Thanks all, great advice!
I think the zoom plus the 180 would be superb but bloody expensive that setup!
Marc, lighting is top of my list so cs may be a necessity, what speed does the 30-90 sync at?
Guy, I think you need a 200 f2 in your life again! Haha.
Mat
The 24mm, 30-90zoom and TS-APO 120/5.6 are not offered in CS versions and according to Leica will not be in future. So the top sync speed with strobes is 1/125 … which is why all my lenses are the CS versions, and why I don't have the zoom (can't afford that kind of redundancy).
I think a nice "eventual" kit would be the CS30, CS45, CS70 (which sometimes can be secured more economically with a used S2 camera), and the CS180 for portraits. The CS120 is an amazing optic but slower handling due to the longer throw for precise macro focusing.
The problem with CS lenses is that they were very late coming so not many used ones out there … where the focal plane versions have been around longer and there are a lot more of them, especially the 70 and 180 which were the first two lenses released. Leica had some nice deals on refurbished S lenses after they fulfilled the promise to early adopters to take them in trade for CS versions at the retail price difference. That is essentially how I got all my lenses upgraded to new CS ones after 3 years of owning the regular ones.
BTW, I also do not agree that the build quality is substantively different between the two models. The new S has a better LCD cover (Gorilla Glass) than the regular S2, however the S2P has an even better LCD cover (if you can find one). Most of the teething issues with the S2 were worked out and any issues swiftly dealt with by Leica … so most S2s are now just fine.
What the new S offers is a bit lower initial ISO @ 100, and a bit higher @ 1,600; a better buffer, supposedly slightly better AF (although few folks have been able to detect that in practical application), and a few other things as part of an evolutionary improvement … wasn't enough for me to upgrade at these prices.
If Leica goes CMOS, which I suspect they will, I won't be getting that one either unless they can match the CCD color of the S2/S, especially skin tones.
- Marc