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Author Topic: More Details on the Leica S2  (Read 86030 times)

henrikfoto

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« Reply #100 on: April 18, 2009, 04:06:04 pm »

MTF-tests for the new S-lenses.
The MTF-tests presented on Leicas homepages are a little bit different than the way I am used to seeing them.
There is no information (as far as I can see) about how many lp/mm it´s measured in.
Normally is´s just 3 different lines (10, 20 and 40 lp/mm) but Leica is giving 4 lines.

Is this 5, 10, 20 and 40?   Or is it 10, 20, 40 and 80?  I guess the first one??

Does anybody know?

Henrik

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eronald

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« Reply #101 on: April 18, 2009, 04:07:52 pm »

Center point AF kills resolution for handheld shooting - how d'you focus on the model's eye ? Focus and recompose, and you have lost the sharpness. That's what the D3x has - perfect focus- what landscape shooters don't need -hence the A900 success, and what already makes the S2 design a bad replacement for the 35mm crowd.

Edmund

Quote from: doncody
Graham,

I had the opportunity to handle the S2 at the Palm Springs Festival several weeks ago. The ergonomics are amazing - feels like a large 35.  I currently shoot an H2 with a Leaf 75.  The Leica rep said that they would be introducing leaf shutters almost immediately.

Time will tell, but it is beautifully made and feels great in the hand.  Like yourself though I need the leaf shutter

DC
« Last Edit: April 18, 2009, 04:27:22 pm by eronald »
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Carsten W

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« Reply #102 on: April 18, 2009, 04:34:01 pm »

Quote from: henrikfoto
MTF-tests for the new S-lenses.
The MTF-tests presented on Leicas homepages are a little bit different than the way I am used to seeing them.
There is no information (as far as I can see) about how many lp/mm it´s measured in.
Normally is´s just 3 different lines (10, 20 and 40 lp/mm) but Leica is giving 4 lines.

Is this 5, 10, 20 and 40?   Or is it 10, 20, 40 and 80?  I guess the first one??

Does anybody know?

Henrik

Leica uses 5, 10, 20, 40.
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henrikfoto

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« Reply #103 on: April 19, 2009, 09:10:29 am »

Does anyone know when the S-system will be on the market?

H
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Carsten W

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« Reply #104 on: April 19, 2009, 03:26:10 pm »

Quote from: henrikfoto
Does anyone know when the S-system will be on the market?

"End of summer", as stated by Leica, i.e. September or so.
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eronald

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« Reply #105 on: April 19, 2009, 03:31:48 pm »

Quote from: carstenw
"End of summer", as stated by Leica, i.e. September or so.

Hahaha

Although given the present economic climate, getting it out the door fast and serving up a fullframe M9 pronto would be a good idea in the hope of getting some cashflow restarted.

Edmund
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Frank Doorhof

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« Reply #106 on: April 20, 2009, 05:16:40 am »

Hi,
Why would center focus point kill detail/sharpness ?

I'm using center focus for as long as I can remember and have my focus 100% perfect where I want it, maybe it's a little bit getting used to ?
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Nemo

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« Reply #107 on: April 20, 2009, 07:46:57 am »

Quote from: Frank Doorhof
Hi,
Why would center focus point kill detail/sharpness ?

I'm using center focus for as long as I can remember and have my focus 100% perfect where I want it, maybe it's a little bit getting used to ?


The 2x3 format is more rectangular than 3x4, so, I think, 3 focal points would be a better solution than an unique central point.

.
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Frank Doorhof

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« Reply #108 on: April 20, 2009, 09:54:49 am »

I'm also focussing my DLSR on center focus only.
The center focus is more accurate and more sensitive so I'm always shooting with the center.
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eronald

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« Reply #109 on: April 20, 2009, 10:16:06 am »

Quote from: Frank Doorhof
I'm also focussing my DLSR on center focus only.
The center focus is more accurate and more sensitive so I'm always shooting with the center.

Frank, my feeling is you have lots of light. I wouldn't want to use center focus and recompose @F2.5 for a portrait. At that point manual focus would win.

