Member PebblePlace

Any news from Photo Plus?

David had posted that Leica is still offering the CS trade-in program:

http://www.reddotforum.com/showthread.php/458-180mm-or-120mm-First?p=1932&viewfull=1#post1932

Hi Stuart –

There might be some curvature with the 70S. The pic below was taken at F4 and the windmill blades are pin point sharp at 100%. While editing the image I noticed the structure became soft at the lower / base area. There could be several reasons –

1) Lens was angled slightly upwards, so the DOF plane was at an angle -…[Read more]

Actually, I think October is the 3rd or 4th date they have given for CS availability. Generally i do not need CS lenses, but I would like to have one – either the 70 or 120 CS.

Maybe they will start selling the HC adapter with little red Leica stickers so people can put a sticker over the Hasselblad logo

I've been curious to see examples of the 100/2.2 HC on the S2 (hint-hint-hint!) I don't have an H system, so buying the HC adapter + 100/2.2 is an expensive experiment.

The Hasselblad 110/2 really is something wonderful on its intended 6×6 negative. I liked it on my Phase One systems, but on the S2 with its smaller sensor, some of the magic…[Read more]

You could try some non-Leica lenses, such as:

Leica S / HC Adapter with the Hasselblad 100/2.2
Leica S / V Adapter with the Hasselblad 110/2
Leica S / 645M Adapter with the Mamiya 110/2.8
Leica S / 645M Adapter with the Mamiya 80/1.9

With regards to the Elpro, to me that seems like a tool to make the 180S a semi macro lens. The…[Read more]

If Leica adds the control wheel option, remedies the bugs already noted, then I think that is a good finish to the S2. I do not foresee them offering the ISO now (even if they could) because that makes the new S alittle less enticing. I would like to see 1/2x, 1/3x and 1/4x added to the Auto-ISO parameters. One-over-the-focal length is too…[Read more]

For the 120mm TS, you may want to consider the Mamiya / Phase One mount ($4643 at B&H) and the S / Mamiya adapter ($875 at retail). That combo is $1500 less. Both lenses are fully manual with no automatic aperture.

It is very unlikely we would see the ISO steps change on the S2 because that is linked to the hardware and the amount of amplification performed by the hardware. Generally ISO starts with a base level hardware amplification and then some or all the subsequent ISO increments are extrapolated by the camera's software.

Leica had previously…[Read more]

Lots of good info there – Thank you. I'm looking forward to seeing some specifics on the sensor performance. Do you know if LR will have an update for new S?

Well, the S2 still has some known bugs (which have been noted on these boards), and that was really what I was getting at. And then there some easy adds, such as –

* Allowing us to control which direction the wheel turns for inc / dec
* Setting auto ISO to 1/2x focal length rather than just 1/focal length
* Enter lens focal length for…[Read more]

David – Has Leica expanded upon what the Leica S2 firmware update will be?

Yep, the price killed it for me too. I'll still with the 35 / 70 duo. I was thinking it would $6995 US, and so for $7k I could have a fast prime or a slowish zoom. And that is what really gets me with the 30-90mm – it's a slow aperture. If it had a constant F2.5 or F2.8, then I could sort of understand the price. But it's not…

I also…[Read more]

Hi David – If you could tomorrow, maybe a couple snapshots with a cellphone of the new menu “look”. Just curious Some more serious questions/requests –

1) Want to see a picture of this 5-way mini joystick controller
2) Is the new S2 actually lighter? The specs see to indicate it is.
3) Is ISO visible in the viewfinder?
4) Have…[Read more]

$9950 for the zoom…?… eek! Surely you meant to type $6950…?…

I hope you're right Bob. There have been some really great kits on Ebay lately with no takers. I'll be happy once that supply of dealer S2 and S2-P's is gone.

Josh – any word on the price of the 30-90mm zoom?

Having owned several Phase One backs, most recently the P65+, the S2 does not match Phase One's performance at base ISO. Now that the S' base ISO is running at 100, which presumably is much closer to the sensor's native ISO, ISO 100 could look much cleaner, smoother than the outgoing S2. We'll have to see real-world results, but we could finally…[Read more]

David – Has Leica released the US price and if there will be a trade up program?

I'll reserve judgement until hearing price. But as an evolution goes –

1) Reworked ISO, 100-1600; this is big if the camera uses a true ISO 100.
2) Thumb stick controller – will help with navigating images
3) Built-in GPS
4) Faster AF
5) 920,000 dot LCD
6) Larger buffer (not sure, what was it before?)
7) Sounds like menus…[Read more]