Leica Noctilux 75mm F/1.25 Review: Is This The Ultimate Leica Lens?
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- Опубліковано 25 кві 2019
- You’ve all heard about it, perhaps dreamt of it even. Noctilux is a word that is synonymous with Leica and can also be said to be the epitome of what a Leica can achieve. Today, we have with us the latest entry into the Noctilux family, the Leica Noctilux 75mm F/1.25 paired with a trusty Leica M10.
Goes without saying, image quality is excellent and the experience of using it was quite a joy. But, is it worth the high price tag that it commands? Or perhaps, you can save a buck or two and get a Summilux instead? Hmmmm...
Host & Editor - Bobby Tonelli
Main Camera - Soon Kai Hong
Producer - Soon Kai Hong
Editor - Soon Kai Hong
To know more about Leica
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To know more about the Leica Noctilux 75mm F/1.25
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To know more about the Leica M10
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Thanks to Leica Singapore for providing the Leica Noctilux 75mm F/1.25 and the Leica M10
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Quickly becoming my favorite channel. Loving the Leica content!
Thanks Bryan for the support.
I've discovered your channel recently and I'm really enjoying the content. The tone, details, format and gear selected for review are great. Keep it coming. subscribed :)
ptrcksln thanks for watching and subscribing.
Great review, thx. Bear in mind that the Aperture value recorded in the Exif data is an estimate based on the light being read by the camera. There is no electrical contact between the lens and camera for the camera to actually know your aperture setting. So it is quite possible, you were shooting at 1.25, but the camera recorded 1.4. Cheers!
Thanks for watching. Actually the lens is 6 bit encoded and those contacts relay the info to the camera. With that connection it does relay the correct info to Lightroom and or Capture One correctly, but because 1.25 and 1.4 is so close together, it’s very easy to accidentally turn the aperture ring to 1.4.
@@TECH360TV I suggest you double check with Leica Singapore; the 6-bit coding is only relaying the Lens that is mounted, nothing more. Check this dpreview forum for more information.
T L just checked and you are correct. Since the info translates lens info for corrections and for metadata purposes, I assumed incorrectly the all the lens info was transferred correctly. Thanks for the feedback
No problem, I did the same a few years ago!
Thanks great review/pics
As I'm about the get the M10 Monochrom your review is spot on and very helpful. -- You balance the technical expertise with the heart of image making which is what the technical aspects need to serve most. --- I find your videos much more helpful and aligned with my perspective than many others offering these review. - Many Thanks. (what about a comparison of the 75 and 90mm lenses?)
Thanks Michael. Much appreciated. Will try that comparison in the future
Which lens is been used for this video ?
While I don't belong to the niche being targeted by the Leica M system, it's still nice to see reviews about products of this kind. Your videos are simple, relatable and entertaining. I like how you assess devices from a user standpoint, instead of waxing poetic over specs that viewers can read. Keep the reviews coming. Your channel will be up there soon. :)
Thanks Ivan for your kind words. We try to be relatable, fun and informative with every video. Glad it comes across :)
I've always wanted a young Jeff Goldblum to review camera gear for me! Haha. Great content as always, Bobby! I've become a recent fan of the channel.
Lol!! Glad we didn’t disappoint 😂😂 thanks for watching!
Love your style! Just stumbled across this video. Keen to see more of this! Subscribed.
Would love to own that lens too... maybe after that Lotto win...
Thanks Dean. Yes you and me both haha
Can I use It with Sony a7riii and How it Feels Thinking To buy a Used Leica 75 ane 50mm's For Around 500$ each ????
Very useful, incisive and spot on review. On an M10 I would use an EVF. On the SL it's easy. The lens looks surprisingly well-suited to the M10.
crispin8888 thanks for watching!! Yes it actually looks good on the M, but I would prefer the SL with it.
Great review!
Thanks for watching
Really like the reviews.
For joy factor (& hitting occasional focus), for casual travel photography; what lens would you walk around with (using a Leica SL or S1R):
noctilux 75mm f/1.25 or SL 90mm f/2 ?
