Leica gear for media coverage revisited - LONG READ

[hansvons]

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I pulled the trigger and got myself an SL2s. Together with the body and a couple of batteries, I ordered an Elmarit 24-90 SL. I've only been playing with the camera for just a day, but I can already say this:

1. The lens is outstanding and optically in the realm of good cinema glass. It's plenty sharp open rose. The bokeh is dreamy but not busy, and the bokeh's disks don't show CA or any other distracting artefact such as fringes. The contrast in out of focus areas drops a tad, giving the remarkable contrasty and sharp foreground a nice backdrop that pays into a pleasing dimensionality. I feared that F2.8 to F 4 will be kind of disappointing, but it indeed is not. The lens hardly breathes when pulling focus and seems to be parfocal, at least to a usable extend. Of course, the lens is heavy; there's no free lunch. But the large body with its big handgrip helps to handle the heft of the lens. But due to its sympathetic personality, it feels like the Elmarit won't come off this body anytime soon.

2. I'm not commenting about the SL2s virtues in terms of build quality and design, but Leica's EVF deserves an extra shout-out. It is a joy to look through and even rivals the best cinema stand-alone EVFs, which cost more than the SL2s. The soon coming LUTs for the EVF are a vital addition when filming in log.

3. The AF is poor, full stop. (But it's ok-ish in stills mode. And in video mode, I'm focusing manually anyway. But there are times when a great AF like Canon provides even in their cinema line could come in handy.)

4. Colour. This should be on top of the list if the 24-90 wasn't so outstanding. The SL2s colour is close to what I'm used from the Alexa. Skintones are fabulous in terms of liveliness, beauty and originality. There's no equalising of skin tones to make everyone look healthy (I'm talking to you, Canon). Like Arri, Leica managed to not follow 'right' or 'true' colours in an engineering sense, like matching the environment perfectly but striving for photographic beauty. The blue sky has that little, little tint towards cyan which also is true for the greens. That adds a tad of classiness and complements skin tones perfectly. 

5. Contrast in video. This is a topic which can leave people in the cold. I skip the Rec709 gammas such as Neutral or Standard and focus on HLG and L-Log. HLG is a video gamma curve for HDR video. It's meant to be contrasty enough for SDR application such as HD-video but has a logarithmic headroom for extended colour spaces such as Rec 2020 (hence its name hybrid log gamma). But being a video gamma, information is thrown away. That has disadvantages in the postproduction process, especially in grading. There's a reason why Arri's preferred gamma curve is log-C which resembles more of a film negative. Other manufactures such as Sony or Canon provide in their top tier product similar curves. Leica's L-Log belongs somewhat to the same breed, BUT there's a big obstacle that has to be avoided: Being a YUV 422 codec as opposed to Arri's ProRes444 RGB codec, the Leica files have a great chance to get incidentally loaded into postproduction applications with limited YUY-headroom (studio swing). It is mandatory to ingest these files with full YUV-headroom enabled. If done correctly, Arri Luts and Arri Log_C IDTs in ACES work nicely and deliver superb colour and contrast. I haven't tried the Leica LUTs yet. Will do that in the next days.

6. Texture and ISO. The base ISO (or should I say base ASA; thanks for the cinema mode, Leica) of most modern cinema cameras sits somewhere at ISO 800. Considering that the SL2s uses a current 24p sensor, I dialled in ISO 800 for my initial tests. For stills, I use Capture One. Capture One, by default, applies a certain amount of noise reduction, which I dialled down to 0. That way, I obtained a nice texture (I won't call it grain, but it's close). I was pleased to see in video that the Mp4 codec leaves plenty of texture alive and makes filmic video footage possible, right out of the box. I will run a few more tests, but for now, I figure that ISO 800 is the sweet spot for the SL2s if lively, almost analogue, but in now ways noisy, pictures are desired. 

7. DR and such. Like any other camera in this price range today, the SL2s provides tons of dynamic range. I don't know whether the 14 stops are accurate, but to me, they look plausible. In SDR video, and with the HGL gamma curve to a certain extend, the DR is considerably less but seems to be fully accessible in L-log.

8. Codec. The 400Mbps All-I codec is ok but not great. The footage is gradable but falls apart much sooner than Alexa ProRes footage, for instance. More bandwidth with in-camera recording would be a welcome addition. I'm curious how the coming upgrade will pan out regarding the h265 implementation.

Ok. More to come, I guess.

Edited March 5, 2021 by hansvons

[Slender]

Nice to see the 24-90 can get some love, too! It is epic what this (((zooom))) lens can do.

Interesting that you noticed a suspicion of breathing whereas I almost did not... it is incredible in that regard I believe thanks to the single focusing lens element.

