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SL2-S


nicci78

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3 hours ago, Slender said:

Makes sense however if the rectangle in the APS-C image circle for video is slightly wider than drawn above. (17:9 vs 3:2)

 

Trying to talk myself into not trading down for SL2s b/c stills are my main activity.... But big video cravings.

SL2 at 6400iso +1EV, resized and abused by compression.

 

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Love the rendering on this shot. Lens? Don't tell me its your beloved 24-90, I won't believe it. 

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3 hours ago, caissa said:

Some here mix things up - better or worse.
Mainly it depends what you need the camera for: I need a camera for iso 800 and lower. I think everybody knows now which camera is “better”. For users with these requirements the SL2-S is simply uninteresting and a useless new offer.
Others need a camera for iso 6400 and higher. Again results are clear. But even before the very first photo was shot it was clear what the result would be, which was “better”. Or not ? Is anybody really surprised ?    Then he has been asleep the last three years or so.

So the challenge is not to find out which is “best”, but where is the right place and occasion to use which camera. And to understand where are your priorities.  And again Leica is very clear in their announcements and sample photos.

It will be interesting to see which camera sells better. But unfortunately Leica will not publish numbers, so it will always remain guesswork and speculation. In other brands it is usually the less expensive model that sells better. In Leica I am not so sure about it. (Maybe the price difference is too small.)

I was told many many times by Leica representatives that the best selling camera is the Q/Q2. That's really not a hard thing to believe, I guess. 

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3 hours ago, caissa said:

At least not as loud as the amateurs using/testing Pana or Leica

I complain about the terrible AF. Not because I am an amateur/not a pro, but because if I am doing a pro job I get a pro camera and a focus puller. I don't use an SL on a film set. When I use an SL, I am a one man band, travelling, or following my kids. Usually without a focus puller 😂

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1 hour ago, Dr. G said:

This is an interesting take.  When I had my a7r iv I had two bag setups with two different lens options - a day setup where I could carry more lenses that were smaller and lighter and a night setup where I was carrying much faster glass primarily to keep the ISO down to avoid noise.  I had one lens that I used to love on the Sony - the 100mm STF that had incredible rendering when used appropriately, but with a T stop of 5.6 (even at an effective F stop of 2.8) it was pretty much unusable at night for taking photos of anything that moved or without using a tripod.  

With the SL2S and the SL2 I will not have to carry a "day" and "night" bag.  We are lucky in that our relatively small Summicron-SL lenses have incredible quality and performance.  I can easily fit the 35, 50 and 90 with the SL2 and SL2-S in a fairly small bag (Think Tank Signature 10) and have a setup that, for most general shooting situations, gives me the luxury of maintaining the highest image quality, color consistency and ergonomics/menus.  

All this being said - I'm still keeping my Canon R5-based system, too - because for critical focus tracking with moving subjects it will do better than either the SL2 or SL2-S.  Our cameras are tools and we need to choose the correct tool for the job we're doing.  Do I wish the SL2 and SL2-S had a PDAF system so I could get rid of the Canon system?  Of course.  The reality is that it doesn't.  If or when it does, I will gladly get rid of the Canon as I prefer the subtle image differences that contribute to the more pleasing look of the Leica files.  

What are your first impressions of your recently acquire SL2-S? 

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14 minutes ago, Steven said:

What are your first impressions of your recently acquire SL2-S? 

Honestly?

It's a great complement to the SL2... and both the SL2-S and SL2 are a great complement to the Canon R5.  I can foresee situations in which each camera and lens combination that I have would be the best tool for the job.

That being said, I do like it and for event shooting I'll probably take the SL2-S and my APO Summicron-SL Primes (not that I don't think zooms are great, I just don't own any of the Leica zooms) and the R5.

If I'm shooting wildlife, BIF and very fast moving subjects I'll take the R5.

If I'm going out during the day to photograph for the sake of photography, where I can slow down, use a tripod, clear my mind and just focus on composition, lighting, etc - I'll still take the SL2.  

If I'm shooting portraiture with strobes - no idea yet because I'm still trying to figure out the best way to implement the Leica system with flash/strobes.