Thank you for watching. Depends on your Budget. If you are looking at Leica lenses only then the new SL 50 f2. If you are open to others, Lumix Pro 50 1.4, Sigma 35 1.2 or 45 f2.8.
The SL 90 f2 is also very good as well, but 90 can be a challenging focal length for some instances.
Great. Really honest review.
Grissana Takeyama thanks for watching.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts regarding this exquisite lens. As with all modern Leica lenses I find the detent of the aperture ring very light compared to their older iterations. As regarding to the exif data please take note that the camera is guessing the aperture by comparing the ambient light with the light measured through the lens, as M lenses have no electrical coupling to the body. If your exif data says f/1.4 it could be f/1.25 or even f/2.0.
My pleasure. Thanks for watching. Understand it’s guessing, and this is a characteristic of a mechanical lens, but the exif data is all over the place, and being a 19k SGD lens I would think this would be a bit more accurate.
@@TECH360TV Good review, but it would be better without the music. Eric is correct. There is absolutely no Aperture data transmitted from the lens to the camera. Feel free to ignore that information in LR.
John Ricard thanks for your feedback. We will look at options without music in the future.
I get the quality although the weight somewhat detracts from the whole point of having a Leica M series as does the need to use an EVF as I cannot imaging focusing this lens wide open using the OVF with the narrow frame available. Given this why would I spend so much on this combination as opposed to the Fuji medium format GFX and 110m F2 lens? The latter would give similar if not better results at one third to half of the price? Amy thoughts?
Will never buy something like this, still great fun to watch your review. Love Leica!
Thanks for watching!
Thanx for a very objective review
Most welcome. Thanks for watching.
Used to contemplate a lot whether to buy this or not. But in the end, until now I’m still enjoying my 50mm Noct 0.95. So, maybe one day though :D
This lens is really good but my holy grail lens is the 50 .95. I would say stick with that and maybe get the 75 f2 or 1.4 if you want a longer focal length lens.
Agreed, might get a 75 (or 90) cron ;)
Good choice especially since you have the .95
Wait whut, 11k subs? For this quality? Woa!! Little yt secret
Jor Cap thanks for watching! We are trying with every video to up our game and content. Hopefully one day UA-cam will take notice and give us a little push ;)
Yes love the Leica stuff. More pls!!
Lordelk okay will work on that ;)
Don’t trust the aperture info on Lightroom. M cameras estimate the aperture value based on how much light the meter sees, but it’s not always accurate. There are no electrical connections between the lens and the camera.
I was going to comment this same thing but checked because I assumed somebody already did.
Maybe the newer M's are better at approximating aperture values? I shoot an M9-P and at wider apertures, especially in darker situations, it's inaccurate more often than not.
a5m it’s the same with my M240
Can u make a review about Noctilux F0.95 ?
Possibly :)
Got one, bought it KL
Congrats!
You are the best!
Thanks for watching 😊
The aperture ring is too loose in my opinion, I have the noctilux 50mm f0.95 and it is so easy to click it into other positions, it does not happen accidently always but wish Leica would have made it a little more firmer than what it is now.
Agree.
I still very much prefer the M-50 Noctilux ...
You need to check out the Samyang 85mm f1.2... Perhaps the best bokeh out there...
Robert yes I’ve heard. Maybe will try that in the near future.
Leicas have no way of telling exactly what F stop you're shooting at. It can only estimate it based on it's computation of what F stop it's at. That might explain why the EXIF is different from what it was shot at.
Curious about something. Most Leica rangefinder frame lines are 35mm 50mm and 90mm. Can you actually see 75mm frame lines? I use only Leica film cameras, so forgive me if this is something the digital models can do easily and I am just unaware.
Yes you can. The newer Leica cameras have it inside.
@@TECH360TV Good to know. Eventually I might spring for an M10 or Monochrome. I don't see the Nocti happening, short of a Lotto win. :-)
Hahaha understand. Same here. Love the Noct or any Noct for that matter but I keep choosing the wrong lotto numbers 😂
Think About Using a 28mmm Summaron With Red Komodo 6k Or Canon Eos r5 😆📷📷♥️♥️
I don’t think the aperture meta information is added to the meta data from M-lenses. Lightroom measures it somehow, so it could as well be 1.25 you shot at, even if Lightroom says 1.4. This is how I understand it, I might be wrong.
