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CL camera. Best non TL lenses, to give a 35 FOV ? Having had experience of a 23 TL, and using R adapted 50 summ and 90 elm, both of which absolutely wipe the floor with the TL… (good TL copy assumed), without wishing to go down the bulky 11-23 (or TL really given the experience) Could I have some guidance on say Z and CV lenses adapted for 35 FOV. And R and M lenses fir 35 FOV, if suitable. I noted some in the image thread, but because of the file size and capture and upload quality it really is hard to judge. some examples with a second image at say 1:2, not 1:1 would give some idea. And experience of sharpness across the frame etc. I may be asking a lot, but choosing lenses for a new system can cause a lot of time and money wasted. All the better forum wide or not examples seem to come from non TL. I don’t want to splash out on a 24mm or 21mm of any system without reason. Thanks in advance.

Hi, I am about to get a CL. I have some R lenses and it would help to have some general advice using, and which adapters to avoid and use. I am not assuming that a Leica adapter is essential, but would it guarantee better results and a better fit, reliable….(one would hope) I have used adapters before, so address anything specific to Leica R and the CL please that I may not be aware of, thus saving everyone’s time. And samples with data would be of interest and help. R’s 35, 50, 90 are mine. Advance thanks, David

Hey all! So while being in the heat of the moment, me dumba*s, who never has anything but M-Lenses on his CL, wanted to change lenses and in a moment of brainlessness removed the M-to-L-Adapter with the lens and with a routined muscle-memory started mounting my M lens on the CL without the M-to-L-Adapter ... for a split second... immediately removed the lens again realizing the Adapter is missing... But the bayonet of the M Lens bumped the inside of the CL's mount slightly, and after inspection at home the bayonet seemed to have scraped the inside of the CL mount, this super matte anti reflective area around the sensor. Blew with the rocketblower to clean it, and then in a moment of indecisive nervousness I took a (what I deemed to be clean and soft) microfiber cloth and tried cleaning the scratched area to see if the scratch maybe is mostly just leftover dirt and not a real scratch. Turned out yes. Not really a scratch, black coating is fine! But my cloth has polished the black matte paint and I'm left with a ... less matte black and more shiny coating at that area now... Yeah I know weird topic but I never ever had to deal with that area in all those years, most full frame camera don't have a large enough attack-area so that this coating might be damaged anyways, but this gorgeous CL has an APS-C in a Full Frame L Mount area, so the anti reflective black coating is rather a large area. Does that matter? Could become problematic that it is now more shiny? Or doesn't matter at all as long as it is black and no silver shines through? Y'all have a nice day

I'm already using a 35/1.4 Summilux-TL ASPH on a Leica SL2, but I'd like a much lighter load around my neck. (As I write this, I'm still recovering from being too stiff to turn my head from side to side or tilt it back without neck and shoulder pain.) I'm considering purchasing a used Leica CL and used Vario-Elmarit-TL 55-135mm f/3.5-4.5. - Does the CL track just human faces, or will it track animal faces too? - Does the CL allow you to choose the initial AF point? - How well does the CL track moving faces at f/4.5 - does it lose focus with a subject moving towards you erratically at 3 MPH? At 15 MPH? - How long is the battery life (# of shots) using just the EVF (no LCD)? - I know the camera lacks external ports of any kind. Is there an external power solution using a dummy battery with cable to a USB external battery? Thanks.

Hi, with the delayed CL2 anyone tought to buy a Panasonic S5? Lens are compatible and you get IBIS and even a full frame in a comparable compact package.. More Panasonic seems a "low brand" Leica because they share more than the lens: quality of photos should be high

I am looking for an L-Bracket, with Arca Swiss compatibility, for use with my Leica CL camera. Occasionally it will be used with tele-zoom lenses, but mostly with smaller lenses. There are a few threads on this subject in the forum, dealing specifically with bigger cameras, but none that I could find relevant to the CL. Googling brings up a lot of brand-specific solutions; a few claim to be universal. I would welcome any reports from members of this forum, of user experience with such a device, and recommendations. Thank you.

i have the lumix s-50mm, i use it with the SL with excellent results. By curiosity I mounted it on the CL and the battery does not like this lens at all and drains very quickly. The firmware is 4.0... Mounted on the TL2, it is particularly noisy, the diaphragm works permanently as with the 23 summicron but scratching a bit... I'm interested to have your feedback on these 2 points.

