Leica's S Format Professional Digital Camera
Leica S2 Redefines Pro Digital SLRs With Large Sensor in a DSLR Body
Sep 29, 2009
Leica never made serious impact on photography with their SLRs to the extent they did with their iconic rangefinder cameras. Without a significant SLR owners base Leica did not have any legacy lens or backwards compatibility issues to compromise the design of the S2. They started with a clean sheet of paper and a degree of hindsight about the direction of digital imaging technology.
At Home In Or Out Of the Studio
The body of the Leica S2 is compact enough for ready use outside the studio and weather sealing of body and the lenses gives photographers the creative freedom to capture nature in all of its moods.
The Leica S2 is not as tall as the Nikon D3x full frame DSLR and it is not as deep, while both are the same width. The smaller Leica body contains 60 percent larger digital sensor than the Nikon, at 37.5 megapixels for the Leica S2 compared to 24.5 megapixels for the Nikon.
A major problem in putting a large CCD sensor in a compact body is the short distance between the lens and the digital sensor. This results in the light rays reaching the outer portions of the sensor at an angle making it difficult for the light rays to reach down into the light sensitive receptors inside the sensor.
For Leica’s new range of cameras Kodak have developed special micro-lens structures to cope with this angled light. This is the secret of fitting large sensors in compact bodies.
ISO
With an ISO range of 80 to 1250 the Leica S2 promises better low light capabilities than medium format cameras from Hasselblad and Phase One, but less than the smaller sensors in the top level full frame conventional DLSRs.
In the Studio
The Leica S2 is still an accomplished studio performer with tethered operation and HDMI output for immediate displaying of images on a large screen.
Tethered operation is when the camera is directly connected to a computer and allows the camera to write images directly to the computer’s hard disk. This saves time by eliminating the need to use memory cards as an intermediate storage stage and is boost to productivity in a busy shooting schedule that involves hiring models and clients watching the shoot.
Dual Shutter
While the S2 comes with a conventional DSLR focal plane shutter, Leica are set to add an alternative shutter. The plan is to incorporate a leaf shutter into CS variants of their lenses. Leaf shutters in the lens is a common medium format practice and allows much higher flash synchronization shutter speed and in the Leica S2 the leaf shutter allows 1/500 second compared to 1/125 second for the S2’s focal plane shutter mechanism.
Dual Memory Cards
Dual card slots with provision for CF and SD cards allows photographer to save an image in RAW to the CF card and in the compressed jpeg to the SD card. This allows sorting and evaluation of images using the jpeg mode as the smaller file size makes for easier handling for previewing and selection.
The Lenses
The downside of a brand new camera system is there are no existing lenses. Leica has to start building them and photographers then have to buy all new lenses. There are not even existing lenses that can be used with adaptors.
Leica aimed to make the best lenses they could for their new S format system. They aim to make every lens using fine tolerances and individual attention to lens element positioning ensures consistent high quality.
The lenses for the Leica S2 are have an autofocus system that is not as sophisticated as DSLRS intended for sports and photojournalism with only one central autofocus sensor. However, the Leica S2 is not about speed and the large bright pentaprism viewfinder would be many Leica owners first choice for focusing manually.
Leica plans two lenses to start with a 70mm f2.5 and a 180mm f3.5, and the S2 has a crop factor of 0.8 giving the 70mm lens the same view as a 56mm lens on a 35mm SLR. Set to follow are the 120mm f2.5 and a 35mm f2.5.
Price and Availability
Expect the S2 to hit specialist photo retailers in October with a price in the range of $US23,000 for the body. The 70mm lens should be in the region of $US4,500 while the 180mm will set you back about $US6,500.
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