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Leica S-adapter L reviewed

Vieri

By Vieri
in Leica SL System

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Vieri

Vieri

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Nice! 

 

I doubt I'll ever need this adapter myself, but it's great to know it works well. 

 

It makes sense Godfrey, if you don't have a S and lenses already, there are better alternatives if you want or need to use non-native SL lenses on the SL. M lenses work great, are smaller, lighter, draw beautifully; R lenses are slightly bigger than M lenses but work very good as well. S lenses have auto focus and auto diaphragm if you really need those, and draw beautifully also, but if I hadn't a S system, I am not sure I would go and get a S lens for the SL as my first non-SL lens choice, so to speak..

 

Vieri, I look forward in reading your opinion regarding the performance of the S lenses on the SL.

That will be the really interesting part of your review. :-)

Thank you, anyway, for writing that 1st part.

 

 

Thank you very much Manolo, I will try and post my reviews soon - even if I'll take a week off until the 10th I guess (family coming over - not much time to prepare images and texts for the reviews).

 

All the best,

 

Vieri

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rriley

rriley

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It makes sense Godfrey, if you don't have a S and lenses already, there are better alternatives if you want or need to use non-native SL lenses on the SL.

 

 

Thanks for a great review on the S adapter L. 

 

I just would comment that the S TS 120mm is (I think) unique, I don't recall seeing another tilt/shift lens of that focal length anywhere.  

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Vieri

Vieri

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Vieri, thank you very much for the review.  I have one on pre-order but for some reason Leica Japan thinks it is yet to be released.

 

Arif, you are very welcome. The adapter seems to be very scarce everywhere. Hopefully this will change soon :)

 

Thanks for a great review on the S adapter L. 

 

I just would comment that the S TS 120mm is (I think) unique, I don't recall seeing another tilt/shift lens of that focal length anywhere.  

 

Thank you very much rriley,glad you enjoyed it.

 

About the 120 T/S, I'd say in a way that it just became unique thanks to the adaptor; on the S, it had a FOV equivalent of 96mm, not too far from the classic 85 T/S focal offered i.e. by Nikon and Canon. Thanks to the adapter, however, you'll get a 120mm T/S on 135 format that, as you said, is very unique and can be used as such for effects not achievable on any other system. Another plus to the S + SL combined strength, if you ask me :D

 

Best,

 

Vieri

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  • 6 months later...
Likaleica

Likaleica

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Vieri,

 

Great article, and beautiful photos on your website.

 

One correction to your article.  You state that it is necessary to update S lens firmware using a 007.  I have seen this posted elsewhere, and my dealer told me the same thing.  I live in Idaho where finding a 007 is next to impossible, and I didn't want to ship 4 precious lenses out of state.  So I searched the Leica website and found this:

 

 

LEICA S / S-E (TYP 006) FIRMWARE UPDATE 2.5.0 LEICA S LENS FIRMWARE

Latest Leica S lens firmware is included which is mandatory for the use of Leica S lenses with Leica SL (Typ 601) via Leica S-Adapter L.

 

https://us.leica-camera.com/World-of-Leica/Leica-News/Global/2016/Leica-S-Firmware-Updates

 

So, I found an S adapter L, verified that I had the latest S firmware, put my lenses on and voila!  All lenses function perfectly with the SL.  The 100 Summicron even focuses faster with the SL than with the 006.  Thank you, Leica!

 

By the way, the reason I got started down this road is my 24-90 froze up suddenly.  Couldn't turn the zoom ring and couldn't take a picture at all.  It went to NJ (for who knows how long), so I started wondering about my 30-90.  I'll have to compare them side by side when I get the SL lens back, but I kind of like the feel of the S lens over the SL.  About the same weight, a little thicker, but shorter.

 

There may be a used 24-90 SL on the market soon.

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Vieri

Vieri

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Vieri,

 

Great article, and beautiful photos on your website.

 

One correction to your article.  You state that it is necessary to update S lens firmware using a 007.  I have seen this posted elsewhere, and my dealer told me the same thing.  I live in Idaho where finding a 007 is next to impossible, and I didn't want to ship 4 precious lenses out of state.  So I searched the Leica website and found this:

 

 

LEICA S / S-E (TYP 006) FIRMWARE UPDATE 2.5.0 LEICA S LENS FIRMWARE

Latest Leica S lens firmware is included which is mandatory for the use of Leica S lenses with Leica SL (Typ 601) via Leica S-Adapter L.

 

https://us.leica-camera.com/World-of-Leica/Leica-News/Global/2016/Leica-S-Firmware-Updates

 

So, I found an S adapter L, verified that I had the latest S firmware, put my lenses on and voila!  All lenses function perfectly with the SL.  The 100 Summicron even focuses faster with the SL than with the 006.  Thank you, Leica!

 

By the way, the reason I got started down this road is my 24-90 froze up suddenly.  Couldn't turn the zoom ring and couldn't take a picture at all.  It went to NJ (for who knows how long), so I started wondering about my 30-90.  I'll have to compare them side by side when I get the SL lens back, but I kind of like the feel of the S lens over the SL.  About the same weight, a little thicker, but shorter.

 

There may be a used 24-90 SL on the market soon.

