Maker Panasonic Type tele prime Focal length 42.5 mm | Lens mount(s) Micro Four Thirds Focus drive stepper Focal length (35mm equiv.) 85 mm | |
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Nocticron („Night-time“ from latin nox, noctis „night“ and ancient Greek kronos „time“) is the brand name of optically corrected Leica lenses with an extreme speed of f/1.2. Because of the large aperture size it is possible to take images with relatively short exposure time or in available light situations.
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Market position
Nocticron lenses are slower than Noctilux lenses (f/0,95 or f/1,0) and faster than the Leica-lenses with the brand name Summilux (f/1,4), Summicron (f/2,0) und Elmarit (f/2,8).
Description
Nocticron prime lenses are offered as exchangeable lenses for the Micro Four Thirds system (MFT). At photokina 2012 the model Lumix Leica DG Nocticron 1:1,2/42.5 mm ASPH was announced, and it is available since 2014.
The lens has a focussing as well as an aperture ring, it is relatively large and heavy, and it is not water or dust proof.
At the moment (end of 2016) it is still the fastest Micro Four Thirds lens with image stabilisation and autofocus. The optical image stabilisation of the lens can even be combined with the opto-mechanical image stabilisation systems of some camera bodies of the system (Dual Image Stabilisation = Dual I.S.). The ‘’Dual I.S.’’ mode can be used only if the firmware of the Nocticron has version 1.2 or higher.
The anti-reflective coating of the telephoto lens with 1.7 times normal focal length has 14 lenses in 11 groups, two of them aspheric and another with extremely low dispersion. The front lens is made of extremely high refracting glass. The Nocticron has an excellent image quality.
The Nocticron lenses allow a fast lens-body communication for autofocussing with its rather silent stepper motor, due to the large aperture size also at low light conditions.
Lenses with the model name attribute DG are made by Panasonic under licence.
Comparison
Compared to other camera systems with differing normal focal lengths, and therefore different image sensor sizes, the following equivalent values apply to lenses with appropriate properties as the Nocticron 42,5 mm 1,2 within the Micro-Four-Thirds system (MFT). With the parameters given in the table in all camera systems the photographer will get the same angle of view, depth of field, diffraction limitation and motion blur: