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David,
Thank you. You wrote an extremely thoughtful and detailed explanation of the S lens system. You included some outstanding images too. It was fun to recognize the ones from the S2 autumn trip a few years ago. You brought back excellent memories.

Great article and lovely pictures. I am a semi-retired professional who was able to migrate over from a Contax 645 to a Leica S007, via the Contax adapter, thus “saving” my full inventory of Zeiss lenses. As you said, both autofocus and autoexposure work quite well so this “hybrid” solution has worked for me, and the S007 has been a joy to use.

Terrific primer on the S system lenses. Thanks for all this useful info.

No. The Leica S3 will not have IBIS. Functionally, the S3 is near identical to the S007, but with a dramatically improved sensor, both in terms of resolution and ISO performance.

You are correct. The marked focal length will behave as such on an SL. A 100mm S lens is a 100mm lens on your SL. On the S, it has the field of view of an 80mm, but the look of a 100mm. So, compared to the 90mm, you will be getting a slightly longer 100mm lens, with a bit more compression and a bit narrower field of view.

One more time, just to make sure I understand correctly… the S lenses labeled focal length (100mm, for example) is the equivalent to the 35mm field of view, correct? Meaning, if I were to mount the Summicron-S 100mm f/2 on an SL2 with the adapter, I'd expect to get a 100mm field of view. It is on the S system, with the larger sensor, where the .8x math comes into play, and that 100mm equates to a wider, 80mm field of view. Right?

I ask becuase I am an SL owner and am intrigued by the Summicron-S 100mm lens and want to understand whether I should expect a slightly *longer* or slightly *wider* field of view with that lens than with the Summicron-SL 90mm. (I totally understand there are a ton of other attributes to consider between these lenses, but I want to wrap my head around field of view first.)

One more time for my sanity… I am asking this question as a SL2 owner, not an S owner: If I am interested in the Summicron-S 100mm f/2, should I expect a 100mm field of view on my SL2 (with the adapter, of course), or 80mm?

Based on your explanation, it is my understanding that the 100mm f/2 lens adapted to my SL2 will deliver a 100mm field of view and a maximum aperture (DOF) of f/1.5. (thus, the colloquial reference to that lens being the Noctilux of the S line, I take it?). Is this correct?

I am asking basically to gather whether to expect the Summicron-S 100mm to be a longer or shorter lens, in terms of field of view on the SL2, than the 90mm Summicron-SL.

Great overview but you neglected to mention the Leica T-S Apo-Elmar-S. This is a great lens for product and landscape applications and gets very little press.

Good catch. Article updated with correct value for the 100mm. Math is hard. 🙂