Using both Leica S006 / Leica S007 or only one body for studio & campaigns - considering the quality of the output?

[kristyansen]

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Hi All, 

Considering the output quality, does any of you use / keep both S006 and S007 or you mostly shifted to a single, newer, S body? I think the S006 is outstanding at its lower ISOs, while S007 has its higher ISO range and advantages there. Goal is studio / campaign shootings with more controlled lighting, but I may need some more ISO flexibility too, which my S006 lacks.

(I can imagine there are other reasons for keeping both cameras: e.g. a backup camera is needed, but I am referring only to the quality of the output: color, noise, ISO flexibility, "look & feel" here.)

Thanks for your thoughts, 

C. 

 

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[Photon42]

S007 pros: no sensor corrosion (AFAIK), higher ISO, better dynamic range, a little faster, live view. I sold the S007 at some point to fund some other tool and kept the S2, as for my very limited usage the S2 is good enough.

[irenedp]

I use an S2 and an S3, paired. They need some color tweaking, but image quality is similar (obviously the lenses). 

[kristyansen]

3 minutes ago, irenedp said:

I use an S2 and an S3, paired. They need some color tweaking, but image quality is similar (obviously the lenses). 

Thank you! When you say ‘paired’ do you mean you use them in the same lighting situations interchangeably? Any situations occuring in your practice where you would not use your S2 in? 

[irenedp]

5 minutes ago, kristyansen said:

Thank you! When you say ‘paired’ do you mean you use them in the same lighting situations interchangeably? Any situations occuring in your practice where you would not use your S2 in? 

Yes. When high ISO would be required. 

[Stuart Richardson]

I think you can weave these together well enough that a client is going to be none the wiser. In general, I preferred the look of the S006 over the S3 and S007, but I no longer have any of them (I have just the SL2 and SL2S).

Edited November 13, 2024 by Stuart Richardson

[Pieter12]

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I use both, the 006 mostly in the studio or on a tripod. The S3 higher ISO is a blessing hand-held in the field. But I do find the S3 color a bit more saturated and contrasty. The 006 files need less tweaking to be pleasing to me.

[kristyansen]

1 hour ago, Pieter12 said:

I use both, the 006 mostly in the studio or on a tripod. The S3 higher ISO is a blessing hand-held in the field. But I do find the S3 color a bit more saturated and contrasty. The 006 files need less tweaking to be pleasing to me.

Thank you Peter. What was your approach before you had the S3 - were you using only one S006 body for your type of work? 

[John McMaster]

I used my S2-P in the studio recently (S(007) was at home), hated every minute!  Missed the live view....

john

[Pieter12]

1 hour ago, kristyansen said:

Thank you Peter. What was your approach before you had the S3 - were you using only one S006 body for your type of work? 

I pretty much mostly use the Leica S cameras for color work. Before the S3, I would use the 006 in the field but tried to use a tripod and worked at higher shutter speeds to eliminate shake. That limited the depth of field in some cases. Fine for portrait work--as a matter of fact, I prefer the 006 skin tones straight from the camera. If I really think about it, the 006 ISO limitation is not any different than working with color film, the amount of noise being about the same as graininess at high ISOs.

Although I have 2 006 bodies (one was a really good deal and I thought I might need a back-up) I only take one S body on location. Not to say I only take one camera. Recently I was in the high desert with 4 medium format cameras. Besides the S3 there was my Hy6--the workhorse for my black and white MF work, a Hasselblad SWC (just because) and a newly-acquired Pentax 67 that I wanted to try out for the first time. Only carried 2 at a time, the backpack weighed over 10 kilos.

I guess if I were shooting an assignment, I would take the S3 and a 006 as back-up. But I'm my only client now.

[Pieter12]

2 hours ago, John McMaster said:

I used my S2-P in the studio recently (S(007) was at home), hated every minute!  Missed the live view....

john

I dislike live view almost as much as EVFs. As a matter of fact, I just came back from a shoot and never looked at the images until I got home, on my computer. To each his or her own.

[John McMaster]

Live view is different to looking at what you just shot...

john

[Pieter12]

Live view its like shooting with an anchor-like smart phone. I'd rather shoot tethered.

[John McMaster]

I use live view on the camera (if I am not tethered)

john

[rollsman4]

I am thinking of getting a S 006 one that has the Sensor changed.  I use mainly Strobes indoors and Daylight outdoors with fill flash. I dont need more than ISO 200

 Will This work for my purpose?   TY

[helged]

5 hours ago, rollsman4 said:

I am thinking of getting a S 006 one that has the Sensor changed.  I use mainly Strobes indoors and Daylight outdoors with fill flash. I dont need more than ISO 200

 Will This work for my purpose?   TY

S006 in good light is simply outstanding (for ISO up to 400, I will say). So if you can live with the 37 mp resolution (most can), go for it. 

[John McMaster]

11 hours ago, rollsman4 said:

Will This work for my purpose?

I thought you had bought an S(006) at least once before....

john

[rollsman4]

NO I had a S007   

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[davidmknoble]

@kristyansen, as your original question asks about using both S006 and S007 for studio and campaign shots, I think the key is not to mix them in the same campaign or studio shoot.  

The sensors are very different technology and I have to believe, even using a color grading editor like Capture One, it would be difficult to get really consistent color and look throughout if mixing bodies.

Many like the CCD look (S006) and many like the high iso (S007).  I would believe the key is the ability to produce the image you want, but consistently. The lenses help do that as I believe @John McMaster has pointed out more than once Leica has gone to great efforts to keep the look of the lenses similar.

[Pieter12]

7 hours ago, davidmknoble said:

@kristyansen, as your original question asks about using both S006 and S007 for studio and campaign shots, I think the key is not to mix them in the same campaign or studio shoot.  

The sensors are very different technology and I have to believe, even using a color grading editor like Capture One, it would be difficult to get really consistent color and look throughout if mixing bodies.

Many like the CCD look (S006) and many like the high iso (S007).  I would believe the key is the ability to produce the image you want, but consistently. The lenses help do that as I believe @John McMaster has pointed out more than once Leica has gone to great efforts to keep the look of the lenses similar.

If one is using pro strobes in the studio, then high ISO should not be a big factor. Depending on the nature of the studio shoot--fashion, portrait, food, product,-the difference in color rendering between CCD and CMOS could make for more post-production work to match tonal rendition. For a big shoot, like a catalog, that can end up being time-consuming (and expensive if one has a digital assistant). The only reason to need multiple bodies for studio work would be to have cameras with different lenses mounted and ready to go, speeding up the process and lessening the chance of dust getting on the sensor. It's not like the days of film, when an assistant was always on the ready with a loaded camera as the film ran out.