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I’m starting to think that you are probably right. When Andreas Kaufmann says “there is more potential for this mount” he could mean a larger sensor. We’ll know by June. For those thinking about getting the X1D, I would hold off for a couple of months.

I raised the potential for L mount to take on larger sensor when I compared to the size of the M mount some 24mths ago in the forum but many in the forum were fast to say idea was not viable. Now I see some M lenses workable on X1D, I knew I was right! Just not sure what size sensor would optimise the L mount. If Leica secures a larger sensor than most FF sensor with 50MP at a cost comparable to the current 24MP FF sensor, it will be in a unique position to draw crowd. If it really happens, then I must say the Leica management has some foresight few years ago.

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I raised the potential for L mount to take on larger sensor when I compared to the size of the M mount some 24mths ago in the forum but many in the forum were fast to say idea was not viable. Now I see some M lenses workable on X1D, I knew I was right! Just not sure what size sensor would optimise the L mount. If Leica secures a larger sensor than most FF sensor with 50MP at a cost comparable to the current 24MP FF sensor, it will be in a unique position to draw crowd. If it really happens, then I must say the Leica management has some foresight few years ago.

Does anyone know for sure what the image circle is for (say) the new SL Summicrons ....... versus (say) the Leica M Summilux or Summicron APO ......versus the S lenses?

The image circle is pretty much all this boils down to in terms of whether some of these SL lenses can be used on larger sensors??

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Could we see a more square format S-sensor, like 4x3, maximising the use of FF-lenses on the S or, alternatively, options to square-crop the 2x3 S-sensor when FF-lenses are used? Many possibilities.

Edited by helged
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Does anyone know for sure what the image circle is for (say) the new SL Summicrons ....... versus (say) the Leica M Summilux or Summicron APO ......versus the S lenses?

The image circle is pretty much all this boils down to in terms of whether some of these SL lenses can be used on larger sensors??

 

 

I know the image circle for the 24-90 @ 24mm is right at 42mm and wouldn't handle any sort of medium format sensor.  If you use a raw converter that doesn't apply the built-in lens calibration, you can occasionally see the hard vignetting that is starting to creep in prior to distortion correction.  Can't speak to the SL Summicrons. They may do better.  But I don't think the L mount was designed with medium format in mind, despite the size of the physical opening.

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I know the image circle for the 24-90 @ 24mm is right at 42mm and wouldn't handle any sort of medium format sensor. If you use a raw converter that doesn't apply the built-in lens calibration, you can occasionally see the hard vignetting that is starting to creep in prior to distortion correction. Can't speak to the SL Summicrons. They may do better. But I don't think the L mount was designed with medium format in mind, despite the size of the physical opening.

Good point. I recall the black corners occationally occurring with the SL firmw just after the release of the system...

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Yes, he said new opportunities with the L mount, but not necessarily anything to do with an SL2, the thread topic. But he did also say that the SL design was “a bit brutal.... like with an axe”, and that it would be “a bit more elegant” going forward.

 

June seems like a new product or derivation... we’ll see.

 

Jeff

Edited by Jeff S
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Yes, he said new opportunities with the L mount, but not necessarily anything to do with an SL2, the thread topic. But he did also say that the SL design was “a bit brutal.... like with an axe”, and that it would be “a bit more elegant” going forward.

 

June seems like a new product or derivation... we’ll see.

 

Jeff

 

I just hope they do not "round it up" too much, since the design and form factor was one of the reasons I got into the SL system.

I also hope they will keep the 4 button user interface, and not switch the SL2 to the 3 button M10 style design.

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Very honestly, not sure whether I am very interested in another derivation or deviation or whatever.

 

The TL2/CL and SL were once promising systems and IMHO their full potential has not yet been realized, they are still promising systems, they are not mature systems yet with a complete lens line-up.

 

Not to mention the S which has gone from a very promising system to a from a commercial point of view pretty much dead system...

 

I would address that first before launching yet another attempt to product differentiation.

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Derivation or deviation... either possible, including mirrorless MF. If so, timing and differentiation (and price) is important, as Hasselblad and Fuji are gaining steam.

 

Jeff

A MF mirrorless would be my dream Leica.