Edmund
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mtomalty

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« Reply #110 on: April 20, 2009, 11:23:11 am »

Quote from: Frank Doorhof
Why would center focus point kill detail/sharpness ?


Frank,

I think Edmund was referring to the process of using AF center point  (in vertical orientation
for a portrait)  to focus on the eyes and then recomposing so that the eyes are not in the center
of the image.

Even though this is only a modest amount of camera movement it sometimes is enough to
skew the focus accuracy a bit-  more critical with tight headshots and wider aperture settings.
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eronald

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« Reply #111 on: April 20, 2009, 12:54:23 pm »

Quote from: mtomalty
Frank,

I think Edmund was referring to the process of using AF center point  (in vertical orientation
for a portrait)  to focus on the eyes and then recomposing so that the eyes are not in the center
of the image.

Even though this is only a modest amount of camera movement it sometimes is enough to
skew the focus accuracy a bit-  more critical with tight headshots and wider aperture settings.

In my experience, focusing on the eyes with center point and then recomposing for a half-body shot wrecks the focus with something like an 85mm lens on 35mm; focusing on the bosom directly will not -usually- give you sharp eyes either. Thus I find that single-point center AF is useful only if you can afford to throw away the upper half the image...

Edmund
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Frank Doorhof

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« Reply #112 on: April 20, 2009, 12:54:47 pm »

It all depends on what you're used to I guess.
I used the 5D with the 85mm f1.8 alot of f2.0 and to be honest I hardly missed the focus.
The 70-200 f2.8 is used almost exclusivly wide open outside for portrait work.

I can understand why you would want to use other focuspoints but with MF I don't have a choice and also shoot portraits wide open with the f4.0 and f2.8 lenses.
There is always a change of missing focus of course, but it's so in my system I don't even think about it.

I have to admit that I'm rather steady in my hands so maybe that helps.
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Ben Rubinstein

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« Reply #113 on: April 20, 2009, 02:41:42 pm »

Quote from: eronald
In my experience, focusing on the eyes with center point and then recomposing for a half-body shot wrecks the focus with something like an 85mm lens on 35mm; focusing on the bosom directly will not -usually- give you sharp eyes either. Thus I find that single-point center AF is useful only if you can afford to throw away the upper half the image...

Edmund

The center point and focus recompose with the 85mm 1.8 wide open on my 5D is far more accurate than using the terrible off center points. Hardly ever misses perfect focus. The problem is when you point up to focus then recompose to eye height as you would do when shooting from models waist height. Focusing and recomposing from regular height doesn't seem to have any problems. Focusing on the bosom will only help if it's not too large, most people I've ever seen have bosums that are on a different plane of focus than the eye. Focusing on the stomach is more likely to be accurate, it doesn't stick out.
« Last Edit: April 20, 2009, 02:42:14 pm by pom »
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eronald

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« Reply #114 on: April 20, 2009, 05:17:53 pm »

Frank,

 I think you should shoot a D3x or D3 for a couple of hours, to see what really good off-center fast focus can do for you. It's addicitive.
 I can come to one of your workshops and let you shoot my Nikon, while I use my Phase back

Edmund



Quote from: Frank Doorhof
It all depends on what you're used to I guess.
I used the 5D with the 85mm f1.8 alot of f2.0 and to be honest I hardly missed the focus.
The 70-200 f2.8 is used almost exclusivly wide open outside for portrait work.

I can understand why you would want to use other focuspoints but with MF I don't have a choice and also shoot portraits wide open with the f4.0 and f2.8 lenses.
There is always a change of missing focus of course, but it's so in my system I don't even think about it.

I have to admit that I'm rather steady in my hands so maybe that helps.
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Frank Doorhof

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« Reply #115 on: April 21, 2009, 01:58:15 am »

Hi,
I would not know why I should switch to a Nikon when I get perfect focus with the 5DMKII and with my MF cameras ??

I love the RZ and there's no AF on that one.
It's all a matter of what you're used to, I'm used to using the center focus point and some aren't.
In the end it all depends on which camera gives you the work you want to do.

