Leica S lenses on SL

[Jeff S]

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And the SL75 lens is of course weather sealed.  I own it in addition to the 24-90 for a smaller, faster option, and because I never bonded with 75mm frame lines on my M bodies despite liking the focal length.

Jeff

[aksclix]

@Stuart Richardson alright thanks.. I will pass on the 80mm f1.4 then or perhaps wait and see if I can test one on my SL2.. I get tempted looking at some of these lenses sold in *mint* condition on eBay! :D

 

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[John McMaster]

17 hours ago, aksclix said:

How does the R 80mm f1.4 compare to the new 75mm f2 SL lens?

Not at all similar, the R 80/1.4 is similar to the M 75/1.4 in that it is soft/dreamy wide open improving in sharpness until about f5.6 - neither is APO.  The SL 75/2 is similar to the M 75/2, sharp all the way through and both are APO.  If you want a flattering portrait lens, then the former but if you want sharpness all the time then the APO.  I have hardly used my M 75/2 since I got the M 75/1.4, and although similar I prefer the draw of the R 80/1.4...

john

[tom0511]

For me face detection alone is a reason to use the 75SL over a manual focus lens. If you like shooting wide open and you like the eyes in focus...it helps a lot IMO.

But I can see how the rendering IS much different and some may like the dreamy rendering of the mandler lenses.

Edited October 20, 2020 by tom0511

[aksclix]

That’s true but the focus peaking function has brought life back into manual focus lenses.. if the older Leica glasses are half the price or lower without compromising in image quality that’s what I am looking for.. but it does sound like the older glasses are softer and that’s a deal breaker for me.. 

[tom0511]

Maybe Sigma Art 85 mm could be an alternative.

Or if you dont mind manual focus but want Leica with more modern look, what about 75 Summarit or 75 Summicron M?

[aksclix]

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I have the 70-200 f2.8 Panasonic s pro which is certified by Leica and the lens is tack sharp!! I am extremely pleased with the IQ.. I got the sigma 105 f1.4 ART for portraits so I think I’ll put off the idea of getting a 70-75 focal length lens.. I saw an 80mm f1.4 lens on eBay in mint condition and was tempted to buy it but resisted it.. I wish I could get the 180mm f2 but can’t really spend 10K on that now 

[tom0511]

I once had a 180/2.0 on a R9+DMR. Stunning lens.

The Sigma 135/1.8 is a very good option as well. However it shows some battery problems on the SL2.

[aksclix]

@tom0511 whoa, how and why would you part with the 180mm f2? 
 

135f1.8 is good.. I really do not like changing lenses too much outdoors for obvious reasons.. so, I’ve got camera lens pairing for different purposes.. I acquired a Hasselblad HV DSLR when it went on sale and got a 135 f1.8 Sony zeiss with it.. it’s a really good lens! 

Edited October 20, 2020 by aksclix

[tom0511]

vor 16 Minuten schrieb aksclix:

@tom0511 whoa, how and why would you part with the 180mm f2? 
 

135f1.8 is good.. I really do not like changing lenses too much outdoors for obvious reasons.. so, I’ve got camera lens pairing for different purposes.. I acquired a Hasselblad HV DSLR when it went on sale and got a 135 f1.8 Sony zeiss with it.. it’s a really good lens! 

I had problems to focus accurate with the R9/DMR, also for my use a shorter focal length works better for portrait, and for Tele I mostly prefer flexibility of a zoom.

[Michael R]

S 120mm Macro on the SL2. As a partial response to what I’ve been reading I decided to add the Leica APO-MACRO-SUMMARIT-S 120mm F2.5. I was excited about a fast lens that I could use for portraiture and macro photography. I purchased a near mint condition lens with a “replaced”motor” on eBay. Unfortunately I’m struggling with its use. It’s surprisingly noisy autofocus motor was concerning, but more importantly it’s almost impossible to lock in focus with this lens. When attempting to use this lens with autofocus, it hunts and doesn’t allow me to make an exposure. In fact, I must to use it manually until focus is close and then use the back button, which is slightly less accurate than manual. Am I missing something?

