I had four of the APO SL Summicrons and sold all of them. For video the optical quality is complete overkill and for photography they are missing features like af/mf and the aperture ring. The non APO summicrons are glorified Lumixes. They might be built a bit better but they perform the same. Fine-ish for a 24 megapixel sensor, not great for anything more demanding. They are video lenses. On the other hand the Sigma i series is wildly underrated. Optical character is a bit less smooth but at the point of focus these are sharp! They come with all the photo features, AF is completely fine and they are a joy to use. The 20mm (yes, Leica... wider than 28mm exists! ..... ) is really good, the 35mm even better and the 65 is an absolute gem!
Interesting .I use my M glass on my sl2s. If I want af I use my CL primes. Haven`t invested in full frame native glass because the SL2S AF is so poor when things start to move .
I am a Sony shooter and had a chance to try the Sigma I-series for the first time at WPPI in Vegas this week. The entire line is insanely good. However, the star of the line is the 65mm f2 followed closely by the 20mm f2. The 45mm f2.8 is the oddball as it is not sharp but has a funky bokeh. I am seriously considering the 65mm f2 over the 85 f1.4 which is fantastic lens too. Kudos to Sigma for giving us so many choices in primes.
One correction: the Sigma is not weather resistant. It only has a gasket around the mount, but no other internal sealing whatsoever. The Sigma iSeries are great performers for the money, but I did notice they quickly gather dust inside. I used a 35 and 65 on a trip to Spain and both collected dust between lens elements. I admit it was warm and dusty, but it didn’t happen with my Lumix 50/1.8. Both the Leica and the Lumix equivalents are much better sealed. You have to ‘baby’ the Sigma a bit more. Talking about the Leica Summicron-SL, you can’t get past the Lumix S35. Though the Leica has metal tubes and feels more premium, the lenses are virtually similar in performance. In fact, the Lumix AF was even a bit snappier on my Leica SL2-S! The Lumix is made of Thermal Stable Composite (aka ‘plastic’) and is a bit lighter, but has the same optical configuration. When you pixel peep, the Leica is a tiny bit sharper in the extreme corners and a bit more contrast (different lens coating?) but regular viewing also using a 47MP SL2, the differences are minimal. Until at the cash register. The Lumix is about a 1/4 or the price of the Leica. I do love Leica and their APO-lenses are stellar, but when considering the Cron-SLs, you can save yourself a lot of money and opt for the Lumix S35. By the way, the Lumix S50 and S85 are great performers too. Highly recommended, also for Leica shooters.
Thanks Jacob. WR: exactly, it is partially WR but when I say it's not - I get a slew of comments saying it "is" and vice-versa. But the truth is that it is only partially like you say. Dust-wise, some lenses collect more than others with Sigma and some models are worse (it's a know issue of Sigma unfortunately). Sorry to hear it affected you on your lenses. Never had that issue personally (thank god). I believe you on the Lumix (didn't test that one particularly) since they collaborated (for IBIS for example which is Panasonic and you definitely can tell - it's so great). Thanks for your feedback and tip on the Lumix lenses, might be useful to other viewers of this video that might be looking for an alternative ;) take care
If I can’t tell the two apart, I can’t see why I’d choose to spend 4 times as much on one vs the other.😮. Sigma, 35mm, f2 all day long for my money! I’ll spend my $400 on a gently used, gorgeous, piece of optical engineering. I still have cars to buy, college to pay for, and homes to mortgage. It sounds like the results and shooting experience won’t cause me to look back!
I was scraching my head on how the sigma appeared to have a slightly longer FOV than the Leica, and then I noticed the actual frame (also reaching more) and figured, for the small distance from the subject, the little receeding space it had (those mms from the front element) made the difference at that close of a distance. I figure the camera was still, an if it's the case, that sole difference may balance away from the Leica, as you can get slightly closer when already invading the personal space, but further is not always possible.
