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Fun with the Leica SL (digital)

uhoh7

New member
Mine was made in 2002, and still new in the box. Despite my general belief that R lens prices can be bargained down about 30%, this guy knew what he had, and there wasn't time for psychological warfare.

The SL is a great platform for working with UWAs, like this one, the M's 18 SEM, and the R-19 (which I believe Godfrey is using). These lenses really reorganize space for you. Thinking back to work Friedlander has done with his SWC, I realize that he gets so far into the middle of things that different planes in space end up interacting through transparency. One of my pictures with the 15 in a conference center in Montreal has that flavor. Anyway, there are lots of things to try.

scott
Until the SL appeared I was pretty ignorant of the more modern R lenses. Your 15 looks flat out incredible. I also see the last 50/1.4 is meant to be really something, and costs considerably more than a 50 Lux ASPH today on the used market.

I use the M9 and my widest is the ZM18 at the moment, which is really a super lens, but I do lust for one a bit wider. The CV 15s v1 and v2 have really dropped in price with the introduction of the new v3, but both seem to need considerable correction for colorshift.
 

D&A

Well-known member
Until the SL appeared I was pretty ignorant of the more modern R lenses. Your 15 looks flat out incredible. I also see the last 50/1.4 is meant to be really something, and costs considerably more than a 50 Lux ASPH today on the used market.

I use the M9 and my widest is the ZM18 at the moment, which is really a super lens, but I do lust for one a bit wider. The CV 15s v1 and v2 have really dropped in price with the introduction of the new v3, but both seem to need considerable correction for colorshift.
The ZM 18mm is s terrific performing lens and in many ways I cound it superior to the excellent Leica 18mm of which I extensively compared it to in hrad to head shooting. The ZM had far less distortion and was neck and neck with regards to tesolution right into the corners with the Leica. The issue with versions I and II of the CV 15mm was a somewhat precipitous dropoff of sharpness away from the center of the frame. I haven't yet shot with Ver. III. We both shoot with similar systems.

Dave (D&A)
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
From yesterday's walk with the Super-Elmar-M 15mm f/3.5:


Leica SL + Super-Elmar-R 15mm f/3.5
ISO 400 @ f/5.6 @ 1/25

full resolution link:
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/725/23243533924_280c696a8a_o.jpg

For such a large and heavy lens, it has remarkably nice handling on the Leica SL body. Set to square crop, the coverage is very very similar to what the Hasselblad SWC produces. This is an early 3cam model, made about 1979-1980.

enjoy!
G
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
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
 
Last edited:

johneaton

Member
As its been raining started playing around with some macro set-ups -- first two with 100mm Macro-Elmar R and bellows, second two with 60mm Macro-Elmarit ...


macro-1.jpg

macro-2.jpg

macro-3.jpg

macro-4.jpg
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Getting the measure of the Super-Elmar-R 15mm f/3.5 in terms of rectilinear behavior:


Leica SL + Super-Elmar-R 15mm f/3.5
ISO 3200 @ f/5.6 @ 1/40

Processed in LR 6.3
Elmarit-R 19mm lens profile applied, with additional +2 distortion added.

Full resolution:
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5657/23806766201_39f2f5db15_o.jpg

The native image captured with lens code on and without lens corrections shows a bit of mustache distortion. LR doesn't have a lens profile for this lens at present, but the Elmarit-R 19mm profile cleans up most of it. I then added a +2 distortion correction which knocks out all but the smallest amount.

enjoy!
G
 

scott kirkpatrick

Well-known member
Getting the measure of the Super-Elmar-R 15mm f/3.5 in terms of rectilinear behavior:


Leica SL + Super-Elmar-R 15mm f/3.5
ISO 3200 @ f/5.6 @ 1/40

The native image captured with lens code on and without lens corrections shows a bit of mustache distortion. LR doesn't have a lens profile for this lens at present, but the Elmarit-R 19mm profile cleans up most of it. I then added a +2 distortion correction which knocks out all but the smallest amount.

enjoy!
G


A dng file can have detailed distortion corrections inserted in it. Leica does this for the SL 24-90 at its wide end, and for the Q's lens. Then you don't need to wait for Adobe and Phase One to develop these corrections. We need to gently request that Leica put this into the SL firmware for some of the legacy R lenses as well. I've submitted a bug report on the bad vignetting profiles, but haven't mentioned this aspect. My fancy 15 is said to have 2% distortion, and would also benefit. I think yours is specified as 3%. I'd have to look up the technical information document, but if the curve is just monotonic, it's pure barrel distortion. If it bellies out (largest distortion partway to the edge, decreasing as you reach the edge of the frame) that's moustache. Either way, it can now be fixed in the raw file development software, as directed by the dng metadata. And it's optional. I'd leave it out if I don't need it.

