Double Negative
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So I picked up the [infamous] 1,1/50 Nokton late last year. The idea was to "see what all the fuss was about" - basically to draw my own conclusions. Well, the winter funk set in and I didn't get to shoot it much. It finally got a little spring-like 'round these parts and the cabin fever was killin' me. So I took a nice walk down on the boardwalk during my lunch hour, determined to test the Nokton - and to do so as wide open as possible. To that end, I used a Hoya 8x ND filter and basically kept 'er on f/1.8. Silly me, I forgot to dial in a +1 or so EC as I was a bit rushed. But the latitude of the M9 files should not be underestimated - they took quite well to a little DNG conversion tweaking. Minimal post other than slight curves, resize and sharpen. The vignetting is actually straight from the file! The lens is coded as a Noctilux; I can only imagine it's a combination of the len' character, slight underexposure and the ND filter. You want a poor man's Noctilux - heh, this comes pretty close! 
Some observations. At f/1.1, which I didn't even bother with - the bokeh gets a little weird sometimes, and sharpness isn't fantastic - which is why I chose f/1.8 (I usually go for f/1.4 but it was really bright). Sharpness is pretty good at this point, obviously some vignetting still. Distortion seems quite low with this lens, and flare resistance decent. Honestly, I can't complain - for the money, this lens does a good job. Of course, I plan to test further, fully wide open at f/1.1 in darker situations... Not much point in testing stopped down, any lens will do well at f/8.
The whole gallery is here
Some of my favorite shots (most, but not all at f/1.8 - notice background):
Some previous shots in the dark are here. It's a miracle these came out at all, as I was pretty snookered in short order (which would explain the focus and shooting in the dark at f/4 on some shots). Nevertheless...
Some observations. At f/1.1, which I didn't even bother with - the bokeh gets a little weird sometimes, and sharpness isn't fantastic - which is why I chose f/1.8 (I usually go for f/1.4 but it was really bright). Sharpness is pretty good at this point, obviously some vignetting still. Distortion seems quite low with this lens, and flare resistance decent. Honestly, I can't complain - for the money, this lens does a good job. Of course, I plan to test further, fully wide open at f/1.1 in darker situations... Not much point in testing stopped down, any lens will do well at f/8.
The whole gallery is here
Some of my favorite shots (most, but not all at f/1.8 - notice background):
Some previous shots in the dark are here. It's a miracle these came out at all, as I was pretty snookered in short order (which would explain the focus and shooting in the dark at f/4 on some shots). Nevertheless...
