It was a bleak and dull afternoon yesterday, with leaden light and heavy clouds. But I had promised myself to take the new lens out for a walk so I went anyway. It was a good walk.
All photos with Leica SL + APO-Vario-Elmarit-SL 90-280mm f/2.8-4 zoom, hand-held:
Even after familiarizing myself with it for a few days around the house, the SL90-280 remains a large and heavy lens. I carried only it in my hand, the Tenba Cooper 13DSLR bag (with nothing else in it) slung across my back just in case my wrist needed a rest. I didn't need to use the bag. I took about 30 exposures on a half-hour walk; I think there might be another five or eight worth processing.
For the first half of the walk, I had the focusing set to auto on the half-press of the shutter release; after that, I switched it to MF with AF on demand on the joystick button. I still prefer this latter focusing setup: peaking is set to enable automatically as I turn the focusing ring and the SL's display of peaking with this lens is just about perfect to my eye.
The lens performs very well, to my eye, and is a pleasure to work with even for a walk like this. That said, I'm sure I'll most likely use it more with a tripod setup and more studied shooting endeavors. And yes: I think it's time to have another customized insert made for the Pelican rollaway case. Even a backpack with this large and heavy an equipment load will wear on me too quickly.
enjoy!
G