Leica S lenses on SL

[Stuart Richardson]

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I find it most useful for the 120mm and 180mm lenses. The other lenses have more practical equivalents in L mount. The 120mm APO Macro is a brilliant lens and there is no comparable Leica macro lens available in L mount, so it does a great job. It is also just as sharp as the APO Summicron line. The 180mm is not quite as sharp (at least mine isn't), but still excellent and it works really well as telephoto on the SL2.

The 70mm can work too, but I think anything shorter than 70mm is probably better done with a native lens. The 45mm is amazing, but it is twice the size and weight of the 50mm SL while being slower and not quite as sharp. Same goes for the 35mm. The difference in rendering is more pronounced in the longer lenses, I think, but even then, I think it is a matter of nuance, not a difference that is all that large in my personal opinion.

[davidmknoble]

On 2/23/2021 at 1:51 AM, 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 know this is an older post, but I wanted to chime in for history.  I traded my SL2 in for the SL2-S and even though it is a 24mp sensor, the dynamic range and color is so much better than the SL2, I have not looked back.  For landscape, the SL2-S has the same ability to create a composite still that is higher pixel count by shifting the sensor.  I was a fairly early adopter of the SL2-S and I shoot M, SL, S and R lenses on the SL2-S.  I am hoping that an S3p will come out with the same backlit sensor type that has obviously made the M11 a hit. It’s a great step up in image processing.  The SL2, IMHO, came out too flat and the contrast seemed to clinical for the sensor.  It may have been software tuning, but again, IMHO, the SL2-S has a better film feel.

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[davidmknoble]

Just adding another thought.  The M, SL, S and R lenses all render differently, even on the native cameras.  I keep saying the beauty of the SL system is the adapter.  I can choose a lens and rendering for whatever I am shooting.  I love the R lenses.  Yet, if I have to have weather sealing, I have two lens types that fit that bill.  If I want a compact travel kit, its the M10M and an SL with M lenses…. No different than at any other point, its the final product (computer screen, paper print) and the look (portrait, landscape, modern, clinical, film like) that we are after.  For me, that creative flexibility is what makes it fun.