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My foray into L Mount


jdlaing

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So I thought I’d try an L Mount camera and a few L mount lenses for a while.

I have been a Leica M shooter for many years. I put the M in the box and on the shelf for a while.

I got a Lumix S1R and a couple of lenses and must say I’m quite pleased with the outcome. The body is bigger and heavier but not that much. It’s a well built body and laid out well for buttons. There are a lot of buttons. The menu system is easy to navigate and the camera is easy to set up. There are lot of settings and features I probably won’t use because I keep it simple. The lenses however are larger than I like with the exception of a few Sigma Contemporary and these are quite nice.

I can use my M lenses on it quite readily and that is a bonus and quite pleasurable. One thing I can’t figure out is how the camera knows what focal length M lens is mounted as I am using a dumb adapter and not the Leica version. There is no six bit read by the camera. The focus peaking is good and as fast as I need. Being able to move the focus point with a joystick is nice. I don’t see myself using the touchscreen much at all. With a 35mm Summilux mounted it’s not a very big package at all. The EVF is very good but my preference is still an OVF.

One thing that was noticeable to me was the raw files and the jpeg files out of the camera are very close. I was surprised by this. Panasonic doesn’t overwork the jpegs. The files are large but memory and storage are fairly inexpensive. I’ll see how nice they print.

More later.....

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  • 3 weeks later...

With a dumb adapter there is no lens information communicated to the camera. With the Leica M adapter it will show only the lens focal length as information. This is not good enough for your Image Stabilization to work. It must know what lens focal length you are using to work properly and the Leica adapter does not inform the image stabilizer of this info.. 

This can be set in the menu;    Go Photo 1,   2; Camera image second from the bottom, 3 Image Stabilization (Click on that and you will see Focal Length Set at bottom. 

After this is set any time you mount a manual focus lens a message will show when you turn the camera. It will show your last lens setting. You came change this easily if the lens is different.

This works very well. Yet having the Leica adapter means you still have to see the Focal Length this way.  I have found that with the IBIS I can get great results with a 100 mm lens at as low a shutter speed as 1 sec, hand held. It helps to use the neck strap, push on the camera for added stability, and you can get really good results.  It is an amazing camera and works very well with manual focus lens generally. The small M lens such as my 28 Summicron, not as well, but with the 50 /2 and everything longer it works well. 

I have brought out my old Contax Yashica Zeiss lens which all work very exceptionally well, and I prefer the wt and handling of these to the M lens. I have the C/Y 21 Distagon, the 28 2.8 Distagon, the 50 1.7 Planar, and the 100 /2 Planar.  I am going to find a C/Y 85 2.8 Sonnar. The combined weight of the 28, 50 and 85 2.8 will still be less than ons SL Summicron. The results, with the possible exception of shooting wide open, will be comparable above F8 - F11, which is where I shoot most of the time. I love these C/Y lens. I assumed that being older they would not work on the larger sensor, but they still work great.

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I have a dumb adapter and when I mount an Uncoded M lens the camera knows the focal length of the last lens set and a message pops up asking me if I want to change it or not. No need to go to,the menu. If I click yes it lets me change it right then and there.

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On 3/19/2021 at 11:18 PM, jdlaing said:

I have a dumb adapter and when I mount an Uncoded M lens the camera knows the focal length of the last lens set and a message pops up asking me if I want to change it or not. No need to go to,the menu. If I click yes it lets me change it right then and there.

That may be because the camera remembers the last (adapted) lens you set while you put one the same. So does the SL(601). Put on another lens and then you change.

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1 hour ago, vanhulsenbeek said:

That may be because the camera remembers the last (adapted) lens you set while you put one the same. So does the SL(601). Put on another lens and then you change.

Agreed.

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Am 19.3.2021 um 23:18 schrieb jdlaing:

I have a dumb adapter and when I mount an Uncoded M lens the camera knows the focal length of the last lens set and a message pops up asking me if I want to change it or not. No need to go to,the menu. If I click yes it lets me change it right then and there.

Sorry to resurrect the old thread. Whenever I turn on my S1R with a dumb adaptor on it and a mounted Noctilux this message pops up and gets annoying after a while. Can I disable the message somehow?

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26 minutes ago, 01maciel said:

Sorry to resurrect the old thread. Whenever I turn on my S1R with a dumb adaptor on it and a mounted Noctilux this message pops up and gets annoying after a while. Can I disable the message somehow?

Not that I am aware of. I’ll see later today if it can be switched. I kind of like that idea.

I think it is because there are no contacts and when the camera is switched on it has no idea if you changed lenses or not.

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On 10/18/2021 at 9:44 AM, 01maciel said:

Sorry to resurrect the old thread. Whenever I turn on my S1R with a dumb adaptor on it and a mounted Noctilux this message pops up and gets annoying after a while. Can I disable the message somehow?

Nope. Not that I can find. I dug into it and looks we’re stuck with that.

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Gerade eben schrieb jdlaing:

Nope. Not that I can find. I dug into it and looks we’re stuck with that.

I had a look into the manual and the setting of the camera today. It is exactly what I found out too. The message stays in the EVF or monitor when I turn on the camera. That's what I refer to a bad user experience. OK, the rest of the camera isn't too bad;)

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Just now, 01maciel said:

I had a look into the manual and the setting of the camera today. It is exactly what I found out too. The message stays in the EVF or monitor when I turn on the camera. That's what I refer to a bad user experience. OK, the rest of the camera isn't too bad;)

I can see where it is useful for in camera lens corrections if that’s what a user wants. 
 

Something else I noted you can try:  While having the camera turned on and up to your eye……….press the lens release button and watch what happens. 

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vor 17 Stunden schrieb jdlaing:

press the lens release button and watch what happens. 

Yes, that's what I do all the time, the message disappears. Luckily the "No"-Button is selected by default.

One more question re the S1R: do you know the file number of the very first photo you did? By default it starts with P10*.RW2|JPG. My first filename was P1023960.RW2. I am wondering whether my camera has already been used before.

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3 hours ago, 01maciel said:

Yes, that's what I do all the time, the message disappears. Luckily the "No"-Button is selected by default.

One more question re the S1R: do you know the file number of the very first photo you did? By default it starts with P10*.RW2|JPG. My first filename was P1023960.RW2. I am wondering whether my camera has already been used before.

I’ll try and find it.

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