Hi all! I have been testing the Commlite CM-EF-L autofocus adapter with several Canon EF lenses on my Leica CL, and I am glad to report that it works. As expected, AF-C and focus tracking is not supported, but the AF-S works reasonably well. Focusing speed and precision with most lenses is at almost native T/TL lenses level. So: -AF-S works (no tracking). Touch AF also works. -IS with Canon stabilized lenses works. -EXIF data is transferred correctly to the files, save for the F/1.2 that is reported as F/1.3 (something I had already seen with other third party AF adapters on Sony cameras). I used A and M modes, on Firmware 4.0. Adapter firmware is upgradeable via an USB port on the adapter itself. There are no new FW listed on Commlite’s site, and it worked right out of the box. The lenses that I tested, and worked, so far are: 14/2.8L-II, 16-35/4L-IS, 24/2.8 IS, 24/1.4L-II, 40/2.8 STM, 50/1.2L, 50/2.5 compact macro (with and without the Lifesize 1:1 converter), 85/1.2L-II and 100/2 USM. The only glitch I have experienced is that Battery level is not correctly reported to the camera, and the first time I mounted the adapter on the CL, I got a warning message about the “Camera possibly not displaying reliable battery charge levels with this lens” that did not repeat. In fact, after a hundred exposures with different lenses, the battery appeared as depleted. The workaround I found was shutting down the camera, taking off the battery, mount a native TL lens, put again the battery in and the charge was there again, correctly reported at about 2 / 3. During next week I will try to test the adapter with more Canon FF lenses, and EF-S APSc lenses. I am very interested to see how the compact EF-S 10/18 zoom and EF-S pancake 24/2.8 perform on the CL. So, after all the let down expectatives we CL users held on the MC-21 adapter by Sigma, I am glad to share that there’s still a light on the path to use many more lenses options!

Have any of the technicians in the group done any calculations to work out the EV+ highlight recovery threshold on the CL? If so, may I ask what you concluded?

This camera that I already owned two years ago and that I bought again a few weeks ago is a rediscovery. 

I am very curious to know for what use you have this camera. Is it intended for a versatile use or is it restricted to a specific use?
 Is it your main camera or a second body ? 

 Do you use it only with autofocus lenses, M lenses, or simply as a platform for all kind of lenses ? What kind of images do you get from this camera ? and what do you think of their rendering ? Finally, what is your global feeling about this camera after years spent with it ?
 Thanks for sharing

Hi, I bought a ex cl on ebay. working fine. only after a roll of film almost lost the rewind. Very loose, coming off. I realize this is a 40 yo, + camera. wondered if there is a fix for this, or do i have to send it in for a cla? Any advise appreciated. richard

My [almost] two year old Tekiac Stealthcover’s tripod mounts popped out - yes, both of them. And the plastic started cracking around the tripod mounts, to boot. Thinking it’s time to update it anyway I went to LFI (where I first got it from) but lo and behold, it’s not there anymore. A quick visit to the Tekiac website and wouldn’t ya know it, it’s no longer in production. Does anyone have a suggestion for an alternative? Really only need it to do the three things the Stealthcover did well: Have a grip Cover the logo Have a tripod mount Bonus points if it comes in black 🤟 Thanks!

After lots of discussion about future of APS-C. How many of you think that the real reason for CL/TL being held back is the lack of native lenses ? A little history : - 2014 : T was released with two lenses : 18-56mm f/3.5-5.6 & 23mm f/2.0 - 2015 : Then two more with 11-23mm f/3.5-4.5 & 55-135mm f/3.5-4.5 - 2016 : Leica release the only two made in Germany TL lenses : 35mm f/1.4 & macro 60mm f/2.8 - 2017 : CL was released with 18mm f/2.8 pancake lens Leica were on a good track, 1 or 2 TL lenses per year. But after 2017 ? Nothing happened at all ! We should have 10 to 14 lenses by now. Not 7. Only 1 fast lens. Only a trinity of slow zoom lenses. Only 2 compact prime lenses. None of them have OIS. None of the bodies have IBIS. No portrait lens, aka equivalent to fast 85/90mm or 70-200mm f/2.8. No fast wide angle. ex : equivalent to fast 18/21mm. These lens cannot be replaced with any adapted M and R lenses. So what’s the problem here ? Leica may think that APS-C line do not sell well enough. So they stop releasing new lenses ? It is a kind a vicious cercle. But no new lens = death of the system. Just like they left the S line died by releasing only bare minimum body upgrade and no new lenses for half a decade. So what do you think about this situation ?

