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 Leica APO-Summicron-SL 75mm f/2 ASPH or Leica CL Street kit


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So, I have been looking at getting a Leica CL for sometime now. I was able to use one for a few days and really liked it. I was using the 23mm lens, which reminded me how much I like the 35mm view. I no longer have a 35mm lens for my Leica M, only 28mm and 50mm. Anyways, back to my question. So, I have been very close to buying the Leica CL Street kit and then I had another idea. I have been reading about the Leica APO-Summicron-SL 75mm f/2 ASPH lens and started to ponder another option. I love my Leica SL, but don't carry it that often, because I find the 24-90 and the 90-280 lens very bulky when attached. I was looking at the CL, because it was smaller, has AF, and interchangeable lens. I am now wondering if I would use my Leica SL more, if I picked up the 75mm lens for it. I would be shooting mostly people and food. I would also shoot a lot in low light. I still think that I will eventually get the CL system, but can only get one or the other right now. Does anyone have an opinion or experience with this? Would you recommend get the CL Street Kit or waiting, and getting the Leica APO-Summicron-SL 75mm f/2 ASPH first. Any advice or feedback is greatly appreciated! Tuffy

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If you find the SL too bulky/heavy for casual use, I doubt that buying the SL75mm lens is going to help by much. I used my SL primarily with R lenses, typically the Summilux-R 50 and Summicron-R 90, which are about the same size and weight as the SL75. I loved the camera for the work I was doing when I bought it. But ... Ultimately, I found that I wasn't carrying it much because it was more than I needed for the work I wanted to do after I retired: it was too heavy to carry casually, for me. The M-D262 did a better job for me. I sold the SL and the zooms, bought a CL body so that I'd have a TTL body for macro and close up work.

I find I like the CL body quite a lot, and the same R lenses fitted to it are a much more compact, light, and manageable package (never mind the M lenses). The M lenses feel better on it too. I haven't bought any of the TL lenses for it so far ... I tend to prefer the manual focus lenses anyway. I often use the CL instead of the M now because it's so handy. 

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The SL 75 is a wonderful lens, but as a medium telephoto it is somewhat specialized.  It is smaller than the 24-90, about the same size as my R 80 Summilux with its R to L adapter, not exactly light and not inconspicuous. You can do a lot more with the CL and the 23.  And as more of the L-mount Summicrons come onto the market this year, any of them can be used on the CL with a 1.5x focal length increase and no change in the f-stops.

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I’m no expert , but it seems to me the CL and TL cameras optically are configurated to TL lenses far better than the M and L , and this is what the experts are trying to stress, not me ! Exceptions are the 50mm and 0.95mm M lenses. The 55-135mm gives excellent results, as does the 11-23mm , and both appear overlooked for Zeiss, Voghtlander and M products. 

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1 hour ago, Petercoll said:

I’m no expert , but it seems to me the CL and TL cameras optically are configurated to TL lenses far better than the M and L , and this is what the experts are trying to stress, not me ! Exceptions are the 50mm and 0.95mm M lenses. The 55-135mm gives excellent results, as does the 11-23mm , and both appear overlooked for Zeiss, Voghtlander and M products. 

Why do you feel that way?

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Ah. Not to to dis Thorsten over much, but I haven't found his opinions to align with my experience very well. 

When I was evaluating the CL prior to buying it, I tested the TL60 Macro vs my existing Macro-Elmarit-R 60. Absolutely no difference in performance that I could discern without instrumentation. I've used my CL exclusively with M and R lenses since I bought it and see little difference between its imaging performance and photos made with the same lenses on M, R, and SL bodies. So if it's image quality that he is referring to, I'd do not agree with his evaluation. 

Regards ergonomics and controls, well, I tend to prefer manual focus and generally don't give a toss about AF; certainly don't need it. The R lenses, in particular, feel better to me in use on the CL than either the M or the TL/SL lenses in general. 

That said, if you are buying a T, TL, TL2, or CL body with the notion of utilizing AF and capitalizing on compactness, then without a doubt the TL lenses are the best game in town for them. :D 

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On 1/18/2019 at 8:00 PM, ramarren said:

If you find the SL too bulky/heavy for casual use, I doubt that buying the SL75mm lens is going to help by much. I used my SL primarily with R lenses, typically the Summilux-R 50 and Summicron-R 90, which are about the same size and weight as the SL75. I loved the camera for the work I was doing when I bought it. But ... Ultimately, I found that I wasn't carrying it much because it was more than I needed for the work I wanted to do after I retired: it was too heavy to carry casually, for me. The M-D262 did a better job for me. I sold the SL and the zooms, bought a CL body so that I'd have a TTL body for macro and close up work.

