SL2

[Roy Newport]

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Hi all, My first post so please be gentle,I bought a Q2 in the first lockdown and fell in love but finding the 28mm some what restrictive,so I’ve been saving like mad and I intend to order the SL2 next week,I sadly can’t afford a Leica lens at present so which 3rd party lens would you recommend. Many thanks Roy.

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[Nmatvrider]

Depends on what you like to photograph.  Personally, I like the Panasonic LUMIX S Pro 70-200 f4.  It works really good on the SL2.

[SrMi]

Do you want zoom or primes? Sigma has a set of excellent lightweight and inexpensive primes for L-mount. 

[Slender]

3 hours ago, Roy Newport said:

Hi all, My first post so please be gentle,I bought a Q2 in the first lockdown and fell in love but finding the 28mm some what restrictive,so I’ve been saving like mad and I intend to order the SL2 next week,I sadly can’t afford a Leica lens at present so which 3rd party lens would you recommend. Many thanks Roy.

If you have the Q2 why not save some cash and go for the SL2s? With the Leica(sigma)24-70 it saves you a bit of money and you have a low-light+video monster.... instead of having times two hi-res monster cameras... especially if you don't feed those 47mp with Leica lenses it kinda defeat the whole point of the 47mp camera, in my humble opinion.

[Roy Newport]

Thank you all for your replies,I intend to get Leica lenses as and when I can afford them ,are you saying the Sigma 85mm 1.4 the small version wouldn’t  be good enough?

[Photoworks]

40 minutes ago, Roy Newport said:

Thank you all for your replies,I intend to get Leica lenses as and when I can afford them ,are you saying the Sigma 85mm 1.4 the small version wouldn’t  be good enough?

I buy many lenses used from Leica, with a little time you get good option.

I have the sigma 85 1.4 and the 35 1.4. they are both new lenses for L month and they are excellent .

[Fgcm]

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7 hours ago, Roy Newport said:

Hi all, My first post so please be gentle,I bought a Q2 in the first lockdown and fell in love but finding the 28mm some what restrictive,so I’ve been saving like mad and I intend to order the SL2 next week,I sadly can’t afford a Leica lens at present so which 3rd party lens would you recommend. Many thanks Roy.

Hi Roy, welcome to the forum. You will love Leica cameras and lenses. The SL2 is really fantastic. I love mine. 

[Anakronox]

Depends on what you like to shoot.  The only third-party lens I have in L-mount is the Sigma Art 35mm f/1.2.  It’s big, heavy, and cumbersome.  However, it makes amazing photos wide open with a nice dreamy quality in the out-of-focus areas.  In focus elements are quite sharp and contrasty.  I wouldn’t buy it unless you want some really nice subject to background separation and shoot it wide open.  Sigma I believe also just announced another 35mm f/1.4 in L-mount as well that’s a good deal smaller. There aren’t any real dogs of lenses from Sigma or Panasonic at this point.

Edited June 12, 2021 by Anakronox

[caissa]

For a cheap and still very useful starter the Sigma 2.8/45 mm is not bad. But in the long run the Pana 1.8/50 mm is probably even better. It will be offered beginning next month.

With a 50mm it is hard for you to make a real mistake.

And by the way, Sigma and Pana are not third party. They are an original part of the alliance. And with time even the slow thinking will start to understand this.

Edited June 13, 2021 by caissa

[Stuart Richardson]

If I were in your position, I would stick with the SL2 because you love your Q2, and they share the same sensor and many of the same characteristics. The SL2 has excellent color and extremely good sharpness. It is one of the best sensors I have used. Regarding lenses, if it were me and I were constrained a bit by the budget, I would get 2-3 lenses from Sigma. The first would be the 35mm f2 DG DN Contemporary, as it is a very good lens at a very reasonable price, and it handles very well on the body. I have this lens and can vouch for its performance. It may not be as good as the 35mm APO Summicron, but it is very good, nonetheless.

The next lens I would get would be the 65mm f2 DG DN Contemporary. It is from the same lens line, and I think 65mm, while a bit of a non-standard format, winds up being a very useful and effective focal length, especially on a high resolution body. Given the ability to crop with the SL2, you can crop fairly effectively from 35mm to 40 or 50mm, and with the 65mm you can either use it as a long standard lens, or crop in more as a short telephoto. Again, this is a very sharp lens with nice bokeh and a very reasonable price, one which operates natively on the body and has AF. If you wanted to round out the selection, the 24mm Sigma DG DN is very inexpensive and extremely good for the price. Another option would be to get a telephoto zoom, but I personally steer away from them due to their large size and weight and inferior optical performance as compared to primes of similar vintage and price.

At B&H, the 35mm and 65mm together cost 1340 dollars plus tax, which is rather remarkable in comparison to the Leica equivalent, which would set you back 10,600 plus tax. I think it is fair to say that not so many people would see a 9260 dollar difference in their performance. Nevertheless, I am not saying that the Leicas are not worth paying for, only that they are only worth it for people who truly need or want the extra bump in performance at the extremes and are willing to pay very large sums to achieve it.

If you are not totally convinced by a 65mm, consider that many many photographers have used 210mm lenses as standard on 4x5, which works out to be around 63mm. It is a very natural looking focal length.

 

[Fgcm]

+1

The 35 and the 65 on a 47Mp sensor are the right choice.

You will decide what’s right for you.
I love the APO 90 SL, but I use the tiny Elmarit when I need a 28.

Having only SL APO is neither mandatory, nor necessary 😉

[Slender]

On 6/13/2021 at 5:07 PM, Stuart Richardson said:

If you are not totally convinced by a 65mm, consider that many many photographers have used 210mm lenses as standard on 4x5, which works out to be around 63mm. It is a very natural looking focal length.

 

+1 and Salgado (or Eric Valli) also using their Leica 60mm Elmarit R Macro a lot for people shots...

[cheekz4dayz]

If I were you I'd probably get the sigma 45 since it's cheap and long term won't overlap with any of the Leica primes since that's one of your long term goals. I haven't used it, but a lot of people on here and YouTube love the lens. The barrier to entry is also not too high so I think it's worth consideration

[chris_tribble]

+1