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Archive 2022 · Where are the Leica SL 21mm and 24mm Summicrons?

woodstork
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Where are the Leica SL 21mm and 24mm Summicrons?

After the disappointment of seeing the hohum specs and reviews of the new Sigma 20/2 I’m really wanting to see Leica’s 21/2 SL cron soon.

Anyone have a sense of when Leica aims to issue these? Can’t find a bit of info on line.

On a related subject, for someone who loves the overall across the frame render (great falloff, micro contrast, color, and bokeh) of the SL f/2 primes from wide open to f/11 - would I likely be pleased by the SL 16-35mm Vario? Deciding if it’s even worth renting to test out as an alternative or precursor to the 21mm prime. I will occasionally miss f/2 to f/3, but will sometimes appreciate 0.27x magnification. And that is a hella expensive zoom unless it’s doing some special things at its wide end.

Feb 10, 2022 at 04:40 PM

Fred Miranda
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Where are the Leica SL 21mm and 24mm Summicrons?

woodstork wrote:
After the disappointment of seeing the hohum specs and reviews of the new Sigma 20/2 I’m really wanting to see Leica’s 21/2 SL cron soon.

Anyone have a sense of when Leica aims to issue these? Can’t find a bit of info on line.

On a related subject, for someone who loves the overall across the frame render (great falloff, micro contrast, color, and bokeh) of the SL f/2 primes from wide open to f/11 - would I likely be pleased by the SL 16-35mm Vario? Deciding if it’s even worth renting to test out as an alternative or precursor to...Show more →

No, the SL 16-35mm is not a good lens despite what you hear from promoters, far from the SL primes performance. I had a perfect centered copy and the mid-zone and edges were very disappointing.

It looks like it was designed by Minolta:
https://www.mirrorlessrumors.com/the-new-5500-leica-sl-16-35mm-lens-has-been-actually-designed-by-konica-minolta/

Feb 10, 2022 at 04:58 PM

ocean2059
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Where are the Leica SL 21mm and 24mm Summicrons?

woodstork wrote:
After the disappointment of seeing the hohum specs and reviews of the new Sigma 20/2 I’m really wanting to see Leica’s 21/2 SL cron soon.

Anyone have a sense of when Leica aims to issue these? Can’t find a bit of info on line.

On a related subject, for someone who loves the overall across the frame render (great falloff, micro contrast, color, and bokeh) of the SL f/2 primes from wide open to f/11 - would I likely be pleased by the SL 16-35mm Vario? Deciding if it’s even worth renting to test out as an alternative or precursor to...Show more →

I would recommend that you give a try to rent the 16-35 Super-Vario-Elmar to see how you like it. I have been using my for few years and I like it very much. The optical formula of the lens was developed by Minolta but there is nothing wrong with that as Minolta had developed some excellent zoom lenses and even for Leica in the early 80's. In the 16-35 Super-Vario-Elmar, Leica added some software correction in the wide end of the zoom range (from 16 - 21mm).

Feb 10, 2022 at 09:11 PM

Planetwide
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Where are the Leica SL 21mm and 24mm Summicrons?

The Patent would also be required for manufacturing. Many of the R lenses were also manufactured by Konica Minolta. My version of this lens is very good.

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-N3QB8xB/2/de20ccfa/X3/i-N3QB8xB-X3.jpg

Feb 10, 2022 at 09:34 PM

Planetwide
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Where are the Leica SL 21mm and 24mm Summicrons?

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-kckShpq/2/789c22e2/X3/i-kckShpq-X3.jpg

Feb 10, 2022 at 09:36 PM

Fred Miranda
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Where are the Leica SL 21mm and 24mm Summicrons?

Even my Voigtlander 15/4.5 III performs better than the Leica SL 16-35 at 16mm. By a good margin too and the zoom does worse at longer FLs especially after 24mm. I wanted to like this lens for landscapes but it just didn't cut it for me, especially considering its price.

Here is a sample I found when I tested it against the SL 35/2 APO. The crops below show the extreme corners at f/4.5.
The zoom has too much astigmatism towards the corners which never goes away even at f/8.
I will try to find the comparison with the Voigtlander 15mm.

Corner comparison

Feb 10, 2022 at 09:38 PM

Fred Miranda
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Where are the Leica SL 21mm and 24mm Summicrons?

I found a comparison. Sorry the lighting was not that great.

The Voigtlander is not the sharpest 15-16mm out there and it outperforms the Leica zoom @16mm.

I am waiting for the SL 21/2 as well....

Voigtlander (LEFT), Leica SL 16-35 @16mm (RIGHT): Both at f/5.6

Feb 10, 2022 at 09:56 PM

Planetwide
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Where are the Leica SL 21mm and 24mm Summicrons?

I'll dig up some corner samples of my lens. it will be interesting to see how it compares...

Feb 10, 2022 at 10:25 PM

ocean2059
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Where are the Leica SL 21mm and 24mm Summicrons?