Recently bought CL as I used leicas many years ago as a prof photographer - now retired. Is it possible to program CL to only use "M" setting or to remain on the "M" setting when manually put on ? (I want to control my exposure myself and not be dictated to by the camera.) What "off camera" flash should I buy for the CL. Thinking of second hand Metz or new Nissin but which hot shoe to use ??? Thanks Mike

I purchased a Q end of last year, liked it so much that I sold my Nikon DSLR, Lumix FZ-2500 and Fuji XE-T3. I then purchased the CL with the 18-56mm lens a few months later. Now with adapters to use my Rokinon wide-angles, and 7 Artisan lenses I find myself using the Leica CL way more than the Q. There's no doubt that the IQ of photos from the Q, a full-frame camera, are better than the Leica CL, t's a fantastic camera and lens with macro capability.. But I'm thinking of selling it add more lenses for the CL (or at least pay it off 😎). Anyone else face this situation? BTW, with all that's going on in the world at this time, I'm fully aware that this is no big deal, but it keeps my mind off the other cataclysmic issues we're experiencing. All opinions welcome, any recommendation for lenses?...thanks. I am currently waiting for arrival of the TTArtisan 35mm F1.4 lens to ship. Be Well everyone.

Hi everyone, I'm currently working on a project to once and for all fix the analogue Leica CL's broken take up spool problem, by 3D printing them. I've ran a roll through mine with version 2 of the spool and it works pretty good, but i'm working on version 3 which should be better still - I got the dimensions slightly wrong on this one - it's too short. How many of you CL owners would be interested in buying such an item? They'd cost around £20 and be sold through eBay all said and done, and I'd make a video showing how to take apart the CL and install them, as well as reassembly - International shipping would happen too through the eBay GSP as I'm UK based. The attached photo is version 2 and not by any means the final version as this is still in very early development, but the quality of the ones that go on sale will be much higher. This one was printed by a friend of mine, but I'm soon going to acquire my own printer and make them much better. I know also that this doesn't look anything like the original, but when I copied the original part dimension for dimension, curve by curve, it didn't work and suffered the same problems as the original.. immediately. Thus I simplified it and made it more "3D Printer friendly." Thanks Tom

Looking to do more sports/action photography with my CL. Not Sports Illustrated covers - just kids soccer and theater production work. Worried that SIGMA 100-400 would be too heavy. I know CL is not a sports camera but 10fps with decent focus tracking should be good enough. Need at least 200mm to feel close enough in most cases.

I would like to share my experience with the Leica CL after one year of use. The first idea was to find a replacement for my Canon 6D after 6 years of loyal service. Why change to a Leica CL, you ask? - To gain in size and weight and really take my camera everywhere. - to benefit from EVF technology - to make full use of the lenses of my Leica T, which I love but is not the most efficient camera available. - to use my M lenses much more easily than with the T. - to finally have a single ecosystem The observation is simple: the CL is an excellent daily camera especially with the Zoom 18-56 mm, when the light is there ... - The EVF is of good quality. - The image quality is very good, as is the ISO management. - The weight and size are very nice. - The Thumb support greatly improves ergonomics and allows to limit the movement of the focus slider. - Only the autonomy is a real weak point and 2-3 batteries are essential. - Wifi is very slow and for my part almost unusable, I don't have enough patience ! Concerning the TL lenses, I am more reserved : The Elmarit-18mm was part of the kit, I will discard it because I'm not too comfortable with this focal length, but the image quality is good and I recommend it to anyone who likes to shoot with 28mm. The Zoom 11-23 is very good, the color rendering is excellent, but for specific and occasional use. I only use it very rarely. For my use, the zoom 18-56mm at my preference on the CL, the quality is good, and the weight perfect. It is really the ideal partner of this camera because it is very versatile. I don't need the 55-135mm zoom and haven't tried it. (Same for the Elmarit TL 60mm) The fact remains that, at this stage, a luminous lens is missing, a real all-purpose optic, usable indoors and for street photography : I used the TL-35mm for a few months, but I didn't keep it. The lens is heavy and the 50mm is not my favorite focal length. But clearly the image quality is superb. The Summicron TL- 23mm, which I had with the T, I didn't have a very good experience with it and I sold it. But here it is, 35mm is still my favorite focal length and one year after selling the TL-23mm, I ended up buying one to give it/me another chance. What motivated me besides the very low price at which it is possible to find it in new condition, is the fact that it is possible to use it with the SL, of course with a reduced resolution but what a result! So much so that I don't think I'll go for the Sigma 45mm for the SL. Whether with the CL or the SL, we are very close to the Summicron-M 35mm. This brings us to the use of the CL with the M lenses : The use is simple and efficient, the quality of the images is up to the M. An advantage is also that an M 50mm becomes a 75mm, ideal focal length for portraits. On the other hand, I much prefer the ergonomics provided by the SL for the use of the M optics (the EVF and the joystick really make the difference). To sum up, I will continue to use with pleasure the Leica CL with the 18-56mm zoom and the 23mm to have a light and luminous equipment if needed and hope to have a software improvement of the WIFI.

