[Leica] The SL

[jhnichols at lighttube.net (Jim Nichols)]

Very informative.  Thanks.

Jim Nichols
Tullahoma, TN USA

On 10/26/2015 8:07 PM, Akhil Lal wrote:
> 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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