My copy is definitively NOT parfocal, but not a bit obstacle for what I do (I dont really like focal "zooms-in" during a take, but thats just me)... I consider and use this zoom as a "vario-prime" system

The comparison to an alexa, the cheaper of which costs around 45 000 pounds, is somewhat unfair... One shouldn't expect a camera priced for less than an Alexa Mini EVF alone (6900 pounds) to behave as robustly for post-production.... the same way you should'nt expect to be able to handheld an Alexa (even mini) the way you can an SL2s, take it to tight corners or intimate moment and leave it hang around your neck when you are done.... and grab a high quality DNG picture with it the next second 😎

Edited March 6, 2021 by Slender

[Svetozar]

23 hours ago, hansvons said:

I pulled the trigger and got myself an SL2s. Together with the body and a couple of batteries, I ordered an Elmarit 24-90 SL. I've only been playing with the camera for just a day, but I can already say this:

1. The lens is outstanding and optically in the realm of good cinema glass. It's plenty sharp open rose. The bokeh is dreamy but not busy, and the bokeh's disks don't show CA or any other distracting artefact such as fringes. The contrast in out of focus areas drops a tad, giving the remarkable contrasty and sharp foreground a nice backdrop that pays into a pleasing dimensionality. I feared that F2.8 to F 4 will be kind of disappointing, but it indeed is not. The lens hardly breathes when pulling focus and seems to be parfocal, at least to a usable extend. Of course, the lens is heavy; there's no free lunch. But the large body with its big handgrip helps to handle the heft of the lens. But due to its sympathetic personality, it feels like the Elmarit won't come off this body anytime soon.

2. I'm not commenting about the SL2s virtues in terms of build quality and design, but Leica's EVF deserves an extra shout-out. It is a joy to look through and even rivals the best cinema stand-alone EVFs, which cost more than the SL2s. The soon coming LUTs for the EVF are a vital addition when filming in log.

3. The AF is poor, full stop. (But it's ok-ish in stills mode. And in video mode, I'm focusing manually anyway. But there are times when a great AF like Canon provides even in their cinema line could come in handy.)

4. Colour. This should be on top of the list if the 24-90 wasn't so outstanding. The SL2s colour is close to what I'm used from the Alexa. Skintones are fabulous in terms of liveliness, beauty and originality. There's no equalising of skin tones to make everyone look healthy (I'm talking to you, Canon). Like Arri, Leica managed to not follow 'right' or 'true' colours in an engineering sense, like matching the environment perfectly but striving for photographic beauty. The blue sky has that little, little tint towards cyan which also is true for the greens. That adds a tad of classiness and complements skin tones perfectly. 

5. Contrast in video. This is a topic which can leave people in the cold. I skip the Rec709 gammas such as Neutral or Standard and focus on HLG and L-Log. HLG is a video gamma curve for HDR video. It's meant to be contrasty enough for SDR application such as HD-video but has a logarithmic headroom for extended colour spaces such as Rec 2020 (hence its name hybrid log gamma). But being a video gamma, information is thrown away. That has disadvantages in the postproduction process, especially in grading. There's a reason why Arri's preferred gamma curve is log-C which resembles more of a film negative. Other manufactures such as Sony or Canon provide in their top tier product similar curves. Leica's L-Log belongs somewhat to the same breed, BUT there's a big obstacle that has to be avoided: Being a YUV 422 codec as opposed to Arri's ProRes444 RGB codec, the Leica files have a great chance to get incidentally loaded into postproduction applications with limited YUY-headroom (studio swing). It is mandatory to ingest these files with full YUV-headroom enabled. If done correctly, Arri Luts and Arri Log_C IDTs in ACES work nicely and deliver superb colour and contrast. I haven't tried the Leica LUTs yet. Will do that in the next days.

6. Texture and ISO. The base ISO (or should I say base ASA; thanks for the cinema mode, Leica) of most modern cinema cameras sits somewhere at ISO 800. Considering that the SL2s uses a current 24p sensor, I dialled in ISO 800 for my initial tests. For stills, I use Capture One. Capture One, by default, applies a certain amount of noise reduction, which I dialled down to 0. That way, I obtained a nice texture (I won't call it grain, but it's close). I was pleased to see in video that the Mp4 codec leaves plenty of texture alive and makes filmic video footage possible, right out of the box. I will run a few more tests, but for now, I figure that ISO 800 is the sweet spot for the SL2s if lively, almost analogue, but in now ways noisy, pictures are desired. 

7. DR and such. Like any other camera in this price range today, the SL2s provides tons of dynamic range. I don't know whether the 14 stops are accurate, but to me, they look plausible. In SDR video, and with the HGL gamma curve to a certain extend, the DR is considerably less but seems to be fully accessible in L-log.

