L-mount Lumix S5 meets highfalutin Leica Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-90mm f/2.8-4.0 ASPH

One of Leica’s original SL lenses is still a firm favourite of mine after eight years. The Leica Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-90mm f/2.8-4.0, introduced alongside the SL in October 2015, has always been one of the best all-rounders for a typical event, such as a gathering of car enthusiasts. The focal range is just about perfect for this type of subject, and the results are invariably impressive. But it’s at its best when paired with Leica’s flagship SL2. Isn’t it?

The answer is probably. But last weekend, I faced a dilemma when packing the Billingham for the annual Italian Car Day at Brooklands, near London. I really wanted to take the Leica Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-90mm, my eventing zoom special. The trouble was, I’d just sold the SL2 and had no matching Leica for the lens of choice. It turned out to be Hobson’s choice. But not a bad one in the end.

What other camera could I use? Certainly not a Leica…

Cupboard is bare

Sad to say, my stock of digital Leicas these days is at an all-time low. The cupboard is practically bare. The SL2 has gone, as has the Q2 (in anticipation of the arrival of the Q3 (which, with luck and according to Rumo(u)rs, will come later this month). 

The only modern Leica digital I possess at the moment is the M11, which is as useful as a chocolate teapot to the Vario-Elmarit 24-90mm. Nothing for it, then; it had to be the Panasonic S5, currently my sole body with the L mount suitable for the Leica lens.

It turned out to be an interesting choice. 

How would the budget Panasonic Lumix S5 perform with the very expensive and much-lauded Leica Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-90mm? Sniff, sniff, I can already hear from the forum chorus. It isn’t a Leica camera; it’s sacrilege to mount such a superior (i.e., expensive) lens on a bargain-basement body. Surely the humble S5 would succumb to a massive inferiority complex and be frightened into submission. 

Far from it as it happens. The beauty of the L-Mount system is that it provides cameras and lenses at every price point. You can go all posh with a £5,600 camera and £4,000 Vario-Elmarit 24-90mm zoom. Or you can enter the system with a bargain-basement Panasonic Lumix and 20-60mm zoom for little more than a tenth of the cost of the swanky SL rig from Wetzlar. 

But there is now a middle ground. Mix and match your options as I have done here. Using a cheaper camera and a top-rated lens is not such a daft idea. On the assumption that the lens is the primary contributor to image quality, I decided to pair the Leica Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-90mm with the Panasonic Lumix S5.

Incidentally, back-to-back comparisons were not on the agenda in the absence of a suitable Leica SL2-S, so the images in this article have to stand on their own merit.

The L-Mount and the Leica Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-90mm

When the original Leica SL hit the shelves in the autumn of 2015, the new L-mount was already familiar to Leica owners. Designed as a full-frame mount, it arrived prematurely in 2014 with the revolutionary Leica T. The mount was clearly a tad too large for APS-C, however, and stood in contrast to Sony’s E mount, thought to have been designed originally for APS-C but subsequently used on the company’s full-frame cameras. 

Leica played safe in engineering for full-frame first and foremost. Among other advantages, the larger mount diameter makes it easier to design really fast lenses. However, despite rumours to the contrary, Sony argues that the E-Mount was always designed with full frame in mind and that the smaller diameter presents no obstacle when it comes to ultra-fast primes. 

Purely from a practical point of view, though, the heavy primes and zooms in Leica’s SL lens catalogue do sit more comfortably on the larger-diameter mount.

Since the announcement of the L-Mount Alliance in the autumn of 2018, the range of lenses — primes and zooms — has expanded dramatically thanks to the efforts of Sigma and Panasonic. And, at the higher end, Leica has been beavering away on the creation of a clutch of delicious apochromatic primes which offer truly market-leading levels of resolution and performance. 

Yet it is one of the first SL lenses, the Leica Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-90mm f/2.8-4 ASPH, that is the subject of this little chat. It is my all-time favourite medium-tele zoom. This is the zoom which, more than any other I’ve used, can perform the conjuring trick of replacing a bagful of medium-speed primes. 

