Why I Love My Noctilux

On the 50th anniversary of Leica’s legendary f/0.95 lens, multi award winning photojournalist Edmond Terakopian shares his love of it.

It’s not often that we celebrate the birthday of an aperture. Ever heard of the f/8 or f/2.8 anniversary? No, because they aren’t terribly exciting. However, the Leica Noctilux is different, and its 50th birthday is definitely worth marking. At first, the Noctilux was an f/1.2 lens. Then it became an f/1 lens and nowadays it’s the frankly astonishing f/0.95 lens.

The Noctilux, meaning ‘light of the night’, began its life in 1966 as an f/1.2 lens designed by Helmut Marx. A new design by Dr Walter Mandler in 1976 pushed the aperture to f/1. This version continued until it was replaced in 2008 by the current f/0.95 Aspherical Noctilux, which was designed by Peter Karbe.

Throughout my career as a photojournalist, I’ve preferred to work with available light, so fast apertures have always been a draw. I’ve had Canon and Nikon f/1.2 lenses going back to the film days, and always tried to make sure I had at least one fast lens when the digital age dawned. In 1989, I shot with my first Leica – an M3 loaned to me by a friend of my father. As soon as I unravelled my first roll of still-wet Kodak Tri-X from the spool in the darkroom of my first local paper, the Ealing Gazette, I knew I was on to something special – the negative popped. There was a beautiful contrast and tonal range, and a sharpness that made the pictures sing. I was hooked, and a couple of years later bought my very own Leica M4-2. An M6 soon joined, along with several gorgeous Leica Summicron lenses.