Long lenses for SL and SL2

[Manicouagan1]

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I have shot quite a bit with focal lengths from 150-700mm for cameras wth 24x36mm sensors.  Most are with Canon and Nikon 70-200mm zoom lenses.  The additional reach with the Leica 90-280mm lens would cover a lot of images made with assortment of extenders and other telpohoto lenses.  The addtional reach of the telephoto Leica zoom is a significant feature of the SL system for me.  Has anyone experience with longer telephotos (over 280mm)  on the SL.  How did they work out.  

https://www.flickr.com/photos/10100428@N07/albums

 

Chuck

Houston Texas & Friday Harbor Washington USA

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[michali]

What are you shooting with long focal lengths? I do a fair amount of wildlife photography in Africa and can give you some input based on my photography with long lenses.

The Leica VE 90-280mm L is OK for general wildlife photography. It is however too short for birds. For bird photographyI use a Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II USM Lens with a Novoflex EF to L mount adapter . Below is my subjective feedback based on my personal experience having used this lens on the SL.

The Canon lens with the Novoflex EF-SL adapter works OK on the SL, AF is not fast by any stretch of the imagination, my score=  8 out of 10.  It hunts and sometimes needs a little help by turning the focusing ring. AF slows down substantially when you throw in the tele-converters. 

Personally I'm not really that bothered about AF, sometimes it can be more frustrating, but it's nice to have. I've always used MF lenses, so for me it's more about the ability to get the close up shot when I need it. Leica don't offer anything comparable, not even a tele converter for the VE90-280mm L lens 😡.

What I've recently started doing is to use the Canon 400mm on the SL; I purchased a Leica CL on which I've attached the VE 90-280mm L, which gives me 420mm on the long end due to the APSC crop factor. Essentially I'm using the CL as 1.5 tele-converter. AF on the CL is fast, IQ is great, and overall I'm really pleased with this combination. For reference, you can have a look at some of the images I've posted on this Forum both with the SL and CL with long lenses.

Hope this helps.

Best,

Mike

 

 

Edited November 20, 2019 by michali

[helged]

Nikkor 400mm f2.8E is big and brilliant - but with manual focus on SL:

 

Leica 400mm APO f2.8 R is also brilliant (and large, heavy...):

An interesting lens, much smaller and less bulky, is the Nikkor 300mm f4 PF (Fresnel optics):

 

Edited November 20, 2019 by helged

[michali]

23 minutes ago, helged said:

Nikkor 400mm f2.8E is big and brilliant - but with manual focus on SL:

 

Leica 400mm APO f2.8 R is also brilliant (and large, heavy...):

An interesting lens, much smaller and less bulky, is the Nikkor 300mm f4 PF (Fresnel optics):

 

Helge - I have not previously seen your images above, they're wonderful. Your moon shot is absolutely fantastic, chapeau!

Best

Mike

 

[Manicouagan1]

For those that asked what long lenses I use:

For wildlife including birds a Nikon 500mm 5.6 pf or Nikon 200-500 5.6 Zoom either mounted on a Nikon D850.   

For outdoor sports, grandkids mostly,  Canon 100-400 4.5-5.6 zoom with or without a 1.4x extender on a Canon 1Dx Mark II. 

For indoor sports, mostly in high school gyms, Canon 70-200 2.8 II on Canon 1Dx Mark II

My Leica M's are used for other things.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/10100428@N07/albums