Finally an image in the familiar 3×2 full frame aspect ratio. The Leica is back. Fixed and cleaned. And I got a free new battery with it (100$ retail value). I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry. Probably both. Glad to have the camera back. Because the SL2-S can do things for me that my other cameras can’t do. Like shooting with manual M-Mount lenses with a 0.95 aperture. On the other hand I’m still disappointed by their service and handling of the matter, after my brand new Leica failed me 3 days into our Israel trip with a mechanical shutter defect. I picked it up yesterday and took it for a spin around the Old Town, shooting with the beautiful TTArtisan 50mm .95 lens.
Photography with a .95 aperture prime lens has its challenges. When you own a lens like this, you want to shoot wide open. Focusing is not that easy, as depth of field is super shallow and the correct focus pane tiny. The lens is all manual, so in order to nail the focus, you need a great optical or electronic view finder. Or a Live View function with a high res LCD back screen. Both things that my only other M-Mount camera, the M240, doesn’t have.
Then try shooting wide open in bright daylight. Many cameras are limited to a shutter speed of max 1/4000 sec, which is often not fast enough at large apertures. This can be mitigated by using a Neutral Density (ND) filter on the lens, but it is much nicer to have an electronic shutter that can handle 5-digit shutter speeds. Once more, impossible with my (almost vintage) M240, but the SL2-S has it. Using shutter speeds of 1/6400 sec, I was able to shoot with apertures of .95 and 1.2. And this was not even in bright sunlight, but in the warm evening light on this scorching hot day on the Streets of Nuremberg. Yesterday we did hit a high of 38 degrees Celsius in the afternoon.
The TTArtisan 50mm .95 performed admirably on the SL2-S. I like the color rendering of the lens as well as the bokeh when shooting wide open. Manual focusing with the magnificent electronic viewfinder of the Leica is so easy, and with the electronic shutter I can shoot at .95 in bright daylight. It is a great lens (that I will review further), considering it costs a fraction of the “original”, the Leica 50mm .95 Noctilux.
So the Leica is back. I think I rather laugh than cry 😉
Have a great Thursday
Marcus
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