NOCTILUX 50MM F/1.2 ASPH
An Appreciation
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 tiny Leica 28mm Summaron-M f/5.6, originally released in 1954 with a screw mount, and the Leica Thambar-M 90mm f/2.2, a quirky soft focus portrait lens from the mid 1930’s.
The Leica Noctilux-M 50mm f/1.2 is rather a different beast. Released in 1966, it was the state-of-the-art lens for shooting in low light, 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 collector’s 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.
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 its vices and would not come out well in a technical comparison between the current f/0.95 Noctilux (or the 50 f/1.4 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!
“Patina – Dreaming of Summer” – Leica M10-R, 1/90, f/5.6, ISO 640
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 extremely low light. Nikon, Minolta, Canon and Leica all produced f/1.2 standard lenses in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Leica’s 50mm f/1.2 was the star of the show at the 1966 Photokina.
Work started at Leica in 1957 on the production of aspherical elements. The first lens prototype produced in 1958 was the Summaron 35mm f/2.8 ASPH. This featured two aspherical surfaces, but never went into production.
A 52mm f/1 ASPH. prototype also featuring two aspherical surfaces was produced in 1959, but Leica realised the image quality wasn’t good enough at f/1 and settled for f/1.2. 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 50mm Summicron in 1953). The Noctilux 50mm f/1.2 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 optimization program for lens design in the late 60’s.
Leica M10-R, 1/2000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100.
“I can See You” – Leica M10-R, 1/1000 sec, f/1.2, ISO 100
The Leica Noctilux-M 50mm f/1.2 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), and he had to discard many elements as rubbish.
After the release in 1966 there was much research to produce an f/1 version of the lens with three aspherical elements, but in 1970 the project was abandoned because the aspherical technology was in its infancy, and the production costs were immense. The f/1.2 lens remained in production only until 1975.
“The Dawn of Austen” – Leica M10, 1/125, f/4, ISO 200
“Sleepy” – Leica M10-R, 1/90, f/2.8, ISO 1250
In 1975 Walter Mandler in Canada designed an f/1 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 f/0.95 Noctilux, a double Gauss design with two aspherical elements.
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.
By modern standards, it’s a small lens, about the same height as the current 50mm Summilux-M 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 one metre – I was hoping it would focus closer, but apparently that wasn’t possible.
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 f/1.2 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 f/2 the centre is quite sharp and the vignetting has mostly gone, however, the edges and corners are still quite soft. At f/2.8 things have improved further and by f/5.6 everything but the corners are incredibly sharp, however the corners are still soft and remain so at all apertures.
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 f/4 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.
FOCUS SHIFT Something which is always a concern with vintage lenses is focus shift. This is where the point of focus changes as you stop down, for example with the Zeiss 50mm Sonnar ZM if you focus at 1.5 metres at f/1.5 and then stop down to f/8, not only does the point of focus move forwards, but the original point of focus is out of focus (despite the greater depth of field as you stop down). Zeiss will alter lenses so that correct focus wide open is at the distance you prefer.
I carefully checked the Noctilux f/1.2 from about 1 metre, 2 metres, 4 metres and 30 metres. in each case the original point of focus remained properly in focus. There seemed to be some forward shift, but I feel that as long as the point focused on remains in focus as you stop down then it’s not a problem in use.
WHICH VERSION? The Noctilux f/1.2 is coming in two versions. The simple version is €7,000 and is black with an aluminum 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!
CONCLUSIONI 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 its 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 50’s and 60’s then this would be an exciting addition.
sources Too many to acknowledge all of them and I’m ashamed to say that I’ve forgotten some of them. However, these two articles were informative and interesting. First and foremost is this article on the Barnack Berek Blog “Noctilux-M 50mm f/1.2 Asph: The Beginning of a new Optical Era.” Secondly is Erwin Puts interesting article on the origin of myths! “Leitz Noctilux 1:1.2/50: The Untold Story.”