Jonathan Slack also loves this lens, although he tells me the Leica APO-Vario-Elmarit-SL 90-280mm f/2.8-f/4  just pips it to the post as the best Leica zoom. This is an opinion I’ve heard from several committed SL fans. 

But as a medium-tele, the Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-90mm f/2.8-4 ASPH is the bee’s knees of a lens and perfectly capable of handling an event such as an exhibition of Italian motor cars and bikes. It never disappoints. But it needs a camera, of course.

Panasonic Lumix S5 camera

The camera in question is the Panasonic Lumix DC-S5. It is a compact and light body by L-mount standards. Very similar in size to the Leica M11 (if you ignore the grip and viewfinder hump, and about 80g heavier than the silver M11), it is the smallest and lightest full-featured L-Mount camera on the market. I don’t include the Sigma fp series, which lacks a built-in viewfinder and isn’t directly comparable. Amazingly, the S5 is no bigger and no heavier than Panasonic’s flagship Micro Four-Thirds bodies. In short, it’s a nice little camera and is a joy to use.

Mine is the original 2020 version, currently selling for £1,499. But, strangely, you can get it in a kit with Panasonic’s really rather excellent 20-60 mm zoom for £200 less. Nothing much to dislike about that deal, and that little Panasonic Lumix S 20-60mm f/3.5-5.6 is underrated largely because it is considered to be a “kit” lens. But if the 20-60 doesn’t tempt you, pick up a good used S5 body for under £700. That’s a lot of full-frame goodness for very little money. And if you own the odd APO-Summicron-SL optic, all to the good.

Inside the Lumix body is a 24MP sensor that is surprisingly similar to that in Leica’s equivalent camera, the SL2-S. Let’s not make a fuss about that, but Leica and Panasonic do work rather closely together… If you look past the knobs and protuberances of the S5, both Leica and Panasonic are perceptively similar in shape.

The S5 approach, as with all Lumix bodies, differs dramatically from the SL2-S in its control and menu systems. The Wetzlar wonder is typically Leica in its simple menu system and minimal control layout (now similar to M and Q ranges), while the S5 is more the traditional mirrorless camera, with a scattered (but logical) control layout and direct access to more common features than is afforded by the minimalistic SL2-S. I love the new Leica control protocol, but the S5 is a Panasonic and just adopts a different approach.

The Panasonic lacks the top status display, which makes the Leica operation a little simpler. There just isn’t room on the restricted top plate of the S5, but the chunky well-designed controls help make up for this. The Panasonic even has direct access to white balance, ISO and exposure through convenient dedicated thumb buttons next to the shutter release. 

Anyone familiar with Panasonic’s MFT range or the larger S full-frame cameras will be totally at home with the Lumix S5. It represents a completely different approach to photography to the pure Leica experience, but it is nonetheless easy to get used to and satisfying to use. 

The original S5, introduced in 2020 and which is the subject of this article, does lack a viewfinder to match the superb finder on all the Leica SL models. It’s adequate, and I have no problem with it. But the latest S5 II model features an improved 3.6MP EVF as well as a hybrid focus system to improve speed and accuracy. It still isn’t up to the SL’s finder, but it’s getting there.

What is clear is that the Panasonic Lumix S5 is a lot of full-frame camera for the money. The Leica SL2-S is the better camera in my opinion (it ought to be, if only because of the price). It has a larger, more dense viewfinder, larger screen, faster electronic shutter (1/16000s v 1/8000s), longer battery life and (important for Leica users) built-in compatibility with M lenses. As the pundits say, if you are going to use M glass on a mirrorless camera, you better make it a Leica.

The S5, on the other hand, has longer video recording, a flexible articulated rear screen (which can be turned round to present a screenless back, just like a Leica M10-D — I really like that), focus bracketing and focus stacking and webcam function. You pays your money, and you takes your choice.

All said, as a tool for stills photography, the Panasonic Lumix S5 ticks most of the boxes and won’t break the bank. 