 

Hello Tim,

 

thank you for your nice words about my article and my photography, much appreciated. About the matter, in a way we are actually both right (and so are others who wrote on the net that the S 007 was necessary), because things were indeed as I wrote at the time of writing: the S 007 was the only camera who could update S lenses to work with the SL. Then, with the latest round of FW releases for the S cameras, Leica added lens profiles for the SL in the S (006) FW as well. I still haven't found the time to update the article, but will do so soon.

 

Best,

 

Vieri

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tom0511

tom0511

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Vieri,

 

Great article, and beautiful photos on your website.

 

One correction to your article.  You state that it is necessary to update S lens firmware using a 007.  I have seen this posted elsewhere, and my dealer told me the same thing.  I live in Idaho where finding a 007 is next to impossible, and I didn't want to ship 4 precious lenses out of state.  So I searched the Leica website and found this:

 

 

LEICA S / S-E (TYP 006) FIRMWARE UPDATE 2.5.0 LEICA S LENS FIRMWARE

Latest Leica S lens firmware is included which is mandatory for the use of Leica S lenses with Leica SL (Typ 601) via Leica S-Adapter L.

 

https://us.leica-camera.com/World-of-Leica/Leica-News/Global/2016/Leica-S-Firmware-Updates

 

So, I found an S adapter L, verified that I had the latest S firmware, put my lenses on and voila!  All lenses function perfectly with the SL.  The 100 Summicron even focuses faster with the SL than with the 006.  Thank you, Leica!

 

By the way, the reason I got started down this road is my 24-90 froze up suddenly.  Couldn't turn the zoom ring and couldn't take a picture at all.  It went to NJ (for who knows how long), so I started wondering about my 30-90.  I'll have to compare them side by side when I get the SL lens back, but I kind of like the feel of the S lens over the SL.  About the same weight, a little thicker, but shorter.

 

There may be a used 24-90 SL on the market soon.

 

I find the faster aparture, IS and wider focal length as well as closer Minimum focusing distance, but most important the much faster AF strong reasons to favor the 24-90 over the S30-90 on the SL, even if the 30-90 was a Little better optically (which we would have to see first).

If I was going to use the 30-90 I would use it on the S007, not so much on the SL.

I have recently used the 100/2.0S on the SL with nice result, but the AF-Speed difference compared to the native SL Zooms is huge.

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jip

jip

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I think what could be interesting is the Summicron-S 100mm and the APO-Macro-Summarit-S 120mm for portrait and macro work respectfully.

 

Do you know by any chance if the "Leica S-Adapter H" and "Leica S-Adapter C" work on the SL when stacked with the S-Adapter L?

 

That would give people even bigger selection of medium format lenses to be used on the SL. For example the amazing 350mm APO Zeiss F4!

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Jeff S

Jeff S

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I find the faster aparture, IS and wider focal length as well as closer Minimum focusing distance, but most important the much faster AF strong reasons to favor the 24-90 over the S30-90 on the SL, even if the 30-90 was a Little better optically (which we would have to see first).

If I was going to use the 30-90 I would use it on the S007, not so much on the SL.

I have recently used the 100/2.0S on the SL with nice result, but the AF-Speed difference compared to the native SL Zooms is huge.

 

And while the adapter seems superbly constructed, I'd wonder if the adapted 30-90 would provide the same degree of weather sealing as the native 24-90 on the SL.

 

Still, the SL would provide a good back-up solution if anything goes wrong with an S body.

 

Jeff

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Vieri

Vieri

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And while the adapter seems superbly constructed, I'd wonder if the adapted 30-90 would provide the same degree of weather sealing as the native 24-90 on the SL.

 

Still, the SL would provide a good back-up solution if anything goes wrong with an S body.

 

Jeff

 

Hello Jeff,

 

the adapter has a seal on the camera's side, apparently a bit bigger (and therefore better, perhaps) than the one you'll find on the SL's lenses; and the 30-90mm has a seal on the camera side as well, which seals on the adapter in a similar way to that it would seal when used on a S body.

 

Therefore, it seems to me that the amount of sealing provided by the Adapter + 30-90mm would be the same provided by the 24-90mm on the SL. The only thing I can envision to be less secure with the adapter + lens combination vs the SL + lens alone is the fact that you'll have two seals which can become damaged / less sealing / etc rather  than one. Other than that, I'd trust the adapter + S lens + SL combination to be as weatherproof as the SL + SL lens one.

 

Best,

 

Vieri

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Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS

Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS

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And while the adapter seems superbly constructed, I'd wonder if the adapted 30-90 would provide the same degree of weather sealing as the native 24-90 on the SL.

 

Still, the SL would provide a good back-up solution if anything goes wrong with an S body.

 

Jeff

 

I'm taking my SL plus Noctilux and 90 APO on a model shoot as a back up to my S007...........I plan to use the S120mm lens on my SL to see how it performs..........pictures to follow :) :) 

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Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS

Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS

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Vieri

I initially put the lens foot on the adapter but decided to remove it as I will be using it hand held...........what do you do with the lens foot??

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Vieri

Vieri

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Vieri

I initially put the lens foot on the adapter but decided to remove it as I will be using it hand held...........what do you do with the lens foot??

 

Neil, I do nothing - I just leave it at home :) S lenses aren't so heavy to need a special foot, I think. Never had any vibration problem using the camera's L-Bracket :)

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Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS

Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS

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Neil, I do nothing - I just leave it at home :) S lenses aren't so heavy to need a special foot, I think. Never had any vibration problem using the camera's L-Bracket :)

thats what I will do too
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