Archiver
Veteran
Following from my 'what are your weekend plans' post about freezing off my gonads in this chilly Melbourne weather, I was pleasantly surprised to see the sun out this morning. It has been almost four months since I bought the SL2-S, but I've had no time to take it out for a proper spin, so today was the day!
Thoroughly rugged up with multiple layers of clothing and gloves, I visited many of my favourite haunts in the CBD, particularly the National Gallery of Victoria. Accompanying the SL2S was the Summicron SL 35mm f2 Asph, and the Summicron M 50mm f2 v5 with Urth adapter.
I'm not a big fan of the Urth adapter for a few reasons, by the way. One, the body mount of the adapter is coated metal, and I'm concerned that repeated removal will scrape off some of this coating and mess with the sensor. Two, the lens mount is a bit sloppy, and M lenses have a distinct amount of play, completely unlike the highly tight tolerances of the M9 lens mount. The plan is to get a Metabones M-L adapter soon, as this has a good reputation, and the body mount is not coated.
SL2-S - Rodererererer by Archiver, on Flickr
Summicron-M 50mm f2 | Commune Wine Bar, Southgate, Melbourne
My original plan was to buy the SL2S as an alternative body for M lenses with the option of autofocus, for fun and work. So far, it is fulfilling these roles very well. Speaking of gloves, the SL2S was fine to work with gloves, and helped keep my hands free of the extra cold metal body. Manual focus with M lenses is still taking some getting used to, as I am so used to RF focusing that waiting to see the desired part of the image come into focus seems fiddly and tedious. It's getting easier, but RF focusing feels much faster by comparison.
The Summicron 35 SL is not a small lens, not by Leica M standards. But it balances well on the body, and the autofocus of the SL2S is usually faster than I can manually focus the M9. Sometimes it takes some coaxing as it is a contrast detection system, but I'm used to that.
SL2-S - Ascending Into Red by Archiver, on Flickr
Summicron SL 35mm f2 Asph | National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
I have to say that I love the feeling of the Summicron M 50 on the SL2S, perhaps because I'm so used to the feel of that lens on my M9, and I enjoy the smaller footprint than the 35 SL creates. But it is a bugger to focus wide open: I'm so used to being able to walk, wait for the focus patch in the RF to line up and then bam. But manual focus with an EVF, even one as bright as the SL2S, doesn't have that definitive end point. I flubbed quite a few images that I know I would have made with the M9.
SL2-S - Dreamer In The Dark by Archiver, on Flickr
Summicron SL 35mm f2 Asph | National Gallery of Victoria
The sharpness of the 35 SL is very pleasing, especially when stopped down to f4. At f2, it is still sharp, but not quite the razor clean sharpness of the APO Summicron 35, or the Distagon 35 on the M9. I feel the slight trade-off in sharpness and larger size is made up for with the ability to autofocus.
Overall, I had a super photo walk, and learned a lot about how to operate the camera for street and more considered images. I'm very impressed with this camera, and looking forward to what I can do with it in the future.
Thoroughly rugged up with multiple layers of clothing and gloves, I visited many of my favourite haunts in the CBD, particularly the National Gallery of Victoria. Accompanying the SL2S was the Summicron SL 35mm f2 Asph, and the Summicron M 50mm f2 v5 with Urth adapter.
I'm not a big fan of the Urth adapter for a few reasons, by the way. One, the body mount of the adapter is coated metal, and I'm concerned that repeated removal will scrape off some of this coating and mess with the sensor. Two, the lens mount is a bit sloppy, and M lenses have a distinct amount of play, completely unlike the highly tight tolerances of the M9 lens mount. The plan is to get a Metabones M-L adapter soon, as this has a good reputation, and the body mount is not coated.
SL2-S - Rodererererer by Archiver, on FlickrSummicron-M 50mm f2 | Commune Wine Bar, Southgate, Melbourne
My original plan was to buy the SL2S as an alternative body for M lenses with the option of autofocus, for fun and work. So far, it is fulfilling these roles very well. Speaking of gloves, the SL2S was fine to work with gloves, and helped keep my hands free of the extra cold metal body. Manual focus with M lenses is still taking some getting used to, as I am so used to RF focusing that waiting to see the desired part of the image come into focus seems fiddly and tedious. It's getting easier, but RF focusing feels much faster by comparison.
The Summicron 35 SL is not a small lens, not by Leica M standards. But it balances well on the body, and the autofocus of the SL2S is usually faster than I can manually focus the M9. Sometimes it takes some coaxing as it is a contrast detection system, but I'm used to that.
SL2-S - Ascending Into Red by Archiver, on FlickrSummicron SL 35mm f2 Asph | National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
I have to say that I love the feeling of the Summicron M 50 on the SL2S, perhaps because I'm so used to the feel of that lens on my M9, and I enjoy the smaller footprint than the 35 SL creates. But it is a bugger to focus wide open: I'm so used to being able to walk, wait for the focus patch in the RF to line up and then bam. But manual focus with an EVF, even one as bright as the SL2S, doesn't have that definitive end point. I flubbed quite a few images that I know I would have made with the M9.
SL2-S - Dreamer In The Dark by Archiver, on FlickrSummicron SL 35mm f2 Asph | National Gallery of Victoria
The sharpness of the 35 SL is very pleasing, especially when stopped down to f4. At f2, it is still sharp, but not quite the razor clean sharpness of the APO Summicron 35, or the Distagon 35 on the M9. I feel the slight trade-off in sharpness and larger size is made up for with the ability to autofocus.
Overall, I had a super photo walk, and learned a lot about how to operate the camera for street and more considered images. I'm very impressed with this camera, and looking forward to what I can do with it in the future.
