WARREN CONNECTICUT – For the past couple of weeks I’ve been shooting exclusively with my f.95 Noctilux. It’s an unusual lens to say the least. It’s praised for its bokeh – the quality of the out of focus portions of the image – but this has been illusive for me. I have many images from this lens with certifiably crumby bokeh. See March 12 for example.
It turns out, I think, that the bokeh near the plane of focus is creamy and lovely (as in this image of Oscar below), while the more distant bokeh is jagged and unpleasant. The lens also has serious vignetting wide open (to be expected), which can read as a hot spot in the center of the image, illuminating the subject in the center. So this is the magic of the Nocti, which we see on display in this image.
So this is the Noctilux. I’m giving it a rest now (and saving my back) and returning to my every day shooter, my 50mm Summicron APO.
Day 5633 of one photograph every day for the rest of my life.
Looking back exactly 3 years to portrait of Andrew at the Penumbra Foundation. Day 4537 of one photograph every day for the rest of my life.
