CL and M lens experiences

[rsolomon]

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I’m currently an M240 user with 21 SEM , 35 Cron , 75 Cron. I’m considering acquiring a CL , especially if the CL-2 comes out. I feel this gives me the option of L lenses with all their benefits as well as my M lenses and their fun and benefits. 

Can anyone speak to the M experience on the CL?  ….and with the lenses mentioned above 

thx in advance

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[M.piras]

Hi, i think you can find a lot of CL+M experienced spread on the forum, also CL is a perfect completion to the owner of M. I use them both regularly and can assure it’s like water & wine, you must taste both to appreciate the other one (even off sometimes need more and more and more sips to be sure….) 

[jaapv]

 

[Ray Vonn]

1 hour ago, rsolomon said:

I’m currently an M240 user with 21 SEM , 35 Cron , 75 Cron. I’m considering acquiring a CL , especially if the CL-2 comes out. I feel this gives me the option of L lenses with all their benefits as well as my M lenses and their fun and benefits. 

Can anyone speak to the M experience on the CL?  ….and with the lenses mentioned above 

thx in advance

@jaapv kindly referred you to a thread I started in much the same spirit. My views seem to align with yours. I mean people talk of the transition from M to CL as almost seamless, but it surely can’t be that straightforward right? (No RF patch etc). That thread gives some good evidence in terms of image output.

[wda]

Focusing on the CL with M-lenses is a new and positive experience. As you would expect, each lens handles differently, but positively. In fact, I find it quicker and more accurate to focus my M lenses on my CL than I do on a rangefinder body, which can quickly go out of alignment if mishandled. Magnification and focus peaking are great aids.

[rsolomon]

Thx all. I suppose focus is similar to M240 with EVF-2 ? I do own and use for my 75 cron, truth for me is it increases my focus hit rate substantially.

[Guest]

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13 hours ago, Ray Vonn said:

I mean people talk of the transition from M to CL as almost seamless, but it surely can’t be that straightforward right? (No RF patch etc).

It really is straightforward. I change between M10 and CL all the time (both with M lenses). No problem.

Edited June 24, 2021 by Studienkamera

[lct]

2 hours ago, rsolomon said:

I suppose focus is similar to M240 with EVF-2 ?

Not exactly. The focus point can move on the CL but turning aperture rings cannot trigger auto image magnification. Otherwise the CL's EVF is much more responsive than the EVF-2. 

[ramarren]

On 6/24/2021 at 2:12 AM, wda said:

Focusing on the CL with M-lenses is a new and positive experience. As you would expect, each lens handles differently, but positively. In fact, I find it quicker and more accurate to focus my M lenses on my CL than I do on a rangefinder body, which can quickly go out of alignment if mishandled. Magnification and focus peaking are great aids.

 

On 6/24/2021 at 3:45 AM, rsolomon said:

Thx all. I suppose focus is similar to M240 with EVF-2 ? I do own and use for my 75 cron, truth for me is it increases my focus hit rate substantially.

I've been working the the CL body with only R and M mount lenses since 2018. I had/have M cameras since the early 1970s. 

Using the CL with an M or R lens is essentially like using an SLR: You focus the lens based upon image sharpness in the viewfinder, not based upon aligning a rangefinder. It goes beyond the SLR in that you can easily apply magnification to assist in getting the focus right on the money, and you can use focus peaking help get to the right focus range very quickly. Unlike when using an SLR, you are always focusing at the taking aperture ... the plus of this is that you can see the resulting DoF very clearly, the negative of this is that it can make getting the critical focus a bit trickier in some cases since DoF can mask minor inaccuracies in focus discrimination. 

If you're going to use M lenses on the CL, it is most convenient to use the Leica M Adapter L instead of third party adapters. The M Adapter L is perhaps one of the most precisely made adapters, so the focus is right on the money according to the scale, and it triggers the body to use Leica's lens profiles correctly. Coded lenses are automatically selected correctly. It also  tells the body to use the right dial for focus magnification, which is very convenient compared to using the keypad arrows.

It's a good setup. The CL essentially replaced my digital Ms due to its versatility and excellent image quality. At all but the highest ISO settings, its sensor performance matched the M-P 240 and M-D 262 in my experience, and the body is just slightly smaller and a couple of ounces lighter as well. It gives me the TTL focusing I need for close up work and long telephoto work, the CL's EVF is better quality than the add-on EVF for the digital Ms. 

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Bird Feeder - Santa Clara 2021
Leica CL + Leica Summilux 35mm f/1.4 (1972 edition M-mount)
ISO 100 @ f/2 @ 1/1000 sec

G

Edited June 26, 2021 by ramarren

[robgo2]

What ramarren said. I use two M-mount lenses on my CL (a Voigtlander Nokton 50 f1.2 and a Nokton 75 f1.5), and I am very satisfied with the performance of both. As mentioned, focusing is actually easier and more precise than on an M rangefinder camera. Of course on the CL's APS-C sensor, M lenses have an effective focal length 1.5 times greater than actual, but that can be used to advantage.

