If you could only keep 3 S lens with you to use with the upcoming S4, what are your 3 lens ?

[Nachapon Dumrongthumavoot]

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Hello and greeting from Thailand,

So with S3 discontinued and news of upcoming S4 in potentially 2025-2026, let say if you can only keep 3 lens with you to use with the new S4, what are your choices and why? 

This can be either to cover all focal length combo such as 24 + 30-90 + 120, or because their unique use case and rendering like 120apo, 24 or 100  

For me personally, my choice of 3 would be 

S45 - despite it size and weight, i LOVE this lens. It give a nice contrast, pop and rendering. 

S120 APO - Most bang for your buck lens for me from the entire S lens selection. Can cover portrait, macro, and even telephoto landscape for me. 

S100 - Despite sharing almost the same focal length as the S120, this lens for me feel so close, yet so far from the S120. It is a pain to nail the focus on this lens on my S3 but when it does, the image make you forget the frustration with it unique rendering. It also very small relative to other lens so it is also good as a walk around lens as well for me.

I hope the premise of this thread is for a fun conversation and a place to share our choice favorite lens with each other. 

Would love to hear from all of you and sorry if my English is a bit subpar.

Thank you 

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[ynp]

The S100, S120 and S180 I will be keeping. All the three are adding to the SL line and I am not so sure that I want to spend another fortune for the S4 in the future. 

[irenedp]

The 70, the 35 and the 120 t/s

[Einst_Stein]

70mm and 120mm for sure. 35mm or 45mm is hard to decide. I will add 30-90mm too. 

[steve.chang]

I am fortunately able to get 24, 45, 100. These are quite different from what I had before (35,70,120,180). 

[Milan_S]

35mm, 70mm and 100mm or maybe switch the 35mm for the zoom because it's just so versatile...

[Pieter12]

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Assuming there will be an S4 and it won't be mirrorless. Something I won't be holding my breath for.

[Einst_Stein]

2 hours ago, Pieter12 said:

Assuming there will be an S4 and it won't be mirrorless. Something I won't be holding my breath for.

I am only interested in what S4 to offer over S3. If it is only higher MP, higher dynamic range, and mirrorless EVF, IB shake reduction, I.e., a SL with larger sensor and more MP? Not much to be excited about. 

I would not be surprised if Leica come with even better lenses than S. If so, no S lenses would be worth to keep.

[Milan_S]

7 hours ago, Einst_Stein said:

I am only interested in what S4 to offer over S3. If it is only higher MP, higher dynamic range, and mirrorless EVF, IB shake reduction, I.e., a SL with larger sensor and more MP? Not much to be excited about. 

I would not be surprised if Leica come with even better lenses than S. If so, no S lenses would be worth to keep.

"Better lenses" is a very in the eye of the beholder. Of course Leica raised the bar with their SL lenses and the APO M lenses but still some people (including myself) like to use some of the old legendary lenses because of their character, like the pre asph lenses,  the 35mm Steel Rim, the old Noctiluxes etc. I think the S lenses and certainly the 100mm will keep their value and although on paper the new mirrorless S lenses will be better some of us still will rave about the cinematic rendering of the old S lenses.  

[irenedp]

I find that the 35 mm is on par with Phase One Blue Ring lenses. The 70 mm is slightly below Phase's 80 mm, but is up to a very high standard. I don't have any experience with the SL lenses -nor will; I use Nikon equipment for that- and am sure they are superb, but I believe that the S lenses can hold their water very nobly at the large sizes I usually print with.

Will the new S lens line be better optically? Probably: they have to develop a new line -besides any adaptor- for the S4, and a very likely position for the high margins Leica pursues plus achieving enough sales is utmost quality. But I am really happy with what I have, as I am with the S3. 

[John McMaster]

24/45/120

john

[BernardC]

13 hours ago, Einst_Stein said:

I would not be surprised if Leica come with even better lenses than S. If so, no S lenses would be worth to keep.

They will come up with different lenses, but "better" is hard to define. The S lenses are some of the best medium format lenses ever made, and some of the best cinema lenses ever made when they are labeled "Leitz Cine Thalia".

A new mirrorless set should be more compact, especially for wide-angle lenses. Telephotos probably won't get much smaller, but they should focus faster.

As for the original question, I only have 3 S lenses (35-70-100), so I will keep those.

[Einst_Stein]

7 hours ago, Milan_S said:

"Better lenses" is a very in the eye of the beholder. Of course Leica raised the bar with their SL lenses and the APO M lenses but still some people (including myself) like to use some of the old legendary lenses because of their character, like the pre asph lenses,  the 35mm Steel Rim, the old Noctiluxes etc. I think the S lenses and certainly the 100mm will keep their value and although on paper the new mirrorless S lenses will be better some of us still will rave about the cinematic rendering of the old S lenses.  

The new S will be in no way to compete with other brands in price.  What Leica is good at is the optical artistic performance as well as the digital interpretation of what the sensor captured. They are superb good at these, that even the Germany Zeiss still cannot shake it. 

