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SL or Sony A7RIII for use with older lenses?


pixelman

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older M lenses: Leica SL

 

older Nikon/Canon lenses: Sony A7riii

 

 

more specific:

 

for M lenses 16mm - 50mm: Leica SL (way better image quality)

 

for M lenses 75mm - 135mm: what ever camera feels better in your hands (Leica SL imo)

 

for wildlife and sports photography: Sony A7riii (IBIS, better af tracking)

 

for video: Sony A7riii

Edited by anickpick
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It depends on which old lens.

 

You cannot use Contax N or 645 on SL, but you can on A7Rx. You will have a lot more choices and cheaper solution on A7Rx. I find there is no point at all to put on SL Contax lens or anything other than M or SL lenses.

 

On the other hand, you would not be as happy to use M lenses especially wide angle on Sony but you are likely to be perfect happy on SL.

 

Leica R lenses might he interesting to consider. I found Leica R 35-70 f4 and Leica R 80-200 f4 work equally well on SL and A7Rx. If for any reason you do not want SL 24-90 and/or 90-280 bit would want R 35-70 and 80-200, and you are not interested in M wide angle either, Sony A7Rx might be your choice.

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These are different worlds, actually different universes. Actually it boils down to what you prefer personally. Besides to the application it also relates to your way of taking pictures.

 

A) Leica M lenses

SL is better than Sony A7 series, especially for wide angle (corner smearing and CA on the A7R's). The main reason, however, is the magnificent view finder of the SL! Although the finder of the A7R iii is much improved, the one of the SL is just a different world.

 

Leica M lenses that work on the A7 series:

 

Everything above 50mm:

1) APO Summicron 50mm - very sharp
2) Noctilux f/0.95 - wonderful bokeh
3) Summilux 50mm
4) APO Summicron 75mm
5) APO Summicron 90mm - very good
6) APO-Telyt 135mm

Wide angles:
1) Zeiss ZM 35mm f/1.4 - very good (stopped down especially)
2) Summilux 21mm - good
3) Summilux 28mm - good
4) Voigtländer Super Wide Heliar III 15mm VM - good
5) Voigtländer Ultron 21mm f/1.8 - good

- Summiluxes are better than Summicrons.

- Pre-asph. is better than asph.

- Retrofocus lenss do work well (WATE, Zeiss Distagons)

Leica-R lenses do all work well, e.g. APO-Elmarit 180mm f/2.8

 

Native E-Mount:

1) Sony/Zeiss FE 50mm f/1.4 ZA - sharp
2) Sony/Zeiss Sonnar T* FE 1,8/55 ZA - sharp and light

3) Loxia 21mm f/2.8 - very nice colors, very sharp

4) Voigtländer 65mm Macro APO-Lanthar - extremely sharp, even wide open (however large and heavy)
5) Voigtländer 15mm Super WIde Heliar III E (Ultra Wide Heliar 12mm und Hyper Wide Heliar 10mm)
6) Laowa Zero-D 12mm and 15mm - very sharp
 

 

B) Sports, action

Probably A9 or an DSLR

- AF of the SL is a little slow, as was the A7R, A7R ii. The A7R ii is improved, but real fast AF is Sony A9 or a DSLR from Nikon (D850) or Canon

- SL takes 11 fps, A7R iii 10 fps, A9 20 fps

 

 

C) Landscape

I would prefer a high resolution camera like Sony A7R iii, Nikon D850 or even better MF

 

 

Having said all this, most fun is the M...

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It depends on which old lens.

You cannot use Contax N or 645 on SL, but you can on A7Rx. You will have a lot more choices and cheaper solution on A7Rx. I find there is no point at all to put on SL Contax lens or anything other than M or SL lenses.

On the other hand, you would not be as happy to use M lenses especially wide angle on Sony but you are likely to be perfect happy on SL.

Leica R lenses might he interesting to consider. I found Leica R 35-70 f4 and Leica R 80-200 f4 work equally well on SL and A7Rx. If for any reason you do not want SL 24-90 and/or 90-280 bit would want R 35-70 and 80-200, and you are not interested in M wide angle either, Sony A7Rx might be your choice.

 

I find Contax lenses a great add-on to the R and M lenses. Their color rendering is very nice - especially some zooms. And they are extremely affordable. And I love to compare results with Leica and Contax lenses - a thing impossible before the SL.

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I find Contax lenses a great add-on to the R and M lenses. Their color rendering is very nice - especially some zooms. And they are extremely affordable. And I love to compare results with Leica and Contax lenses - a thing impossible before the SL.

Maybe I was unclear. The SL is great for R and M lenses, but also for other vintage lenses like Contax.Or Pentax, or also Nikon and Canon if you wish.

Contax N is the only one not working.

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I love Zeiss glass. The MM/AE series work great on Canon EOS or any mirror less system, including Leics L mount.

 

Contax N and Contax 645 add some more benefit in AF but only work on Sony A7xx or compatible platform. There is no adapter yet for Leics SL, CL, or TL

 

While any Zeiss lens is a great value for Sony A7xx, and perhaps much better than Sony native or Sony Zeiss , I found it's value is not so much for any Leica L.

 

For example,to me the Contax N 17~35mm f2.8 zoom is the best lens in that range, but I found Leica TL 11~23mm on Leica T and Leica 24~90mm F2.8~4 on SL are far preferrable than A7RII plus Contax N 17~35mm. This makes the adapting any Contax Zeiss on Leica SL/TL irrelevant.

 

In summary, I find SL or TL are best with Leica TL or SL or M, and no other platform can be even close. On the other hand, you might really want Contax Zeiss glass for Sony A7xx, and it might well be the best combination you can find on earth.

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