Small survey - To SL and SL2 owners

[cnguyen]

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How many of you sl and sl2 owners bought the camera so you can use m and r lenses with it?

How many of you sl and sl2 owners bought the camera so you use SL lenses with it?

I just added Leica SL to my current stable of M240p and TL and would like to know whether I should SL lenses to go with the body. 

I currently use all my M lenses with focus confirmation or my TL lenses .

By the way SL lenses are BIG!

Thanks for your opinions

 

 

 

[Olaf_ZG]

I bought the SL to use M lenses in the range of 28 - 75. Bought the sigma 45 as well, but did not use it yet.

below 28 and above 75 I plan to buy L-mount if needed.

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[Luke_Miller]

I bought the SL to use both M (21mm through 90mm) lenses and SL lenses.  Only had it a couple of weeks, but very impressed. I have only the Vario-Elmarit-SL 24–90 f/2.8–4 ASPH. and it is a beast, but renders beautifully.  All my M glass performs better than I hoped, so all-in-all I am very pleased.

Edited March 21, 2022 by Luke_Miller

[LBJ2]

1 hour ago, cnguyen said:

How many of you sl and sl2 owners bought the camera so you can use m and r lenses with it?

How many of you sl and sl2 owners bought the camera so you use SL lenses with it?

I just added Leica SL to my current stable of M240p and TL and would like to know whether I should SL lenses to go with the body. 

I currently use all my M lenses with focus confirmation or my TL lenses .

By the way SL lenses are BIG!

Thanks for your opinions

 

 

 

I bought the Leica SL2 specifically so I could own and use the best in class Leica SL 35/2 APO lens. Coming from small mirrorless and Leica rangefinder cameras, I felt the SL2 was larger and heaver than what I was used to but after a few outings the camera doesn't feel that big and heavy anymore and I ended up liking the SL2 much more than I had anticipated. The SL primes in my opinion are for the most part not much larger or heavier than many mirrorless lenses, so they seem normal sized to me and I like that all SL F2 APO lenses share the same from factor. I own the SL 35/50/90 APOs and they are all super high quality lenses. You must buy at least one SL APO prime so you can experience this level of IQ at least once your life 😎

When I bought the SL2, I received the M-L adapter with the camera so naturally I tried all my Leica M lenses on the SL2. I feel the M lenses adapt very well to the SL2 and highly recommend the pair for those who feel they need a built in EVF camera for their Leica M lenses. It really is a great combo, SL2/S + M lenses. 

[Photoworks]

1 hour ago, cnguyen said:

How many of you sl and sl2 owners bought the camera so you can use m and r lenses with it?

I got the SL2 to use with Noctilux 50mm 0.95. Perfect combination..

I like the 35Lux lens on it too.

M lenses are good to use when shot open, easier to focus

 

1 hour ago, cnguyen said:

How many of you sl and sl2 owners bought the camera so you use SL lenses with it?

My most use lenses on SL2 are the 24-90mm zoom, and the 75mm for my studio portrait and random other work.

I use some canon Lenses with sigma adapter, typical the 24 and 17mm Tilt-Shift from canon.

35 SL 50 SL 90-280 often stay home

[LocalHero1953]

I bought the SL to use L lenses - the 24-90 and 90-280 for the early years. Now I have a few L primes as well. I had no R lenses and using the big SL for carrying tiny M lenses around never crossed my mind.

Nor did I buy the SL and its lenses to carry around for family, social, street and travel photography. I use it entirely for purposeful projects - portraits, events, stage etc - where size doesn't matter.

Edited March 21, 2022 by LocalHero1953

[didier]

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I bought a SL to use with the 90-280 AND use of M-lenses.

Works particularly well with the .95 Noct, ‘lux 75 and APO Summicron 90 : perfect for focusing and good balance between Lens and body.

I just acquired one other SL Lens (‘Lux 50) which is big but amazing.

[robb]

I bought the sl2 and sl2-s to use with almost any lens…

my m lenses for lighter weight and no likely tech issues

SL zooms and SL primes for video and two lens to go 24-280

canon tilt shifts and long super tele’s when you need even more.

cant imagine a more versatile camera that can shoot multishot at around 200mp…  it was my perfect do anything (except shooting pro sports) 

Robb

[Jeff S]

SL lenses on SL2. M lenses on M.

Jeff

[David Gao]

I bought the SL and SL2,  all of the lenses are M mount lens.

[mr35mm]

i bought the sl2 and use it with my M- Lenses. i dont like the sl lenses, ok they are maybe perfect but for me too big and fat and tooooooo heavy!

 

[Darrell]

I bought the SL last year for my M and screw mount Leica lenses, but also to use some of the Canon lenses I hadn’t used since switching to Leica rangefinder cameras a few years ago. I am so in love with this camera that I’ve recently purchased an R lens for macro (100mm APO MACRO ELMARIT R 2.8).

My core lenses:

18mm SEM
21mm SEM
28mm Summilux M
50mm Summilux M
100mm APO MACRO ELMARIT R

I may purchase the 24-90 and 90-280 Leica L lenses in the future, but for now I’m very happy with my kit.