The combo of opposites

So how does the inexpensive little S5 work with the expensive big 24-90mm zoom? Despite the bulk of this lens, the partnership is a remarkably happy and snappy one. 

The stability afforded by the ergonomic hand grip comes into its own when the heavy Leica Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-90mm is bolted onto the front of the S5. The combination is a tad nose heavy but quite comfortable to hold; in practice, the feel is not much different to when using the lens on the SL2. The 200g weight saving of the S5 over the SL2 is welcome and, for me, makes the rig a tad more comfortable. In many ways, I much prefer using this lens on the S5 because of the weight saving. Autofocus is fast, subjectively faster than when using this lens on the SL2, but I have no Leica camera to perform back-to-back comparisons.

What the Pansonic Lumix S5 does suffer from is a degree of disdain among die-hard SL fans. Most dismiss it out of hand, although almost all of the people I speak to have not tried the Lumix and seem to have a mental blockage about the marque.

This is where these experts, Leica blinkers firmly attached, are wrong. The S5 is a good all-rounder camera with a great sensor, similar to that in the Leica SL2-S. It offers near-25 per cent weight saving over the SL2-S (714g versus 931g), and that’s an important benefit in my book. It is reasonably compact (no bigger than Panasonic’s flagship MFT bodies) but very stable in the hand, thanks to the generous handgrip. In short, it’s a nice little camera and is a joy to use. And it takes good pictures.

Accordingly, having made the decision, I set off for the Italian car day with my poor guys’ Leica and my rich guys’ Vario-Elmarit. Would the results be the same if I had used a Leica SL2-S? It’s the lens that does all the hard work, after all. The camera is just a sensor with a recording device attached (discuss…).

I didn’t stay long at the Italian Car Day because it was so crowded and almost impossible to get near the exhibits. These events would be great without the visitors. I did manage to grab a few snaps in rather difficult circumstances with the Lumix/Leica rig in the space of less than an hour, and you can see the results here. 

Turning the tables: SL2 and Lumix lens

Turning the mix-and-match principle on its head, what about the more common option of using budget lenses on the premium Leica SL2 or SL2-S? If we ignore Panasonic’s “approved by Leica” S Pro lenses (which occupy the middle price ground), there are several very good zooms to tempt the Leica user. One such is the little 20-60mm which I touched on earlier. I love this lens, and it is very much underrated. Very light, it offers that unusual wide angle that comes in so useful.

My favourite affordable Lumix zoom lens, though, is the LUMIX S 24-105mm F4 MACRO O.I.S. which offers a compelling price/performance ratio with more reach than the more common 24-70 or 24-90mm standard fare. It is light, at only 680g, while the bulkier Leica Vario-Elmarit tips the scales at 1,140g. The Lumix has a fixed f/4 maximum aperture, compared with the Leica’s variable f/2.8-4.0, but this is not a major drawback in practice. The Vario-Elmarit spends much of its time at f/4 in any case. The Lumix costs £1,074 compared with the Leica’s £3,953 price tag (both street prices). Without a doubt, the Vario-Elmarit is a superior lens, but the Lumix 24-105 gives it a good run for the money.

What do you think? Would you use a top-rated Leica SL lens on the Panasonic Lumix S5, or do you feel it would be too much of a compromise?


Panasonic Lumix S5 II announced

Leica 24-90, a reliable workhorse. And why it works better on the Panasonic Lumix S5