Yes that’s right - not something I’d notice much with my regular type of photography but I’d you were to get to the minimum focusing distance you’d notice a slight difference indeed 👍🏼
Is Leica trying to convince me that their lens isn’t a rebranded, albeit with a few tweaks, Panasonic S lens? Same approximate size, filter size, optical design, and just the silhouette looks dead on the same. That’s crazy
I am one who really likes sun stars and pays attention to a lens minimum aperture and flare resistance. What are sun stars like when shooting into light sources, (street lights, sun, etc.), stopped down closer to the f22 aperture? How about flare resistance?
Cool 👍🏼 I use the NiSi 15mm f4 for stars since you get them at any aperture 😁 But otherwise i dont pay much attention to these. So I could tell you and in terms of flare resistance I find Tamron to be the best somehow followed by Fuji and Sigma. Cheers
Much nicer how? Physically? IQ? I tested both and if I shower you the files (yt or not) am pretty sure you wouldn’t be able to tell them apart. But that’s my observations 👍🏼😉
I got rid of all my Leica lenses, except for the 24mm. Too heavy and big. And much too expensive. Voightländer pleases me much more. More contrast and sharpness at f4 to f8. Zeiss is also great, but a big longer.
I had four of the APO SL Summicrons and sold all of them. For video the optical quality is complete overkill and for photography they are missing features like af/mf and the aperture ring. The non APO summicrons are glorified Lumixes. They might be built a bit better but they perform the same. Fine-ish for a 24 megapixel sensor, not great for anything more demanding. They are video lenses. On the other hand the Sigma i series is wildly underrated. Optical character is a bit less smooth but at the point of focus these are sharp! They come with all the photo features, AF is completely fine and they are a joy to use. The 20mm (yes, Leica... wider than 28mm exists! ..... ) is really good, the 35mm even better and the 65 is an absolute gem!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Interesting .I use my M glass on my sl2s. If I want af I use my CL primes. Haven`t invested in full frame native glass because the SL2S AF is so poor when things start to move .
That's also a way to go with the SL2s, yeah. Especially when including Zeiss and Voigtländer as well. @@absonus
U rich!
I am a Sony shooter and had a chance to try the Sigma I-series for the first time at WPPI in Vegas this week. The entire line is insanely good. However, the star of the line is the 65mm f2 followed closely by the 20mm f2. The 45mm f2.8 is the oddball as it is not sharp but has a funky bokeh. I am seriously considering the 65mm f2 over the 85 f1.4 which is fantastic lens too. Kudos to Sigma for giving us so many choices in primes.
One correction: the Sigma is not weather resistant. It only has a gasket around the mount, but no other internal sealing whatsoever. The Sigma iSeries are great performers for the money, but I did notice they quickly gather dust inside. I used a 35 and 65 on a trip to Spain and both collected dust between lens elements. I admit it was warm and dusty, but it didn’t happen with my Lumix 50/1.8. Both the Leica and the Lumix equivalents are much better sealed. You have to ‘baby’ the Sigma a bit more.
Talking about the Leica Summicron-SL, you can’t get past the Lumix S35. Though the Leica has metal tubes and feels more premium, the lenses are virtually similar in performance. In fact, the Lumix AF was even a bit snappier on my Leica SL2-S! The Lumix is made of Thermal Stable Composite (aka ‘plastic’) and is a bit lighter, but has the same optical configuration. When you pixel peep, the Leica is a tiny bit sharper in the extreme corners and a bit more contrast (different lens coating?) but regular viewing also using a 47MP SL2, the differences are minimal. Until at the cash register. The Lumix is about a 1/4 or the price of the Leica. I do love Leica and their APO-lenses are stellar, but when considering the Cron-SLs, you can save yourself a lot of money and opt for the Lumix S35. By the way, the Lumix S50 and S85 are great performers too. Highly recommended, also for Leica shooters.
Thanks Jacob.
