Fun With the Leica CL

[scho]

Trying a Laowa 14/4 on the CL today. I bought the Laowa ultra wide primarily for use on a FF S1r but wanted to see how it performs on APSC, where it is an equivalent 21mm.

One more cropped backyard shot with the Laowa 14/4 on the CL.

 

[scho]

Another image from the Leica CL with Laowa 14/4 Zero-D.

 

[scho]

A handheld shot through a window with the CL and a Leica R 35-70/4 at f/4 in a dumb, Leica R /L adapter.

 

[Godfrey]

As I made the kitchen ready for cooking the other morning, I saw a light emanate from the mostly closed blinds in the living room. I walked over, turned the blinds to full open, and gasped. What a sky!

Ran into my office, grabbed the camera, and snapped three exposures.

Dawn Clouds - Santa Clara 2021
Leica CL + Pentax-L 43mm f/1.9 Special
ISO 250 @ f/5.6 @ 1/60​

A new time begins.

G

 

[scho]

A few snaps around the house with the Leica CL and Carl Zeiss 50/1.5 C Sonnar ZM. All shot with auto ISO and f/1.5.

 

[Robert Campbell]

55-135 Apo zoom at 135mm, 1/125, f/4.5, ISO 200, cropped

There are a couple of small trees overlooking the birdy feeder. This is one of the four robins watching out for an opportunity.
I can't take any credit/blame for this. Son #2 was holding the camera and pressed the release. I was trying to advise him.

 

[scho]

Up on top of the hill where we live in Ithaca, NY. Stopped to pick up some cider and took a couple of shots with the CL and Sigma 24/3.5 DG DN lens. I purchased this little lens to use primarily with the S1R, but it makes a nice walkabout lens (36mm equiv) on the CL as well.

 

[Godfrey]

I had the Leica CL out on my walk yesterday, first time I've carried a digital camera in some weeks. And, as usual, the quality of this body along with the superb lenses makes me smile a lot...

Bird Feeder - Santa Clara 2021
Leica CL + Leica Summilux 35mm f/1.4 (1972 edition)
ISO 100 @ f/2 @ 1/1000 sec​

enjoy! G

 

[Godfrey]

Bicycle ride ... After the usual Saturday Morning Ride and meet up for Breakfast with The Boyz, I was inspired and extended the ride north up the Guadalupe River Trail to Alviso, San Jose. I had the Leica with me: stopped at the trail head to take a short break.

SBG in Alviso - Alviso, San Jose 2021
Leica CL + SMC-Pentax-L 43mm f/1.9 Special
ISO 400 @ f/5.6 @ 1/1600​

enjoy!
G

 

[Godfrey]

My most recent Leica related acquisition is an MS Optical Aporia 24mm f/2 lens to use with the Leica CL. I was looking for a thin, light, high quality lens with an M-mount, since that would be usable on more than just L-mount bodies and adaptable to a lot of my other gear—something that would slip into my small bicycle pack with as simple a shape as possible. The comments about and samples I've seen from this lens, mostly from Leica M models, convinced me to give it a try ... I figured the smaller format sensor would eliminate most of the relatively light color shifting evident in the white wall samples and provide the 35mm equivalent FoV I was looking for.

It arrived yesterday ... Here's how the lens looks fitted onto my Leica CL:

MS Optical Aporia 24mm #1


MS Optical Aporia 24mm #2


MS Optical Aporia 24mm #3

Photos made with iPhone 11 Pro, Moment camera app​

It's barely thicker than a Leica M body cap... Weighs next to nothing. Testing today..!

G

 

[Godfrey]

The Aporia 24mm makes the Leica CL only marginally larger than the Panasonic GX9 with an Olympus Body Cap Lens 15 or 9FE fitted ... and four stops faster than the BCL lenses! Truly an amazing achievement. I'll be testing it today, on my cycle ride and walk. But I did a quick snap of my always (ahem) accommodating partner this morning to check it out. This is at minimum focus (about 0.5m) and f/2.8, 1/40 second, ISO 1600:

Taken by Surprise​

On a lark, I fitted it to my Leica M to Hasselblad X adapter and did a couple of similar snaps with the Hasselblad 907x. With the frame center-cropped square, it fills the frame nicely, with very little drop off, and makes similarly lovely rendering. The FoV is equivalent to a Hasselblad SWC but with a 40mm vs 38mm lens, and 2.5 stops faster so you can approach the same FoV-DoF relationship. MUCH much lighter and handier than the 907x + XCD 21mm f/4 lens! Of course, I do suspect that the XCD21 lens will outperform this tiny little thing by a healthy margin off-axis...

