[Leica] IMGS: Comparing SL and M240 and 19R and Noctilux

[John McMaster]

I would be curious as well, but they need to be more methodical ;-)

john

-----Original Message-----

Because several people asked me to and I was trying to be co-operative!

Tina

On Mon, Nov 30, 2015 at 4:59 PM, John McMaster <john at mcmaster.fr> wrote:

> Then why bother testing or comparing? Just practice for what you 
> bought it for ;-)
>
> john
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> I'd much rather practice focusing on chickens' eyes.  That's a more 
> useful test for the kind of photography I do!  Ferns and peeling paint 
> and rocks that don't move are not my thing ;-) To me, whether the 
> corners are in focus or not is not nearly as important as whether I 
> can get sharp eyes in a moving subject.  With the SL, my hit rate is 
> much higher and getting even higher as I learn to use it.  The real 
> test will be when I take it on a trip.  I'm hoping right now with all 
> of this testing to be able to use the camera automatically without 
> having to stop and think about which button or which wheel to use for 
> the setting I want.  The settings are pretty intuitive but they do 
> take more practice and learning than the M cameras, but not nearly as 
> much as the Fuji ones!!
>
> Tina
>
> On Mon, Nov 30, 2015 at 4:33 PM, John McMaster <john at mcmaster.fr> wrote:
>
> > A more useful test is where the subject is near infinity and should 
> > be in focus, see what the corners look like with the 35/2.0, that is 
> > where the SL may be weaker than the M... Tripods are the only way to 
> > do decent A-B testing, that is not real photography ;-)
> >
> > john
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> >
> > I hate tripods.  I did put the camera on the rail of the porch. I'd 
> > be glad to send anybody a full DNG or blow up any section to 100% 
> > and post
> it.
> > You are probably right about the lens weight; however, I did carry 
> > around a Canon 1DMII with an 85/1.2 lens for over a year before 
> > Leica finally came out with a digital camera.  That combination 
> > weighs 2623 grams and is not nearly as easy to handle as the SL and 
> > 24-90 at 2095
> grams.
> >
> > Tina
> >
> > On Mon, Nov 30, 2015 at 4:24 PM, John McMaster <john at mcmaster.fr> wrote:
> >
> > > That you could/should have used a tripod to get similar framing 
> > > ;-) You, looking at the DNGs, are the only one who is likely to 
> > > see a real difference..... There will be no native SL lens 
> > > weighing less than twice (more likely 3x) the weight of a 35/2.0....
> > >
> > > john
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > >
> > > I took some photos in the rain to compare the SL with the R19/2.8, 
> > > the SL with the 35/2.0 Summicron and the M240 with the Summicron.
> > > As I was carrying the cameras out to the deck, I passed the 
> > > kitchen scale so I weighed them.  The SL with no lens weighed 966
grams.
> > > The M240 with the
> > > 35/2.0 attached weighed 961 grams, so not a huge difference.
> > >
> > > When I attach the M lenses, the SL automatically recognized the 
> > > coded lenses with no further attention from me.  When I attach the 
> > > R lenses, I go to the menu and tell it which R lens is attached.  
> > > It recognizes the lens but does not record the correct aperture.  
> > > I know I took several at F/8 and used hyperfocal focusing, but 
> > > none of them came up as having f/8 for the aperture.
> > >
> > > The SL is much easier to focus.  I tried out both the magnifying 
> > > in the EVF and the focus peaking.  Both work fine but the 
> > > magnified EVF is much easier to see.  You press the bottom right 
> > > button once and it zooms to 100% in the EVF, press it twice and it
zooms to 200%.
> > > Focus and touch the shutter button and it zooms back out and takes 
> > > the
> photo.
> > >
> > > With the auto-focus SL lens, there are several focusing formats to 
> > > choose from in the SL and  you can also touch the screen and have 
> > > it focus there or move the toggle switch (they call it the 
> > > joystick) next to the EFG to choose a focus spot.  I find the 
> > > screen and the toggle switch to be easiest and fastest.  But these 
> > > are all manually focused with M and R lenses.
> > >
> > > The first one is an experiment with the Noctilux last night using 
> > > the magnified EVF to focus on Tom's eyelashes instead of the 
> > > glasses
> frame.
> > >
> > > http://www.pbase.com/image/161961923
> > >
> > > The next three are straight from the camera as DNGs, converted to 
> > > jpegs as they are exported with no other adjustments.
> > >
> > > Leica SL with 19/2.8 Elmarit R:
> > >
> > > http://www.pbase.com/tinamanley/image/161961755
> > >
> > > Leica SL with 35/2.0 Summicron M:
> > >
> > > http://www.pbase.com/tinamanley/image/161961757
> > >
> > > Leica M240 with 35/2.0 Summicron M:
> > >
> > > http://www.pbase.com/tinamanley/image/161961758
> > >
> > > I did some bracketed exposures and merged the photos for HDR with 
> > > each camera and each lens.  These are adjusted for color and exposure:
> > >
> > > *http://www.pbase.com/tinamanley/leica_sl&page=7
> > > <http://www.pbase.com/tinamanley/leica_sl&page=7>*
> > >
> > > The SL will also bracket the 3 exposures as DNGs and make a merged 
> > > jpeg from them automatically.  I found those needed more adjusting 
> > > than making them myself.
> > >
> > > What do you think?
> > >
> > > Tina
> > >