[Leica] The SL

[Doug Herr]

Thanks for your observations, my wallet hates you :)

Doug Herr
Birdman of Sacramento
http://www.wildlightphoto.com
http://doug-herr.fineartamerica.com


-----Original Message-----
>From: Akhil Lal <alal at nyu.edu>
>Sent: Oct 26, 2015 6:07 PM
>To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
>Subject: [Leica] The SL
>
>I had a chance to play with the SL at the Leica booth at PhotoExpo 2015.
>Based on a brief encounter, some thoughts below.
>
>1.  Compared to my D800 + 24-70/2.8 G lens the SL was lighter and
>(slightly) smaller. Remember Leica is positioning this as an alternative to
>the big boy DSLRs, not the A7/ Olympus/Fuji cameras.
>
>Also note that  the 28-90 Leica R  and the Contax- Yashica 28-85 zooms were
>not small and light.  At the present state of the art, small size is
>incompatible with top quality optics intended for use on digital sensors.
>See the new CZ lenses and the latest primes from Nikon. Or note the sizes
>of the now discontinued Olympus Pro lenses for the 4/3rds system,
>
> 2. AF was lightening quick with the 24-90 zoom. As good as, if not better,
>than my D800E under the same conditions.
>
>3. The 4MP finder was a surprise. Not as contrasty or clear as an optical
>finder, but more than merely adequate. I predict that when EVFs reach 8-16
>MPs optical finders will be a thing of the past.
>
>4. Manual Focusing was VERY easy on this finder, even without focus peaking
>(which was outstanding).  I was able to focus a 35 /2 Summicron M,  mounted
>via the T adapter, very quickly, even at a working aperture of f8. Faster
>in fact, than I can do it now on an M, given my eyesight. This was without
>using  focus peaking!  FWIW, under the same ambient light conditions I had
>much more difficulty  manually focussing my D800E with the zoom set to 70
>mm.
>
> It was quite interesting to close down the lens from f2 to f8 and see the
>changes in DOF on the EVF. The viewing brightness was adjusted
>automatically.
>
>IMHO, the EVF is a non-issue.
>
>5. Did not pay attention to shutter noise or vibration, but it did not
>obtrude.
>
>6. The R adapter will be just a tube, no auto-stop down with R lenses. The
>attitude was if it focuses with M lenses at f8 it will do the same with R
>lenses. On the plus side focus  shift, e.g. Noctilux  f1,will not be an
>issue when lenses are focussed at working aperture.
>
>IMO, a purchase decision will come down to how well this camera works with
>M lenses. If it is at least as good as an M9 when used with M wide-angles,
>with none of the corner smearing or colour casts produced by other full
>frame mirror-less bodies, then it might serve as a suitable platform for
>both R & M lenses  and would be worth considering.
>
>Leica missed a trick by not using body based anti-shake.
>
>Akhil
>
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