sl2 Northern Lights Optimal Lens for the SL2

[meerec]

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10 minutes ago, Photoworks said:

shooting 4 min exposures. consider that you always waiting for the same 4min to do noise reduction.

This is the biggest “pain” and frustration especially in winter, low temperatures or rain or snow. Some of my exposures were even longer.
To avoid this pain, buy a Hasselblad 😶🤪🤔😜😬

[beewee]

43 minutes ago, Photoworks said:

the M adapter does not have a hard stop at infinity, it will go past it.

This is a very important point. Leica designed the M-adapter L such that when you set the focus of the M lens to ‘infinity’, it will actually focus past infinity. The reason for this is because they need to account for thermal expansion/contraction. The M camera bodies, because they are range finder coupled, behaves differently where setting the lens to infinity focus is actually infinity.

Depending on how dark it is, it may be much harder to focus an M-lens via EVF on the SL body since you can’t assume the lens is focused to infinity when you push the focusing tab all the way to the far end, as this will put the focus past infinity. In contrast, with L-mount lenses, you can half press the shutter to get the focus distance as well as the front/rear focus range through the SL/SL2/SL2-S body’s top display. I’d say for the purpose of aurora and astrophotography, this would be a knock against using M lenses on an L-mount body.

One other annoying thing is that, even if you nailed focus via EVF for an M lens on an L-mount body, a small nudge could throw the focus off without you knowing. Whereas with L-mount lenses, you can always double check the focus distance on the top display with a half press of the shutter.

Edited July 14, 2021 by beewee

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[tedwill]

14 hours ago, beewee said:

This is a very important point. Leica designed the M-adapter L such that when you set the focus of the M lens to ‘infinity’, it will actually focus past infinity. The reason for this is because they need to account for thermal expansion/contraction. The M camera bodies, because they are range finder coupled, behaves differently where setting the lens to infinity focus is actually infinity.

Depending on how dark it is, it may be much harder to focus an M-lens via EVF on the SL body since you can’t assume the lens is focused to infinity when you push the focusing tab all the way to the far end, as this will put the focus past infinity. In contrast, with L-mount lenses, you can half press the shutter to get the focus distance as well as the front/rear focus range through the SL/SL2/SL2-S body’s top display. I’d say for the purpose of aurora and astrophotography, this would be a knock against using M lenses on an L-mount body.

One other annoying thing is that, even if you nailed focus via EVF for an M lens on an L-mount body, a small nudge could throw the focus off without you knowing. Whereas with L-mount lenses, you can always double check the focus distance on the top display with a half press of the shutter.

That's a really good point I didn't consider about the adapter.  The good news is that I have seven months to plan.  I'll test out the L lenses with the SL2S.  Especially with the Sigma 14mm F1.8 DG HSM for the Northern Lights.  Much of this trip will also cover daylight photos of the mountains, the volcano and the waterfalls.  I'll probably have three lenses to work with - The Leica 24-70 and the APO-Vario-Elmarit-SL 90-280 f/2.8-4 for the long focus and the Sigma 14.

Thanks!

[6bit]

I went to Iceland in 2018. I used a 21, 35, and 85 Loxia lenses for the majority of photos. I used Sony a7r and r2 bodies. I did take my M10 and 35 lux for candids. 
 

I was glad I had high megapixel bodies but all cameras worked great. 
 

I’d suggest using your 21 for the aurora (maybe get a faster CV 1.4/21mm to supercharger your night game) and consider adding a 75mm to the mix. I would drop the 50mm. The longer focal lengths will get more use because everything is so far away. 
 

[dbertin]

Hello, if it might help in november I was in Iceland with SL2.

For aurora I brought both the 28M Summilux and the 21VM f1.4 Nokton Voigtlander. The Voigtlander resulted better for nogt photographyn without coma and with less color fringes.

Here a picture taken at f1.4, focus at infinity with M-L Adapter.

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