Woody Campbell
Workshop Member
Odd that none of us have focused on what may turn out to be the best reason to own an S2: the possibility of adapting a legacy medium format glass to the S2. Because of its shorter-than-MF flange distance most MF glass will be able, at least physically, to be adapted to the S2. Let's review what might be possible:
Hasselblad 2000 glass: this is probably easiest because of the S2's FP shutter. It would be nice is the lens stop down could be linked to the camera but it could also be done manually. A key issue will be whether the S2 provides focus confirm with third party lenses (Nikon does and Canon doesn't - if I ever by another traditional SLR it will be a Nikon).
Hasselblad V. More complicated. The Hasselblad V to H adapter gets you most of the way there - it handles lens cocking for example. An additional adapter would be needed to make the physical connection to the camera. How stable would it be stacking adapters? The lens could be left in B mode and use the FP shutter. More sophisticated would be to trigger the lens off of the S2 sync signal, and more sophisticated yet would be to trigger off of the lens contact signal. There is a lot of work to be done here but the potential market is very large.
Contax 645. I've never shot this system so I don't know what's involved. A lot of interesting glass here so a big incentive to solve the problems.
Others. Bronica? Should be similar to Hasselblad 2000. Fuji?
Lecia R. I don't see how this could work form an infinity focus and image circle standpoint.
Optically the "crop factor" from 645 to Leica S is 1.38. We're in familiar territory here - the crop factor may be all that's necessary to bring much of the legacy MF glass into the digital age by eliminating the outer zones of the MTF charts.
This is a major opportunity for Leica. Witness all of the buzz around the Panasonic G1 and legacy lenses. One of the reasons that the M8 has succeeded is the appeal of legacy and 3rd party glass. It makes the system "open" vis-a-vis its most important element. Critically from Leica's standpoint it permits the S2 to become a "standard platform" for most legacy MF glass, which should dramatically enhance the S2's appeal. Will it adversely impact Leica lens sales? Not really - at least not if they deliver on the MTF charts they've shown us.
Most importantly, for the pro with a gear locker full of Hasselblad lenses the S2 becomes an extension or evolution, rather than a start from scratch. Duct tape solutions are not likely to be of interest to this market segment, so its important to Leica that sophisticated solutions be found - particularly in the Hasselblad V area - which is probably the largest segment of legacy glass. I personally would pay whatever it takes to put a V lens on an S2 body.
So Leica's homework assignment on this is to reach out to Novoflex and share specs and maybe even a prototype. Or do it themselves. Early availability of adapters provides a solution for Leica to the problem of limited choice (at least initially) in Leica S2 lenses.
Hasselblad 2000 glass: this is probably easiest because of the S2's FP shutter. It would be nice is the lens stop down could be linked to the camera but it could also be done manually. A key issue will be whether the S2 provides focus confirm with third party lenses (Nikon does and Canon doesn't - if I ever by another traditional SLR it will be a Nikon).
Hasselblad V. More complicated. The Hasselblad V to H adapter gets you most of the way there - it handles lens cocking for example. An additional adapter would be needed to make the physical connection to the camera. How stable would it be stacking adapters? The lens could be left in B mode and use the FP shutter. More sophisticated would be to trigger the lens off of the S2 sync signal, and more sophisticated yet would be to trigger off of the lens contact signal. There is a lot of work to be done here but the potential market is very large.
Contax 645. I've never shot this system so I don't know what's involved. A lot of interesting glass here so a big incentive to solve the problems.
Others. Bronica? Should be similar to Hasselblad 2000. Fuji?
Lecia R. I don't see how this could work form an infinity focus and image circle standpoint.
Optically the "crop factor" from 645 to Leica S is 1.38. We're in familiar territory here - the crop factor may be all that's necessary to bring much of the legacy MF glass into the digital age by eliminating the outer zones of the MTF charts.
This is a major opportunity for Leica. Witness all of the buzz around the Panasonic G1 and legacy lenses. One of the reasons that the M8 has succeeded is the appeal of legacy and 3rd party glass. It makes the system "open" vis-a-vis its most important element. Critically from Leica's standpoint it permits the S2 to become a "standard platform" for most legacy MF glass, which should dramatically enhance the S2's appeal. Will it adversely impact Leica lens sales? Not really - at least not if they deliver on the MTF charts they've shown us.
Most importantly, for the pro with a gear locker full of Hasselblad lenses the S2 becomes an extension or evolution, rather than a start from scratch. Duct tape solutions are not likely to be of interest to this market segment, so its important to Leica that sophisticated solutions be found - particularly in the Hasselblad V area - which is probably the largest segment of legacy glass. I personally would pay whatever it takes to put a V lens on an S2 body.
So Leica's homework assignment on this is to reach out to Novoflex and share specs and maybe even a prototype. Or do it themselves. Early availability of adapters provides a solution for Leica to the problem of limited choice (at least initially) in Leica S2 lenses.