King of the Night

The Leica Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 has the largest aperture of any Leica lens. It can capture light in really low-light conditions. He’s known as the “King of the Night” to many fans. Even the light from a street lamp is enough when using this lens. The lens is made from a combination of aluminum and brass to make it durable and heavy-duty. The “floating element” design ensures high image quality even when shooting close up.

The Noctilux lens, which came out in 1966 with an f/1.2 aperture (about 1,500 units were made in total), was more of a tech demo and marketing gimmick than anything else. The optical improvement of the Noctilux f/0.95 is pretty significant. This is a reliable, high-quality lens.

Bokeh

The Noctilux 50mm f/1.0 and Noctilux 50mm f/1.2 are sharper than the Noctilux f/0.95 when they’re wide open at f/0.95. They also produce a unique and distinctive aesthetic effect. The bokeh effect of the Noctilux 0.95 is similar to that of the Noctilux 1.0, with background light points becoming ovals towards the sides of the image. The 0.95 bokeh is great, and has a three-dimensional effect similar to that of a twin-lens reflex camera with an 80mm f2 lens. This feature is unique to this lens.

Focus Speed

It’s a common complaint that large aperture lenses make focusing difficult on rangefinder cameras. The Noctilux 0.95 focus ring has a relatively short travel, which makes it quick to focus in street photography. This feature isn’t available in other versions of the Noctilux. The only downside to using this lens is that it’s on the heavy side. I don’t think focusing is an issue.

Purple Fringing

If you’re using a digital camera and you’re facing a strong light source, you might see purple fringing. For a lens with an f/0.95 aperture, it’s not a disadvantage and is normal.

Viewfinder blocked

The Noctilux 0.95 is a lens that many photographers dream of having. Just a heads-up: Before you buy, think about these three things: cost, portability, and viewfinder occlusion. After using the Noctilux, I found that after installing the Noctilux lens, a large part of the field of view in the lower right corner of the viewfinder is blocked. This is a big problem for people who need to communicate with precision, but it’s fine for me.

The extremely shallow depth of field at open aperture produces portraits and detailed studies of unequalled aesthetic effect. 
Brand	Leica
Lens Type	Standard
Compatible Mountings	Leica M
Camera Lens Description	8
Maximum Focal Length	50 Millimeters