SoldLeica 50mm f1.2 Noctilux reissue

A true gem and versatile.

Condition Notes:
I bought this f1.2 lens from the original owner a while back. He purchased it directly from B&H's physical store in New York brand new late in 2023. I have compared it to some others and the one is the sharpest of the lot. Well centered and performs like new. Rangefinder coupling is spot on with my M6 and M10-M. The body has a few minor wear spots on the aperture and focus ring from normal use and the lens has never been mishandled or damaged. The glass is flawless and there is no internal dust. You can expect it to function like new. It comes with all of the original boxes and accessories from new including the front and rear metal caps, hood and plastic bubble display.

User Experience:
I see a lot of comments online that state this lens is not sharp wide open and that couldn't be further from the truth. On center it is sharp but falls off extremely quickly from there out to the edges. No focus shift when stopping down. I found it best to either shoot wide open with subject on center or focus on the closest thing I want in focus on center and stop it down for more depth of focus out in the frame and let the round aperture blades handle the rest. Wide open it renders people and movement with a sense of drama, emotion and flow that works very well in dynamic situations. Stopped down it still maintains a classic look and draw with high micro contrast and detail. This lens seems to have been engineered with digital in mind as it renders very well on my M10-M. The look of the out of focus areas can very quite a bit depending on the background and ranges from busy and swirly-smooth to very tranquil and buttery. It remind me a bit of the 50mm Summilux Pre-Asph with more background butter and more extreme drama. The out of focus highlights do not have as defined of edges like the Spherical F1.0 and are more buttery. It behaves a bit more like modern asph lenses in this regard. It does have aberration glow wide open which is beautiful and I have not noticed any onion ring patterns in the oof highlights. It definitely imparts a 1960s vibe on images. It effectively combines the best of modern features with the look of the past. The build, look and handling makes it my favorite Leica M lens to hold and use of all time. It is very compact and easy to carry, feels great in the hands and focuses with ease in my medium/large hands. It's a lens that travels well and one you will grab on the go vs other big glass. Colors are like other modern Leica glass and it has much more contrast wide open then vintage lenses such as the F1.0. It is a moody, emotional beast in a tiny package and I highly recommend that you give it a swirl if you are at all interested. I love it and if I could keep more then one Noct I would not sell it but I don't have that kind of budget. I want to get back to the F1.0 for a while as I like its flaws and lack of contrast for a more vintage soft spherical vibe on my film M6.