Last May I demo'd an S2 in White Mountain National Forest and Olympic National Park with the intent of replacing my 4x5 Arca Swiss system. I was very impressed with the S2 but have not yet pulled the trigger because 35mm is just not wide enough and I wanted some assurance that Leica would deliver on their promise of a 24mm lens. Was also hoping to see at least one T/S by now.
Fast forward to present day and I have two projects lined up for 2012 where the S2 would be the perfect tool. One involves yet another trip to Cuba to finalize the content for a book project which has been on-going for the past two years. Up to now, all the Cuba work has been done with M7's and M9's. The S2 would be used mainly for architecture, over all street scenes, and some street photography when the light levels allow. Unfortunately, when I first evaluated the S2, I never really looked at the ISO performance nor its application for street work. Everything was done from a tripod with the lenses stopped down and mirror lock-up engaged. Was hoping someone with the S2 might comment on the ISO performance (I rarely shoot my M9's over ISO 320 and usually have Neopan 400 in the M7's) and what sort of shutter speeds one might obtain handheld with either the 35mm or 70mm. Curious also about the wide open performance of these lenses.
The other project is in Bulgaria and will involve documentary environmental portraiture in a tiny village, some outdoors, some indoors. For this project, I would hope to add the 120 Macro. The intended output for this work would be an exhibition, and therein would be the main requirement for the S2, to generate ~ 30x40 inch prints.
But here is the catch.....in order to afford the S2/35/70 kit, I need to sell all of my Leica M kit as well as my Mamiya 7II kit. I have an offer from my local Leica dealer which would cover the S2 and one lens, so I would need to dig a bit deeper to add the additional lens. My fear is, by the time Feb/2012 or Aug/2012 rolls around (project dates), there will be a replacement for the M9 with a larger pixel count, and/or Leica have moved on to the S3, or worse, have either abandoned the system or fail to fulfill their promise of a 24mm. Any advice from others that have abandoned all hope?????
Fast forward to present day and I have two projects lined up for 2012 where the S2 would be the perfect tool. One involves yet another trip to Cuba to finalize the content for a book project which has been on-going for the past two years. Up to now, all the Cuba work has been done with M7's and M9's. The S2 would be used mainly for architecture, over all street scenes, and some street photography when the light levels allow. Unfortunately, when I first evaluated the S2, I never really looked at the ISO performance nor its application for street work. Everything was done from a tripod with the lenses stopped down and mirror lock-up engaged. Was hoping someone with the S2 might comment on the ISO performance (I rarely shoot my M9's over ISO 320 and usually have Neopan 400 in the M7's) and what sort of shutter speeds one might obtain handheld with either the 35mm or 70mm. Curious also about the wide open performance of these lenses.
The other project is in Bulgaria and will involve documentary environmental portraiture in a tiny village, some outdoors, some indoors. For this project, I would hope to add the 120 Macro. The intended output for this work would be an exhibition, and therein would be the main requirement for the S2, to generate ~ 30x40 inch prints.
But here is the catch.....in order to afford the S2/35/70 kit, I need to sell all of my Leica M kit as well as my Mamiya 7II kit. I have an offer from my local Leica dealer which would cover the S2 and one lens, so I would need to dig a bit deeper to add the additional lens. My fear is, by the time Feb/2012 or Aug/2012 rolls around (project dates), there will be a replacement for the M9 with a larger pixel count, and/or Leica have moved on to the S3, or worse, have either abandoned the system or fail to fulfill their promise of a 24mm. Any advice from others that have abandoned all hope?????