Video

my favorite lens for tracks & fields

Nice review! I'd love to see some of the shots taken with this on the F5 - that sounds like an amazing combination.

This was superb

Fuji Neopan 1600 in Kodak HC110 Just saying.....

Your volume is really low

I love my Leica M, because it’s light and my lenses are small. The 75 and 90mm often stay at home. Too big and heavy.

i think fomapan must be over developed, especially 400. 400 is really better if developed at 800...100 and 200 are good, but 400 is really too soft for my taste if developed at 400...I am a rodinal user...

That mark on the footpath sign image looks like a drying mark rather than a scratch. I do use Foma 400 as it is so reasonably priced but the quality seems to vary from batch to batch. Add Kodak DoubleX to your trials, it has a very good exposure latitude. I use it at ISO 250 to 1600 with very little image change. Best at 250 though.

Is it me or is your sound really quiet?

Just bought one of these in 2024. The planned obsolescence and creation of the Z platform have caused people like me to be able to get a 600 f4 G for a price that we would have never been able to dream of. The Z and the DSLRs take almost similar quality pics. People are paying too much for the Z and all the gadgets. Pro equipment is becoming affordable for amateurs as a result of the need for Nikon to keep pushing tech evolution.

Great prices on these right now via eBay.. I think I might get one. Also considering the F3.. I dunno..

Nice images, great skill, jealous!

I sometimes use my M9 along side my everyday M4 for exactly those same reasons, the ability to swap Leica lenses (35 'cron, 28 Elmarit) on either film or digital. I use B&W film (bulk rolled Kodak BWXX, self dev'd) in the M4, colour on the M9. In fact I just shot a summer festival in Japan this way. Absolutely fantastic! 😀

Whenever I bring more than one camera the main camera is the one I use the most and the other becomes an afterthought. But I do enjoy the Leica M focusing again although eye detect systems have spoiled me lately for critical focus. For landscape and stilllife AF has no advantage over M. P.S. Thanks for sharing your shots - love 'em!

This was fun because you were clearly so enamored with the experience that you couldn't even stare right at it to collect your thoughts ha. I came to the Leica M system some 25 years into shooting, picking up a M240 right here in 2024... And I gotta concur: it's so intuitive and satisfying. I wish I had discovered it before my eyes degraded to such garbage ha.

Did you develop the film yourself? If so, you did a good job.

Hello mate, Nice video. I've got series one (Nikkor 200mm f2G ED VR) which doesn't have Nano coating. Is this one very different from the first generation? I bought it second-hand from Ted's Camera in Melbourne which comes with 3 year Nikon warranty as Ted's is Nikon certified reseller. That is quite quick as well and has VR. I paid 3800 AUD which is around 2500 USD. HAve you ever used the first generation? Cheers

Leica SL lenses & compact should not be used in the same sentence. Add 35, 50, 75mm primes. Does the 24-90 produce photoshop of the same quality as these APO primes. While a tank to lug around, might make more sense.

Any tips for a F5 that will not power up even with new batteries? The battery tray and compartment show no corrosion or damage. The camera body appears in good shape, no obvious dents, or damage. The film compartment looks clean also.

just wondering if you came across a setting where the flash pops up when reaching a minimum shutter speed ???

Always liked the ouput of HP5. Oh you're making me want to go out and shoot with my F5 😂. Thanks for the video, nice captures !! Which lens you got on there ? 50 1.4 ?

Give Tmax400 a go, I love it and it has a finer grain than HP5. For my F100 it’s my go to film. Superb developed in Bellini Hydrofen. I doubt your mono-bath method will get the best out of it though.

Great review. can the goggle be taken off?

I would say if you want 1 lens for the SL system, then Pick up the 24-90. not the 24-70. The 24-90 is bigger and weighs more but just amazing as it is like having 6 primes, it is that good. This was the first lens I bought with the system and still use today.

The 28 is my favorite for streets. I love all the SL APO lenses, they are amazing. I have the 28,35 and the 90. I have the zooms as well and love them, however have been changing to the primes. The APO lenses are designed by Peter Karbe and he says they are the best lenses he has ever designed. These are not Panasonic or Sigma, like the non APO's might be. The 35APO is about as perfect a lens ever made. All the APO lense wide open are amazing. These lenses are even bette than the M. Some people believe they are clinical, however when used correctly they are just amazing.

I have this lens an it is fabulous. I am using it on the SL3 now and it is unbelievable. Big and heavy yes but worth it.

have you had any experience using the LUMIX f/1.8 primes? the reviews and examples I've seen comparing those lenses with the Summicron alternatives show that they are almost identical. Panasonic doesn't offer a 28mm version in that lineup. do you feel or know if the 28mm APO Summicron SL is a totally custom piece of glass designed BY Leica in Germany compared to the other Summicron SL lenses which seem to be copies of the Panasonic LUMIX alternates?