Yes this is what others have said as well. However I find other Leica lenses I have used were more accurate if this is the case.
@@TECH360TV It almost never is correct with my lenses. Got a 70's 35mm Summicron, 50mm Summilux ASPH, 90mm Tele-Elmarit and so on - it's a lot of hit & miss.
But as long as the photo is good... But I understand the frustration, that f-stop is expensive. ;)
Had the opportunity to try this lens out on my M10 in Wetzlar at the Leica store. It's a the holy grail of lenses...
You could get the TT Artisans for a whole lot cheaper and then use the leftover money to buy a Rolex Deepsea Seadweller James Cameron to complement your Panerai you wore in a previous video
hahaha this is true but one doesn't buy a Rolex Deepsea or Panerai just to tell time do they?
However i'm keen to try their 90mm they just released.
Beautiful leica
I'm totally aware of Leica products which is why I never bought them. I would have had to sell my first born on the black market to buy the camera AND lens. Nice stuff though for the A List group.
Understand. Some beautiful camera gear we all lust over, but credit cards, first born and selected body parts beware :)
It seems that 7Artisans will have a 75mm f/1.25 LM
I've tried the lens but its not for me...law of diminishing returns. being an owner of EF85mm 1.2 mkII(Canon) that I don't enjoy carrying around, I've learned to replicate almost similar effects using a 50mm 1.4 on an M10-P (safari). for many years now, my large glasses stayed in the dry cabinet and the more practical ones that get the use they deserve.
Great combo! But to be fair to the Canon glass, while larger it does render some beautiful images :)
Great subject nicely presented. but what happed to the image quality of your video.... But the lens looks great.
Thanks for watching. What do you mean image quality of the video?
Yes, but I did like your review.@@TECH360TV
Thanks :) we were wondering if something about the image quality wasn’t working well.
Yes, the video quality not up to...@@TECH360TV
John Hughes thanks for the feedback. We are always trying new things and good to hear what viewers like or not
EXIF Lightroom data is an estimate. Because there’s nothing in Leica lenses that tell the camera the aperture
Confirming the adage that 'a fool and his money are easily parted'....
I have tried this lens at the Leica event. It’s good on my SL but the price is not cute for me :p
Yeah the price is a bit difficult to swallow.
The level of mechanical vigneting of such lenses is so high that they are not really 1.25 or 1.4. I am talking about dof , the subject being more or less in the center.
metphmet is this true or just your claim? Anything I could read on the subject? My understanding is that wouldn’t affect dof
@@PS-ql7mz It is true for any lens affected . So it is true for Leica also .
There are two consequences : cat's eye effect with eventually swirly bokeh and increase of DoF in the affected zone. The first effect shows you the "depth" of the problem for each lens: shape of the eyes and zone affected.
To understand DoF and bokeh read article of H Nasse ( Zeiss). pdf versions on the net.
I will add that if you hesitate between a 1.2 and a 1.4 lens . If the 1.2 shows significantly more mechanical vignetting (cat's eye) don't expect difference in dof out of the center.
Based on full format only and really regardless of whatever, can a 75 mm tele lens ever become "The Ultimate XY Lens", because of the more special and not so versatile angle of view ?
IMO any 35 or 50 mm lens is more "The Ultimate XY Lens" than all the rest. I`ve started my personal photography many years ago the classic way only with a 90 mm macro lens for portraits and macros and a 35 mm lens for all the rest (actually these two lenses would be all I need) and I`m still shooting the majority of my photos with a 35 mm lens although it`s not my only lens, but a 35 or 50 mm lens would be the first and only lens for a very long period of time if I`ve to start again. A 35 or 50 mm prime lens is still one of the best gear recommendations for beginners to start learning the essence of photography.
I agree 35 and 50 are staples. However there are some that can use a 75 or 85 as their main lens. Depends how you want others to see the world you capture.
