LEICA R on RED: Pictures

[David Battistella]

Hey David,

Thanks to you and everyone contributing to this great thread. I've been slowly reading my way through the whole thread over the last month and now made it to page 105. Awesome stuff!

I had a question about the MatLock. This looks like a great product. I looked at the website and watched the promo video but I'm still curious as to how it actually works.

Does it need a FF to work? And if so, is the FF unit driving the matte box movement? And do you have to modify, or add something to, the front of the lens for it to work?

Thanks.

BTW: You've all really inspired me, so I started building a collection. Got a 28/2.8, 35/2.8, 50/2 and 180/4. They are off with a lens tech being de-clicked while waiting for Leitax mounts to arrive. Looking to get a 90/2.8 and possibly a 19/2.8 to round out the collection.

Great to hear you are on the Leica R train. It's great glass and I hope you enjoy the images.

The Lock Circle MatBox just has one simple screw on the right rod adaptor that can lock the matbox if needed. Once the MatBox is attached to the 95mm ring of your lens and tightened and you loosen the screw it can move freely. You do not need a follow focus, but your lenses should be a uniform 80mm or 95mm front rings foe the Matbox to attach too.

 

[Marcel Zyskind]

How do you guys shim the Leica's when mounted with Leitax? It seems after I put Leitax on my lenses focus marks are way off. I've seen Leitax's own recommendation on his website, but I'm after more reliable shims. Does Duclos shim the lenses?

 

[Filipe Abreu]

Filipe,

you our should upload the image if it is sitting on your desktop. Use the go advanced tab to edit your post and go to manage attachments.

David

Thanks David

This were taken with the A7RII with the 50 Summicron.

 

[Med D]

Leica 60mm macro. From a music video shot mostly on other lenses. I had a few minutes to get some atmospheric CU shots so I threw on the 60.

 

[Tristan Pemberton]

The Lock Circle MatBox just has one simple screw on the right rod adaptor that can lock the matbox if needed. Once the MatBox is attached to the 95mm ring of your lens and tightened and you loosen the screw it can move freely. You do not need a follow focus, but your lenses should be a uniform 80mm or 95mm front rings foe the Matbox to attach too.

Thanks! That makes a lot of sense now.

So i'd have to get my Leica & Contax lenses modified for this solution. Though it sounds like it would be worth the effort.

 

[Tristan Pemberton]

Thanks David

This were taken with the A7RII with the 50 Summicron.

Nice! I love the flare in the second one. Which year was that cron made?

 

[Filipe Abreu]

Nice! I love the flare in the second one. Which year was that cron made?

Thanks Tristan, it is a 1985 335xxxx Model.

 

[Mark Andersen]

Shot with the 35 Summilux and Weapon for a stock shoot.

 

[Mark Andersen]

Summilux 80

 

[Mark M]

Great captures Filipe, Med and Mark! Loving the Leica R subject/background rendering and separation on these.

Mark, have you noticed any difference in CA on Weapon vs Dragon with Rs when shooting wide open? From what I've gathered some of the CA issues esp on back-lit subjects shooting wide open on Dragon (and MX) more or less goes away on Weapon. That'd be one more compelling reason for me to strongly consider upgrading... Thanks

 

[David Battistella]

A few from the other night at an Easter ceremony here in Florence. Part of my LLO testing.

80mmLUX

35mmLUX

80mmLUX - Here you can see the softness at 1.4.

 

[Marcel Zyskind]

No one?

How do you guys shim the Leica's when mounted with Leitax? It seems after I put Leitax on my lenses focus marks are way off. I've seen Leitax's own recommendation on his website, but I'm after more reliable shims. Does Duclos shim the lenses?

 

[David Battistella]

No one?

I did not need to shim mine when converting to Nikon. Just have to put up with the iris being out.

David

 

[Mark M]

No one?

Yes Duclos can shim them and does a better job than the recommended approach on the Leitax site.

 

[Mark M]

Nice LLO tests David! I actually like the softness going on with the 80 wide open in your last pict, at least as a still image.

 

[Lakis Amarantithis]

Nice shots David! The 80mm Lux is awesome. I tested it with the 58mm Noct 1.2 Nikon, 85mm Canon 1.2 L and I loved how it performs with low light.

 

[Mark Andersen]

I know a lot of folks say the 80 Lux is soft wide open but mine is pretty darn sharp. I may have just have a lucky lens.

 

[Tommaso Alvisi]

Mark, in my experience if serial it 's over 32xxxxx, usually the 80s are quite sharp (obv not otus like).

 

[Mark M]

Right, and even some of the older ones are sharp too. Last summer I lined up 5–6 from #30... to #38... side-by-side to shoot charts and the crispest of the lot was a #38... rom (which also had the longest piece of dust in the glass). But the softest one tested was also a late rom #37... that looked great at a glance but had fine cleaning marks covering every element (fortunately I returned it in time). The older ones were sharp where they hit focus but I did notice more color bleed in the oof areas. On average the later ones are sharper but can run up to 50% more in price. And in general the 80 is a more challenging lens that take time to learn how to play to its strengths. Missing focus wide open (quite easy to do on these esp with moving subjects) is likely part of the reason some say they're soft.

 

[Mark M]

Love the 28mm v2. And despite being closer to the 35mm, it does buy you a decent amount of FOV without being quite as distorted as the wider 24mm. Plus on Dragon 6k, or Sony FF35, 28 is quite wide. But it depends on what you like to use and the intended application. Not an inexpensive addition to a set, though...

Agreed. 2-3 years ago when building my first set I was torn between the 28 v2 and 35 1.4. I ended up going with the 35 Lux (thanks David!) and couldn't have been happier, but a few months later tried the 28 v2 and found that besides the difference in FOV, the character of the two lenses were so different that I just had to have them both For an establishing shot, architecture, landscape/cityscape the 28 v2 (or 19) is typically the lens I reach for, whereas the 35 Lux likes its subject within about 10 feet or so of the camera and renders the transition between in-focus and oof beautifully to my eyes. In its day it was known as the ideal photojournalist lens and can certainly see why.