[jaapv]

On 6/24/2021 at 12:03 AM, Ray Vonn said:

people talk of the transition from M to CL as almost seamless, but it surely can’t be that straightforward right?

However, it is..

 

On 6/24/2021 at 12:45 PM, rsolomon said:

I suppose focus is similar to M240 with EVF-2

Far,far better.

[Gregm61]

On 6/23/2021 at 3:15 PM, rsolomon said:

I’m currently an M240 user with 21 SEM , 35 Cron , 75 Cron. I’m considering acquiring a CL , especially if the CL-2 comes out. I feel this gives me the option of L lenses with all their benefits as well as my M lenses and their fun and benefits. 

Can anyone speak to the M experience on the CL?  ….and with the lenses mentioned above 

thx in advance

Those three fl’s plus the 135 APO are what I use with my M262 and I purchased the M adapter with my CL. It definitely works “well enough” but honestly, manual focusing with the TL lenses works much more efficiently and, there’s a reason why I don’t use a 50mm M lens with the M body and that’s what the 35/1.4 FLE lens becomes on the CL. 

Since my initial attempts with the CL and M lenses + adapter, I’ve left the M lenses for the M body and today own every TL lens Leica has made for the CL. Some days I may go out with the 11-23 and 55-135 only and sometimes nothing but the primes.

Last week I did some horse photography using the M262 and 35/1.4 and (more) the CL with only the 55-135. Worked like a charm. The 55-135 is an awesome lens.

[jaapv]

You probably missed the option of the magnification with the right wheel. 

[pebbles]

I found my 40mm Summicron worked fine on my CL but no better than the  18-56 I normally use. Where I have been surprised is in the quality of my pre-war lenses particularly the 50mm Summar and the 90mm Elmar. With contrast focussing I have been very pleased with the images.

[Gregm61]

On 7/2/2021 at 9:37 AM, jaapv said:

You probably missed the option of the magnification with the right wheel. 

No, I used that feature but the CL-dedicated lenses auto-magnifying in manual focus mode is way, way, WAY more convenient/fluid in practice.

Edited July 4, 2021 by Gregm61

[didier]

On 6/24/2021 at 11:12 AM, wda said:

Focusing on the CL with M-lenses is a new and positive experience. As you would expect, each lens handles differently, but positively. In fact, I find it quicker and more accurate to focus my M lenses on my CL than I do on a rangefinder body, which can quickly go out of alignment if mishandled. Magnification and focus peaking are great aids.

I agree on how easy and straightforward the focusing on CL/SL is with M Lenses.

The focus magnifying works very well on the CL and allows for precise and quick focus.
Please note it works best wide open : and the more you close down, the more it is difficult to focus accurately (because of more depth of field).

A second thing I’d like to share, is that in bright sunlight, the EVF experience is far from the M OVF. The times I really really regret the OVF most is in high contrast situation, particularly bright sunlight.

Didier

 

[Gregm61]

I finally resorted to turning the brightness of my CL’s EVF to the max. Auto never really worked for me in bright, contrasty daylight. 

Definitely cut battery life down but makes a difference for me…..and I have kept my digital M to a large extent because of the optical finder….and just purchased a new Nikon Df to use my manual focus AIS Nikkors.

Edited July 4, 2021 by Gregm61

[ramarren]

On 7/4/2021 at 10:06 AM, Gregm61 said:

No, I used that feature but the CL-dedicated lenses auto-magnifying in manual focus mode is way, way, WAY more convenient/fluid in practice.

Differences of opinion on that. I've had various cameras that did automagnification on focus and generally turned it off, it gets in my way. I want to turn on magnification when and if I want it ... only. Particularly with longer than normal lenses, it can be very jarring to see the whole scene blast away into something completely unrecognizable when I turn the focusing ring. 

G

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[Gregm61]

Of course. That’s why the cameras allow you to use it or not, just like there are those who like using M lenses on their CL and there are others, like me, who don’t like their 21mm superwides changing to some not-so-fun and less than fast f3.4, 30-something mm semi-wide when used on the aps-c sensor and my favorite, almost $5,000 (at the time I bought it) 35mm f1.4 FLE turning into something (again, for me) far less than exciting to use.

I’d rather have the 11-23 mounted on my CL that covers the primary fields of view I want and 99% or more of the time the question of manual focus, focus peaking and/or either auto or manually initiated magnified focus assist is completely irrelevant, but those few times I actually need it, manual focus with the CL lenses (again for me) is far more convenient.

If this was an SL-2 my opinion would be different. Chances are I would be using my M lenses a lot, but it isn’t.

Edited July 6, 2021 by Gregm61

[jaapv]

26 minutes ago, Gregm61 said:

21mm superwides changing to some not-so-fun 30-something mm semi-wide when used on the aps-c sensor 

Not much of a problem. 21 is indeed decently wide, but I prefer 18 or less for that designation. So Voigtländer has 10, 12 and 15 mm offerings which perform spectacularly well on the CL -and on FF too-, take minimal space and weight in your camera bag and don't kill your wallet.