8. Codec. The 400Mbps All-I codec is ok but not great. The footage is gradable but falls apart much sooner than Alexa ProRes footage, for instance. More bandwidth with in-camera recording would be a welcome addition. I'm curious how the coming upgrade will pan out regarding the h265 implementation.

Ok. More to come, I guess.

Wow very interesting review of the video capabilities. Thank you for that ! Obviously from someone who is from video world. Looking forward to hear more from you about video capabilities since I am very interested in this topic. Also how it is for manual focusing ? Does it have some zoom-in options while focusing ?

[Slender]

You can zoom in (auto or manual) whilst manual focusing, but not during a take recording. Use the atomos or an external monitor "punch-in" function for this during a take if you absolutely need this.

[Photoworks]

Yep, No. It is not parfocal. it is way off.

The Panasonic lenses do much better job on that

[hansvons]

Regarding the Elmarit 24-90. It's not parfocal. But it breathes so little that it's practically in the realm of good cine glass. But even more impressive is how Leica controls CA on this lens. In this regard, it's top tier cine glass performance. I absolutely agree with Slender's sentiment that the Elmarit should be seen more as a variable prime than a zoom lens when used in video-land.

The specs, slightly underwhelming with a f4 at 90mm, are when it comes to video and film a non-issue. With the FF sensor, the DOF is similar to what one would typically experience when shooting on S35mm with a T 2.2 -3.0 lens what most DOPs would call for a zoom lens more than usable. Less DOF on a film shoot is rarely desirable. Chance are high that the whole storytelling ends up in a wishy-washy blurry bokeh galore (and the bokeh is beautiful on that lens!).

---

@Svetozar: On the SL-2s, there's the option for an automatic punch-in function for better focus evaluation when turning the focus wheel in manual focus mode. But there's also the option to assign for focus check the punch-in functionality on one of the FN buttons. Also, manual focusing works nicely despite being a fly-by-wire focus system on the 24-90. How the fly-by-wire system works in terms of focus throw and speed can be adjusted in the menu.

---

I've test-driven the SL2s with an Atomos Ninja on the latest firmware and can't find any inconsistencies between internal and external recording on the Atomos using the L-Log function of the Atomos on the footage. I didn't pull a difference-key, but the difference can only be seen when 200% magnified. But the internal codec isn't too bad. On the contrary, it exhibits an interesting, in no ways distracting subtle texture and thus is less clean compared to the Atomos' ProRes422HQ. I find it very useful for hybrid projects where photos and video are of equal importance, and an attached Atomos would be too distracting.

---

The official Leica LUTs are very useful and allow for very nice colour and contrast in Rec709 and Rec2020 colour spaces with L-Log (prefer the Classic flavour). As of now, there isn't a viable ACES option available other than Arri Log-C yet (which requires counterintuitive underexposing and still isn't convincing as the original Leica colours with the Leica LUTs). But as it seems, like Leica is taking video more serious, which means on the back end a reliable ACES workflow.

I will conduct more tests in the upcoming days, especially checking colour shifts when underexposing. I'll post the results. 

 

 

Edited March 7, 2021 by hansvons

[hansvons]

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Because the thread's title is media coverage, which includes stills, I like to comment on this one briefly from my experience and taste.

As it seems from the outside, the 24 MP sensor looks crippled when measured with today's higher resolution options in digital photography. And, indeed, 24MP are not the best foundation for hyper resolving prints. For me, at least, at ISO800 and all noise reduction and sharpening turned off in Capture One, the SL2s exhibits a natural noise and analogue sharpness that looks in B&W incredible convincing. I've never experienced anything comparable elsewhere. I'm tempted to see B&W pictures printed in large formats with all the texture and flaws.

Edited March 7, 2021 by hansvons

[Svetozar]

2 hours ago, hansvons said:

Regarding the Elmarit 24-90. It's not parfocal. But it breathes so little that it's practically in the realm of good cine glass. But even more impressive is how Leica controls CA on this lens. In this regard, it's top tier cine glass performance. I absolutely agree with Slender's sentiment that the Elmarit should be seen more as a variable prime than a zoom lens when used in video-land.

The specs, slightly underwhelming with a f4 at 90mm, are when it comes to video and film a non-issue. With the FF sensor, the DOF is similar to what one would typically experience when shooting on S35mm with a T 2.2 -3.0 lens what most DOPs would call for a zoom lens more than usable. Less DOF on a film shoot is rarely desirable. Chance are high that the whole storytelling ends up in a wishy-washy blurry bokeh galore (and the bokeh is beautiful on that lens!).