@@TECH360TV absolutely undisputed 👍😎
When you think about It ... the cost of Leica Camera's and Lenses could ... Buy a Car , Pay for a Semester at College, Pay off a credit Card Debt buy food for the family for a year... etc.... Also Keep In mind that a 6" x 6" Painting by Picasso could cost $1.3M ... People who buy Picasso's do because they can ... Same with Leica ...
Optics and especially manual focus lenses are not like electronics. Today a very fast computer costs 5.000$ and after five years a computer with the same speed will cost 500$.
Lenses and especially manual focus lenses have a very slow depreciation. Leica lenses can easily retain their price for a decade or even much more.
Lenses even for amateurs are an investment. Many times people spent more money for features of camera bodies that don't really need, like very fast autofocus or very low noise of high ISO.
Yes agree. Leica lenses are investments for sure, and the right ones can really appreciate in value.
As an owner of a Leica MP film camera I see it with mine. However I do see a trend where the third party manufacturers are coming out with comparable lenses at a quarter of the price. This is affecting some lenses on the second hand market. Having said that the Noctilux’s are usually pretty safe.
TECH360.TV Thank you for the reply. I like landscape and architectural photography. I nearly always use wide angle lenses and I have the money and the will to buy a wide angle Leica lens. However wide angle Leica lenses have issues with Sony α7 series cameras.
Achilleas Labrou can also look at the SL or S1R by Panasonic as an alternative.
Can you shoot with this lens without bokeh, like normal pictures with that quality of lens!!!
Sure. F16 and you can get almost everything in focus, but the question is why would you spend this kind of money to shoot that way?
TECH360.TV got you👌
It is only for someone who already has a contract to make a photo shoot and it would be best to rent. Normal people do not have this much money to spend.
Perhaps or for the ultimate collector
I think your videos are great but I think the way you edit your sample images doesn't help to show what a particular lens can do. This is after watching your other videos by the way :)
Thanks. What would you like to see more of ?
@@TECH360TV I think a pre/post edit version of the shots could be shown.
As for general photography content, I wish we can get more comparisons of lenses between different brands at the same focal lengths, especially since Canon and Nikon have joined the mirrorless war. I've been wondering if I should move from L/M mount to RF/Z mount, considering the significant lower cost of bodies/lenses from CaNikon. There's not much content on youtube comparing different brands/system.
Thanks for the reply. If you have seen my more recent reviews you will notice I show the unedited photos as well as edited in the Lightroom portion of the reviews. As for comparing lenses and cameras It’s quite difficult to have many cameras for Long term reviews to compare. If we were a channel with over a million subs we could afford to buy but unfortunately we don’t have that luxury now. Hopefully in the future though 😊
@@TECH360TV I think that's the problem a lot of channels are facing. Not too sure if you could rent some of the gear in SG.
Anyway I think your channel will surely grow. BT is super good looking compared to most tech reviewers ;) but seriously I think he's doing a fantastic job. I had dismissed this channel initially but after watching the videos I was really impressed!
Thank you. We will keep trying
It is a rich man’s toy
Leica Is not Just a Lens It Is a Jwellery .....😊📷
People Dont buy It Because Of Its Specs..
People Buys It Because Of Its unique History ......
Loved It leica
Why 75mm, why not 85mm?
Because they have a 90 out now
I wonder how this new lens compares to the the 75mm summilux . The price of this is too expensive even more than noctilux 50mm 0.95 !!!!!! My though is M lenses principle is small lens but this modern lens is breaking all the rules of Leica that M range finder system are no longer small as 1kg its heavy like the SL 24-90 mm lens .
75 Summilux has more “character” but optically this Noctilux is more correct.
Of course sharpness will go the Noctilux as well but I find the Summilux more than acceptable.
10 euros per gramme
It's designed for the rich. It's almost $13,000 U.S. dollars on Amazon, but at least you get free shipping. I'll get the 7artisans 75mm f/1.25 for $449 if it's as good as the 7artisans 28mm f/1.4.