If I only had the SL2-S would I be satisfied for 90% of what I do?  Sure.  I'm lucky in that I do have options.

I can't give you a more honest answer than that.  

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42 minutes ago, Steven said:

Looks like an M lens. Unbelievable. 

Carrying an M24-28-35-50-75-90 and everything in between. 🤓 and no fear to switche lenses. If a capable 28-75 comes with the same flavours and works for you, that will be great! Whereas I do FOMO on the SL2s a bit (for video, not stills) I certainly don't on the lens.

Allas everything Leica store here is now closed, so I can cool my head down and try to make the most of what I have for now... I always feared the editing suite, that is my biggest limitation to do video work when not for a job, actually.
 

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1 hour ago, Slender said:

Carrying an M24-28-35-50-75-90 and everything in between. 🤓 and no fear to switche lenses. If a capable 28-75 comes with the same flavours and works for you, that will be great! Whereas I do FOMO on the SL2s a bit (for video, not stills) I certainly don't on the lens.

Allas everything Leica store here is now closed, so I can cool my head down and try to make the most of what I have for now... I always feared the editing suite, that is my biggest limitation to do video work when not for a job, actually.
 

As long as you have time and patience, you can accomplish miracles in editing. 

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Video work is a lot more complicated than stills: changing lighting, audio, usually multiple cameras being used at one time - some with dollies, color match between lenses, altering focus, etc. not to mention codecs, color spaces, bit depths etc. It is hard to do this as a one person job. The editing is less expensive and easier that the other aspects. But even in editing, there is color grading, audio enhancement, audio noise reduction, etc. in addition to b-roll, layers, keeping clips organized, and so on.

If you are just compiling a wedding video, this might work well, but for more complex work, a real video camera would be preferable.

 

Edited by isleofgough
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9 hours ago, Steven said:

I complain about the terrible AF. Not because I am an amateur/not a pro, but because if I am doing a pro job I get a pro camera and a focus puller. I don't use an SL on a film set. When I use an SL, I am a one man band, travelling, or following my kids. Usually without a focus puller 😂

Focus puller on a fly by wire lens?

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5 hours ago, Radost said:

Focus puller on a fly by wire lens?

I actually shoot only M lenses for now on my SL2 😂 but I do plan to add an SL. 

And you just proved the point once more: the biggest weakness of the SL system is the horrendous AFc performance. I'm ok with the AFs for stills, but in video it's totally USELESS, and no one should ever be asked to focus manually a fly by wire lens. That's insanity. 

Although I am really looking forward to test the linear focus update, but I don't have much hope in it. Unless we could manually mark the lens like an M lens and make sure that we'd have also a visual marking as to where we are focusing ? Is it that precise ? 

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You "Could" do this if using gently applied taped paper with focus markings (from infinity to close focus and anything in between on the lens focus ring on one side, you need to mesure it however.... and the fixed part of the lens on the other acting as a fixed mark. It would look like a remote focus unit, without hard stops (so you need to reset if you exceed the limits).

If you use a hard stopping  manual follow focus unit, it can be done with the linear focus function. This last improvement is actually very very nice and feels precise for my manual focussing.

I hope it makes sense lol.... otherwise get the Sigma cine lenses :)

https://cvp.com/product/tilta-ff-t06-tiltaing-mini-follow-focus?gclid=CjwKCAiArIH_BRB2EiwALfbH1OPjmp4rSOqiZjMiIMhpRnJapn0ltUQEQnqAR88QR49JjluZt3EdphoCoGIQAvD_BwE
 

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13 hours ago, Radost said:

 

Great video. You tube compression is bad.

There is very promising shots after 1:00:05 showing no rolling shutter!

Astonishing!!!

Oh this is very interesting, I wonder what the sensor readout speed is... Can anyone please check the electronic shutter with fast moving objects?

BTW @Steven I asked yesterday if you did not buy the SL lens, because you said you only shoot M lenses on it, but somehow the post is removed....

I am interested because I am thinking of the SL2-S as a camera for my M lenses and also SL and S lenses.

Thanks

 

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42 minutes ago, Daedalus2000 said:

Oh this is very interesting, I wonder what the sensor readout speed is... Can anyone please check the electronic shutter with fast moving objects?