WR: exactly, it is partially WR but when I say it's not - I get a slew of comments saying it "is" and vice-versa. But the truth is that it is only partially like you say. Dust-wise, some lenses collect more than others with Sigma and some models are worse (it's a know issue of Sigma unfortunately). Sorry to hear it affected you on your lenses. Never had that issue personally (thank god).
I believe you on the Lumix (didn't test that one particularly) since they collaborated (for IBIS for example which is Panasonic and you definitely can tell - it's so great).
Thanks for your feedback and tip on the Lumix lenses, might be useful to other viewers of this video that might be looking for an alternative ;)
take care
9:20 Kazuto Yamaki's EDC for travel is the 35mmF2 I-series and the fp
👍🏼
Source: 14:10 during the July 2022 Sigma America interview
Considering all the cameras and lenses he can access, his choice of fp and 35mm f2 is very telling about the quality.
I'm torn between these two.. deciding factor would be Auto Focus Speed. Are there any difference? Which was faster?
Honestly didn’t notice a noticeable difference between the two. Very similar
If I can’t tell the two apart, I can’t see why I’d choose to spend 4 times as much on one vs the other.😮. Sigma, 35mm, f2 all day long for my money! I’ll spend my $400 on a gently used, gorgeous, piece of optical engineering. I still have cars to buy, college to pay for, and homes to mortgage. It sounds like the results and shooting experience won’t cause me to look back!
👍🏼💪🏼 you can’t really go wrong here 😉
I was scraching my head on how the sigma appeared to have a slightly longer FOV than the Leica, and then I noticed the actual frame (also reaching more) and figured, for the small distance from the subject, the little receeding space it had (those mms from the front element) made the difference at that close of a distance. I figure the camera was still, an if it's the case, that sole difference may balance away from the Leica, as you can get slightly closer when already invading the personal space, but further is not always possible.
Yes that’s right - not something I’d notice much with my regular type of photography but I’d you were to get to the minimum focusing distance you’d notice a slight difference indeed 👍🏼
Wow, those magnetics cap are amazing. Would love to have it on the Leica.
Yes!!
Thank you for stopping me switching from Sigma to Leica.
👍🏼
Is Leica trying to convince me that their lens isn’t a rebranded, albeit with a few tweaks, Panasonic S lens? Same approximate size, filter size, optical design, and just the silhouette looks dead on the same. That’s crazy
Not wrong - they do look similar! Go figure 🤷🏻👀
They are the same lenses, colors are slightly different, maybe the coating helps to get better contrast in direct light, but they are really similar.
I am one who really likes sun stars and pays attention to a lens minimum aperture and flare resistance. What are sun stars like when shooting into light sources, (street lights, sun, etc.), stopped down closer to the f22 aperture? How about flare resistance?
Cool 👍🏼
I use the NiSi 15mm f4 for stars since you get them at any aperture 😁
But otherwise i dont pay much attention to these. So I could tell you and in terms of flare resistance I find Tamron to be the best somehow followed by Fuji and Sigma. Cheers
One definitely much nicer than the other which is reflected in the price however I can't tell the difference in image quality from a YT video.
Much nicer how? Physically? IQ? I tested both and if I shower you the files (yt or not) am pretty sure you wouldn’t be able to tell them apart. But that’s my observations 👍🏼😉
I also tested both (I still have the 35mm I) and indeed they are very similar, the APO is in another league though.
This a full frame lens, yeah?
Yes 👍🏼
I got rid of all my Leica lenses, except for the 24mm. Too heavy and big. And much too expensive. Voightländer pleases me much more. More contrast and sharpness at f4 to f8. Zeiss is also great, but a big longer.
Interesting - thanks for sharing! Voigtlander is a great brand as well - I agree! Take care
ha ha
✌🏻
Good Video, nice work. Image quality, try looking at Images from other Brands at 400%. There is a difference? Keep well & Stay safe 👍🇬🇧
Thanks David. I don't have other brands available for the moment but I'll try that out at some point!