They pitched TL lenses as crop-version lenses on the full frame SL ..... maybe they could pitch SL lenses as crop-version lenses on a MF mirrorless at the start to pad out the system?

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I just hope they do not "round it up" too much, since the design and form factor was one of the reasons I got into the SL system.

I also hope they will keep the 4 button user interface, and not switch the SL2 to the 3 button M10 style design.

 

I would love it if they designed the next SL around the S battery. That would mean having a bigger grip, and a taller body, but it would fix the one problem I have with the SL: battery life.

 

The only other improvements I want are on the video side. Leica needs to get serious about video and publish an ACES IDT. It feels ridiculous that they expect every customer to finish calibrating the camera. Why should every job waste hours trying to establish a matching baseline for this camera in the colouring suite, when every competing camera offers a one-click IDT?

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I would love it if they designed the next SL around the S battery. That would mean having a bigger grip, and a taller body, but it would fix the one problem I have with the SL: battery life.

 

The only other improvements I want are on the video side. Leica needs to get serious about video and publish an ACES IDT. It feels ridiculous that they expect every customer to finish calibrating the camera. Why should every job waste hours trying to establish a matching baseline for this camera in the colouring suite, when every competing camera offers a one-click IDT?

 

I agree about the battery even if I don't understand  the next paragraph     :D

Edited by lx1713
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Dr. Andreas Kaufmann, owner of Leica, in an interview with 'Luminous Landscape' is talking about the next version of the SL being more 'elegantly' designed. Would he be discussing something 2 years away? I just don't know.

Well there’s certainly something that can be more elegant and that’s the position of the on/off button: utterly unhandy at the moment. Hardly possible to change with new firmware I’m afraid.

What could be changed firmware-wise I guess is the digital spirit-level and the focus-peaking option. They are now serial after each other and it should be possible to be combined in one clean EVF image without further lines.

Edited by otto.f
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Have you noticed something unusual about the SL? There have been no limited edition SL's, and this is the SL's third year on the market. 

 

The Leica Q was introduced in 2015 (only a few months before the SL), and there have already been a number of limited editions - Winter Olympics, Australia Edition, Safari, etc. 

 

The Leica Sofort was introduced in mid 2016, and there is already a limited edition (Limoland). 

 

At the same stage of its evolution, the M240 had already spawned a number of variants and many limited edition runs. 

 

If there is going to be a new SL coming, I am going to guess that it's going to be some kind of limited edition to move the last few SL's off the shelf before the SL2 comes out. 

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In regards to a Q with inter-changable lenses in L mount, the idea is appealing but it doesn't seem very likely. Leica really took the 'no-compromise' philosophy seriously when it came to the size and weight of SL lenses, and it would be impractical to use even an SL prime on a Q-sized body. Leica would have to design a separate set of smaller, more compact L mount full framed primes for such a Q, which would somewhat undermine the SL concept. 

 

I may be reading too much into this, but the fact that every digital camera apart from the Q was featured in that video series may not bode too well for its future, at least in the short term. I hope I am wrong. 

 

When talking of 'potential' for the L mount, I had thought that the Chairman was alluding to the broad but shallow coverage of L lenses for the APSC line. While pretty much every focal length is covered, the actual selection is still very limited by anyone's standards. The TL lenses are in dire need of more fast primes. Having said this, I wouldn't be surprised if even more SL lenses on the roadmap were announced side by side with new TL lenses.

 

In this manner, Leica would be addressing the primary weakness for the L system, which is not necessarily the cameras themselves but the limited selection of lenses which they use. If Leica were to complete the Summilux family and brought out top quality 18mm, 23mm and 50mm TL lenses in 1.4, the desirability and value of their ASPC cameras would increase by 10,000 cool points. 

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I struggle to see how much image quality can be gained by using an SL lens on a larger sensor.

 

Assuming that the image circle is 43.27mm diameter then the largest sensor area that can be used is achieved with a 30.60mm X 30.60mm sensor.

 

This is a gain of only 8% in area over a 24mm X 36mm sensor. So the idea seems to be a non-starter.

 

Of course if the image circle is actually larger that 43.27mm then some gain is theoretically possible.  

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