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SL Lens Tally: What More do we Need?


jplomley

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I'm curious what other SL users are interested in seeing Leica deliver as the lens arsenal is being slowly rolled out? Myself, I see the 16-35, 70 APO and 90-280 being a brilliant 3 lens kit for my applications. The only lens missing would be a 100 mm Macro that allows 1:1 magnification.

 

What SL lenses would other users like to see Leica deliver?

 

For me, a macro lens of nearly any configuration would be a massive plus--60 or 120mm. Also, we all know a teleconverter would be a game changer--specifically for the 90-280mm. Fingers crossed--lt

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3-4 smaller and lighter prime lenses (21-28-35-50) would go a very long way towards making the system more popular.

 

This never happened for the S system and it was a mistake.

 

700g is for a lot of people still a no go.  There should be at least 3-4 lenses that are in the 300-500g range.

 

Besides that still waiting for the 35mm.  Hopefully this year... and would like to see a 21mm and 28mm announced.

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If they are not going to give us a pro 1.5X crop SL (not that I'm expecting it, a high mp SL with a 24mp crop for TL lenses is fine) I would like TL zoom lenses that are f2.8 constant aperture and OIS built-in. 11-23, 16-50 & 50-135 f2.8 with OIS. That would be very nice.

The existing SL zooms are great. Not complaining.

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I would love to see a 28 mm summicron (to pair with the 50 and 90 Sl summicrons) + a smaller travel-friendlier standard zoom, e.g 28-75 mm.

 

Another feature that would be great is the option to have a fly-by-wire system that behaves like a manual fokus system (constatmt focus speed), so it is usable for video work (Manual focus pulls).

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I'd like to know if SL 1.4x and 2x extenders are feasible or possible … and seem to recall that they are not … hence none hinted at by Leica Camera AG.

Why wouldn’t they be feasible or possible ? Back focal length or flange distance ?

It’s been made by Olympus and Fuji on worse distances...

Edited by Bohns
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There is always the quality issue with Leica ...... it may be optically possible but unless the result is up to the standards they expect they will not do it. 

 

An APO extender is already quite complex ..... and although they might work fine with long prime lenses, configuring it to work well with a widish range zoom may be another matter .....

 

At the other end of the scale Marumi macro lenses work well on most Leica lenses up to about 100-120mm ...... after which the image gets very soft and low contrast. I naively assumed they would work with any focal length, but optics is clearly more complicated than I thought.

Edited by thighslapper
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A 560mm lens along with a higher-resolution body would suit me fine.  Why be glad? Would that harm you?

 

just a direct response would be 'no'. 

 

If you were to consider as a total community, having our favorrate camera and lens maker close down does 'harm' us.

Considering Leica is a financially small company, unlike Canon and Nikon having such a wide range of products and volume from mainstream products to support their 'premium products' that I do not think make money for them based on the volume of > 500mm lenses sold each year. As for a smaller company like Leica, they have to make correct decisions. If you place money where your mouth is, Leica can start thinking seriously after counting how many of such potential customers they have.

I'm no donald trump, I think 'win / win' and not 'win / lose'. 

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I think the Leica SL will ultimately get it's long lenses on their roadmap. If they are building Thambars, Noctiluxes, etc. I'm sure they will build the long AF lenses. It's just a long view project. In fact, it doesn't make sense to me that they do not do this for the SL for the long term.

Edited by lx1713
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just a direct response would be 'no'. 

 

If you were to consider as a total community, having our favorrate camera and lens maker close down does 'harm' us.

Considering Leica is a financially small company, unlike Canon and Nikon having such a wide range of products and volume from mainstream products to support their 'premium products' that I do not think make money for them based on the volume of > 500mm lenses sold each year. As for a smaller company like Leica, they have to make correct decisions. If you place money where your mouth is, Leica can start thinking seriously after counting how many of such potential customers they have.

I'm no donald trump, I think 'win / win' and not 'win / lose'. 

 

 

According to Dr Andreas Kaufmann, Leica Camera AG made a commitment to the SL/TL mount in 2012 - 6 years ago. Highly unlikely that when that commitment was made they decided, 'no lenses longer than 280mm FF or FF equivalent'. Leica's design and marketing philosophy is very different to that of Nikon, Canon, Fuji and Sony; Leica has also committed to a worldwide retail network i.e. their own 'bricks and mortar' (as described by Dr Kaufmann) stores - which likely gobble up their £$€ resources. Leica likely does know and realise that there is a market for longer SL lenses but they would not be an initial high priority. The SL/TL mount is a big commitment - their only commitment for mirrorless FF and APS ICL cameras -  and Leica Camera AG have long term plans for same. Further announcements about future SL/TL developments will be made in June - when it would not be a surprise to hear that the inevitable longer 'system lens(es)' will be on the roadmap. 

 

dunk 

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Updated focus modules for the modular APO-Telyt-R lenses would do.

 

 

Unlikely that Leica would be happy with a 'would do' solution; they would more likely have commenced development of a totally new AF telephoto lens(es) using the latest technology … both design and production technology. 

 

dunk 

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Unlikely that Leica would be happy with a 'would do' solution; they would more likely have commenced development of a totally new AF telephoto lens(es) using the latest technology … both design and production technology.

 

dunk

I suspect the “would do” comment means the modular system with updates would be just as great as the adapted R and M lenses tend to be.

 

I would like to see some sort of AF adapter for R lenses but I suspect it would be incredibly expensive. It would make these lenses far more appealing and would make the telephotos much more useful for me.

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...

I would like to see some sort of AF adapter for R lenses but I suspect it would be incredibly expensive. It would make these lenses far more appealing and would make the telephotos much more useful for me.

 

 

Hmm. We differ in this completely. I never want AF for my telephoto lenses ... they're so easy to focus accurately manually; I don't think I've even used AF other than to test it with the SL90-280mm. AF is almost always less consistent than my eye is, with any camera, with long lenses.

 

I'd never want any AF adaptation of any of my R lenses at all, in fact, because one of the joys of using them is how nice the manual focusing helicoid is and how easy they are to nail critical focus with, particularly with the Leica SL body. 

 

What would be nice for the modular APO-Telyt lenses is an updated focusing mount that enabled the body to operate in all metering modes with information about which lens, plus aperture and distance information, to the body. 

Edited by ramarren
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