[aksclix]

@Michael R Yeup!! Sounds familiar.. it should lock in focus eventually... after the beep sound it continues to sharpen and then it stops after about 3-4 seconds 😌 this is not a good setup to shoot people with.. especially if they’re posing for you.. they’re going to be annoyed in more ways than one!! First the noise then the ridiculously slow AF.. I’ll use it for a few months and reconsider if I want to keep it or swap it out for a nice new SL lens

[tom0511]

Am 26.11.2020 um 04:27 schrieb Michael R:

S 120mm Macro on the SL2. As a partial response to what I’ve been reading I decided to add the Leica APO-MACRO-SUMMARIT-S 120mm F2.5. I was excited about a fast lens that I could use for portraiture and macro photography. I purchased a near mint condition lens with a “replaced”motor” on eBay. Unfortunately I’m struggling with its use. It’s surprisingly noisy autofocus motor was concerning, but more importantly it’s almost impossible to lock in focus with this lens. When attempting to use this lens with autofocus, it hunts and doesn’t allow me to make an exposure. In fact, I must to use it manually until focus is close and then use the back button, which is slightly less accurate than manual. Am I missing something?

The few times I used S lenses on SL they did focus slow (slower than with phase AF on the S), and AF was noisy, but they did lock. 

No comparison to a SL-lens on the SL. Thats why I do not see that much reason to not use the S-lens on a S-camera. Specially today, when you can get a S body for 3k Euro.

For still subjects and manual focus it is maybe different.

[davidmknoble]

One thing I've always loved about the SL/SL2 is the ability to use M, S and R lenses on the body.  I use the S-35 and S-45 a lot on the SL, but for landscape, so no need for fast focus.  I also use the R APO 280mm f/2.8 with the APO 1.4 and 2.0 extenders, that is fun!  The S glass on the SL is different than the SL lenses.  They are both weather sealed, and the S glass is made to look through so you get what you see rather than post processing.  Remember, Leica stopped producing vignette and distortion information on the SL lenses - because it is presumably corrected in software.  Just different from an R and S lease which was meant to be used on an optical viewfinder.  I love the 16-35 SL and 90-280 SL..

[dritz]

Help, please. I am at a crossroads with gear. I mostly use an original SL with M, R, S, and SL zoom lenses. My M10 sits in a cabinet. I sold my S007 a couple of years ago... in my love/hate relationship with it 'hate' won out; I couldn't justify the expense of owning it.

So, the SL is it. Any opinion on using the S lenses on the SL2 versus the SL2-S?

Are either the SL2 or SL2-S a viable competitor wrt file quality with the S007?

Is the S-autofocus better on either of those two cameras?  It's slooooooow on the SL601 w/lots of hunting on the 100-S and the 120-S.  Perhaps the adjustable focus profiles of the SL2 is a noticeable improvement?

Thanks.

[aksclix]

14 minutes ago, dritz said:

Help, please. I am at a crossroads with gear. I mostly use an original SL with M, R, S, and SL zoom lenses. My M10 sits in a cabinet. I sold my S007 a couple of years ago... in my love/hate relationship with it 'hate' won out; I couldn't justify the expense of owning it.

So, the SL is it. Any opinion on using the S lenses on the SL2 versus the SL2-S?

Are either the SL2 or SL2-S a viable competitor wrt file quality with the S007?

Is the S-autofocus better on either of those two cameras?  It's slooooooow on the SL601 w/lots of hunting on the 100-S and the 120-S.  Perhaps the adjustable focus profiles of the SL2 is a noticeable improvement?

Thanks.

I bought the S2 and S006 and returned them both within a week. I will get an S007 some day this year hopefully.. 

I used my SL2 with 70mm and 120mm.. 120mm was very slow to autofocus and the noise was pretty annoying too. even after locking focus the subject would continue to sharpen and then when the noise finally stops you have achieved focus   I wouldn't recommend the 120mm on SL2 if AF is going to be critical. Otherwise, it works well. The IQ is great! 
the 70mm on the other hand focuses faster and didn't notice any hunting that bothered me.. this 70mm with adapter could work out a tad cheaper than the SL 75mm f/2.. I liked the IQ of this lens but I don't have the SL 75 to compare it with.. but I am sure the SL is sharper.. 

