The SL2 compared to the M10R in the area of high ISO performance

[JRWhite]

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Greetings,

Long time film M (and Barnack) user who moved to M10R a year and a half ago. Love it. My daily carry. Around town I'm a one lens guy, usually a ZM 25mm Biogon. For trips I travel with that lens, a CV 50mm Nokton and a CV 90mm APO-Skopar.

I have been very happy with the performance of the M10R's 40MP sensor. The low light imaging I've done (morning / evening twilight and evening city walks) has (generally) looked good to me. And when it doesn't I run the DNGs through DxO's Pure RAW - which is fabulous BTW - and edit from there. Note - I'm a Capture One user and don't have access to LR's AI NR which, according to my son the Nikon shooter, is awesome.

Additionally, I've really taken to the sensor size due to my propensity to crop. As a glasses wearer I can just barely see the 35mm frame lines. No way on the 28mm lines. And I'm too lazy to install and use my very nice Zeiss 25mm frame. Plus, I have a tendency to shoot at a slight list, usually to starboard (I think I press too hard on the shutter release). Finally, I am a big fan of a square crop (nothing to do with social media, just like the look - most likely from my 6x6 days) and probably one-third of my images get their sides lopped off (in my defense, those images are usually pre-visualized that way prior to me pressing - too hard on - the shutter release).

All this to say that I crop to remove stuff from the periphery that I didn't see in frame at the time of the shot, or to straighten the composition due to my drunken sailor tendencies (no hate speech there, I am a retired sailor and can say that), or to achieve a square frame.

Been thinking about adding the SL2 or the SL2-S to the lineup. Probably with the Leica Vario-Elmarit SL 24-70mm f/2.8 ASPH as that will cover 75% of my shooting. At least to start.

Reading the many posts on this site as well as a few other sites, I see discussion about the high ISO performance of the SL2 as compared to the SL2-S. In some posts SL2 owners state that, if they could do it over, they would opt for the SL2-S.

My question - how does the high ISO performance of the SL2 compare to the M10R?  

Is it worse? In which case perhaps I go with the SL2-S and start paying more attention to how much I crop from 24MP images.

Or, is it about the same - or better? In which case perhaps I go with the SL2 and continue to use Pure RAW on occasion and continue to crop the crap out of my images in post.

For now, I'm ignoring the potential third option of waiting for the SL3 and/or the M12.

Thoughts?

 

[robb]

I don’t ever like to shoot my sl2 above 1600.

my sl2-s is great up to 6400

i don’t shoot any cameras above that.  

According to the graph, m10-r is close to sl2-s in high iso.  

id buy one but would really like ibis in an m body…

Robb

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[tritentrue]

Although I can't compare directly to the M10-R, below is a 100% crop from the SL2 shot at ISO 10,000 with noise reduction by Photomator on ipad.  Not trying to advocate for anything here, just showing what's possible with simple pp'ing.  Click once or twice for best view.

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Edited October 26, 2023 by tritentrue

[dpitt]

If you have time, maybe you can wait for the release of the SL3? It may not be the best for you, but you will have one more option to consider.

[JRWhite]

Robb - many thanks for the graph. I’ve been happy with the M10R’s ISO performance, the data indicate I’d be very happy with the SL2-S’ as well. 

tritentrue - fabulous image! 100% crop at ISO 10K, wow! Gotta’ admit, I don’t remember ever shooting above 6400. Indicative of a sad lack of experimentation on my part. Clearly I need to get out more. As noted in my original post, I crop often and with little regard to innocent bystander safety. 47MP facilities a lot of crop potential. Add to that post processing noise scrubs and I may have my answer. Suppose I’d need to re-think my long term digital storage options as 47MP images eat up a lot of ones and zeros (can’t even imagine how the M11 crowd deals with that issue).

dpitt - an SL3 with a flippy screen would be a home run!

[Jeff S]

Related comparisons…

https://www.reddotforum.com/content/2021/02/bw-iso-showdown-2021-leica-q2-monochrom-vs-m10-monochrom-vs-q2-vs-m10-r/

 

https://www.reddotforum.com/content/2020/05/bw-iso-showdown-2020-leica-m10-monochrom-vs-m-monochrom-typ-246-vs-m10-p-vs-sl2/

 

Jeff

 

[jrp]

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With the noise reduction in Lightroom or DXO, high ISO shyness should be a thing of the past.

[JRWhite]

Thank you to all for the great input. Lots to chew on. Key takeaways are (1) the current state of NR within most post processing suites is outstanding and (2) upon further reflection it is clear that my value system prioritizes crop-ability over low light prowess. However, not to give up on low light situations, I’ll be counting on IBIS to live up to the hype and produce useable images at the slower shutter speeds required by lower ISOs. (BTW, I’ve never owned a camera with IBIS! I’ve shot my son’s Nikon Z cameras so I’m familiar with, and looking forward to, the technology. There is no question I will be very happy with the SL2 or SL2-S in body stabilization system.)

[robb]

Ibis to me is a must have in a camera after seeing what it can do…

and I’m a steady shooter, but it’s amazing.  So I agree with your thoughts.  I have never really used noise reduction but I’ll try to incorporate it soon…

Robb