A Quick, Long Overdue, Review of the Leica 18-56mm Aspheric Lens for the CL System.

 

So, to do the picture justice just open it up on your 30 inch Apple Studio Monitor and enlarge to

100%. I'm betting you'll think it's pretty darn good. On your phone? Really?

Not so much.

I've owned a Leica CL (digital) for about three years now. It's a great, small, discreet, black camera that's easy to carry around and use. The menus are in the same family as those of the SL2 and SL2-S cameras I shoot with all the time so there's very little wasted start up time when I switch from the big cameras to the smaller one. In short, I like the camera very much and the new A.I. noise reduction capabilities in Adobe Lightroom give the little camera an updated,  elevated value. Now, instead of wishing for image stabilization in camera I can just set a higher shutter speed in the auto-ISO menu and process files that need to be a bit "cleaner" in that application.

The reason I hadn't been getting enough value out of the system is that I initially bought the wrong lenses to go with the camera. I was dismissive of the Leica "normal" zoom lens for the system because it was expensive and had smaller apertures, both at the wide and end and, more egregiously, at the long end --- where it's 85mm equivalent focal length had to make due with a "paltry" f5.6. Instead, I bought the Sigma version (18-50mm) which is a constant f2.8 max aperture all the way from wide to tele. But here's the rub; I didn't get along with that lens. It seemed to vignette pretty much all the way through its range, when used wide open. And it felt incredibly plasticky. It's serviceable, for sure, but not by me.

Instead of biting the bullet and buying the other, prime Leica lenses for the camera I bought the Sigma Contemporary lenses that were designed for APS-C format cameras, including those in the L mount systems. I bought and still have the 16mm f1.4, the 30mm f1.4 and the 56mm f1.4. All fast, and all good performers. But the basic problem is that their size (bigger) and weight (more) was in conflict with the small size of the camera. And, for a walk around system the idea of bringing all three lenses and changing them every time I saw something that needed a tighter crop or more magnification, or a wider view, seemed overly complicated and fiddly. And too many lenses to mind juggle.

The camera languished in a drawer for a while...

Then, out of the blue, one of my favorite Leica dealers got in one of the Leica 18-56mm lenses, used, and offered it at a price I could stomach. It was a couple hundred dollars less expensive than another one they got in around the same time. I called to find out what the differences might be. It's the old Leica thing: If the unit is accompanied by all the original packing and paperwork the price goes up. The camera in its naked state? The price is adjusted downward. 

I bought it immediately. No hesitation. In the time since I sold off the Sigma lens I'd read up on just what makes the Leica 18-56mm an interesting lens. In a nutshell, it's the high optical performance. You lose f-stop/speed but you gain correction and Leica lens coatings, etc. It's been so well reviewed across so many user forums that I thought I could not go wrong. But, to paraphrase Ronald Reagan's famous quote ("Trust, but verify!") I routinely trust but test every lens I get --- just to make sure. 

The lens arrived yesterday and today, after breakfast and the ritual reading of the news sites, I grabbed a couple extra batteries from the Sigma fp battery stockpile and headed over to S. Congress Ave.

I shot some black and white images yesterday evening when B. and I went to the gigantic, Affordable Art Fair. If you think $8900 is "affordable" for a mediocre painting that just screams, very derivative but without the talent, then you exist in a different tax bracket than I.  The image just below is from the show. The original is in color, and while I love the movie, "The Wizard of Oz" I know I wouldn't be able to live day-to-day with a cartoonish "homage." But I do like the way the camera and lens handled the lighting and tones....

Now, let me emphasize that I was not over on S. Congress with a new lens and the intention to shoot important images that would go directly into my (non-existent) portfolio. No. These are all test shots. Photographs made to show off features or flaws of the new lens --- and nothing more!!! So before you get your panties in a bunch and tell me that you've seen my cowboy boot photos or my Jo's Coffee photos before and "meh", just calm down and see them for what they are: Images that show how the lens, and the lens + camera, work in real world situations with apertures near wide open. All images are handheld and shot at either 1/125th of a second or 1/250th of a second. 

Since you're likely looking at a screen of some sort I could just go ahead and tell you that I think this little lens punches well above its weight class. (Kind of a pun since it's very light compared to the other Leica lenses I use....). But if you aren't trying to quality check them on your phone screen, through the plastic screen protector, in a bouncing Uber, then go ahead and take a peek on a decent monitor and see what you think. In my mind the lens is a definite keeper. It makes the system work as intended.  A small, light and highly capable camera for carrying around while looking at stuff. That's it.

Not a mannequin but an actual dog!!!

Lightroom Selenium filter.

Not a dog but an actual mannequin.

Fun with cameras and lenses.