I'm happy!

G

 

[Godfrey]

Some results from my first bike ride and walk with the Aporia 20mm ...

First I went on a nice cycle ride to Japan Town in San Jose to get lunch. I had my sandwich and drink while sitting at the memorial by the art store and I thought, "Hmm, a selfie made with the bike against the wall might be fun.." I used the self timer after setting the focus:

Ride Lunch In Japan Town
Leica CL + MS Optics Aporia 24mm f/2
ISO 200 @ f/4 @ 1/400​

After lunch, I sped home and had no time for more picture taking because I had an appointment late in the afternoon in Santa Clara City Center. It's close enough to home that I decided to walk, and use the camera as seemed fit...

Fast Pass Through City Center
Leica CL + MS Optics Aporia 24mm f/2
ISO 200 @ f/4 @ 1/160


Lamp on Brick Wall
Leica CL + MS Optics Aporia 24mm f/2
ISO 200 @ f/4 @ 1/50


Japanese Maple Tree in Evening Light
Leica CL + MS Optics Aporia 24mm f/2
ISO 200 @ f/4 @ 1/40​

I was still a mile from home when I made that photo, but I hadn't put a fresh battery in the camera for a while, and that exposure completely exhausted the remaining charge I had left. And I didn't have a spare battery with me ... DoH!

I'm pleased with the results so far ... I have a few more to render ... and am liking the look this lens provides. I used just f/4 for all these photos and I can see that at f/4, the center is nice and sharp but off-axis there is a softening that rolls in past the sharp zone. I'll have to experiment with different aperture settings to see how it changes across the range.

It sure makes the CL into a very handy and small package.

enjoy! G

 

[Godfrey]

Some Aporia 24mm f/2 lens notes...

I've been out shooting with and enjoying this lens. For most shooting, I leave it fixed at f/5.6 .. particularly when I have the lens hood fitted as that makes it quite difficult to reach the aperture ring control even with a stylus and it's hard to see the aperture index. This nets pretty good sharpness all across the format by decreasing the curvature of field and deep DoF for ease of focusing.

For general shooting, leaving the aperture at f/5.6 has a side benefit: you can work very very quickly by zone focusing. You only need to remember two focus settings for the CL (APS-C format):

4.5m (15') = 2.24m (7.5') to infinity
2.5m (8') = 1.6m (5.25') to 5.67m (18.5')

The only problem is that the distance scale on the focusing ring, as my lens was delivered, is ridiculously way off the mark. I focused the camera on a target at 2.5m distance, the distance index shows between 2 and 1.5m; focused at 4.5m, the distance index is just touching 3m on the 2m side of the numeral. I wonder how far off the rangefinder cam is ... I'll have to check that sometime when I feel like using it on the M4-2.

In calibrating my focusing for scale focus work, I taped a target to the wall, set f/2, and focused the camera critically at both distances. The piece of the wall I taped it to has the pass through into my kitchen ... And what's interesting is that at f/2, the focus zone is shallow enough even at 15' focus distance to see things a mere 1' behind the critical plane soften up. I'm going to have to explore some wide open shooting with this lens too!

Anyway, now that I have it documented where these two distance settings line up on the focusing scale, I can use the settings above to do quick scale focus by zone. Meanwhile, of course, I bought the lens to use on the CL: the TTL focusing is very accurate regardless what the distance scale calibration reads.

Having some fun, I snapped this shot this morning, rendered it on my desktop system to square, then handed it back to the iPhone and ShakeIt Photo app for the Polaroid SX-70 simulation framing and rendering look.

Donation Meter - Alameda 2021
Leica CL + Aporia 24mm f/2
ISO 100 @ f/5.6 @ 1/100
Framing by ShakeIt Photo app on iOS​

Enjoy! G

 

[Godfrey]

Concentrating on wide-open use with the MS Optics Aporia 24mm f/2, I made these photos on yesterday's walk around the neighborhood in late afternoon. The square crops are usually near the full vertical dimension of the frame, others are cropped only so much as to level them properly.