Enter the L-Mount world without breaking the bank

More on Pansonic Lumix cameras and lenses

Leica SL2-S vs Panasonic S5 Detailed Comparison

I added the Panasonic Lumix DC-S5 to my system




22 COMMENTS

  1. think 24-90 SL lens is. rather lazy effort by Leica. it is huge, for its FL range. with the hood on, it is a bulky ugly thing, all VERY un-Leica like. gigantism strikes again, a la r8,r9…..less showroom appeal, on an important lens trype, M for me. doubzt Leica will listen, somr people will migrate to Panny and Sigma glass L-mount. a Leica user for 40 years, I want Leica to prosper, we üjptographers owe them so much. hope this helps Leica in derfining future design parameters.
    oh, a new photo-prioritized LFI, like 1950-79 LF. too! – süomsor some of the best photographers, rather than nebulous vloggers, to create.—be picky. the Q series is currently the nemrarest thing to the originsl Leics miniature camera concept….ids brilliant. increase production, make it more affordable, while maintaing the quality. in Germany, no off-shored clones. tough, but you can do it. Q4, add good integral flash. perfect.
    snacking on Ziess ideas, has worked in the past<<<Elmar)Tessar),Summicron (Planar),and Elmarits (a few). I was old CZ can suffer from ‘not invented here’ syndrome, don’t fall in that trap, Leica.

    ergo, CZ managed to create a lovely 24-85 f_3.5-4.5 vario sonnar T* high performance AF zoom öanched in 2000. for its N-mount cameras. using very advanced optical formula/glasses. it is neat, great performer, when adapted, with proviso a good AF adapter used. I know, I have one, on an A7II – Lens Kyocera-made (Yahica-Tomoika, in Japan). their Optec unit could assist, if L-alliance sees benefit, otherwise, Sigma, the largest independent camera lens maker.don’t think any AF lenses have ever been built in Germany, only designed-optically. too expensive. s bit late, to start now.

  2. Hi Don, I mostly agree with Mike. If you like the Panasonic zooms it (in my opinion) does not make much sense to spend $5,795 on the Leica 24-90mm only to find that perhaps after pixel peeping it is marginally better but also a lot heavier. If you still feel an itch though, perhaps it makes more sense to try a prime lens like the Summicron-SL 35mm and to compare that with your Sigma?

    • This is a whole new task — comparing Leica lenses with cheaper equivalents. There’s also the question of whether the new 35 and 50 Summicrons are better than their Lumix f/1.8. From a results perspective, I suspect there is little in it. But the Leica lenses are more carefully built from more robust materials. And they have the red dot. Having tried the Lumix f/1.8 50mm, I am impressed. For £350 (or less in the kit) is is superb value. And Don’s experience with the Sigma primes is a good indication that they are also a good buy. Incidentally, I like Sigma because of the physical aperture control, especially useful on the S5 which lacks a top info screen.

      • Hi Mike, I meant to say APO-Summicron-SL 35mm f/2 as supposedly as far as image quality is concerned this is the reference lens for the SL. About the Panasonic 50mm f/1.8, I watched a video recently comparing it with the equivalent non-APO Leica 50mm. The conclusions were: 1) The Leica has better build quality, all metal versus all plastic construction, it “feels” better 2) The Leica has slightly better autofocus 3) Image quality is essentially the same but the Leica is slightly sharper in the corners. Whether that is worth paying more than 5 times as much… is a good question… The Panasonic 50mm f/1.8 is currently on sale in the US for $347,99. A very good deal I would say.

        • Yea, I inferred APO from your earlier comment. That is indeed a reference lens, and I have no doubt the Pana-Leicas would come off worst in such a comparison. But the price differential is even greater, and the APOs appeal to perfectionists.

          I also watched a few videos and reviews of the comparison between the Leica and Panasonic lenses and came away with the same conclusion as you.If you like the feel and heft of the Leica version, and you believe it is better built by people in Portugal rather than China, then you can spend x5 for the Leica version. It’s up to the individual. But in my case, having acquired the Lumix version for peanuts, I am not convinced the Leica version would be worthwhile.

          I would like to try the APO lens, however. I see them secondhand for about £2,600/$2,800. Tempting but probably a fool’s errand.

