[Leica] the SL, first impressions

[Mark Rabiner]

I belive his eyes are placed so he (or she) can see directly behind him.
Perhaps at all times a 360°!
No sneaking up on this wrabbit!


On 2/6/16 8:39 AM, "Doug Herr" <wildlightphoto at earthlink.net> wrote:

> The last two days I've only had a couple of hours to play with the SL.  I'd
> say 99.5% of it is very impressive and extremely capable;  I'll get to the
> other 0.5% shortly.
> 
> It's a very solid tool with clear, purposeful controls.  The viewfinder is
> quite good, the joystick is delightful (user-programmability of its
> acceleration function would improve it) and the other buttons, dials and such
> are readily at hand when needed and they stay out of the way when not needed
> Very impressive.
> 
> My test photos are not intended to demonstrate the camera's artistic
> sensibilities.  I'm just testing technical performance.
> 
> One of the DMR's strengths is the robustness of the raw files, their ability
> to be manipulated, stomped on and tortured and not whimper.  Pulling detail
> out of shadows is one of my tests and to this end I enlisted the hummingbirds
> in my yard & made some backlit photos exposed for highlights, then used ACR's
> 'fill light' function to bring up the color and detail of the bird's gorget
> (the red feathers).  This robustness of the DMR files saved my butt on more
> than one occasion, for example:
> 
> http://www.wildlightphoto.com/mammals/leporidae/lepus/bthare06.html
> 
> so here's how the SL did (cropped, about 1/3 of the original file):
> 
> http://www.wildlightphoto.com/SL/L1050752.jpg
> 
> I'm impressed.
> 
> 
> Responsiveness is another test.  My Sony a7II is quite responsive when I
> enable the electronic first curtain feature, but this feature's practical
> utility is limited to shutter speeds no faster than 1/1000 sec.  To test the
> SL I used the Ruby-crowned Kinglet that has taken a liking to my hummingbird
> feeder.  Kinglets are hyperactive bits of fluff and this particular kinglet
> was jumping from a twig, fluttering up to the feeder for a sip then back to
> the twig.  The entire process takes less than a second.  I wanted to see how
> much total lag there was between the viewfinder, my reaction timing, and the
> shutter lag.  I pre-focussed on the feeder tube and watched the viewfinder,
> pressing the shutter release when the bird entered the picture.  The camera is
> in single-shot drive mode, no crop:
> 
> http://www.wildlightphoto.com/SL/L1050888.jpg
> 
> I'm impressed.
> 
> 
> I also learned that my FD adapter is a cheap POS and I'll need to use tape or
> jam some shims into the adapter's aperture stop-down ring in order to use my
> 500 L at any aperture other than f/4.5.
> 
> So now I get to the 0.5% I'm not thrilled with.  The camera's viewfinder
> defaults to automatic brightness mode with 'exposure simulation' mode enabled
> with a half-press of the shutter release or by pressing the exposure
> simulation mode button on the front of the camera.  The viewfinder reverts to
> the default automatic brightness mode after each exposure.
> 
> WTF were they thinking?  One of the really huge advantages of the EVF is the
> real-time exposure feedback.  Automatic viewfinder brightness in these
> scenarios makes the bird go so dark I can't see any detail for focussing or
> for catching the desired posture:
> 
> http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/tyrannidae/pyrocephalus/veflyc00.html
> http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/accipitridae/buteo/rshawk04.html
> 
> and makes the bird go alternately too bright or too dark when I shift the
> camera's field of view left or right:
> 
> http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/picidae/sphyrapicus/rbsaps02.html
> 
> Very distracting, breaks my concentration, makes focussing and seeing what the
> bird is doing very difficult.  In polite company I'd call the automatic
> viewfinder brightness feature an 'epic fail', and it's can't be turned off.
> It can be turned off in the M240, why not the SL?  Re-enabling the exposure
> preview mode after every exposure reminds me of the days before SLRs had
> instant-return mirrors.  This one feature is a deal-breaker for me.
> 
> Needless to say I've e-mailed Leica about this stupid f***ed-up feature, and
> I've filtered my language for this post.  More SL playtime this weekend.
> 
> 
> Doug Herr
> Birdman of Sacramento
> http://www.wildlightphoto.com
> http://doug-herr.fineartamerica.com
> 
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-- 
Mark William Rabiner
Photographer
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/lugalrabs/