S is old technology? Obsolete by other comers?  very funny!

So, the superior IQ will be sure the selling point of new S. 

Edited November 17, 2023 by Einst_Stein

[LeicaR10]

Nachapon Dumrongthumavoot,   Your OP thread question does make for interesting and fun discussion.  My decade plus of using the S system for my business and using nearly all the S lenses, brings to mind my most used S lenses:  S 24, 45, 120.  The S lenses albeit "old" technology render photographs that are unique to both the S camera and Leica.  The S lenses have a cinematic rendering the SL or M lenses do not create.  My demanding collector and corporate clients would only buy landscape photographs created with the S camera and lenses.  The S4 and new lenses will be a mirrorless system, but hopefully the lenses will still render in a unique cinematic way.  Leica senior management clearly knows both the S system is different and demands of professional photographers who rely on the S system to create unique photographs.  Last, if I were looking for a medium format camera today, I would not hesitate in the least buying a used S007 or S3 and a series of S lenses.  The price of used S lenses are so depressed, you can buy 3 or 4 S lenses today for the price of 1 new S lens.  Camera West has good examples of this pricing.  The S lenses are real bargins.  You can bet the S4 that IS coming, will be compatible with all the current S lenses.  The lenses are the key.  Buying used S lenses now will both enable and save a bundle for any new or even existing S camera photographer create unique and cinematic like photographs while saving themselves a bundle.   Whilch, I am certain, both their wallets and bank accounts will breathe a sigh of relief too.    r/ Mark 

[steve.chang]

“Cinematic”. See the Leitz Thalia (rehoused S) reel below if you haven’t had a chance. 
 

Cheers,

[mgrayson3]

24, 70, 120

And 180, because who is going to stop me...

[Stuart Richardson]

For me it would be 35, 45 and 120. The 35mm because it is a bit smaller and lighter than the other wides while still being the fastest. It has beautiful sunstars and performs very well. Also, I am not a big wide shooter in general, so using the lens I already have makes the most sense. 45mm because it is an extremely sharp lens, capable of easily handling whatever the upcoming S4 resolution is. Finally the 120mm because it is, as said above, so incredibly versatile and highly performing. Great for landscape as well as portraits and studio work.

The reason I did not say the 70mm, which was my most used lens, is that I think whatever lens they will replace it with will be the biggest improvement for me. One of the biggest struggles I had in the S system was dealing with the field curvature and focus challenges of the 70mm in landscape work. It is not a flat field lens, so if you focus at mountains in the distance, the center will be sharp, but the edges soft...but with objects around 20-30m sharp on the edges. You have to stop down to at least 6.8 or 8 to get rid of this in most photos. This would be even more noticeable on a higher resolution sensor. I also think that whatever new lens they make as standard will probably be smaller, faster to operate and technically better, so for me that would make the most sense to purchase along with the camera.

P.S Your English was more or less flawless.

Edited November 18, 2023 by Stuart Richardson

[Einst_Stein]

20 hours ago, BernardC said:

They will come up with different lenses, but "better" is hard to define. The S lenses are some of the best medium format lenses ever made, and some of the best cinema lenses ever made when they are labeled "Leitz Cine Thalia".

A new mirrorless set should be more compact, especially for wide-angle lenses. Telephotos probably won't get much smaller, but they should focus faster.

As for the original question, I only have 3 S lenses (35-70-100), so I will keep those.

It seems only Sony makes mirrorless lens smaller. I don’t see  Nikon and Canon  certainly not Leica. 

Better, You know it when you get it.  

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[BernardC]

2 hours ago, Einst_Stein said:

It seems only Sony makes mirrorless lens smaller. I don’t see  Nikon and Canon  certainly not Leica. 

The most direct comparison is Sigma, who sell their new  "DG DN" mirrorless lenses alongside older "DG HSM" SLR lenses. "DG DN" lenses are smaller and lighter. For instance, the 20/1.4 went from 1035g to 635g (both figures in L-mount). The 85/1.4 went from 1215g to 630g. The 50/1.4 also lost weight, but not as much (200g).

Sony stopped developing their (Minolta Maxxum) SLR lenses ages ago, so it would be a comparison across different eras of lens design. I don't think that Leica has any lenses that were made in SLR mount for a digital AF camera, and then as mirrorless. The only similar thing would be lens designs that were released in R and M mounts, but those were always smaller in M mount.

[Stuart Richardson]

There is also a decision to be made. All lens design is a trade off. Mirrorless just makes it easier to design wider lenses, as there is no mirrorbox in the way. That does not necessarily mean the lenses will be smaller. But given the same size, they will have more room to correct other aberrations, so they will be on average better corrected for a given size compared to an SLR lens. It is up to the maker whether they use that flexibility to make even better lenses (like in the SL), or they choose instead to make a lens proportionally smaller. Leica for the SL and S have chosen to make the lenses quite large, but optically stunning. 

Edited November 18, 2023 by Stuart Richardson