  3. I have kept my Leica SL but a long while ago also added a Panasonic S5 and absolutely love it, in fact it rather than the SL has become my go to camera. As to lens choices from day one with the SL I decided no point in buying an autofocus camera to use manual focus lenses on, so although I am of the opinion the SL was a better body to focus M lenses with. I myself would not go down that route.
    So whilst at Leica in London I had a serious look at the then likewise new behemoth 24-90 and thought its massive weight and size just daft, certainly it was not for me, I thought, no matter how well it might perform and so I ended up instead with the Pan 20-60, which I still regard as being superb, and likewise the Pan 24-105 which features a genuine Macro facility and image stabilization.
    I have never regretted those initial decisions and have since added several equally brilliant Sigma prime lenses, including the 105mm f2.8 Macro, 100-400 Zoom, 35mm f2 and am about to buy the new 17mm f4. BUT Mike’s point about using Leica’s massively heavy 24-90 on the lighter Panasonic S5 body has awakened an old itch which I might just also have to scratch.
    My remaining quandary, though, is whether I would really see a quantifiable image improvement over my much loved Panasonic 24-105 f4 Macro?? If I bought one It would certainly have to prove itself as being noticeably better in every way to persuade me to actually put up with the excess weight and size and to carry it around in preference to my so manageable Pan 24-105.
    The only answer I think for me is not to just bite the bullet and buy one, but instead to eventually find and visit a dealer who has a Leica 24-90 in secondhand stock and to ask if I could either hire it for a day, or simply be allowed to take some test pictures with both it and my Pan lens in the shop, or better still from the shop doorway, then go home and VERY carefully inspect the results on my computer.
    It could yet happen despite my continuing hopes I would finish up sticking with the Pan and Sigma alternatives.

    • Thanks for your contribution to the discussion, Don. We have an article coming up later this month which shows results from the Leica 24-70mm which, as you know, is “similar” to the Sigma 24-70. The author, Keith James, reckons the results he got (with the SL2) are as good as, if not better, than those from the heavy 24-90. It’s all a matter of personal choice and taste, I suppose. Although the 24-70 is faster, I don’t think you would see much improvement over the Panasonic 24-105.

      Although I was making a point in this article, I find the 24-105 more versatile because of the extra 15mm at the long end and, frankly, the results are very comparable. It’s also lighter. So I wouldn’t worry too much about scratching that itch…

      I agree with you on the Panasonic 20-60. Apart from being sharp and capable of excellent results, I love that 20mm wide end which is so useful in general use. Most wide-angle zooms make the mistake of offering a bit more at the wide end and less (usually just 35mm) at the long end. Which means carrying a longer lens as well for most trips. With the Panasonic 20-60 you have everything in one very light and compact lens. When bought as a kit with the S5, it is ridiculously cheap.

      I have just taken delivery of the S5 II twin-lens kit (the Lumix 50mm f/1.8 and another 20-60mm). I will be writing about it soon. It’s tremendous value for money but, for stills photography, I don’t think the S5 II is worth swapping from the S5. It’s a bit bigger and heavier and has a better viewfinder, but the hybrid focus doesn’t make a lot of difference for my sort of photography. And I don’t do video…

    • This reminds me, Don. If Leica were to “adopt” the Lumix 20-60, assemble it in Portugal in a nice metal housing and sprinkle some Leica dust, they could sell it for, say, £2,000. Then, of course, it would be lauded as a wonderful Leica lens. With a notional Lumix price tag of £500 (I say notional because I don’t suppose anyone buys it as a stand-alone lens) and around £250 as part of the S5 kit, it is easily dismissed as a “kit” lens. You, I and many others know differently and can enjoy it for what it is.

      Could this little lens be the best-kept secret in the L-Mount world?

