The Phoblographer

Photography: Think Simpler

Samples Images from the Leica 50mm F/0.95 Noctilux and 90mm F/2 Summicron

with 6 comments

After trying the D-LUX 5 at Photo Plus Expo 2010, I had the opportunity to shoot with two very legendary lenses in the Leica lineup. The 50mm F/0.95 Noctilux is the fastest lens available in the lineup and the 90mm F/2 has been touted as one of the sharpest lenses the manufacturer makes. See the samples below, all of which were shot wide open.

The intro photo for this story was shot with the Noctilux. All photos shot with the Leica M9 reviewed a while back.

Leica 50mm F/0.95 Noctilux

Leica 90mm F/2

For portraits, the 90mm is amazing. This is also one of the perfect portrait focal lengths.

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Related posts:

  1. Field Review (Day 2): Leica D-Lux 4
  2. Short Hands On: Leica S2 With Flash And 35mm F1.4 On The M9
  3. Field Review: Leica M9 (Day 3)
  4. Field Review: Leica M9 (Day 2)
  5. Field Review: Leica M9 (Day 7)

Written by Chris Gampat

October 30th, 2010 at 1:44 pm

Posted in Lenses

Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

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  • Peter

    Most of the 90mm shots are clean and sharp. A lot of the 50mm are soft. Is that typical of this wide open lens?

    • http://thephoblographer.wordpress.com Chris Gampat

      Hi Peter,

      The 50mm F/.0.95 is very hard to focus, but from reviews I’ve read it is soft wide open.

      -Chris

      • lovinglife

        “I’ve read it is soft wide open” Is not true— My copy is sharp wide open – but yes, it is hard to focus and requires proper calibration with the rangefinder. The noct  samples here are not in correct focus and not indicative of the sharpeness of the noct .95.

        • Primoloco

          So, it’s safe to say that for the lens to achieve prime sharpness has to be calibrated according to the camera body you’re using????   It’s this done with the cam manufacturer? or can one do it oneself? or through Leica?

  • http://BillyChiu.com paul

    the leica noctilux, very large and heavy can be tough to focus at f/0.95
    there are many samples on the web where incredible results were attained with the noctilux wide open.

    popphoto magazine did a test last year showing that at f/0.95, the noctilux was nearly as sharp as primes by canon and nikon at f/5.6

  • http://www.graham-mitchell.com Graham

    Thanks for posting these samples. A special lens indeed!