HU - Hex 60mm f1.2 on sale now

[Lord Fluff]

From Matsuiya

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=150218709450&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=005

[Krosya]

Thats not " On Sale" - That "For Sale". ;) If it was On Sale - it would be $800 Buy It Now. hehe. At $2000 USD - not that great of a deal.

[Lord Fluff]

Really? I thought this lens was super-rare.....?

[infrequent]

the only competition for this lens (in terms of speed) is the noctilux. and those are not cheap.

[Hacker]

I think 2400-2500$ is what they go for now so 2000$ would be a good price. Auction is not finished yet though :)

I see that you are monitoring the prices. Getting one? ;)

[Hacker]

I think the 50mm f1.2 is a better lens.

[Hacker]

How come? ...

Harsher OOF. Both are sweet, but the 50 seems like a very good compromise between the Nocti and the Lux ASPH.

[Andrew Sowerby]

I've often wondered about whether this lens can be focused accurately with a Hexar RF. I thought that camera had low viewfinder magnification. Isn't it .6? Anyway, it's a very interesting lens and with Noctiluxes costing what they do ...

[edhohoho]

Harsher OOF. Both are sweet, but the 50 seems like a very good compromise between the Nocti and the Lux ASPH.

I haven't noticed the "harsher" OOF areas of the 60/1.2 too much, although I have seen traces of it. That is, if "harsh" means the "double line" effect seen in the OOF areas. Will have to get more experience with it in order to tell for sure. The 50/1.2 is very smooth; from what I have seen, the 35/2 Hexanon, 35/2 UC Hexanon and 35 pre-ASPH Summicron are "harsher" than the 60/1.2.

What I really like is the size and weight of the 60/1.2 compared to the 50/1.2, which is shorter and lighter than the Noctilux. I also like that the 60/1.2 is black; the silver/titanium finish of the 50/1.2 looks a little too big and flashy for my taste.

One thing that I have found is that the 60/1.2 is no replacement for the Noctilux in very low light situations. I recently shot pictures of a band playing at a local bar and the 60/1.2 was giving me shutter speeds of 1/60 sec when wide open, while the Noctilux was giving me 1/125 (both at ISO 800 on the R-D1). Not sure how accurate the R-D1 meter was and whether the shutter has continuous speeds over its range, but I got more usable shots from the Noctilux as the band members tended to move around quite a bit. Roughly, this seems to coincide with Erwin Puts' obscure review of the 60/1.2 when he said that it actually performed more like a 1.4 at full aperture.

Unfortunately I didn't have the 50/1.2 around because I initially wanted to test the 60/1.2 for the first time and brought the Noctilux as a backup. All are great lenses, but the Noctilux is becoming more of a "walk-around" lens for me than I ever thought it would be.