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Leica SL + R Lenses


Cods

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Hi

Anyone have experience from the lenses below. I plan to use them on a Leica SL.

Would be great to get some feedback about them.

Leica 21mm F/4 Super Angulon R  

Leica 180mm F/4 Apo Telyt R

Leica 100mm F2.8 Apo-Macro-Elmarit R

Thanks!

Daniel

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I have used the the App-Macro-Elmarit R 100/2.8 on the SL with R-Adapter L. It continues to be an excellent lens. The focus throw is very long because of the close focusing range. I also have the Macro-Elmarit-R 60/2.8 and it is a very handy lens with a very good image quality. It goes from infinity to 1:2 scale, with Macro-Adapter-R to 1:1. I haven't used the other two. I can tell the Apo-Elmarit-R 180/2.8 is a brilliant lens, though. It balances very nicely on the SL and the focusing is super smooth and easy with the EVF. 

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On 4/18/2021 at 7:30 AM, Cods said:

Hi

Anyone have experience from the lenses below. I plan to use them on a Leica SL.

Would be great to get some feedback about them.

Leica 21mm F/4 Super Angulon R  

Leica 180mm F/4 Apo Telyt R

Leica 100mm F2.8 Apo-Macro-Elmarit R

Thanks!

Daniel

I use 21 and 100 on a Leica TL.

21/4 has a strong CA when I shoot highly contrast images. It is very good in all other situations (but Leica TL takes only the central part of the image - about 32 mm equivalent).

100/2.8 is perfect (again it is like 150 mm on a TL). Absolutely no CA, high resolving power, high contast, and VERY BRILLIANT COLORS!

Fernando.

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On 4/18/2021 at 7:30 AM, Cods said:

Leica 180mm F/4 Apo Telyt R

I guess you mean the 180 F/3.4 Apo Telyt R ?  There is a 180 F/4 but that is an Elmar and not Apochromatic corrected.

I have the 180 and the 100 for my SL2.  The 180 is a very fine medium tele lens.  Considering  it is designed almost half a century ago it offers superb performance with high contrast images at max aperture.  The only drawback is the fairly long close focus distance of 2.5 meter.  So this is not a tele lens you can use for closeups.

The 100 on the other hand is THE reference macro lens.  You can't go wrong here.  

I do not have experience with the 21 R lens, but if you want an excellent very wide lens on the SL consider the 18 F3.8 ASPH  Super Elmar M.  This is an excellent M lens.  You will need another adapter however.

Good luck !

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The 21/4 is really not in the same league as the 180/3.4 APO and the 100/2.8 APO. The 19/2.8 version II would be in the same league, and the 24/2.8 is also a nice lens, though not quite as good as the stellar 19/2.8 vII.

Andy

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I have also used the APO 280mm f/2.8 on the SL, with both the APO 1.4x and 2.0x extenders on the SL system and it is incredible.  Easy to focus with focus peaking.  Not sure about the wides and make sure the 21mm can be mounted safely on the SL.  Some of those old wides extend pretty deep...

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  • 2 months later...
On 4/17/2021 at 10:30 PM, Cods said:

Hi

Anyone have experience from the lenses below. I plan to use them on a Leica SL.

Would be great to get some feedback about them.

Leica 21mm F/4 Super Angulon R  

Leica 180mm F/4 Apo Telyt R

Leica 100mm F2.8 Apo-Macro-Elmarit R

Thanks!

Daniel

When I had the SL, I used R lenses most of the time. I didn't have those three specific ones ... but I never ran into any significant mechanical or imaging issues with any of the ones I used. That includes: 

  • Super Elmar-R 15mm f/3.5
  • Elmarit-R 19mm f/2.8
  • Elmarit-R 28mm f/2.8
  • Summicron-R 35mm f/2
  • Summicron-R 50mm f/2
  • Summilux-R 50mm f/1.4
  • Macro-Elmarit-R 60mm f/2.8
  • Summicron-R 90mm f/2
  • Macro-Elmar-R 100mm f/4 (bellows mount)
  • Elmarit-R 135mm f/2.8
  • Elmar-R 180mm f/4 (with and without 2x Extender-R)

Leica's lens profiles provided some subtle but always good small corrections, mostly visible with the sub-50mm focal lengths (but noticeable with the Macro-Elmarit-R 60mm as well). I can't imagine that your 21, 180, or 100mm Macro would do poorly. :)

G

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On 4/18/2021 at 6:30 AM, Cods said:

Anyone have experience from the lenses below. I plan to use them on a Leica SL.

Similarly, I haven't used some of the same lenses you've nominated, but if it helps, I had no problem with any of the following and many are stellar or considered best-in-class:

  • 280/4 APO-Telyt-R
  • 80-200/4 Vario-Elmar-R
  • 28-90/2.8-4.5 Vario-Elmarit-R asph
  • 100/2.8 APO-Macro-Elmarit-R
  • 90/2 APO-Summicron-R asph
  • 90/2.8 Elmarit-R v2
  • 80/1.4 Summilux-R
  • 60/2.8 Macro-Elmarit-R
  • 50/2 Summicron v2
  • 28/2.8 Elmarit v1
  • 19/2.8 Elmarit-R v2

Pete.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Another SL user here that uses mainly R lenses. Even with the 2x and 1.4x stacked, I have had no bad experiences using R lenses.

You will find most SL or SL2 users fall into one of two camps, those that will only buy and use the new SL lenses for all the benefits they offer and those of us that see no reason to discard what were the best 35mm film lenses just because we are shooting digital. The SL2 with it's higher pixel count may benefit from the new SL lenses. But the images look more sterile and clinical to me.

I don't see any deficiencies in the R lenses that make them a poor choice for the SL. I have photos of bees flying, shot with my SL and a zoom. Fantastic images, even some with stopped wings in flight. Clarity, color, depth of field, all wonderful. Look at the SL image thread, there are closeup shots of dragon flies, gorgeous landscape images, birds, (thighslapper posted one of baby owls nesting shot from half a football field away), cars, buildings, and of course portraits. 

Some of us prefer the manual controls with the SLR/mirrorless experience vs manual through a rangefinder, or vs full auto just point and shoot and let the computers hand focus, aperture, shutter speed, exposure, etc.

I liken the use of R lenses on my SL as driving my 6 speed Porsche compared to the fully auto SL2 being like riding in the passenger seat of a Mercedes E class.....

Edited by Brian C in Az
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I will confess that I not only use R glass on my SL2, but I also use the SL 16-35 an SL 90-280.  The advantage is that both of those lenses are weather sealed and I shoot on the coast a lot.  So, if the weather or wind is questionable, I’ll use those lenses.  Also, if I really need insane edge to edge sharpness for a large format image print, I’ll use those lenses.

That said, the character of the R lenses is great on the SL2.  I’m not sure which is my favorite, although it is probably a toss up between the 60 Macro f/2.8 and the 90 Elmarit V2 f/2.8 (which I also have in the M glass and use on M’s).  I love the color of the R Sumicron 50 V2.  And I love the color and sharpness of the R 28-90 Vario.  

I use my R glass on the SL2, but also with various Ilford films on a Leica R6.2, R8 and R9.  Really versatile.

But, finding new glass is getting tough.  I recently picked up an R 28mm Elmarit V1 f/2.8 with a ROM and leather case.  Already had the sunshade.  I would say, remain picky about the R glass you want, and just look, every day.  One will pop up eventually.,

Edited by davidmknoble
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