I think the S 100mm is known to have issues with nailing focus even on the S system.. SL 90mm f/2 is a much better option compared to the S 100mm. The 180mm f/3.5 might be a good option to have for the SL2.. AF still isn't super fast.. @ropo54 has used it I believe.. maybe he could comment on it. I would've gotten it if I didn't own the 90-280 SL lens already. I suggest this because there is no native SL lens at that focal length except the 90-280 zoom which costs a lot! you might be able to get a 180 + adapter combo for around 3000-3500 if you look around.. 

Edited February 23, 2021 by aksclix

[aksclix]

but again, after having tried S lenses on SL2, I gave up and decided to get the 90-280 and have the 24-90.. will get the 21 f/2 when it comes out.. got some Panasonic and Sigma L mount lenses to cover the other focal lengths.. I would suggest the same for you..

[Stuart Richardson]

4 hours ago, dritz said:

Help, please. I am at a crossroads with gear. I mostly use an original SL with M, R, S, and SL zoom lenses. My M10 sits in a cabinet. I sold my S007 a couple of years ago... in my love/hate relationship with it 'hate' won out; I couldn't justify the expense of owning it.

So, the SL is it. Any opinion on using the S lenses on the SL2 versus the SL2-S?

Are either the SL2 or SL2-S a viable competitor wrt file quality with the S007?

Is the S-autofocus better on either of those two cameras?  It's slooooooow on the SL601 w/lots of hunting on the 100-S and the 120-S.  Perhaps the adjustable focus profiles of the SL2 is a noticeable improvement?

Thanks.

I think the SL2 vs SL2s is likely to be identical in performance in terms of AF with the S lenses, as the limitation is more likely to be the adapter and the S lenses than the bodies. But I do not have the SL2S, so I cannot give you certainty there.

The SL2 is a viable competitor. I found that I personally prefer the SL2 over both the S007 and S3, with respect to detail and color. I believe the dynamic range is higher in the S007, but I have not noticed any practical difference. The SL2 has better high ISO performance than the S3 (a bit higher grain, but it has much less banding and color contamination at the higher ISOs). I think the SL2 has extremely good files. I am particularly impressed by the clean, sharp and natural detail and beautiful color. I find that it performs very well as "human" ISOs, i.e. anything you can make a roll of film do (up to 3200 or 6400). Beyond that it still works, but is not as pleasing. If you are more interested in low light than resolution, then the SL2S will likely be the better choice, but then you lose the resolution advantage over the S007. In return, you likely get a bit better DR.  

I have not found the focusing speed to be much of an issue, and accuracy has been good, but I don't think they are really appropriate for moving targets. If you take portraits of people or landscapes, you should not have a problem. But if you have any fast movements, the lens is unlikely to keep up, particularly with the longer lenses like the 120 and 180. They remind me of the AF in the older medium format cameras like the Rollei 6008AF. Loud and slow. The rocks I photograph don't complain. But if I were trying to photograph children or pets racing around, I would likely be screaming a four letter word (S**y).

Hope this helps!

 

[BernardC]

2 hours ago, Stuart Richardson said:

the limitation is more likely to be the adapter and the S lenses than the bodies

It's the lenses. The SL lenses are optimized for fast AF. If you look at the lens diagrams, their focusing groups are usually very small and light, which means that the motors don't need to work very hard. The S lenses have bigger/heavier focusing groups, and they also have a direct mechanical link between the focus ring and the focusing elements. SL lenses use "fly by wire" focusing, where the ring tells the camera what you want to do, which is then relayed to the focus motors.

Of course, it doesn't help that the S has a much bigger battery, so it can send more power to the focus motors.

In short, don't use S lenses on an SL/SL2/SL2-S if you need fast AF. There are many other reasons why you might want to use the SL/S adapter, such as the outstanding quality and unique look of S lenses, but they are never going to focus as fast as native L-Mount lenses.

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[dritz]

Sounds like I will have to work with great particularity to take advantage of the S lenses over the native SL.  I must be chasing the "sunk cost" phenomenon since I sunk so much money in the S system over a decade.... alas! First world problem. Thank you all.

Dean