Aperture of 50mm SL close down automatically

[pkwok]

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I am not sure whether this is normal. I own my SL 601 for 2 years for M and R lens. Recently I bought a new 50mm Summilux-SL, I notice that the aperture of the lens closes down spontaneously when pointing to light, and opens up when pointing to dark. It stops at mid aperture when power off or detached from the camera. Is this a normal phenomenon for SL lens? This is straight to me as I do not have such experience with other brands of mirrorless lens. Thanks for advice.

[panoreserve]

vor 46 Minuten schrieb pkwok:

I am not sure whether this is normal. I own my SL 601 for 2 years for M and R lens. Recently I bought a new 50mm Summilux-SL, I notice that the aperture of the lens closes down spontaneously when pointing to light, and opens up when pointing to dark. It stops at mid aperture when power off or detached from the camera. Is this a normal phenomenon for SL lens? This is straight to me as I do not have such experience with other brands of mirrorless lens. Thanks for advice.

'Stopping at mid aperture when power off' is a normal phenomenon, so don't worry. - But: 'closing down spontaneously when pointing to light and opening up when pointing to dark' is a failure which I had noted, too. Leica is aware of that (probably firmware-)issue...

[pkwok]

Thanks,. Do you mean this movement is seen in every lens? Or just seen after some firmware update, and may be/ need to be fixed later?

[panoreserve]

vor einer Stunde schrieb pkwok:

Thanks,. Do you mean this movement is seen in every lens? Or just seen after some firmware update, and may be/ need to be fixed later?

Indeed - in every Summilux-SL 1:1,4/50 ASPH. (all other SL lenses -the Varios and the Apo-Summicrons- are flawlessly in this regard). It's a software (not mechanical) malfunction and therefore it may be solved via an upcoming Firmware-Update...in the hopefully not too far future. Hope dies last.😧

[pkwok]

😦  feel disappointed at this. Will it drain the battery quickly? Or cause earlier  mechanical failure in the diaphragm?

[panoreserve]

vor 3 Minuten schrieb pkwok:

😦  feel disappointed at this. Will it drain the battery quickly? Or cause earlier  mechanical failure in the diaphragm?

No, I don't think so...

[Ken Abrahams]

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Can one use the aperture manually? Close and open at will? Its these sorts of faults or post design flaws that keep me sticking to my M Lenses.  Its a pity because I sw some files from the 50 SL lens today and I was impressed with the quality across the whole frame.

[pkwok]

No, I cannot close the aperture manually as wish

 

[caissa]

I never use the lens manually (AF was the reason why I use this heavy lens, when I use it). For manual use the M lenses or the R lenses are nicer (because of the direct focus control and the smaller weight). 
I never noticed a difference in battery drain, maybe there is, but it cannot be very big. I also never noticed that it works differently than the other lenses. And I wonder what the consequences of this "error" are ....      Is the AF easier ? Or slower ? Do I get more misses, when I use it at F1.4 ? Has anybody tested the consequences ?

I cannot see a reason to be disappointed, as long as I am happy with the results. I have the impression many users are quite happy with the results they get. (Now after the firmware update, that improved AF speed and hit rate).

It will be very interesting to see how it will work on the Panasonic cameras with their improved DFD AF. The tracking capabilities will be critical (well for some users, but actually not too much for me, as I hardly ever use AFc). 

[caissa]

Soon there will be two other possible solutions. The Panasonic S 1.4/50 will be a tough opponent. Will AF be faster ? And Sigma will probably also release a 1.4/50 which will work with AF (the current version does not adapted on SL) and a much lower price point.
I see already a review coming to us, with a shoot-out between the three. Maybe after this shoot-out there could be a reason to feel disappointed, ... who knows ?