I’m lucky enough to have scored a Leica Noctilux 50mm f/0.95 lens (used, but in excellent condition). The lens is most interesting I think wide-open at f/0.95. Yes, you read that aperture correctly—it is an incredibly bright lens that seems to act almost like a funnel for light. When used at more conventional apertures (for example, f/8 or f/16) the lens seems decent, but, well pretty conventional—and nothing so special that it is worth the price or weight. But at f/0.95, this lens is extraordinary!

When it comes to gear, the craft of photography always involves trade-offs. This is another way of saying, “there are no free lunches!”

In the case of the Leica Noctilux 50mm f/0.95 the obvious baggage includes the price and weight. To my mind, at f/0.95 the lens behaves somewhat like a Lensbaby ought to behave: essentially a “sweet spot” that is in focus is created, and glowing out-of-focus areas are everywhere else. But hitting that critical focus point with the lens where one wants is no piece of cake because of the very feature that is desirable, the extreme light sensitivity of this lens.

With these close-up ferns I found focus wide-open mostly easier to achieve with my Monochrom M11 on a tripod.

Note that I added a variable extension tube to get this close to my subject, and used a focusing rail to make the critical focus possible.

I think the classical use-case for this lens is in portraiture, and possibly street photography. I may well use this lens in these ways. But I also intend to experiment, and use my “Noct” as it has never been used before!