      • I agree with you Mike 100% and cannot understand why others have bought the S5 with it as Kit lens then sold the lens on without I suspect giving it a fair try. Don

        • Our friend John Shingleton in Australia bought the S5 kit a year or so ago but didn’t bother with the 20-60. He has now tried it at my behest and has produced some remarkably good photographs. He is impressed and told me that “Don Morley was right”. Watch this space…

  4. I have not touched the 24-90mm since I got the 35mm and that was 4 years ago… I will probably sell it at a certain point in time, before getting the 35mm I used it pretty much exclusively for 3 years, It is an excellent lens but it is 1) heavy, 2) expensive and 3) variable aperture (not my favorite). My most used combo at present is the Hasselblad X1D II with the new 38V lens. I am really impressed with this lens and the combo is about 500g lighter than the SL with the 35mm… I kind of keep hoping for a lighter L-mount body but as long as the M and the Q keep selling (which they will, contrary to the SL both lines are managed very well) I don’t see Leica going there…

    • I can sympathise with your view on the weight of the 24-90. I find it marginally more comfortable with when used with the S5, but it is still a dense, heavy lens. I presume you refer to the 35 APO which, undoubtedly, is one of the finest SL lenses. I have been tempted but never gave in. However, the upcoming Q3 is expected to answer most of my needs and, together with the Ricoh GR, is a great everyday camera, covering the 28-35 range superbly and making a good fist of 50mm or 75mm crops. The Q3 will be offering a 90mm crop also because of the 60MP sensor.

      Increasingly, I find the SL2 too heavy and that’s why I sold mine, deciding that I’d rely on the S5 for those occasions when I really need a zoom lens. Of course, this is just me. Younger people won’t have the same view.

      • Hi Mike, I am rationalizing my systems with the reality finally hitting that my whiplash is now permanent after 5 years of treatment. I sold my SL2 a long time ago in preference to the SL2-S which I love. I love the viewfinder in the SL2-S for easily focusing my fast m glass and for m glass wider than 35mm and longer than 75mm. My SL2-S kit is now: Panasonic S Pro 16-35/4, Leica 24-70/2.8, Sigma 105/2.8 macro, m 24/3.8, vm 35/2 apo, vm 50/1, m 90/1.5. If I am going to an event, I take the two zooms and the vm 50/1. If I want a light compact kit, I pick suitable m mount glass for the situation. The SL2 series viewfinder has been revolutionary in modifying my photography equipment needs. The SL2-S is amazing for low noise. I use AI software to upsize my images up to 2x for no visible reduction in pixel peeping assessments. However, one does need a quality image to up size 😀. My old viewpoints on equipment needs have been modified by health and more importantly technology advances in sensors and processing software.

  5. The 24-90 is an amazing zoom lens. I sold one when I briefly departed the Leica SL system as there were too few options. I then returned with the release of the the SL2 and the Leica trio of companies making the system viable. However, I have a chronic whiplash injury making camera weight a bigger issue. I sold the 24-90 and tried the Leica 24-70/2.8 (Leica’s modified version of the Sigma) and it is so much more comfortable for to me to carry and the optical quality is wonderful. I felt like my little grey cells (as Poirot would say) had made a brilliant decision – I am sorry Mike, I could not stop my juvenile humour but I am working on it.

    In my experience, the Leica 90-280 is the absolute best zoom lens I have ever owned. It is the only zoom lens that I felt was truly of “prime” quality. I compared images of the 24-90 and the 90-280 at 90mm at various apertures and the difference was obvious without pixel peeping. However, people really noticed me when I pointed the 90-290 in their direction. 😂 It is one of a few lens that I kept stalling on selling but my neck pain finally made me sell it. It is truly a magnificent lens – not just a magnificent zoom lens!

    Mike, I really enjoyed your article and feel people get pretentious about equipment or how much they pay for it. What I care about is; whether the camera can become a natural extension of my arm and capture decisive moments, it provides the shooting envelope I need with the available glass, and that the colour science suits my taste. I find that Leica and Panasonic cameras fill that need. I tried Sony extensively and did not like the colour science and never got natural with the haptics. I tried Hasselblad X1D and it had the absolute best colour science (each camera is manually profiled) and haptics and the glass was amazing. I took my best low light image with that camera. I still miss it for my Christmas images – no contest , but I wife has put her foot down on owning seasonal cameras.