scott
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
A dng file can have detailed distortion corrections inserted in it. Leica does this for the SL 24-90 at its wide end, and for the Q's lens. Then you don't need to wait for Adobe and Phase One to develop these corrections. We need to gently request that Leica put this into the SL firmware for some of the legacy R lenses as well. I've submitted a bug report on the bad vignetting profiles, but haven't mentioned this aspect. My fancy 15 is said to have 2% distortion, and would also benefit. I think yours is specified as 3%. I'd have to look up the technical information document, but if the curve is just monotonic, it's pure barrel distortion. If it bellies out (largest distortion partway to the edge, decreasing as you reach the edge of the frame) that's moustache. Either way, it can now be fixed in the raw file development software, as directed by the dng metadata. And it's optional. I'd leave it out if I don't need it.
For sure: it would be great if Leica would populate all the R lens codes with detailed distortion corrections. I've got a bug report going to Leica on this one as well.

Simple-spherical rectilinear distortion can be either positive ("barrel") or negative ("pincushion"). "Mustache" distortion is a complex rectilinear distortion in which a portion of the image field has barrel distortion and another part has pincushion distortion.

In the case of the SER15/3.5, the central portion has a bit of barrel distortion and the outer reaches has a bit of pincushion distortion. This is the typical pattern with ultra-wide lenses. Highly exaggerated, it looks like this:



It's hard to say whether Leica or Adobe will be quickly in providing such lens correction bits. I don't really care who does it. I can create a lens profile for the Adobe products myself, though, because Adobe offers an editor that makes it semi-easy. So if I am pushed to it I'll create a customized lens profile for the SER15/3.5 myself.

Not to mention that, 99% of the time, the minute amount of distortion in either the Super-Elmar-R 15mm or Super-Elmarit-R 15mm is mostly invisible to the eye... :toocool:

What is most gratifying in testing these lenses on the SL, there is none of the kind of smeary/ugly rendering that other adaptations have produced. I couldn't get corner regions as clean and crisp as this with even a 24mm lens until the SL came along. All three of my ultra-wides (R series 15, 19, and 24 mm) are now much more useful and usable.

G

addendum:

Oh yes, forgot to add this info.

Adobe Lens Profile Creator v1.0.4

User Guide: http://www.adobe.com/special/photos...ile_creator/lensprofile_creator_userguide.pdf

For Mac:
https://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=5489

For Windows:
https://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=193&platform=Windows
 

johneaton

Member
The rain stopped this afternoon and it was nice to get out for brisk walk, with fast-moving clouds at sunset .....
vario-elmar 35-70 @ 35, f8


fast clouds-1.jpg

fast clouds-2.jpg
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Re: Fun with the Summicron 80-R

I was looking for some long-scale images with good shadows to try out a new lens. It so happens that I've blown out several tires lately and gotten to know these guys pretty well:

...
SL, SX 90 R, f/4-5.6, ISO 1600
Nice photos. What lens is that you were trying out?

G
 

Paratom

Well-known member
So far I am quite impressed with the 24-90 Zoom.
The same is the case for the color I get out of the SL without much post processing.
Here is a snapshot from today with that combo:
 

Attachments

Knorp

Well-known member
Re: Fun with the Summicron 80-R

Mandler-era Summilux 80-R. I mistyped the last line, but have fixed it now.

scott
Yes Scott, you mistyped that pretty bad indeed ... :p
But hey - isn't that R80 fantastic ?
Got one myself recently, just in case one of these days I happen to buy an SL ...
Till then, I'd like to see some more shots !

TIA

Kind regards.
 

JorisV

New member
So far I am quite impressed with the 24-90 Zoom.
The same is the case for the color I get out of the SL without much post processing.
Here is a snapshot from today with that combo:
Tom,

How is the SL with zoom compared to the Leica T with zoom?

Is the difference substantial?

Thanks, Joris.
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Re: Fun with the Summicron 80-R

Mandler-era Summilux 80-R. I mistyped the last line, but have fixed it now.
Not to be nitpicky, but: Can't we just use the lens names rather than everyone using their own personally made-up abbreviations?
Summilux-R 80mm or 'Lux-R 80 are much more immediately understandable than "SX 80 R" and only take a moment to type.

(I've been tempted to acquire the 'Lux-R 80 too, but I'm happy with the 'Cron-R 90. My lens kit is already excessive.. :)

thx,
G
 
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