A desultory gallery. Virtual small town museum. Praise for a camera. Evaluation of a lens. Something for everyone.

 

I shot 1200-1500 images on Saturday, on a job, for a client. All raw. Across three different cameras. All Leica SL series cameras. I have a few thoughts. But I guess a good camera workout over the weekend was not enough to sate my need to go out after lunch today to photograph more things and to take a long walk...

I mentioned praise for a camera. While it's not perfect (what camera is?) I have to say that the original Leica SL, the world's first fully professional, mirrorless camera, is the most beautifully designed camera I have ever had the pleasure to use. It's spare, Spartan and industrial. No design missteps. Nothing bettered in the later models. 

After shooting with the SL2, the SL2-S and the original SL this weekend I was hungry to take the SL out for more, just a few hours ago. I also wanted to see how well the Thypoch 28mm f1.4 lens worked with that camera. I thought 28mm would be a good choice on a camera with no image stabilization. I felt that I could handhold shutter speeds down to 1/25th of a second and as long as there was no subject movement I'd be Okay. Of course that was what I was thinking before I had that powerful cappuccino at Mañana Coffee.... 

All kidding aside I really like the colors coming out of the SL. I know there are other cameras, both in the Leica family and elsewhere that can do a much better job with noise at higher ISOs but if you shoot the SL just right... it can turn out amazing files. Today, I shot everything at ISO 50. Why? Because it's a really ISO 50 and not a pull. Not a fake. And it looks great. It looks...different.

To compensate for the sometimes slower shutter speeds in alleys and shop windows I mostly used the 28mm lens in this way: f4.0 in bright light. f2.8 in lower light (open shade, et al) and, when pressed, I even used the lens wide open. It performed very, very well. I'll keep it and use it. 

It's not quite as brilliant as the lens on the Q2 but it's close. And the lens on the Q2 isn't as fast. though it does gain autofocus. Comparing the 28 Thypoch to my Carl Zeiss ZM 28mm Biogon is a different thing. The ZM 28 was designed for film. It doesn't do as well on full frame digital cameras when it comes to color casts in the corners or on one wide but not the other. I can't really hold that against the lens given that I knew about the design choices embodied. The M cameras; the rangefinders, have sensors that are tweaked to give great results with lenses designed for film and the cameras from Leica that came after the SL have the same micro lenses on the sensors to compensate.

But I can compare the performance of the Zeiss ZM 28 used on an M camera and the Thypoch used on an SL. It's easy to see in the files. The ZM has more contrast. More brilliance than either the Q2 Summilux or the Thypoch. On the right camera it's amazing and visually exciting. But, then again, it's "only" an f2.8 and not a 1.7 or a 1.4.

For daylight work or play I'd use the Zeiss ZM 28mm on a rangefinder camera as my first choice. Almost always. But all choices like these are subjective. After hours or in interior spaces I'd default to the Thypoch for the extra speed. And the Q2 is a Q. You're either bringing that camera along because you don't want to make lens choices or because you just want to travel light while having the benefit of a great sensor coupled to a great fixed lens. So, there it is. No perfect lens. But three nearly perfect 28mm lenses. If you are on a budget the Thypoch definitely wins. If you are looking for what I think is the best performance it would be the Zeiss lens on the front of a current M11 or an M10. Or even an M240. Traveling barebones? Then, the Q2. All great choices and only a devout lens nerd would really see or care about the small differences in performance....

But the SL camera wins hands down as best mirrorless camera (when thinking about design and construction) ever. Ever. Sorry. It's just closer to perfect than any other professional, full frame mirrorless camera. Everything here was photographed with the SL @50 ISO, 28mm lens. Handheld with no I.S. It works fine. It feels fine. And the images look great when you blow them up. You are going to look at them full frame, on a big computer monitor, right? Right? Comment below if for no other reason than my need to know that the comments are working and the blog hasn't been highjacked...

This is a lens test. In this frame I'm testing for chromatic aberrations. Purple fringing. Green fringing. Smear in the corners. Sorry. No complaints. It's all good here. 

Ah. The colors and contrast....