do I need to get a protective clear filter?

[melantye]

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Dear all,

I just decided to get a S2P for my landscape and portrait work. Still waiting on 70mm CS lens and the camera body it's killing me

I wonder if its ok to put a B+W clear filter on top of the lens - I understand the S lenses already have UV filter on front element, but still want an extra protection.

Also, any ideas on when 120mm CS will be available? checked everywhere but all reply me that they don't have an estimated date.

Thanks!

[Petster]

My opinion:

Use the lens hood for protection and do not wait for the CS lenses.

[dfarkas]

Originally Posted by melantye

Dear all,

I just decided to get a S2P for my landscape and portrait work. Still waiting on 70mm CS lens and the camera body it's killing me

I wonder if its ok to put a B+W clear filter on top of the lens - I understand the S lenses already have UV filter on front element, but still want an extra protection.

Also, any ideas on when 120mm CS will be available? checked everywhere but all reply me that they don't have an estimated date.

Thanks!

I wouldn't recommend putting a clear filter on the 70mm. The front element actually sits inside the lens. The front piece of glass is a very thick, heavy-duty protecting filter with a hydrophobic coating. It is also completely flat, which means that if you use another flat peice of glass directly in front of it with air space in between, you have a pretty high chance of creating flare when shooting in the direction of the light.

The 35, 120 and 180 all have standard curved front elements, so these might be better candidates for clear protecting filters.

The CS lenses haven't been released yet. You won't see any difference in landscape shooting vs. using the focal plane. If your portrait shooting is in studio with strobes or outside with available light, you also won't see any advantage in the CS versions. The only case where CS lenses will prove to be advantageous is in outdoor portrait shooting with battery-powered strobes (Profoto B3, AcuteB 600R, Hensel Porty, Broncolor Mobil, Elincrhom RangerRX, etc). If your lighting is limited to an on-camera flash, the non-CS lenses still might do the trick. The S2's focal plane shutter can sync at any shutter speed up to 1/4000th of second using the Leica SF58 flash.

Incidentally, if you are interested in trying out the S2 for landscape work, you may wish to consider joining us on our Leica S2 New England Fall Foliage photo trip next month. We have one or two spots left. You'd have use of an S2 for the week-long trip and get an opportunity to fully acquaint yourself with it. Here are the details: Leica S2 Photo Adventure: New England Fall Foliage

Hope this helps.

David

[melantye]

Thanks for the detailed response David! I'll order the non CS glass first as I can't wait too long after selling some of my gears to switch system

Also it seems people are uncertain about the non CS -> CS upgrade policy - Do I take it that, say, if I bought a non-CS 70mm from Dale now and when CS version is out I can send back the lens and ask Dale to upgrade with the difference in price? How does that work? Do I ask Dale to put me on an upgrade waiting list? If I get a promise then I will order a non CS 120mm from Dale as well.