[hansvons]

I use the 24-90 for commercial, journalistic jobs exclusively. The quality is outstanding, so much actually that I consider it to be more of a variable prime (Zeiss built those for cine cameras back in the day) than a makeshift zoom. Exposure and face detection AF is absolutely to the task, delivering 95% keepers from a technical point of view. That combo is absolutely recommendable for any demanding job in inclement weather or even strong rain. Because my line of work doesn’t require the very best image quality in terms of corner sharpness, micro contrast, etc. I refrained from getting SL primes.
 

I plan to use the SL2-S also for smaller film projects that need moodier images than the 24-90 can deliver. For that, I acquired a set of Leica R primes. For the time being, I only used them on personal shots but they truly bring back the 70ies and 80ies look, very different from modern Leica glass, flatness, flares … They are profoundly kind to skin, render a tad cooler than SL lenses, which I find helpful for skin tones, and create that organic depth of field transition most modern super sharp glass misses (don’t cut the foreground sharply from the background). But the 24-90 behaves in that regard nicely too. 
 

I might get an PL adapter at some point and an M because the Summicron 35mm M as THE Leica lens intrigues me very much. 
 

In the end, I guess, the SL series takes almost any lens you throw at it, which makes it so versatile. 

[Stuart Richardson]

I bought it to use any lens I need. I am coming from the M and S line of lenses, so I have both the M and S adapters. I use the S120 and S180 most as long lenses, and the M 90mm most as an M lens. Otherwise I have the 50mm APO SL lens and 24mm and 35mm Sigma lenses. I prefer to stick to the native L mount lenses when I can (mostly because they just seem to be better than most of the M lenses, while also having AF and auto aperture), but having the option to use anything is very helpful.

[BernardC]

I originally got the SL as a "universal acceptor" camera for the Zeiss lenses that I've accumulated since high school. At the time there were only L-mount zooms available, and I'm not interested in those (or in AF, to be honest). I've added a couple of L-mount lenses since, but it's still mostly a platform for manual focus primes.

[John Smith]

8 hours ago, Stuart Richardson said:

I bought it to use any lens I need. I am coming from the M and S line of lenses, so I have both the M and S adapters. I use the S120 and S180 most as long lenses, and the M 90mm most as an M lens. Otherwise I have the 50mm APO SL lens and 24mm and 35mm Sigma lenses. I prefer to stick to the native L mount lenses when I can (mostly because they just seem to be better than most of the M lenses, while also having AF and auto aperture), but having the option to use anything is very helpful.

Like Stuart, I'm coming from the M and S lines. Initially, I decided to pare things down to the SL and M lines, but I ended up with two SL2s and now use one for the SL lenses and the other for the M lenses. As much as I like the SL lenses, it is fun to use manual focus now and again. I'm now selling off my two M cameras. 

[Stef63]

In my case I added the SL2 to be used with my M or R lenses with a focal length longer than 90mm or for example my Vario 28-90 R.  Major reason was the excellent EVF of the SL2 and IBIS.  I have bought a Sigma 1.2 native L lens but I always use it in MF.  AF is not necessary for my type of photography and after 40 years of using MF cameras I still struggle with AF deciding what will be the focus point over having 100% control myself.   But that is not relevant to the discussion here, of course.

I recently replaced my M10 with a M11 and now the EVF argument is not valid anymore to me.  I’m still in dubio whether IBIS on the SL2 is a differentiating element to keep the SL2.   I still have to extensively experiment with my 280 Telyt R f4.0 and converters on the M11 and compare it with the results of an IBIS assisted SL2.  

Conclusion: my reason for the SL2 was not the excellent Leica L lenses that might be superior to M or R lenses nor was it AF.  The SL2 was simply at the time the best body choice for a number of my existing lenses.  I mostly adapt the body to the lenses I have or want to have than the other way around.

 

 

[Mick H]

I got the SL to get the 24-90, best in class zoom.  It's a great pro combo at 24 MP.  

[pickerdd]

I bought my SL2 because i wanted to use M-lenses on a camera with an EVF. I use SL and M-lenses and freaking love my SL2 with both types of lenses. Of course I wish the low light capacity was better, but overall I love it! For me, the combination between the SL2 and the 35mm SL lens is magical. I also have a 75mm SL APO lens that is beautiful, and a perfect mate to my 35mm APO SL lens.

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[Alan Friedman]

To date I have used the SL series cameras with manual focus lenses exclusively... M and R mostly with occasional experiments with Noct-Nikkor and Zeiss Contarex. In between the upgrade from the original SL to SL2-S I bought Sigma fp and fp-L for versatility and compact carry ability but I am finding the combination of Q2M and SL2-S suits me very well and the consistency of buttons and menus helps my aging brain remember the camera settings. Trading the SL and original Fp (with Leica trade-in program) brought the price of the SL2-S down considerably.

The range of lenses I've accumulated over the years more than meets my creative needs and it is a pleasure to use them anew with SL2-S evf. The Voigtlander apo-lanthar series delivers much of the correction and modern character I would expect from the SL primes. Still, I am curious to try an SL prime at a Leica dealer at some point, but I am hesitant to purchase without testing as I think the weight would likely influence how much I would carry and use it. The SL cameras become "smallish" with many of my manual focus lenses and I do value that.