Ornamental Leaf - Santa Clara 2021
Leica CL + MS Optical Aporia 24mm f/2
ISO 100 @ f/2 @ 1/400


Looking Ahead, Looking Behind - Santa Clara 2021
Leica CL + MS Optical Aporia 24mm f/2
ISO 100 @ f/2 @ 1/2000


Looking Down #001 - Santa Clara 2021
Leica CL + MS Optical Aporia 24mm f/2
ISO 100 @ f/2 @ 1/100


Looking Down #090 - Santa Clara 2021
Leica CL + MS Optical Aporia 24mm f/2
ISO 100 @ f/2 @ 1/160


Looking Down #101 - Santa Clara 2021
Leica CL + MS Optical Aporia 24mm f/2
ISO 100 @ f/2 @ 1/80


Catching Late Light - Santa Clara 2021
Leica CL + MS Optical Aporia 24mm f/2
ISO 100 @ f/2 @ 1/320​

It's interesting to see how much image degradation is caused by subtle movements of my body and hands rather than by mis-focus in a couple of these. As always, "my sharpest lens is a sturdy tripod" rules the day.

Enjoy! G

 

[Godfrey]

I took out the Leica CL fitted with a Summicron-M 50mm lens the other day. Wasn't feeling particularly sprightly.. The sun was setting, I walked into the early evening light. This bit on the sidewalk near my home made me laugh as it articulated how I was feeling precisely.

Low Voltage - Santa Clara 2021
Leica CL + Summicron-M 50mm f/2
ISO 800 @ f/4 @ 1/80s​

I look at the smattering of photos I made with that lens that day and they remind me once more of just what a superb performer the Leica Summicron 50mm lens is.

Enjoy!

G

 

[PeterA]

 

[Godfrey]

Continuing my walks into the evenings at the dark end of the year, I was out with the Leica CL the other day, having fitted the 1939 Zeiss Biotar 40mm f/2 from my Berning Robot to it with a stack of adapters..

Moon Over Roof - Santa Clara 2021


Santa - Santa Clara 2021


Reindeer - Santa Clara 2021


Candy Cane - Santa Clara 2021


All The Folks - Santa Clara 2021

All: Leica CL fitted with 1939 Zeiss Biotar 40mm f/2​

Enjoy!
G

 

[Godfrey]

A couple of folks have queried me about what lens I was using. Here it is:

Leica CL fitted with 1939 Zeiss Biotar from a Berning Robot II
​

It came with the ca 1939-1940 Berning Robot II that I bought from an estate sale in Florida a few years back. Three adapters are needed to fit it to the CL: a Robot -> L39 adapter, an L39 -> M-mount adapter, and an M Adapter L to fit that onto the CL's L-mount. It works well, with the usual flarey, low contrast look of antique, uncoated lenses from that time period (particularly wide open). Low contrast images are excellent for digital rendering! Stopped down to f/4-f/5.6, it's very sharp everywhere but you always have to be careful about light sources in the field of view.

It's kinda fun to break the rules and put light sources into the photos I'm making with it...

G

 

[Godfrey]

I was out walking yesterday as usual and, once in the back lot of the shopping center, these two youngsters saw me snapping a photo of something.. They presumed I was photographing them and started grandstanding for me and the camera. I quickly slammed the aperture to wide open and set a distance on the scale, no time to focus by eye, and snapped just one shot when they lost interest and came over to see what I'd gotten of them:

Catching Air - Santa Clara 2021
Leica CL + Color Skopar 28mm f/3.5
ISO 100 @ f/3.5 @ 1/500​

They were jazzed that I'd gotten the older of the two of the two dancing the bike on its rear wheel, catching air in such a precarious pose. I wished they'd stuck around for a bit, but they ran off chattering between themselves as youngsters will.

Fun fun fun! enjoy,
G

 

[Godfrey]

I stopped by the shop doing my Lancia Fulvia Coupe interior restoration today. Not much new to report on the Fulvia, it's all coming along apace, but they had this lovely little machine from 1954 to do a little freshening up out on the floor today...

1954 Siata Balba Coupé - Santa Clara 2022
Leica CL + Color Skopar 28mm f/3.5
ISO 1600 @ f/5.6 @ 1/60​

Such a beautiful little car, with a very pretty FIAT-sourced 2L V8! A rarity ... They made 9 cars in this particular coupé series.

enjoy!
G