Hi, I've just bought my cl. Can someone explain how top right wheel is used for magnifying the evf image. Thanks

Hi, Maybe the future of the CL and TL2 will be the same sensor of the Sony alpha 7C: compact camera, full frame and 24 MP? There are also rumors of an SL2-S with this specs so it can be the end of the CL and TL lineup? Currently I have a T and I'm worried if upgrade to a TL2 for Black Friday or wait.. I will be happy to uprade for the extra megapixels of the TL2 but there are some cons for the fact that with the same sensor the pixels are smaller? Happy if anyone can help with my decision

I have a Voigtlander 35mm 1.2 Mk III lens fitted on my CL with the M-L adaptor. I set the lens detection to auto, in the menu, but I'm not convinced it is recognised as the shutter speed set seems too low. The lens is not in the dropdown menu as those are all Leica lenses. The photos look OK in Capture One, but I would like to check that I've picked the right settings for the camera to recognise the lens. Any ideas?

Hey all, was curious about how the technical aspects of the Zeiss Biogon lenses ( 25mm or 28mm ) would match up with the CL + adapter. Im between either of those or the TL 23mm Summicron. Main use cases being travel and street photography. The image render from the Zeiss seems almost better than the 23mm but worried that it wont perform as well on the CL vs a dedicated lens. Has anyone used both on a CL or T? Thanks in advance.

Hi all! Apologies in advance for the length of this post! I was wondering if you all are able to give me some advice or words of wisdom on whether I should get a Rangefinder Leica. At the moment I’m currently using and enjoying my Leica CL & 23mm f2 Summicron. Purchased in Oct 2018. I absolutely love shooting with the CL and for me it was the upgrade I was always wanting. I even adapt some rare and unique vintage m42 lenses to it and get some amazing results. Now I’m no professional photographer, just a hobby shooter but the Leica CL I have had really developed my love and passion for photography. At the time of purchasing the CL I was using a Nikon D7500 which I still have (but never use) so for me, at the time the CL was the next step up, and I never thought of going for a rangefinder (couldn’t afford the m10 and lenses anyway lol). But now having visited the Sydney Leica store on many occasions to try out the M10 and the rangefinder systems, I’ve grown more interest for a Rangefinder. I’m interested in the M240, maybe the M262. I like the appeal of a brassing body though (a bit of individualism I’d say). But honestly I’m not sure which system to go for (and I don’t have the money for a new M10). What are the PROS and CONS for each system? What makes you want to stay with that system? (if you have one) what would you recommend I do or go for? Now I’ve done heaps of research and reviews on both systems but I really want to hear from everyday people who use them. Thanks!

Hallo, ich bin gerade dabei mir für einen längeren Auslandsaufenthalt in Neuseeland eine Leica M zuzulegen, der Body wird wahrscheinlich eine M2 (ca. 500€) von Meiers Fotobörse, da ich mir die dort noch leisten kann (bin noch Schüler). Mir fehlt dann nur noch ein Objektiv, am Besten ein 50mm oder ein 35mm Objektiv. Auch hier ist mein Budget eher niedrig (~300€ +-), daher hatte ich an ein 7Artisans 35mm f/2 (nichts für Puristen), ein Voigtländer Color Skopar 35mm f/2,5 (ein bisschen über dem Budget), Summicron 40mm f/2 (passt gerade so mit den Framelines) oder sogar ein Jupiter 8 50mm f/2 mit Adapter gedacht (damit hatte ich schlechte Erfahrungen bisher). Welche Linse bietet sich da am Besten an? Habt ihr noch andere Vorschläge? Ich bin kein Purist, also ist mir die Marke egal. Ist es vielleicht sogar am Besten, wenn ich nur bei 40mm bleibe, mir eine Leica CL trotz der geringen Messucherbasis zuzulegen? Oder macht das überhaupt gar keinen Sinn hier bei einem solchen Budget zu investieren? Danke für eure Hilfe! P.S. Ich habe zwar bereits eine Fm2n, die will ich verkaufen, da mir die Ergonomie und der Stil einer Leica besser gefällt und diese kompakter ist? Ich hatte sogar schon an eine Pen FT gedacht, da sie vom Design her einer Leica ebenbürtig ist und ich die kreativen Möglichkeiten sowie die 72 Bilder pro Film sehr ansprechen finde, anderseits ist Halbformat eben sehr klein..

Hi everyone! Nice to finally make the decision to join this community. I made the switch to Leica from Nikon last year when I purchased the CL with a 23mm Summicron f2. I absolutely love the camera and the setup for the type of photography I do. at the moment, my current setup is the CL with a f/1.4 Super Takuma 50mm (thorium glass model).