Official Talk Leica thread

I bought a Leica T a few days ago. It was stupid cheap at £359 from MPB. Granted it's not the latest tech, but for the price it is a beautiful piece of kit. I really like it.

It's really to compliment my CL and 3 lenses, as it takes the same lenses so I don't have to make a big new investment of any sort. It's likely Mrs T will have it actually - I think she'll really like it.

I am up in Skye at the moment and I have my 55-135 lens on the T and the 18-56 on the CL. Saves changing lenses which is such a drag. I updated it to firmware 1.9. It's slower to focus than the CL but it's as good as you'd expect for a camera that came out a few years ago, and no problem for normal use of things that aren't moving around much.

Initial results are very impressive. And it feels so lovely. The touch interface is fantastic as well. If you've got an TL lenses, a used T is a bargain. I'll put some pics up in the Landscape forum in a few days.
 
Hi, I had a look at Leica websites to find out how M lenses perform on the SL:

https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/252842-m-lens-performance-on-the-sl/?page=7

And passages like this show me not to pursue this any more:

"Very similar experience to shooting an M and the image quality of the output form the SL looks similar, first impressions are the very far corners on the 24mm 3.8 is suffering a bit wide open... "

I expected better performance of M lenses on the SL because an M-to-SL adapter is twice as thick as the M-to-FE (SONY) making the light
hit the sensor at an less oblique angle in the corner, thus avoiding colour shift and weak corners ...

Clear thinking geometrically, but wrong empirically. The performance of M lenses on the SL is comparable to the SONY A7xx,
which is unsatisfactory (for me).

On the Leica website you find the statement that M lenses are supported on the SL, and a list is shown.

Support, however is vague and undefined. It can simply mean attachment is possible.

I would like to find a statement like M lenses attached to the SL show equal or better performance compared to attachment to the Leica M.

But no Leica lawyer would endorse that.

Therefore, no new bodies (Leica SL, Canon, Nikon Z6/7, Panasonic, Sigma) for my Leica M mount lenses!

RIP (n)

The only reason the M adaptor for the SL is thicker is because the sensor flange depth is different to the Sony. Regardless of the thickness of the adaptor, the M lens is the same distance from the SL/Sony sensor as it is from film/digital on M bodies.
 
The only reason the M adaptor for the SL is thicker is because the sensor flange depth is different to the Sony. Regardless of the thickness of the adaptor, the M lens is the same distance from the SL/Sony sensor as it is from film/digital on M bodies.

You are right! (y)

Any body used with Leica M lenses must have the same sensor distance as the Leica M bodies. Otherwise the M mount lenses would not focus.

Poor thinking from me ... --- One might call it wishful thinking, but it is the same.

Thank you for pointing out my fallacy! :ty:
 
I'm pretty clueless on such matters, so I should probably keep my mouth closed....

But I think M mount is kinda its own little thing...

The M mount flange to sensor/film distance is small compared to D/SLRs, but iirc (....) still a lot bigger than most modern mirrorless flange to sensor measurements

Also (again iirc...) Jonathon Slack mentioned in his CL review that although M glass played nicer on the CL (than it does on say the Fuji) it still doesn't play as well as it does on an M

I think there's companies that can modify the sensor cover glass thickness on the Sony (but I GUESS other cameras too) to make it play better with M glass.
 
I'm pretty clueless on such matters, so I should probably keep my mouth closed....
I think there's companies that can modify the sensor cover glass thickness on the Sony (but I GUESS other cameras too) to make it play better with M glass.

Hi, colari does this for SONY cameras. However, it changes color rendering ... ---

Adapting Leica lenses to other bodies is like putting Porsche engines into LEXUS bodies. At best, the result is the same as with the original engines.

Very often, it is not... ---

I tried all my 30 Leica M mount lenses on SONY bodies. - Nowadays, I use only native SONY lenses (on SONYs).

The only M mount I have with me when travelling for the A7R2 is the VOIGTLÄNDER Heliar 4,5/15 E39, as an UWA and as a backup,
should my ZEISS Loxia 2,8/21 fail.
 
