Price: $1.00 Payment method: PayPal Item condition: 9 Shows signs of use, but very clean Shipping instructions: USPS CONUS
Looking to trade this wonderful little gem straight up for a 50mm F1.0 Noctilux. I am also open to reasonable offers as well. I am looking for a late version 4 f1.0 Noct in excellent condition. Something that is sharp and well centered wide open (for an f1.0) and well calibrated for the rangefinder (within reason). Minor body wear is fine with me as long as the glass is excellent (minor dust is fine) and it functions very well. No service as of yet or Leica serviced is usually best here.
Basically I am looking to trade a good one for another good one from a user that has a rep similar to mine on this site if that makes sense. I have had several F1.0 in my hands over the years and they vary in sharpness and function quite a bit. Sadly, many have been misaligned by third party lens techs performing a CLA etc.
Condition Notes:
I bough 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 I have seen and it 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 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.
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 wide open but falls off extremely quickly from there out to the edges. An interesting feature I have noticed is that the focus does not shift when stopped down. It actually just increases the depth of field back behind the point of focus which is extremely handy and different then other glass I have tested. I have found it best to either shoot wide open 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 seems to like people and movement and has a sense of emotion and flow that works very well in dynamic situations. Stopped down it still maintains a classic look and draw but 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 out of focus areas can very quite a bit depending on the background and ranges from busy and swirly (but always 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 areas do not have defined edges like the Spherical F1.0 and is 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 and seems to combine 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 cary, feels great in the hands and focuses with ease in my medium/large hands. Colors are like other modern Leica glass and it has much more contrast wide open then vintage glass like 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 trade 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 vibe on my film M.
Leica 50mm f1.2 Noctilux reissue
