Best S Lenses

[agencal]

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Hi

I am an very old M user which will be a S007 user soon.I have tried many camera systems and different types of lenses for years.

At the end i have found the best lenses in my opinion in M line up.

 

1. 50mm Apo Summicron

2. 24mm Elmar f3.8

 

These two has the clearence that i have never seen before and can draw like 3d.

 

So i mostly shoot landscape and city scapes,travel and nature

 

What are the best lenses in S line up.I know they are all great but i want to know the best ones technically.

 

What i read at the user reviews that 24mm,45mm,70mm and 120mm are the bests.Am i right? What abıut the zoom?

 

Thank you for your kind help

[349A]

Don't forget the 100mm, 30mm, 35mm and 180mm! 

 

Sorry, can't answer your question. I'm in the same place as you, new to S, it arrives Friday. I'm going with 70mm and 100mm to start and an undetermined wide or possibly the zoom later.

 

For M, I love the 50APO and 75/1.4 most. Plenty of others are amazing too. I'm not usually into technical perfection per se. I prefer beauty which can come from technical perfection, which I see in sample shots from every single S lens. The M 75 Summilux is not technically perfect but incredibly beautiful. The 35mm FLE is highly regarded for its technical perfection and I dislike this lens. The S lenses all seem to combine near technical perfection with beauty. I say pick your favorite FOV. The 30mm would be equal to your favored 24mm M lens. 

[jpk]

I own both the APO50 and the S70, I recommend: start with the S70, if you like the APO50 you will love the S70. These lenses share the same natural transparency, but still render differently... I also owned the Lux75, and in my view the S70 is the best of both the APO50 and the Lux75: natural transparency of APO50 with beauty of Lux75 in ONE lens!!!

[xiaubauu2009]

My favourite is the S70, and S24

 

S100 is nice, but sometime hard to control DoF

[jip]

You'll read a lot online...

 

With any S lens you can't go wrong... There are simply no 'bad' S lenses... Except that they are basically all bad: Slow aperture stop down (before the shutter is released) bad AF motors, in all lenses... 

 

But that's just the quirks of the S system. I use Contax 645 lenses, and they are maybe optically inferior but there is no shutter lag (because of F22 for example because the aperture system works faster) etc... And a whole lot cheaper...

 

[Deliberate1]

Welcome to the fold. This is a small but very informed and generous community.

You are where I was about five months ago as I transitioned from the M to the S system, only I ended up with a certified 006 which has been a joy to use.

I purchased the Summarit 70 as my first lens. It came from Leica NJ and was sold at a substantial discount as a demo lens. Essentially new. If you shop around you will find excellent deals, especially for demo or certified lenses. Or if you are a bit more courageous you will find samples of the 70mm on eBay for half the retail price.

I am with jip, above, on the Zeiss Contax lens alternative. For approximately half of the cost of another Leica prime I got the adapter, the Contax 35mm and 120mm. Excellent lenses that mate seamlessly with the S. Lots of discussion about this option on this forum.

Hope this helps. Enjoy your search. You will surely enjoy this system.

David

[erlingmm]

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I have a fairly comprehensive set of lenses, they are all good.

 

I find the 180 sometimes difficult to focus at infinity, but EVF helps.

 

I have totally fallen in love with the 24 for landscapes, I have posted a few in the photo thread.

 

The zoom makes the camera a general walk-around, especially with the extended ISO of the 007. It is not as sharp in the edges as the primes, but will suffice for most walk-around hald-held shots.

[Bill W]

The best S lens is the one on your camera right now!!!! I started with a 70 and a little later added a used 35 and a CPO 100. I just recently added a CPO 24. I plan to round out with a 45 in the near future. I seem to be migrating from the M to the S. Yes it is heavier but I needed the exercise!!!!

[adamdewilde]

Depends on what you're shooting.

 

35S - Good for getting in close on your subjects and great for landscapes. Rendering/colour matches 70/120 well. 

70S - All around good lens. Great for portraits and walking around. Rendering/colour matches 35/120 well.

120S - Great for beauty, good for detail shots. Very flattering for the face. Rendering/colour matches 35/70 well.

 

45S - Good if you don't want such a wide perspective but still need to take groups of people. Less distortion then 35S, but feels more detached at closer distances.

100S - Fantastic rendering. Would choose this over the 120S for half body and beyond. But would still want the 120S for closer up shots. This lens also does great detail work, but not face details, more like object details.

 

I have limited experience with the wides, but I'm sure they're fine. 

[albireo_double]

You say landscape and cityscape, travel and nature. In my experience, especially travel and nature usually dictates just two lenses in the bag. The system is big and heavy.

All great lenses in the system and you won't regret any combination. If you want just two for travel and nature, then 45 and 120. These two are special.

I have 24, 45, 70, 100, 120, 180 plus HC300. Also used to own the 35. But 45/120 are my preferred combination whenever I wish to travel reasonably light. 

When I want to travel even lighter than reasonably light, then just 70 alone....ok, I've also done holidays with the 70 and 180 which are also a great combo, who needs a wide-angle, anyway.