My copy of the 16-35 Super-Vario-Elmar is pretty good and I don't notice any corner issues that would bother me.


	© ocean2059 2022

Edited on Feb 10, 2022 at 11:31 PM · View previous versions

Feb 10, 2022 at 10:31 PM

woodstork
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Where are the Leica SL 21mm and 24mm Summicrons?

Thank you for posting those comparisons Fred. This one in particular is rather enlightening. Not surprised the SL 35mm smoked the zoom too, but was stunned to see by how much. So, the zoom isn’t in the cards - I like tight corners too well, especially for that kind of cash. C’mon Leica get that 21mm out. Minolta design itself doesn’t bother me, they have some great lens engineers, but SL APO Summicron designer Peter Karbe is in his own league.

Fred Miranda wrote:
I found a comparison. Sorry the lighting was not that great.

The Voigtlander is not the sharpest 15-16mm out there and it performs noticeably better than the Leica zoom @16mm.

I was waiting for the SL 21/2 as well....

Feb 10, 2022 at 11:04 PM

woodstork
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Where are the Leica SL 21mm and 24mm Summicrons?

Those are beautiful images, nicely seen and I really like the color and contrast! I can see why folks like this lens.

ocean2059 wrote:
My copy of the 16-35 Super-Vario-Elmar is pretty and I don't notice any corner issues that would bother me.

Feb 10, 2022 at 11:25 PM

woodstork
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Where are the Leica SL 21mm and 24mm Summicrons?

Once you see the across-the-frame excellence of the 35mm SL cron, you just can’t unsee it!

Fred Miranda wrote:
Even my Voigtlander 15/4.5 III performs better than the Leica SL 16-35 at 16mm. By a good margin too and the zoom does worse at longer FLs especially after 24mm. I wanted to like this lens for landscapes but it just didn't cut it for me, especially considering its price.

Here is a sample I found when I tested it against the SL 35/2 APO. The crops below show the extreme corners at f/4.5.
The zoom has too much astigmatism towards the corners which never goes away even at f/8.
I will try to find the comparison with the Voigtlander 15mm.

Feb 10, 2022 at 11:29 PM

Geoff CB
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Where are the Leica SL 21mm and 24mm Summicrons?

In this range I am holding out hope for the upcoming Panasonic 18mm 1.8. Fingers crossed it is excellent when stopped down to 2.8.

Feb 11, 2022 at 07:36 AM

woodstork
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Where are the Leica SL 21mm and 24mm Summicrons?

I was unaware of that one. Also now sharing your hopes for it. That 1.8 series seems great for video applications and am hoping this one has great corners, high contrast, and close focus. Panasonic designed such a great landscape body in the S1R , it would be nice to have a ‘world class’ ultra wide for stills.

Geoff CB wrote:
In this range I am holding out hope for the upcoming Panasonic 18mm 1.8. Fingers crossed it is excellent when stopped down to 2.8.

Feb 11, 2022 at 01:14 PM

Matt Kerby
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Where are the Leica SL 21mm and 24mm Summicrons?

I gotta say, I feel like I've been waiting for these lenses forever. Maybe by the time I give up on the L mount, they'll put out the 21/2.
I don't have samples from my SL 16-35, but it was the least impressive of the 3 SL zooms I own/owned. I sold it almost immediately.

Feb 11, 2022 at 03:08 PM

Planetwide
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Where are the Leica SL 21mm and 24mm Summicrons?

Here are some corner samples from my 16-35mm. The first two are wide open, and the second two are at F8. No Sharpening at all applied. These are the extreme corners shot on a Pana S1r

Feb 11, 2022 at 07:16 PM

Planetwide
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Where are the Leica SL 21mm and 24mm Summicrons?

Wide Open

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-FbddGpW/0/991512f9/X3/i-FbddGpW-X3.jpg

F8

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-MJTJbhz/0/401ca3af/X3/i-MJTJbhz-X3.jpg

Feb 11, 2022 at 07:24 PM

woodstork
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Where are the Leica SL 21mm and 24mm Summicrons?

Is corner performance better at the wide end? That’s what I think I’m seeing in your last two sets of posts.

Planetwide wrote:
Wide Open

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-FbddGpW/0/991512f9/X3/i-FbddGpW-X3.jpg

F8

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-MJTJbhz/0/401ca3af/X3/i-MJTJbhz-X3.jpg

Feb 11, 2022 at 09:11 PM

Planetwide
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Where are the Leica SL 21mm and 24mm Summicrons?

All shots are at 16mm. F3.5 and F8, corner crops from both. The lens performs best at 35mm, it does show some field curvature at the wide end. Overall, it's a very capable zoom lens. I have no doubt that the SL 21mm will be much better.

Feb 11, 2022 at 09:18 PM

ocean2059
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Where are the Leica SL 21mm and 24mm Summicrons?

Here are the MTFs of 16-35 Super-Vario-Elmar lens at infinity and at MFD (0.5m) from Leica.

Feb 11, 2022 at 09:29 PM

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