PLUS.
I never have the eyes of my model in the same place in the photo so IF I would use another focuspoint I would still need to focus and recompose.
Or there must be some sort of magical focuspoint on the Nikon that will always find the closest eye and also focus on exactly the point I want

That's also one of the reasons I never switched from my center focus point probably, I never use the exact same composition so using another focuspoint would not make sense they are less sensitive and in the studio we always work with little light (only the modelling lights) so I need every piece of sensitivity I can.

But you're always welcome in Emmeloord of course.
« Last Edit: April 21, 2009, 01:59:16 am by Frank Doorhof »
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ziocan

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« Reply #116 on: April 21, 2009, 02:24:17 am »

Quote from: Frank Doorhof
Hi,
I would not know why I should switch to a Nikon when I get perfect focus with the 5DMKII and with my MF cameras ??

I love the RZ and there's no AF on that one.
It's all a matter of what you're used to, I'm used to using the center focus point and some aren't.
In the end it all depends on which camera gives you the work you want to do.

PLUS.
I never have the eyes of my model in the same place in the photo so IF I would use another focuspoint I would still need to focus and recompose.
Or there must be some sort of magical focuspoint on the Nikon that will always find the closest eye and also focus on exactly the point I want

That's also one of the reasons I never switched from my center focus point probably, I never use the exact same composition so using another focuspoint would not make sense they are less sensitive and in the studio we always work with little light (only the modelling lights) so I need every piece of sensitivity I can.

But you're always welcome in Emmeloord of course.
I agree.
Using the center focus point and recomposing will let you compose the photo the way you like.
Recomposing, you will never be conditioned by putting the portion of the subject you want in focus, under the closest focus point and the closest focus point it is hardly exactly where you would like it to be anyway.
Following the closest focus point without recomposing, makes us frame the photo not exactly how we would like. IMO.
« Last Edit: April 21, 2009, 02:25:16 am by ziocan »
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Dustbak

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« Reply #117 on: April 21, 2009, 03:18:27 am »

Quote from: Frank Doorhof
Or there must be some sort of magical focuspoint on the Nikon that will always find the closest eye and also focus on exactly the point I want


But you're always welcome in Emmeloord of course.

There is focus tracking and it seems to work very well. Personally I have never dared to trust it but I hear from people that use it for sports or wildlife it actually works   I find the center focus/recompose interesting. With my H I also have no other choice. It seems to work in most cases. Better than trying to nail it manually when you are working fast (which is a relative term ofcourse). When I can take my time with focussing I prefer doing it slowly, manually on the screen.

It is a pity Emmeloord is such a long drive for me, I would love to visit and meet you.
« Last Edit: April 21, 2009, 03:19:30 am by Dustbak »
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billthecat

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« Reply #118 on: April 21, 2009, 04:40:48 am »

When I had the Nikon D3 the outer points didn't work well for me in low light. In very low light I couldn't lock focus with the D3 but my Canon 40D would lock focus on the outer points. I ended up using only the center AF point on the D3 most of the time. In dim restaurants I'd often use outer points on the 40D but with the D3 I'd just use the center.

The Canon 5D2 is worse than those two and I only use the center point in low light, but with more light I might use the outer points, like outdoors when it's bright.

The Mamiya AFD2 needs a bunch of light to focus. With tight DOF my biggest problem is the movement of subjects. They tend to wobble some while I recompose.

Bill
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eronald

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« Reply #119 on: April 21, 2009, 05:55:43 am »

Quote from: billthecat
When I had the Nikon D3 the outer points didn't work well for me in low light. In very low light I couldn't lock focus with the D3 but my Canon 40D would lock focus on the outer points. I ended up using only the center AF point on the D3 most of the time. In dim restaurants I'd often use outer points on the 40D but with the D3 I'd just use the center.

The Canon 5D2 is worse than those two and I only use the center point in low light, but with more light I might use the outer points, like outdoors when it's bright.

The Mamiya AFD2 needs a bunch of light to focus. With tight DOF my biggest problem is the movement of subjects. They tend to wobble some while I recompose.

Bill

It's an interesting question whether the D3x has exactly the same focus function as the D3; my finder is off-center - the screen, not the frame.

Edmund
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