Does any one have experience and/or an informed opinion about using a Leica 50/1.0 on a Hexar body. I'm shooting a wedding on the sunny beach near San Diego mid April, and want to use the Noctilux and a 75/1.4 or 90/2 APO with a wider aperature than my Ms are capible of ( because of shutter speed restrictions in bright light). I'm also getting 3X NDs for the lenses to further that cause. Is there a focusing a problem? Any tricks to keep in mind? Does it even work accurately when opened up? I'll try to test it myself but it would be great to have input going in. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

-- Marc Williams (mwilliams111313MI@comcast.net), March 30, 2002

Answers

Sorry everyone, my e-mail address was logged in wrong when I first joined the forum, and if I forget to correct it, your answers will bounce back on you.

-- Marc Williams (mwilliams111313MI@comcast.net), March 30, 2002.

As theory goes, the effective rangefinder baselength of the Hexar RF would be pushed to the far reaches trying to focus those lenses wide open, particularly in their near focusing ranges. Furthermore, using ISO 100 film, the Hexar's 1/4000 speed, and a 3-stop ND filter, you would just get to f/1.0 under Sunny 16 conditions. A beach will be about 1.5-2 stops brighter due to reflection off sand and water. You may need to shoot slower film if you can find it, or pull-process. Frankly I don't know what you are trying to accomplish with those fast lenses shot wide open on a Leica for a wedding, but the combination of moving subjects, extraordinarily shallow DOF and rangefinder focusing makes for very tough conditions under which to work. Moreover, on a sunny beach you are going to be faced with some very harsh lighting and shadows on faces (from noses and inevitable hats). Unless you have an assistant very adept with placing reflectors, you might consider re-thinking your equipment choice in favor of something with which you can do variable-ratio daylight fill- flash, with at least a 1/250 sync speed. Something with a leaf shutter that syncs to 1/500 is even better.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), March 30, 2002.

Jay, The primary tool will most likely be a Mamiya 7II for all the reasons you mentioned. I'm looking for some unusual, more expermental ( read risky ) effects from the combo I asked the question about. I've used a Canon EOS 1v with a 50/1.0 in similar situations to great effect. Very soft but bright backgrounds and just the brides' eyes in focus behind a gossimer veil. Very dreamy and romantic looking. One of my most successful shots like that was with a rare Contax 85/1.2 wide open on a bright August day at a "Cowboy" wedding. However, some of what you say about the rangefinder base gives me pause. I was just trying to avoid the weight of the Canon equipment, and lugging it through airports. Thanks for the insights.

-- Marc Williams (mwilliams111313MI@comcast.net), March 30, 2002.

I've got pretty much the same dilemma Marc. I thought about getting a Hexar body for my 75 because I wanted to shoot with limited DOF in broad daylight but once I looked through the viewfinder I knew that accurate focus would be out-of-the-question. In the end, I bought a 8X ND Heliopan filter in 60 mm thread (gets me 4 stops) so with 100 speed film using the sunny f16 rule (1/125 @ f16) I can reclaim 4 stops or (1/500 @ f1.4). To me, that is the only viable solution (and the 60 filter should also fit on the Noctilux should I decide to get it at a later date... albeit a MUCH later date).

-- John (ouroboros_2001@yahoo.com), March 30, 2002.

i don't know if the will help, but here goes. about a year ago, i sold my hexar rf on ebay to an italian photog in nyc. he used the noct extensively for portraits because he like the shallow dof effects. he wanted the automation of the hexar and thought it would make a nice platform for the noct. i checked his website after we started corresponding, and he had a huge list of credits from most of the major fashion mags, and his posted work looked great. unfortunately, i cannot now remember his last name (first name paolo). anyway, he wrote a few times and attached some pics. he had great results with the hexar/noct. while he said he got a higher percentage of out of focus shots than with his m camera, he was getting far more shots in, and with better exposures. as a result, he was getting a larger number of good shots overall. bottom line, he was very pleased. p.s. i must add that part of our deal included a mounted portrait; i never got it!!

-- roger michel (michel@tcn.org), March 30, 2002.

Maybe you can figure out a way to add the Leica 1.25x magnifier to the Hexar RF.

-- Bob (robljones@sprintpcs.com), March 30, 2002.

IMO, the Hexar RF was not designed for a Noctilux 50/1.2 and is a marginal proposition at best. If you shoot at F/1.0 in the close range, the best combination is an M with an 0.72 magnification at least and better still an 0.72 VF with 1.25X or an 0.85 VF with or w/o 1.25X magnifier. Even then, you have to focus very carefully, because the DOF is wafer thin.

Here, with moving subjects, the problem is not the shutter speed, which will surely be fast enough, but the main subject (eg., eyes) going out of the already tiny DOF zone. The Hexar RF is just not a Nocti-ready camera.

-- Eliot (erosen@lij.edu), March 30, 2002.