Hi, Leica M9 - Summicron 2/50 f 8 handheld, crop:


L1015136_DxO-L50cron-8-c-tp.jpg



L1015136_DxO-L50cron-8-tp.jpg


Of course, this not a picture of a squirrel, but a picture with a squirrel in it, so to speak. The proper pics I took with my A7R2,
but this crop is not embarrassingly bad, I would say ... ---
 
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Hi, pictures of the blood moon Leica M9 - ZEISS Planar 2/50 f 5,6.


L1015254_DxO-z50p-56-tp.jpg



L1015254_DxO-z50p-56-c-tp.jpg



L1015259_DxO-z50p-c-tp.jpg


At least I tried. --- Due to the low ISO performance of the M9, I had to use long exposure times, which distorted the stars .

(The SONY A7R2 is better here, but I did not have enough time to find a SONY lens not producing silly sunstars ... ---)
 
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Hi, Wiesbaden/Germany on a cold and dull winter morning (Leica M9 - Leica Elmar-M 3,8/24 ASPH):


L1015304_DxO-L3824-8-tp.jpg


I bought the Elmar after the 2,8/21 Elmarit ASPH in my SONY-adapting-past, because I wanted a "more modern" 24. After this I bought the 24 Elmarit ASPH
to find out the differences ... ---

One of the problems in the adapting days was that very few owned the lenses they wrote about, or had even used them. :LOL:

But these days are over, for me. The Leica lenses I use on the M9.

The ZEISS Loxia 2,8/21 and the Batis 2/25 are excellent for the SONYs. I have them both ...
 
Leia Q
9glm1sO.jpg
 
Hi, Leica M9 - Summarit 2,5/50, f 2,5 (the new 2,4 version must be dramatically better, I suppose ;) ):


L1015365_DxO-L50summ-25-tp.jpg
 
FWIW I have the 90 2.5 and the 35 2.4 ‘rits

IMO the 90 gives up very little to my (latest gen) 50 cron in terms of build and rendering

The 35 feels ‘cheaper’ and the rendering is a little more “clinical” than my 50/90

Still, my summarits cost (secondhand for the 35 and NOS for the 90) together a little less than a mint late secondhand 35/2 so I’m not complaining

Sometimes I wonder if I should’ve got the 2.5 35 though!



Hi, Leica M9 - Summarit 2,5/50, f 2,5 (the new 2,4 version must be dramatically better, I suppose ;) ):


View attachment 236966
 
FWIW I have the 90 2.5 and the 35 2.4 ‘rits ...

The 35 feels ‘cheaper’ and the rendering is a little more “clinical” than my 50/90 ...

Sometimes I wonder if I should’ve got the 2.5 35 though!

Hi, I can only speak of my own, limited, portfolio, and I would say, the 2,8/28 Elmarit APSH feels cheaper than my 2,5/35 Summarit,
the aperture ring sitting not very firm, having some play, as also stated here:

http://joerivanderkloet.com/leica-summarit-m-352-4-review/

Up to now, I have never seen any review comparing the 2,4 vs. the 2,5 Summarit, however.

But I find the silver 2,4 prettier ... ---
 
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Sunrise & rural power station
Z7 & Summilux M 1.4/50

Hi, again we could ask the Chubby-Checker-Limbo-question how low can you go focal length-wise with the Z7?

When will corner smearing set in with the Z7?

At 35mm? Or below that ?

I do not want to spoil the fun, but adapting Leica M mount lenses to other bodies can be very tricky ... ---

I did that with SONYs.
 
This thread gives me so much inspiration; not a Leica owner but love the images posted.
 
35mm seems fine, not sure about wider than that...

Hi, the same goes for the SONY A7 and A7R2, and appears to hold for the Leica SL, Canon, Panasonic and Sigma mirrorless.

The mirrorless bodies above offer some advantages compared to the M9 (higher resolution, higher ISO, IS, bigger, tiltable screen, higher shutter speed)
one pays for with lower lens performance, bulky body.

A typical trade-off ... ---

With APS-C, things are different. I was very happy with all my M mount lenses on the SONY NEX-6. (I do not know how later models perform.

Problems set in with the NEX-7.)
 
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Getting so friggin’ excited,

Here is what we know so far about the upcoming Leica Q2 camera:


Read more: https://leicarumors.com/2019/02/15/first-leica-q2-camera-teaser-official-announcement-expected-on-or-around-march-6th.aspx/#ixzz5fgGVAcIo
 
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