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Fun with the Leica SL (digital)

erudolph

Member
Have rented the 24-90 SL lens. Being a long time M-lens user this is quite an adjustment. First impressions: it's a tool that will get you shots you wouldn't get otherwise; I don't enjoy using it that much.

This at 90mm, f/8, 1/80, ISO 400

 

doug

Well-known member
A stormy day and an obliging Red-breasted Sapsucker combined gave me an opportunity to see what the SL's files are like at ISO 3200. This is a biggie to me because I'm quite fond of the a7II's sensor stabilization, which the SL lacks. I haven't used the Sony at ISO higher than 400 because I'm not fond of the noise pattern so a usable higher ISO with the SL would compensate for the lack of IBIS.

Leica SL, Canon FD 500mm f/4.5 L, 1/1000 sec @ f/8, ISO 3200, big ol' Gitzo, significant crop:


100% crop, no sharpening or noise reduction:

http://www.wildlightphoto.com/SL/L1060480_100.jpg
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
A stormy day and an obliging Red-breasted Sapsucker combined gave me an opportunity to see what the SL's files are like at ISO 3200. This is a biggie to me because I'm quite fond of the a7II's sensor stabilization, which the SL lacks. I haven't used the Sony at ISO higher than 400 because I'm not fond of the noise pattern so a usable higher ISO with the SL would compensate for the lack of IBIS.

Leica SL, Canon FD 500mm f/4.5 L, 1/1000 sec @ f/8, ISO 3200, big ol' Gitzo, significant crop:

http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/picidae/sphyrapicus/rbsaps03.jpg

100% crop, no sharpening or noise reduction:

http://www.wildlightphoto.com/SL/L1060480_100.jpg
And just a little touch of noise reduction processing in LR6.3 cleans up the (admittedly rather nice) noise pattern too, without degrading the sharpness. I imagine that even better results can come of working on the raw file.

Very nice!

G
 

Paratom

Well-known member
A stormy day and an obliging Red-breasted Sapsucker combined gave me an opportunity to see what the SL's files are like at ISO 3200. This is a biggie to me because I'm quite fond of the a7II's sensor stabilization, which the SL lacks. I haven't used the Sony at ISO higher than 400 because I'm not fond of the noise pattern so a usable higher ISO with the SL would compensate for the lack of IBIS.

Leica SL, Canon FD 500mm f/4.5 L, 1/1000 sec @ f/8, ISO 3200, big ol' Gitzo, significant crop:


100% crop, no sharpening or noise reduction:

http://www.wildlightphoto.com/SL/L1060480_100.jpg
To me this image looks pretty good for ISO3200, specially the color. What do you think?
 

downstairs

New member
For what it’s worth… V-Elmarit-28/90 vs Summicron-50-ASPH on the SL.
Tripod, f.11, equal distance, manual focus, no sharpening, using adapter for the 50mm.





 

Godfrey

Well-known member
For what it’s worth… V-Elmarit-28/90 vs Summicron-50-ASPH on the SL.
Tripod, f.11, equal distance, manual focus, no sharpening, using adapter for the 50mm.
...
Nice.

The Summicron-50-ASPH appears to be just a hair more contrasty than the V-Elmarit-28/90 from those detail clips. The resolution seems a toss up.

G
 

erudolph

Member
Heron's Head Point with the 24-90

Aside: fwiw, I wanted to post these smaller, the long dimension 800 pixels rather than 1024, but found the Flickr sharpening algorithm too aggressive at the smaller size



 

al2002

New member
You would be better off using a true micro lens. Leitz, CZ, Nikon, Olympus all made top class objectives.

Camera -> Leica R adapter -> bellows R -> Leica R to 1" thread microscope adapter -> objective.

Alternatively, Canon makes a 5x- 1 x micro. Perhaps that can be adapted to the SL? Not sure how it will compare optically to the Luminars or Photars.


A little fun with macro.

I have been thinking of what it will take to capture Minox negatives with the Leica SL. Minox negatives are 8x11mm in size, so high magnification—beyond 1:1—is essential to get a nice, high pixel count. Also, because Minox film typically has a 1-3mm curvature when dry, you need enough DoF to capture clean, sharp images edge to edge.

I have the Macro-Elmarit-R 60mm as well as 2x Extender-R and Macro Adapter R (basically, an aperture coupled extension tube). Normally, I wouldn't use them together because the couplings can cause inaccuracies on Leica R SLRs when you're using two adapters like this, but on the SL which ignores all the mechanical couplings, that's not a concern.

So I fitted them all together, SL+Macro Adapter R+2x Extender-R+Macro-Elmarit-R 60, set the lens to maximum extension, and called upon the services of my friendly model:



Focusing carefully, I then made three exposures

@ f/2.8:



@ f/5.6



@ f/11



To check DoF and resulting magnification, I added a ruler:



Looking at the mm scale, this setup is going to result in about a 1.9:1 magnification ... I really want closer to 3:1.

Hmm. I'll need more macro tubes...

G
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
You would be better off using a true micro lens. Leitz, CZ, Nikon, Olympus all made top class objectives.

Camera -> Leica R adapter -> bellows R -> Leica R to 1" thread microscope adapter -> objective.

Alternatively, Canon makes a 5x- 1 x micro. Perhaps that can be adapted to the SL? Not sure how it will compare optically to the Luminars or Photars.
I'll work with what I have, thanks. Since I did the test you pointed to, I acquired the bellows R and have done tests with several of my lenses. The Summicron-R 50mm works very well for Minox negatives at just shy of 3:1 magnification.

G
 

ceh

Active member
Hi all,
how the lenses Elmarit-R 2.8/35 and Elmarit-R 2.8/90 work at one SL?
Is there anybody who can share their experience with this combinations?
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Hi all,
how the lenses Elmarit-R 2.8/35 and Elmarit-R 2.8/90 work at one SL?
Is there anybody who can share their experience with this combinations?
Sorry, ceh, I don't have either of these lenses. Maybe Godfrey?
I don't have those lenses either. However, I'm sure Leica provides lens codes for them in the SL's lens code library and expect that they work well.

G
 

scott kirkpatrick

Well-known member
Re: Stress-testing the Summilux 80 R

A foggy night, so I set fixed ISO = 400, and shot streets and lights wide open at f/1.4. (The EXIF is wrong, because as usual I only remembered to set the lens profile when I had finished). This one is an improvisation in coma -- look how the little lights change as you go up the pole on the right:

L1010769 by scott kirkpatrick, on Flickr

And, with a tripod and f/5.6, a memorial to those who died taking the hill on which the Supreme Court and the Knesset now stand. Just a list of names and their ages, mostly from 17 to 21.

L1010758 by scott kirkpatrick, on Flickr

scott
 

erudolph

Member
Art Museum: two with the f/1 noct v4





fwiw, the museum-goer's phone is covering the unicorn. This is Raphael's Portrait of a Lady with a Unicorn, a painting with amazing history. In fact, in the gallery where it was the sole painting on display, most of the visitors were reading the text screened in large type size on all the other walls. After I read it, I understood why.

 
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