LEICA SL PRIME LENSES FOCUS MOTOR NOISE

[Asam Akhtar]

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I ordered my first SL summicron 75mm f/2. prime and got the delivery last week.  I was very excited to use the lens to see how it performs in low light.  Here is my issue, when I was trying to focus at night in my living room with just the house lights on, I can hear the lens motor when trying to focus.  It was louder than my SL 24-90 and SL 16-35.  Noisy focus motor and was taking longer to lock focus.  Maybe, because of low light.  I went ahead and returned the lens and ordered the SL summicrone 90mm f/2. because I could afford only one prime for now.  Just received the delivery today and was trying to test it out.

I was testing it out in the house at night.  Again, focus motor is louder is other two zoom lenses.  This time, I also tried my Sony A7riii with prime 90mm macro lens and focus motor was quiet.  I'm not sure if this is how the lens sounds.  I read somewhere that SL primes are louder, but cannot find the article.  Any thoughts on this will be greatly appreciated.  I don't think, that I can get two bad lenses in a row.  Thanks.

 

Asam.

Edited November 3, 2018 by Asam Akhtar
add few more words

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[thighslapper]

Hunting in low light is pretty normal for contrast detection AF lenses ..... and the longer SL zooms and both 75 & 90 primes have dual motors to shift the lens elements. 

In better lighting conditions the AF is rapid, accurate and reasonably quiet. 

I think you will have to accept the fact that they will be noisier in low light conditions...... and as far as anyone else is concerned it is pretty well silent from 1m+ away.

Bear in mind you have your nose stuck up against the camera and most of what you can hear is transmitted through the camera body as it is made of a single brick of metal ....😉 

[sillbeers15]

My SL75 is no louder than my other SL native lenses.

[Wonzo]

My 75mm SL is also a bit louder in focusing than the 24-90mm - in all light conditions,  but I wouldn`t say, that it`s noisy. This doesn`t disturb me at all. I didn`t even realize the difference, before you wrote about it. As long as I owned the Leica Q, I was disturbed by the focusing noise, because it never seemed to end, the camera was always busy focusing. 

[ajmarton1]

I don’t even notice it and I have both lenses as well.  I think the minute you are outside your home it will become less obvious.  Especially if your attention is on your subject matter. 

[Fedro]

They are slightly louder than the zooms - that is a fact as far as I am concerned after trying several and owning one for a while

I was once told that this is because of the new motor system - whether true or not I don't know

Does that bother me? Not really, as long as AF is fast and accurate (and it is in most situations)

The new Crons are stunning lenses

 

[sillbeers15]

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A dead motor would be absolutely silent.

[saxo]

Focus is indeed noisy with 75 and 90 mm primes  compared to the zooms. In low light situations more than good light situations, because it takes longer to focus in bad light conditions.

[Jim B]

This is the scraping/groaning sound of my 90 Apo SL attached is a file you can hear it at 5 second and the repeat. I believe it to be a defect. Let me know if yours sounds like this.

 

90 Apo lens noise.m4a

[Mike1974]

Thanks for the file ! My new SL 35 is doing the same noise. I won’t lose my time asking Leica , I will live with  the noise .

I imagine if you make videos it will appear on the files unfortunately.

cheers 

[gabrielaszalos]

This is what my new APO-Summicron-SL 90mm f/2 sounds like. It also has a sort of a white noise while idle. I suspect all of this is normal but I'm not entirely sure judging from other posts here which say that their is "whisper quiet".

[gabrielaszalos]

This video also seems to claim the same thing (see at 6:30): 

 

[OleBe]

vor 2 Stunden schrieb gabrielaszalos:

This is what my new APO-Summicron-SL 90mm f/2 sounds like. It also has a sort of a white noise while idle. I suspect all of this is normal but I'm not entirely sure judging from other posts here which say that their is "whisper quiet".

Don't believe that any of the APO Summicrons is whisper quiet. All three of mine (28/50/90) are making essentially the same noise you have uploaded. And I tried even about 4 different ones of all focal lengths randomly in my camera shop as well, all are doing the same, although it sounds slightly different from lens to lens depending on its construction. So it is fairly safe to assume that this is because of the motor, focus design...

Sigma i series lenses are what I would consider being dead silent ...

 

[Virob]

After using Sigma, Panasonic and Olympus lenses, I was surprised how noisy an APO lens can be. It can be jarring depending on the ambient noise. Not a big deal, I view it more as an embarrassment for Leica than anything. You would think that for the price, a quieter motor/mechanism could have been used/developed.

[gabrielaszalos]

I don’t mind it. I was just surprised. How about that low humming white noise when the camera is idle? What is that about? You can hear it if you place your ear close to the lens in a very quiet place. It is there on the 24-70 too but to a much lesser extent. I tried turning prefocus and IBIS off but it’s not that. 

[Photoworks]

the new Summicron SL 35-50 suppose to be quite and better for video. Same as the Panasonic Small lenses.

[davidmknoble]

There are a variety of focus modes on the SL system.  One mode is constant focus for moving objects.  That focus mode causes the lens to hunt all the time (it is constantly focusing).  Also, I’d ensure the firmware is up to date on the camera, and on the lens.

I have used the 24-90, have the 90-280 and 35 and 50 APO crons.  My primes are very very quiet, but also use back button focusing.  It doesn’t focus unless I press the back button or turn the focus ring manually. 

 

[arichter]

2 hours ago, davidmknoble said:

There are a variety of focus modes on the SL system.  One mode is constant focus for moving objects.  That focus mode causes the lens to hunt all the time (it is constantly focusing).  Also, I’d ensure the firmware is up to date on the camera, and on the lens.

I have used the 24-90, have the 90-280 and 35 and 50 APO crons.  My primes are very very quiet, but also use back button focusing.  It doesn’t focus unless I press the back button or turn the focus ring manually. 

 

Same here. My 50 APO cron is very quiet when I use back button focus but make noticeable noise in other modes.

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[opera207]

Yes sl apo prime lenses have noisy af motors, many people say it's normal, but I can't agree, considering their prices, leica should have installed much better motors. They are more noisy when shooting video, you have to use a recorder.

Edited March 10, 2023 by opera207

[davidmknoble]

6 hours ago, opera207 said:

Yes sl apo prime lenses have noisy af motors, many people say it's normal, but I can't agree, considering their prices, leica should have installed much better motors. They are more noisy when shooting video, you have to use a recorder.

I think that statement is overreaching a little bit.  My SL primes are not noisy.  Some are saying they are noisy on other cameras and I think the noise relates to constant moving, not just spot focusing.  The motors are good and I’d rather have a little noise and absolute reliability, than silent and breaking down.  The S lenses went through the whole motor replacement which is a nightmare for any that had to do it.

There is a big difference in how the camera drives the focus.  I think it is more fair to say the lens can have a noisy focus.  Then again, if we want silent focus, either focus manually and mount an M-lens…