Here's a trip shot with the 45/120 combination: https://openeyesphoto.smugmug.com/TRANSYLVANIA-2015/

 

Now, let's see things from the cost perspective (maybe it is no consideration for you, but let's assume that you care about $$$ for a second). If you look at the second hand market,
the newer lenses (45, 100) are typically difficult to find and expensive, while the lenses that were around at the time of launch (non-CS versions of 35 and 120, for instance) show up at the dealers quite regularly,
at good prices. Meaning you can have a fabulous combination of 35/120 that will serve you really well for your stated purpose, at a more reasonable price.

Here's a trip shot with the 35/120 combination: https://openeyesphoto.smugmug.com/Uganda2012/

[349A]

Some wonderful captures there, thanks for those links. It shows once again that all the lenses are spectacular and the more important part is the person behind the lens. 

 

Did you use a polarizer or grad in some of those landscape shots? Having just received my S today and have zero experience with it, I have never been able to capture such DR from my M's, not even close. Curious if you had to bring down the sky a bit in some of those Transylvania shots or if the S is able to get those bright blue skies with the darker foreground without filters. I'm guessing filters?

[albertknappmd]

A very difficult choice as they are all outstanding..

Remember that the lens are Medium format and hence a 24mm S lens is a19mm M lens (35mm   format). The 70mm S is a 50mm M  lens and so on.. Just multiply the S focal length by 0.8..

Therefore since you enjoy 24mm and 50mm M lenses, the place to start is 30mm S and 70mm S lenses... However the 24mm S is  such a phenomenal lens that you may want to skip the 30 S and try the 24mm S in its stead.

As to the 30-90mm  S zoom, I use it all the time and it is amazing..

Albert     

[tom0511]

IMO 70 is a must have for its small site and flexibility.

2 lens set I really like 45 and 100.

The 24 and 180 are excellent as well.

 

In the end they are all very good and I would decide based on focal length.

The M lenses have different characters, the S lenses are more inline and are all very good.

[SaW]

I've used 24/30/45/70/100/120mm lenses on a S2 and S007 body.

 

All those lenses are really consistant in IQ and have their own, specific advantages (being small, light, CS, macro etc).

But 2 lenses are even more remarquable IMO:

 

Technically I find the 24mm in-cre-di-bi-ly good.

I was using a Cambo WRS + Phase One IQ180 + Rodenstock 32mm before switching to the S system.

This tech cam combo was fun to use and produced super high res files. But it also brought some frustrating and annoying moments (strong color cast / sensor tiles / vertical lines in the blue skies).

Using the S2 + 24mm was liberating. So easy to make clean files out of it. Border and corners are outstanding.

I only regret that the somehow limited distortion is nonetheless sometimes hard to perfectly correct in Lightroom. The 19mm eq focal length is also a bit too wide for me. Much prefer the 21mm eq.

 

My second lens of choice is the 120mm. This lens is technically perfect and has a truly magical drawing.

The 30/45/70 mm are excellent but each time I see my 120mm files I can't help thinking that this lens is a godsend.

It even pairs with the 100mm f2 in bokeh amount (thanks to the 20mm extra length) and its bokeh is cleaner.

The 100mm however is more easy to handhold (I have the 120mm CS version) and with a softer micro contrast that will indeed be more appropriate for portraits.

 

Currently I have the 30/45/70/120mm lenses. I'll use another system if I want to go longer so resisted to the 180mm. I've sold my 100mm and am missing my 24mm. Much 

[leicapages]

As to the 30-90mm  S zoom, I use it all the time and it is amazing..

 

 

Albert, a question: how much of use would the Vario 30-90 be on an S Type 006 body, given its max aperture? I would very much like the lens given its versatility but am afraid that the combination of the low max aperture of the lens and the limitations in high ISO on the S body (max 400 with good quality, 800 as reserve, 1600 seems unusable for meanstream use) would seriously hamper the combo's usefulness in day-to-day outdoor (travel) photography. How do you see that, as you are using the lens? I admit the Vario would probably be best used on an S type 007 with higher usable ISO but that body is currently priced at over twice the price of the Typ 006 in Europe (S Typ 006 = 8500 euro, S-E = 6900 euro, S Typ 007 = 18000 euro - all prices incl VAT). Difficult to rationalize for non-pro use. Your guidance would be appreciated. Thanks.

Pascal

[albireo_double]

Some wonderful captures there, thanks for those links. It shows once again that all the lenses are spectacular and the more important part is the person behind the lens. 

 

Did you use a polarizer or grad in some of those landscape shots? Having just received my S today and have zero experience with it, I have never been able to capture such DR from my M's, not even close. Curious if you had to bring down the sky a bit in some of those Transylvania shots or if the S is able to get those bright blue skies with the darker foreground without filters. I'm guessing filters?

 

 

Hi, yes - I used the polariser in some of the Transylvania shots, but no grey grad filter. The DR with the S007 is really good; if you watch the histogram and don't blow the highlights then you can get a lot of detail recovered from the shadows.

[Bill W]

After a couple of weeks using the 24, I must say it is a fabulous lens. Very sharp. It does not feel that wide on my S007 even though an 18 on the M seems really wide.