Leica’s $11,000 Noctilux Lens

That huge $11k price tag will buy you an equally huge f/0.95 opening for those low light shots that your $5k Nikon just wasn’t getting. A French magazine leaked shots of the new Leica Noctilux 50mm Lens (pictured above) which will enable you to take shots like this (apparently candle light only):

Whether you intend to take suggestive shots of bare-chested men in dark rooms with it is your business, either way this thing is awesome. $11k awesome? No, but only because I don’t have $11k. By the way, that M8 it’s stuck to will run you another $5k. Start saving! Alternatively, just get this (called "One of the finest DSLRs ever produced") and spend the left over $12,000 traveling around the world and actually taking shots with it instead of leaving it sitting in a drawer which is what most people who can afford Leicas seem to do.

Via Gizmodo

9 Comments Leave A Comment

steven wade says:

September 10, 2008 at 9:58 pm

holy smokes!

an 11 grand 50mm lens? i can’t imagine needing that extra stop bad enough to warrant spending that kind of cash on it. this is clearly for people with way more money than ambient light.

and by the way, i have a leica that doesn’t sit in a drawer. it has traveled all over the place with me. but i agree about the nikon… that with a nice 50 f/1.4 and you can afford a nice european vacation with the money you saved on the leica. although, the design of the leica is amazing, with or without that 11k lens on it.

NAVIS says:

September 10, 2008 at 11:20 pm

I swear I’ve seen one those things at a garage sale before.

I wonder how many amazing cameras have been sold for a few quarters at a garage sale?

I’m in the market for a new lens. My lens is great if there’s enough lighting but it only goes to an f/4… which really sucks most of the time. When I get the money, I’d love to get Canon’s 50mm L series lens. My neighbor let me borrow his and it was dreamy.

Daniel Carvalho says:

September 10, 2008 at 11:23 pm

Haha, classic. It’s amazing how ludicrous it seems when you can think of all the other things you can do with that money.

Grace says:

September 11, 2008 at 12:40 am

Wait, they got this shot with the .95 f stop, but what was the shutter speed? Also, I’d be taking close ups/portraits like nobody’s business with a depth of field that freaking shallow. Getting one fragment of the iris of the eye in focus while the rest is blurry? Hell yes.

Justin S. Meyers says:

September 11, 2008 at 5:00 am

I found a vintage Leica at a thrift store. The flash alone is worth $700 and it’s thrashed. I went to look at lenses at a wolf camera in Long Beach, cheapest one was $3500. Nuts.