Leica S 100 mm

[chaliegray]

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Hi guys - is anyone able to shed any light on if the S 100 is a CS lens?

Many thanks - Charlie 

[setuporg]

The one I have is not, and I think it's not overall.  It's a "Noctilux" of S and needs to be tight.  Too tight.:)

[Pieter12]

Doesn't seem to be: https://leica-camera.com/en-US/photography/lenses/s

[chaliegray]

I read a lot of people had focus issues with this lens...

[chaliegray]

Also, love my S3 but the focusing can misbehave - has anyone found a way to get ti behave on a busy shoot?

[helged]

3 hours ago, chaliegray said:

Also, love my S3 but the focusing can misbehave - has anyone found a way to get ti behave on a busy shoot?

The S-system AF works on static subjects, but not on moving targets, nor on subjects off-centre. Personally, I use the S as a manual focus system - pretty much like with an M-body - if the focus is off-centre, or if the subject is moving. 

[Stuart Richardson]

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Back button focus on a slow/stationary subject, don’t shoot wide open. That’s your best result in most cases. Shot the S for seven or eight years, but the consistency of focus was always an issue to some degree. Switched to the SL2 and this is where the SL2 blows it out of the water…maybe its focus is not up with the speed of its competitors, but it is spot on every time…

The 100mm f2 was never released in CS, I believe. I think it is probably the wider aperture that precluded that option. That’s why Hasselblad FE lenses like the 110mm f2 were faster than the leaf shutter lenses. More glass, less room for a shutter. 
If you look at the size difference between the FE 110mm f2 and Rollei  110mm f2, you will see how much more bulk the leaf shutter adds. Otherwise the lenses are identical. 

Edited November 1, 2023 by Stuart Richardson

[John McMaster]

24, 100 and zoom (plus 120T/S) are not available with CS

john

[chaliegray]

Has anyone had more stability with focus using the back button?

[BernardC]

1 hour ago, chaliegray said:

Has anyone had more stability with focus using the back button?

Back button focus works fine, but you have to realize that you are focusing on one spot in the middle of the frame. You probably won't have many compositions where that's the optimal focus point, keeping in mind what kind of camera you are using.

• First, the S has some of the fastest, sharpest medium format lenses ever made, so your focus plane isn't very forgiving.
• Second, the S is conducive to work that will be examined closely, and work where the plane of focus is critical to the narrative.

I only ever use the back button to get approximate focus, for instance when switching from near to far. I use the focusing screen to fine-tune the plane of focus after that. You can also use live view in the S-007 and S3, although that's more for static subjects.

[chaliegray]

We shoot in a pretty rapid and responsive way, so occasionally it misses but on the whole I have to say the beauty of the files makes up for it - the colours especially!

we have found shooting at around 250 and above helps.

[John McMaster]

I usually go for a minimum of 1/3xFL, in fast moving situations the AF leaves 'a bit' to be desired...

john

[chaliegray]

2 hours ago, John McMaster said:

I usually go for a minimum of 1/3xFL, in fast moving situations the AF leaves 'a bit' to be desired...

john

Thanks John - what’s 1/3xFL?

[albireo_double]

The 100 S is a very sweet portrait lens, providing that you hit focus. And in that regard, the 100 can be very frustrating. Many times, I have switched to the 180 during shoots in order to have some properly focused images. 

[Jeff S]

3 hours ago, chaliegray said:

Thanks John - what’s 1/3xFL?

1/300 sec in this case.

Jeff

[Pieter12]

1/(3xFL)

[irenedp]

back button focus is very good. But I have found that focusing manually is generally better, particularly using the liveview at 100%, and with a tripod. Then it is superb, and almost as good as with the Phase One. Now, the Phase is a camera to use with a tripod -anything else is folly-; the S is light enough to use without, but there’s often a very slight blurriness at 100%. If you have to shoot handheld and you have missed focus slightly, using something like Topaz sharpen works fine. 

[chaliegray]

Any of you know how turn the back button on for focusing? 🤔

[Duff]

On 11/4/2023 at 1:00 PM, chaliegray said:

Any of you know how turn the back button on for focusing? 🤔

From a post of mine on GetDPI...

1. Enter 'Setup' menu (press the control/function button, bottom right of rear screen).
2. Scroll down to and enter into 'Customise controls'
3. Scroll down to and enter into 'AF/AE Lock Button' menu
4. Scroll down to and enter into 'In MF mode'
5. Select one of the AF or AF/AE modes of your choosing, e.g., 'AFs On', 'AFc On', etc.
6. Exit menus.

To prevent autofocusing being activated via the shutter button, you will need to be in MF mode.

By the way, this is on the 007. I presume it's the same for the S3.

Cheers,
Duff.

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[bilbrown]

On 11/1/2023 at 10:59 AM, chaliegray said:

Also, love my S3 but the focusing can misbehave - has anyone found a way to get ti behave on a busy shoot?

Back button (little nob) focus, then adjust manually.