Can’t put 7 Artisans and Noctilux in the same sentence Hahahaha
Kidding aside check out our Voigtlander 75 1.5 review. We compare pics next to the Noct and the Voigtlander performs very well.
@@TECH360TV I would get the Noctilux if I could afford it. It's such an incredible lens based on reviews. Being a hobbyist photographer, I think having the cheap, knock-off version is good enough. Thanks, I'll check out the mentioned review.
Apparently, M lenses do not have means of sending aperture setting info / data to the camera. What you see in Lightroom is just a nominal figure and kind of guesswork so you probably had 1.25 as your setting but Lightroom didn't believe it!
I find this review rather disappointing; it did not look at depth of field on f1.25 or f2 setting; did not tackle quality of out of focus area (B word), sharpness of the image and colour rendering! Hopefully once you get over the $19000 price tag (that took so much of our time) you can redo a proper review!?
Not a prob we all have our opinions. But Let’s be real for moment. Most people when looking at a photograph aren’t looking at the quality of the out of focus area. Perhaps that helps one justify the price but in reality people are looking at the subject your shooting and the rest hardly goes noticed Also why would you spend this kind of money shooting at f2 when you have the 75 Summicron at a much more affordable price. You’re paying for the fast aperture only. Anything else get the Summicron.
I review a number of leica lenses and cameras and I’m used to the price, but I don’t get this lens for a couple of reasons.
It’s virtually impossible to nail focus on the M camera without the visoflex or using the rear screen so in reality It’s better suited with the SL2 vs the M.
Also why make it a 1.25 vs 1.4? The 75 summilux was and is a fantastic lens and an update would have been welcomed while coming in at a more reasonable price.
@@TECH360TV Ok, I have Summicron 75 and just 2 of the differences are: Summicron's Aperture has 9 blades and Summilux has 11, that makes the quality of Bokeh (B word) very different! The idea that you buy a lens to use it on wide open aperture doesn't compute for me, interestingly if you check the technical data for both lenses the depth of field set at f2 for 5 meters is (4,722 to 5,314 on Summicron) and (4,825 to 5,189 on Summilux), 592mm vs 362mm. Infinity for the former starts from 5.3m and for the latter from 10.8 meters. Add to that, at wide open aperture (1.25) the depth of field for Summilux is 12mm which means if you focus on edge of the nose of your subject her eyes are going to be out of focus! or with a slight turn of head only one eye will be in focus! That makes use of this lens on that aperture quite a challenge?!
To conclude, what I was / am trying to say is that "the first impression was a better title for your "review"!
Understand, but I don’t review lenses that way for a number of reasons. First, the average viewer may not understand the math the way you presented it. Second, not many take that much into consideration when getting a lens. They want to know if the lens is sharp, chromatic aberration, good colors, softness in corners, decent bokeh and some like to get sun stars.
As for people buying a lens to use wide open that’s why many will spend for a Noctilux or Summilux. They want that .95, 1.4 bokeh to their images.
Sure one lens might have a couple more blades than the other, but in reality how much difference does it show? Hardly any to the average viewer.
I’ve shot with all of these lenses and yes I can see because I’ve learned to see the differences over time but I honestly didn’t find the 75 Noctilux as stunning as the 50 .95’s look but that’s me.
The kind of review you are looking for is more likely to be written on a website or a forum discussion. On UA-cam we need to take a number of things into consideration that would opt for me not to have our viewers pull out a calculator 😊
Hope you understand
What a waste of money.
No offense, but WHY would you test a lens like that in broad daylight? I'm surprised that you could even shoot in broad daylight at f/1.25. It's designed - in my opinion - to be used in low light conditions. Why ELSE would you buy it, just for the bokeh at f/1.25?
Actually most of the shots we’re shot indoors and dusk. Yes people buy it for the Bokeh and for the ability to shoot in low light, but the former seems to be a key reason for some.
I think you should have emphasized its low light capabilities with some indoor shots or evening street shots. To spend that much money for striking bokeh is ridiculous - in my opinion.
Actually there are photos in the video of those very situations. Understand. 19k SGD is a hard pill to swallow