Leica S Typ 006: Shooting it Next Trip with 24mm, 35mm, 45mm, 100mm Lenses
Get Leica S at B&H Photo.
Shooting the Leica S system to review it has been an issue, mainly because of cost.
But a friend has generously loaned me his Leica S Typ 006 and the Leica 24mm f/3.5 Super-Elmar-S ASPH and the Leica 100mm f/2 Summicron-S ASPH (the same friend who loaned me gear for my review of the Leica 30-90mm f/3.5-5.6 Vario-Elmar-S ASPH).
Also, B&H is loaning me the 35mm f/2.5 Summarit-S ASPH and the 45mm f/2.8 Elmarit-M ASPH. So I’ll have the 24mm, 35mm, 45mm and 100mm Leica S lenses to shoot (equivalent to 19mm, 28mm, 36mm, 80mm in 35mm full frame field of view terms). I would have liked to also have the 30mm, but if interest is proven (new subscriptions), then I will invest additional effort in the 30mm, 70mm, and 120mm focal lengths.
Personally I find this an interesting project for context and relevance of medium format, particularly in light of the 50-megapixel Canon 5DS R with Zeiss Otus, as well as the Sony A7R II with Zeiss Batis. But this is a business, and my bills don’t pay themselves! I have to respond to customer demand as the primary driver of my schedule, and the Leica S market is very small. So this effort and the response to the coverage are a trial balloon, possibly a waste of 4 days in revenue terms and my time, but at the least I’ll gain a solid perspective on the S system and its lenses, and a wide-ranging perspective always feeds back into all my work. And I have just enough time to do it before the Sony A7R II work onslaught arrives (there are many more customers for the A7R II than Leica S).
I’ll be shooting the S system in the Yosemite area for four days. My goal is to gather enough material to provide a detailed look at each of those lenses on the Leica S Typ 006 (which is equivalent in imaging to the Leica S-E).
The 'glass' matters but so does the sensor, and the Leica S CCD sensor is gorgeous. So even though the Leica S system is stuck (permanently it seems) at 36 megapixels, it is the total combination of resolution and pixel quality that together make the visual impact.
LEICA S (Typ 006) + Vario-Elmar 30-90 @ 30mm
[low-res image for bot]