I use the 90mm f/2 Summicron in a 21/35/90mm kit for my Leica M6 35mm rangefinder. It is a great lens.

For the price they charge it better be outstanding.

Your usual monobath?

Community page?

FYI Allan used the 24 Summilux, not the 28mm ;-)

Sent mine in for CLA in April of 2024. After almost a year I finally concluded and admitted that it was not sharp. A $9000 not sharp lens. Anxious to get it back and see what I’ve been missing. Also had the M11 freeze problems and odd chromatic aberrations with the 50APO!? I did get a second body from Leica. I was trying to splurge on the best. Not so much.

I have an M2 and MP. I use a Doomo Cold shoe meter which gives the same reading as the MP. Mine has been fully CLA'd with new rangefinder, leather and paint. I had to get the rangefinder adjusted when I got it. The technician also checked the shutter speeds and said he has never before seen a Leica where all the shutter speeds are exactly perfect. I actually prefer the spool for loading because you just know without doubt it is loaded perfectly. Using the M2 is like driving a classic car. Enjoy!

For this lens to shine, you need to put it on a camera that has the OLPF [1] Eliminated. In the case of Nikon, at a photosite density expressed in full frame MP, the decision point to Eliminate it or not is 36MP. The Nikon D800 has an OLPF but in the otherwise equal (ceteris paribus) D800E it was Eliminated. On a 36MP D800, this lens gets 28P-Mpix from DxO Mark, which becomes 34P-Mpix on a D800E, but then gets 41P-MPix on a D850 [2]. Removal of the OLPF has an impact though [3]. Put it on a 24MP pro body and you're looking at OLPF and your raw processing software's deBayerisation and demosaicking more than at this actual lens's performance. While it is a 200mm with f/2 (means that at infinity focusing distance, its entry pupil is 200mm/2=100mm). If it has focus breathing then it also has aperture breathing and focusing closer by focal length gets longer, but while the entry pupil may remain 100mm in diameter the corresponding number in f/number will increase. My 105 macro lens is about 160mm at 1:1 closest distance and while its entry pupil is 105/2.8 at infinity it is f/4.3 at 1:1. BUT. The aperture number says nothing about light transmission. Compare a 1.2L lens from one brand to a 1.4G lens form another brand (from this 200/2's era). The 1.2L has a light transmission of 1.5 at f/1.2 and the 1.4G also has a transmission of 1.5 but at f/1.4. This 200/2 has a transmission of f/2.4 at infinity. The 1.2L shooter will tell you that it has very shallow Depth of Field (DoF) and you can answer, but it is by far not as sharp as the 1.4G, so it has a larger Circle of Confusion (CoC - ceteris paribus) and hence the 1.2L may have an equally shallow DoF as the 1.4G both fully opened. The 1.2L shooter now will tell you that it gives such beautifully soft images, upon you will quip back, of course, because it has a lot less sharpness. So this 200mm/2 is a niche lens. Very expensive, fixed 200mm, beautiful rendition, very sharp, and reasonable chromatic aberration. But niche applications. To another commenter calling this a stunning portrait lens, I would say that the lens is stunning, but that is no guarantee for stunning portraits. I don't need its blur ("bokeh" is everyday Japanese for "blur") in a studio shoot, where it is too big and this easily stuns the sitter. I would also add that perspective - how we render a 3D face or body in its proportions as 2D image - depends on distance, not lens, but 200mm forces me to stand farther away and this may complicate communication with the subject, plus it gives some depth compression. The latter may be flattering in some cases, but undesired in other. Not necessarily more sharpness, I need. Remember the words of artist-photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson that "sharpness is a [petit] bourgeois concept" - in which arrogant upper-class artist HCB pejoratively expresses his disdain for uncivilised narrow-minded less educated people. Yet has a fair point if we leave pity citizens alone. Sports photos, birds in flight, speedy wildlife in motion - in all cases where stills are tack sharp at all levels, if there is zero subject speed-related motion blur, to me such stills are still-born. Imagine these photographers responding to that: "but have you seen how beautiful the background blur of my hugely expensive lens is?" ROTFLMAO, yesteryear's youth might think or say. This is my lecture (recurring rant) to commercial/professional portrait and wedding photographers too, in reply to rants on "bokeh". That bride wants to see herself as a supermodel in her wedding dress and your "reportage". Looking at her images, she cannot see anything else than herself, she could not care less about your lens's bokeh and it's her sentiment that pays your future bills. My worst F-mount lens in DxO Mark (180/2.8 ED) in sharpness on a 24MP camera with OLPF is still good enough to reveal the down hairs in sitter's face that the naked eye (brain) will generally not see, plus it gives a look into skin pores. I migrated to a camera without OLPF, after having suffered from getting "across the frame colour cast" that I could not get rid of in post, caused by total reflection between the OLPF and another layer (sensor? Bayer filter grid?) that the OLPF keeps distance from. Stay under overcast British skies or indoors' equestrian events and you never have this problem. Note that OLPF-yes/no depends on photosite density and in the case of Nikon a 20MP D500 (APS-C format camera called DX format by Nikon) has none, which explains why its images equally are as good as or better than shots from a 24MP full frame. I migrated to the Z system for its lenses, as a way to get lenses with much less chromatic aberration than I got from my 1.4G primes. I also saw the Z system as a path to better AF with eye tracking. With an 85mm/1.8D single point AF with the focusing point in the middle and recomposing was easy - it has much less sharpness than the 85/1.4G, hence at its larger Circle of Confusion (CoC), the 84/1.8D has more Depth of Field (DoF) at the same f-stop. Recomposing with the 1.4G implied shifting the AF point around and for me to keep looking through the camera, thus interfering with my photographer-sitter interaction. The Z 7 as of firmware version 2 was a nice improvement on all levels for me, but its "recognition AI AF" was in its infancy. I hoped that the Z 7ii would solve this, but it didn't. Nikon decided to dedicate the second EXPEED 6 in the Mk ii completely to the eVF, not anything else. Now the Z 8 - wow. Eye recognition in lower light, 3D tracking - wow. No, your landscapes will not get better shots from these upgrades. Especially when you shoot everything from a tripod. The D and first two generations Z camera's sensors had more sensitivity to photographer-caused motion blur than the Z 8's. Sharpness has become so good that I need skin-softening AI that retains the sitter's character, does not become plastic, in the photos. I could look into the 200/2 Mk ii if I needed a fast and tack sharp 200mm prime and with the FTZ adapter shoot it on my Z 8 - it would do great. Nikon have come up with "S" class Z lenses in order of what F-mount lens needed to be improved on, urgently. Either because it had optical issues, or because competition. In the case of the 200mm prime, you are in niche territory where exceptional quality and very low sales numbers combine into very high prices - as a self-fulfilling prophecy. I can however buy an "S" class Z 70..200/2.8 zoom that has the optical qualities of a prime lens. "New" this zoom will be in the ballpark of a second hand 200/2 or even cheaper as they are hard to find and sought after. With the Z camera, I do not need the f/2 (with T=2.4 transmission) or else have a darker viewfinder as I would get in the case of an SLR - the eVF is an electronically amplified almost night-vision one and it still focuses for me with its AF, down to LV -9, where it cannot measure light any longer and long exposure times must be based on my wild-assed guesses, or my handheld light meter. At LV -9, through an SLR's viewfinder I see nothing, even with an f/0.95 lens on it. This is not a rant against Nikon's D cameras and F-mount lenses by the way. If they match your photographic use cases, they are absolutely fine.