I find I like the CL body quite a lot, and the same R lenses fitted to it are a much more compact, light, and manageable package (never mind the M lenses). The M lenses feel better on it too. I haven't bought any of the TL lenses for it so far ... I tend to prefer the manual focus lenses anyway. I often use the CL instead of the M now because it's so handy. 

Thank you so much for your input! I really enjoyed the CL, when I test drove one and was able to get some really great images.

 

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On 1/19/2019 at 8:16 AM, scott kirkpatrick said:

The SL 75 is a wonderful lens, but as a medium telephoto it is somewhat specialized.  It is smaller than the 24-90, about the same size as my R 80 Summilux with its R to L adapter, not exactly light and not inconspicuous. You can do a lot more with the CL and the 23.  And as more of the L-mount Summicrons come onto the market this year, any of them can be used on the CL with a 1.5x focal length increase and no change in the f-stops.

Thank you for your input Scott!

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It may not matter for your needs, but one advantage of an SL (with native SL lenses) compared to the CL (and any lenses, native or not), is the full weather sealing of the former.  Additionally, the two longer SL zooms have OIS, which isn’t available for the TL lenses.

Jeff

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On 1/21/2019 at 1:11 AM, ramarren said:

...(^Thorsten)...

When I was evaluating the CL prior to buying it, I tested the TL60 Macro vs my existing Macro-Elmarit-R 60. Absolutely no difference in performance that I could discern without instrumentation. I've used my CL exclusively with M and R lenses since I bought it and see little difference between its imaging performance and photos made with the same lenses on M, R, and SL bodies. So if it's image quality that he is referring to, I'd do not agree with his evaluation. 

Regards ergonomics and controls, well, I tend to prefer manual focus and generally don't give a toss about AF; certainly don't need it. The R lenses, in particular, feel better to me in use on the CL than either the M or the TL/SL lenses in general. 

That said, if you are buying a T, TL, TL2, or CL body with the notion of utilizing AF and capitalizing on compactness, then without a doubt the TL lenses are the best game in town for them. :D 

I use macro lenses when visiting a botanical garden that is conveniently located a few blocks from our home, or poking around in our garden.  (Godfrey I suspect is working mostly indoors with lights and a tripod.) So I find AF quite useful, especially when I can use the back button focus available on the SL, and then move around slightly to get the best compromise across the whole scene.  Both the R60 and the R100 require extension gear to go from 2:1 image magnification down to 1:1; the CL 60 does not, and I occasionally do get that close.  Some of the most striking images of this sort that I have gotten are with an an SL and the S 120 macro lens (which only goes to 2:1), so that is my ultimate answer, but the CL with its 60 is close to it.  The SL with a big S lens is several kg, so this starts me thinking along the lines of the Weston family slogan: "If it is more than 100 yards from the car, it's not a picture."

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I sometimes work with macro lenses for general purpose shooting too, Scott. 

I don't find myself in need of AF at any time. If I have AF, it's a nice convenience ... but that's it. And I almost never find myself in the 1:2 to 1:1 range for any general purpose shooting...! :) 

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On 1/19/2019 at 12:20 AM, tuffystone said:

So, I have been looking at getting a Leica CL for sometime now. I was able to use one for a few days and really liked it. I was using the 23mm lens, which reminded me how much I like the 35mm view. I no longer have a 35mm lens for my Leica M, only 28mm and 50mm. Anyways, back to my question. So, I have been very close to buying the Leica CL Street kit and then I had another idea. I have been reading about the Leica APO-Summicron-SL 75mm f/2 ASPH lens and started to ponder another option. I love my Leica SL, but don't carry it that often, because I find the 24-90 and the 90-280 lens very bulky when attached. I was looking at the CL, because it was smaller, has AF, and interchangeable lens. I am now wondering if I would use my Leica SL more, if I picked up the 75mm lens for it. I would be shooting mostly people and food. I would also shoot a lot in low light. I still think that I will eventually get the CL system, but can only get one or the other right now. Does anyone have an opinion or experience with this? Would you recommend get the CL Street Kit or waiting, and getting the Leica APO-Summicron-SL 75mm f/2 ASPH first. Any advice or feedback is greatly appreciated! Tuffy

Just the CL and and M-Adapter to use it with your 28 and 50? The latter gives you 75mm (@24x36) field of view - and, if it is a 1.4, more or less the same depth of field. Close focus is something to be aware of, however.

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