---

@Svetozar: On the SL-2s, there's the option for an automatic punch-in function for better focus evaluation when turning the focus wheel in manual focus mode. But there's also the option to assign for focus check the punch-in functionality on one of the FN buttons. Also, manual focusing works nicely despite being a fly-by-wire focus system on the 24-90. How the fly-by-wire system works in terms of focus throw and speed can be adjusted in the menu.

---

I've test-driven the SL2s with an Atomos Ninja on the latest firmware and can't find any inconsistencies between internal and external recording on the Atomos using the L-Log function of the Atomos on the footage. I didn't pull a difference-key, but the difference can only be seen when 200% magnified. But the internal codec isn't too bad. On the contrary, it exhibits an interesting, in no ways distracting subtle texture and thus is less clean compared to the Atomos' ProRes422HQ. I find it very useful for hybrid projects where photos and video are of equal importance, and an attached Atomos would be too distracting.

---

The official Leica LUTs are very useful and allow for very nice colour and contrast in Rec709 and Rec2020 colour spaces with L-Log (prefer the Classic flavour). As of now, there isn't a viable ACES option available other than Arri Log-C yet (which requires counterintuitive underexposing and still isn't convincing as the original Leica colours with the Leica LUTs). But as it seems, like Leica is taking video more serious, which means on the back end a reliable ACES workflow.

I will conduct more tests in the upcoming days, especially checking colour shifts when underexposing. I'll post the results. 

 

 

@hansvons Thanks a lot for the reply. I appreciate it ! Looking forward to get SL2-S

[Slender]

Regarding bandwith, recording with an Atomos in ProResHQ and looking at the footage specs in Kyno reveals that in the 400mbps mode, on the Atomos it goes as high as 750mbps.... would you think that could contribute to more robust files in post?

Would converting internal footage from the SD card into ProRes with Kyno or soemthing else in post help to this? (I would assume not).

Consequently if you want to shoot 60fps in 4K (fun side note: you can do this in Full Frame with SL2 but no SL2s as of today)... mbps rates goes up to 1750mbps on the Atomos in 422 10 bits.... whereas it would only be 200mbps 420 8bits (no log) in camera.

Said it many times elsewhere but looking at the SL2 5k mode (long gop 420 10bits) in Kyno also reveals it is HEVC h265 (pixel to pixel also...)... so I guess that will naturally come if Leica decides to for the other camera and modes.

[hansvons]

With the SL2s, the interesting question is: will the upcoming firmware update leverage the HEVC 265 technology for increased fidelity or rather for reduced bandwidth. The latter is already covered with the Long-GOP options, IMO. The downside of h265 is the required heavy lifting when decoding. You can’t edit meaningfully with h265; thus, it must be transcoded to - ProRes. If a monitor is used anyway, the Atomos will be still the favourable recording device. 

[hansvons]

Below a video that shows how the Leica SL2s’ colour behaves when the shots get underexposed.

This test gives a clear idea of how the sensor and colour science behave in colour correction when the footage or part’s of the footage are underexposed. The more colour consistent the footage is, the better are the grading process’s results even when considerably underexposed. To be clear, this isn’t a lowlight or ISO test, but it shows the robustness of the camera’s colour behaviour.

The SL2s sensor and Leica’s colour science are not on par with what Arris can pull off in colour consistency when underexposing but belongs to the best cameras I’ve tested so far, including the top tier cinema cameras of Red, Sony and Canon. All shots have been exposed with the manufacturer-proposed ISO400 and the daylight preset. No WB has been done; only the levels are matched.

The Leica keeps colour fairly consistent until 3 stops underexposure. From there on, colour inconsistencies kick in, albeit not bad at all. I’ve seen much worse in the competition. All in all, I’d give The SL2s 4 out of 5 stars in underexposure consistency when the Alexa leads with 5 stars.

 

[hansvons]

Below a test of the white's roll-off.

I’ve asked my daughter for a few minutes to shoot a couple of frames in the low winterly sun with warm lights and cool shadows. The footage is shot against the sun and showcases how the SL2s roll-off in the whites looks. The footage has been ingested in Rec2020 colour space with the the respective Leica LUT Classic Rec2020 and exported as a Rec709 HD file. I only adjusted contrast and recovered the highlights, no further grading. For some reason, Vimeo dropped the saturation a tad. 

I find the Leica’s roll-off pretty filmic, gentle and not video-ish at all. It’s also worth noting that no CA is visible anywhere. Such shots are ideal for showcasing tons of CA. An incredible performance of the Elmarit 24-90. (I’m starting to become a Leica fanboy.)

 

Edited March 8, 2021 by hansvons