Do they do a pocket version ?

Get your facts straight, it's not the only prime lens they have not released in Z mount! The 300mmf2.8 has not been released in Z mount and there are several others! In reality this is not the sharpest lens wide open, it gives that impression because off it's shallow depth of focus wide open ! I've owned three of them and they are very good, great for isolating rider and horse especially in a small show jumping ring etc!

Its an absolutley stunning portrait lens

this is the f mount lens i will keep forever. nothing renders bokeh like this one to this day. the new z135 1.8s plena is close but not quite same.

Wonderful piece of glass. This lens would shine on my Z9 and D850.

This kind of lems isn't for me. But IIRC, someone compared it to the 135/2, and the 200/2 was sharper wide-open. Interestingly, Fujifilm makes a 200/2 for their X mount system.

battery life (or lack of any battery) is a big reason I love film!

Good video

Nice presentation RS. Canada

I agree with everything you say about the F5 except that it isn't actually compatible with all F-mount lenses. Aside from the fact that DX lenses are designed for smaller sensors than 35mm film, my Nikon 24-70 F2.8 FX lens doesn't work, due, I believe, to its having an electronically controlled diaphragm. I had to get hold of an older Nikon 35-70 lens to solve that. And as you say - a digital camera that just happens to use film.

I use the 90mm elmarit m lens and love how small it is. On my sigma fp it is the perfect landscape photography tool

Shocked?! OMG!!!!1

Cool

I use the 90mm length on the 24-90 more than I thought I would. Will probably be now adding the 90SL APO now.

I used to own the old LTM 90mm f/4. I wish I used it more often. It is still cheap and it's quite small.