SL2-S Used as a Second Body with SL2 on Landscape Trip

[tedwill]

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Several months ago, I posted a question about photographing the Northern Lights for an upcoming Iceland workshop. Most shots will be taken during the day, however, there will be times when we do night shooting (Astro and Northern Lights).  A lot of people recommended the SL2-S for that purpose.  I had already I purchased the SL2.  I don't shoot enough to warrant two camera bodies. The organizer of the workshop strongly recommended bringing a backup body.  I decided to rent the SL2-S from Lensrentals as a backup and a second camera for night shooting.  Along with the SL2 and SL2-S, I will be using the following lenses:

• VARIO-ELMARIT-SL 24-90 f/2.8-4
• APO-VARIO-ELMARIT-SL 90-280  
• Sigma 14-24 f2.8 DG DN

My rental SL2-S is showing up Friday and I'm leaving Saturday.  I won't have much time to play with it before I leave.  Any tips for SL-S settings for me as an SL2 shooter?  Any ISO settings that work better on the SL2-S that I would never consider on the SL2?  

Many thanks in advance!

-Ted

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[beewee]

8 hours ago, tedwill said:

Any tips for SL-S settings for me as an SL2 shooter?  Any ISO settings that work better on the SL2-S that I would never consider on the SL2?  

For landscapes during the day in high contrast settings, I use ISO 100 and under expose scenes with snow to get all the highlight detail and get the best colour fidelity from highlights. Don’t worry about the shadows since the sensor has tons of dynamic range to recover the shadows.

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For northern lights, don’t hesitate to use ISO 12500. With the Sigma 14-24, you can safely shoot at f/2.8 without coma from stars and I would recommend just letting the shutter speed fall where they do. The faster the better since a higher shutter speed will capture more definition from the aurora as it moves around and changes while also minimizing stars trails. At 14mm, if you want pin sharp stars, stay below 12s and ideally target around 3-5s.

If the aurora is very strong, I can do a 1s exposure at ISO 12500 at f/2.8 as in this case. You can use the built-in intervelometer, run the camera on USB power and fire away on a tripod. I would recommend having a second tripod so you can shoot with your SL2 at lower ISO and longer exposures.

More importantly, just dress warmly and have lots of spare clothing so you can enjoy the cold night.

Edited February 24, 2022 by beewee

[tedwill]

10 hours ago, beewee said:

For landscapes during the day in high contrast settings, I use ISO 100 and under expose scenes with snow to get all the highlight detail and get the best colour fidelity from highlights. Don’t worry about the shadows since the sensor has tons of dynamic range to recover the shadows.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

For northern lights, don’t hesitate to use ISO 12500. With the Sigma 14-24, you can safely shoot at f/2.8 without coma from stars and I would recommend just letting the shutter speed fall where they do. The faster the better since a higher shutter speed will capture more definition from the aurora as it moves around and changes while also minimizing stars trails. At 14mm, if you want pin sharp stars, stay below 12s and ideally target around 3-5s.

If the aurora is very strong, I can do a 1s exposure at ISO 12500 at f/2.8 as in this case. You can use the built-in intervelometer, run the camera on USB power and fire away on a tripod. I would recommend having a second tripod so you can shoot with your SL2 at lower ISO and longer exposures.

More importantly, just dress warmly and have lots of spare clothing so you can enjoy the cold night.

Thanks for the very helpful tips.  I will be with a group of people including two instructors who have been there many times.  I have lots of layers of merino wool clothes.  I live in Michigan and and am used to sub zero Fahrenheit weather.  Your photo and video are stunning.  I hope to capture good photos when I'm there.

[hdmesa]

17 hours ago, beewee said:

For landscapes during the day in high contrast settings, I use ISO 100 and under expose scenes with snow to get all the highlight detail and get the best colour fidelity from highlights. Don’t worry about the shadows since the sensor has tons of dynamic range to recover the shadows.

One of the big advances in a recent firmware update was highlight-weighted metering. Nine times out of ten, I don't have to underexpose in that mode to perfectly nail the highlights.

[beewee]

6 hours ago, hdmesa said:

One of the big advances in a recent firmware update was highlight-weighted metering. Nine times out of ten, I don't have to underexpose in that mode to perfectly nail the highlights.

I tried highlight-weighted metering and it works well for exposures but in back-lit scenes, AF craps out because everything goes crazy dark and it makes it hard to frame the scene properly. I’ve pointed this out to Leica in the past and that they should decouple the metering for the EVF vs for the actual image being exposed. Hopefully they’ll address this in the future.

[hansvons]

13 hours ago, beewee said:

I tried highlight-weighted metering and it works well for exposures but in back-lit scenes, AF craps out because everything goes crazy dark and it makes it hard to frame the scene properly. I’ve pointed this out to Leica in the past and that they should decouple the metering for the EVF vs for the actual image being exposed. Hopefully they’ll address this in the future.

I'm used to this kind of behaviour with cinema cameras and their EVF and don't like it to the day. But I totally understand what you're saying. Especially when wearing sunglasses, chances are high that in back lit scenes you won't see anything in the EVF. Regardless, the highlight-weighted metering is a brilliant addition when automatic exposure is needed. It's my default setting in A mode. But heaving an EVF that is exposure agnostic in that mode would be brilliant.