with an
aluminium body, this is the one for normal mortals! There is also a Silver
Chrome version with a brass body in a strictly limited edition of 100 copies.
This retails for €15,000. and being brass I imagine it's pretty heavy; lovely,
but more for collectors than for everyday use. I suppose one could buy both!
Spring Window
Leica M10r Noctilux
f1.2 1/350 f4 ISO 100
Conclusion
I really like the concept
of remaking classic lenses, and this Noctilux is a lovely example, especially
as the second hand price of the original lens makes it well outside the range
of the average photographer. At €7,000 this lens seems like a something of a
bargain, especially considering it's rather exotic double aspherical design.
(Apparently it's still pretty difficult to make). Unlike the 90mm Thambar or
the 28mm Summaron (lovely as they are), the Noctilux is very usable as an
everyday lens, both on M and SL cameras (I guess it might also be fun on the
CL). Dreamy and strange wide open, stopped down it is wonderfully sharp, and,
if you like the look of the classic Leica lenses from the 50s and 60s then this
would be an exciting addition. I'm going to start saving!
Fast Car
Leica M10r Noctilux
f1.2 1/90 f1.2 ISO 1250
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Emma for
putting up with me writing another article
Thank you to Stefan Daniel
and Jesko von Oeynhausen from Leica and especially Stefan Janssen from Leica
who provided the historical documents in the 'more pictures' link below (and
the one in the text above).
Thank you to Hari
Subramanyan who let me play with his original Noctilux f1.2, to Amitava
Chatterjee who helped with the selection of photos and to Milan Swolfs for
discussions about the two lenses. Milan took the lovely images on the Leica web
page.
Squirrel Hunting
Leica M10r Noctilux
f1.2 1/90 f4 ISO 800
More Pictures (and someLeica documents)
Bosky
Leica M10r Noctilux
f1.2 1/90 f8 ISO 400
Blue Grass
Leica M10r Noctilux
f1.2 1/4000 f1.2 ISO 100
Cornflower
Leica M10r Noctilux
f1.2 1/2000 f1.2 ISO 100
Patina - Dreaming of
Summer
Leica M10r Noctilux
f1.2 1/90 f5.6 ISO 640
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