BTW @Steven I asked yesterday if you did not buy the SL lens, because you said you only shoot M lenses on it, but somehow the post is removed....

I am interested because I am thinking of the SL2-S as a camera for my M lenses and also SL and S lenses.

Thanks

 

I only use M lenses for now, and they perform better than on any M camera I've ever owned. They are essentially perfect. Ibis + low light of the SL2-S make my summilux some real beast. I also prefer EVF focusing a lot, considering the fact that I shoot wide open 95% of the time. And that EVF is beautiful. It's less than the A7SIII in terms of resolution, but for some reason, it's incredible compared to the sony. 

Still comparing to the sony, because this is my reference for excellency, here are my thoughts on the 4K video: 

- The sony is sharper, and the SL2-S on regular settings is a bit soft. Increasing the sharpness to +2  and a bit of extra sharpening in posts can match them, if sharp is what you're looking for. 

- The DR of the sony is better, while still very good on the Leica. 

- The rolling shutter performance is beyond what my expectations were for that camera. Absolutely incredible. 

- The colours between the sony and the Leica for video are as different as they are for stills. This means that they are much more beautiful out of camera on the Leica, and also much much more malleable in post. Seems like the bitrate of the SL2-S (double almost as the sony) is making a big difference. I am very pleased with that. 

Regarding the SL lenses, I tried the 35 cron APO and I loved it for still. Reminds me of the rendering of the Q2 which I love. I didn't buy it because it had awful AF in video and focusing manually was impossible, so I stayed for now with my M lenses, but the new linear focus update has me reconsidering it. Might purchase one this week. 

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2 hours ago, Steven said:

I only use M lenses for now, and they perform better than on any M camera I've ever owned. They are essentially perfect. Ibis + low light of the SL2-S make my summilux some real beast. I also prefer EVF focusing a lot, considering the fact that I shoot wide open 95% of the time. And that EVF is beautiful. It's less than the A7SIII in terms of resolution, but for some reason, it's incredible compared to the sony. 

Still comparing to the sony, because this is my reference for excellency, here are my thoughts on the 4K video: 

- The sony is sharper, and the SL2-S on regular settings is a bit soft. Increasing the sharpness to +2  and a bit of extra sharpening in posts can match them, if sharp is what you're looking for. 

- The DR of the sony is better, while still very good on the Leica. 

- The rolling shutter performance is beyond what my expectations were for that camera. Absolutely incredible. 

- The colours between the sony and the Leica for video are as different as they are for stills. This means that they are much more beautiful out of camera on the Leica, and also much much more malleable in post. Seems like the bitrate of the SL2-S (double almost as the sony) is making a big difference. I am very pleased with that. 

Regarding the SL lenses, I tried the 35 cron APO and I loved it for still. Reminds me of the rendering of the Q2 which I love. I didn't buy it because it had awful AF in video and focusing manually was impossible, so I stayed for now with my M lenses, but the new linear focus update has me reconsidering it. Might purchase one this week. 

Just get it - you won't regret it.  I was never a 35mm shooter, but when I look at my Lightroom library metadata I have more shots on the SL2 with the 35 APO SL than any of my other lenses - and I was always a 50mm shooter. For black and white conversions, the 35 APO is stunning.

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@Steven Hi Steven,

First I want to thank you for the first insights and info about the SL2-S. I really appreciate it.

I have one question for you since I saw you compare Leica to Sony.

I am currently a Sony user (A7III) and I am using manual focus vintage lenses only via adapter.

My plan in a future was to upgrade to a Sony A7SIII but just few days ago I saw this Leica SL2-S and I fell in love with it :)

Sony A7SIII and Leica SL2-S are in similar price range so Leica now looks to me as much more interesting camera.

Also it would not be a problem to mount any vintage lens to L mount as well.

My question is how good is focus peaking on Leica SL2-S? Is it similar as Sony?

Is Leica SL2-S good for manual focusing ?

Also how much better is image quality in video mode on Sony compared to Leica ?

Thanks in advance !

Svetozar

 

 

 

 

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