    As you pointed out, it is killer challenging capturing images at car shows. I come away exhausted. My kit for car shows is currently the SL2-S with leica 24-70/2.8, Panasonic S Pro 16-35/4 and the truly sensational Voigtlander 50/1 for bokeh images. However, I have no doubt the Sigma S5 or newer variant would suit my AF needs but I would probably prefer the SL2-s for manual focus of my fast m glass such as the leica m 90/1.5. However, the Leica SL system, in my view is made practical by Panasonic and Sigma and I appreciate their contribution to my choices and in making the system a success.

    Where would I be without a sensational Sigma 105/2.8 macro. Leica you may want to rebrand this lens for the snobs.

  6. HEY KOTTER WELCOME BACK! That set up makes a lot of sense, but so does new S5 with 20-60 and 24-105, too many dam choices! Really something think about! Think you should have worn vest and a cap that said VALET, and taken one of the cars from the Ferrari area home.

  7. Isn’t it all about the glas anyway? It’s a solid performer at a reasonable price. What’s not to like? Attaching state of the art lens surly brings out the best of this camera but it’s of course not absolutely necessary to take a good photo.

    Not sure though if sticking with the “Lumix” brand name was a wise decision in terms of marketing when going into more pro level market. Still got an old Lumix DMC-TZ3 pocket camera sitting on my desk that my kids sometimes use for snapshots around the house. That what comes to my mind every time I hear Lumix.

    Nevertheless a lot of “bang for the buck” the missing top display I find a real bummer.

    Cheers,

    Andy

    • I also stumble over Panasonic/Lumix. If they really wanted to create a new brand, LUMIX, then why push Panasonic. Most people would say they have a Panasonic S5, not a Lumix S5, and does it really matter? I agree with you on this. Strangely, though I’ve had less Lumix cameras in the past, I don’t associate the name with anything of inferior quality. It they pushed Lumix and let Panasonic (televisions and all the consumer stuff) take a back seat, I think brand awareness would improve.

      Mike

    • As you know, using M lenses on non-Leica cameras is a murky subject. They all work, of course, but Leica makes a special point of telling us they have tweaked their sensors to work optimally with M glass, including the latest designs. An expert, such as Jonathan Slack, can expand on this and, I am sure, show conclusively that M lenses should be used on Leica cameras. However, it all depends on what you want and how much of a perfectionist you are. I’ve used M lenses on MFT, APS-C and full-frame cameras, and I got good results. At least as far as I am concerned, but I’m no Jono Slack…

      While using M lenses on non-Leica cameras was a hot topic a few years ago, I’m no longer that bothered. There are so many good AF lenses for L Mount, not least the superb range of APO-Summicron-SL primes, that there doesn’t seem to be much point using M lenses. And the premium primes from Pansonic and Sigma offer impressive results for a lot less money.

      That said, many like to use manual lenses on autofocus cameras just because it’s fun and it can be done. There is a certain satisfaction, I admit, although I always prefer to focus an M lens with the rangefinder rather than an EVF.

      • Yes, I know it well. Leica M and leica SL are best for leica M lenses. But I got to thinking if the Leica M was better with a panasinic (l mount) camera than, for example, with sony or Nikon etc. 👍🏻👍🏻📷

        • I think it’s very subjective when it comes to M lenses. There isn’t the same concern when using SL lenses on Panasonic or Sigma cameras and I believe that you can see the full performance of the SL lenses on the S5. I am looking forward to trying the 35mm Apo-Summicron-SL which is said to be one of the best, of not the best, of the current crop of autofocus APO lenses.

          • Hi Mike, I owned the Leica SL2, Panasonic S1R, and then Panasonic S1. I purchased the Panasonic S1 hoping it would have better performance with the m glass I owned. I was not pleased. I owned a range of m glass including the 28/1.4 and 50/1.4, but there was cyan flags and reduction of edge and corner sharpness that was quite visible to me. The sensor stack on Panasonic and other brands (Sony and so on) is a lot thicker than Leica. A lot of people do not see a problem but if you are picky like me it was a problem. The only way you can make a decision on this, is buy a camera that you can return if unhappy. Nobody, can recommend on this issue as it depends on your personal lens and expectations.

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