Re: Am I not worthy - I am not worthy...of stellar lenses
SlowDriver wrote: 1bwana1 wrote:
I think it depends on what you are shooting, how you are shooting, and how you are viewing and distributing the images.
Given my use cases for the SL3 and APO-SL lenses I find the results better than anything else I have ever used.
Street shooting is absolutely not where the difference show much when compared to other high end lenses. I too find that the weight is not worth it in that use case. My M11 or M6 with any of my M Leica or Voigtlander lenses have all the quality needed for that.
Hi 1bwana1, just out of curiosity, what are your use cases for the APO SL lenses?
Sure. For me my SL3 camera is my studio camera. I use it with strobes for portraits and other studio work.
It is also my people and event system. Anytime I want to quickly acheive critical focus on the pupil of the eye. This could be natural light or again with strobes.
When I want the highest sharpness and fewest aberrations I use the APO-SL lenses. Other times I use more character rich lenses going all the way to very old Leica lenses with unique rendering. But wide open I find the rendering and OOF fall of from the APO-SL lenses very attractive too.
I use the SL3 and APO when shooting landscapes and cityscapes. Also when documenting the amazing paintings and in place frescos sculptures here in Italy. Uses where I want across the frame sharpness and lack of abberations. Especially true when planning to print large.
I use my SL3 and APO-SL 50mm to scan my film negatives. It's detail, flat field, and lack of abberations are very valuable for this use. The lens basically dissappears and gives me 60mpx scans that accurately captures what is on the negative.
Stopped down there are lenses that can produce result close to the APO-SL lenses. But wide open I have not found others that can compete edge to edge for sharpness and lack of abberations. Check the MTF charts for objective confirmation of this. Understand that Leica tests and publishes it's charts at higher line pairs numbers than other manufactures normally do.
There are my core optical use cases for the APO-SL lenses I have. As a system I also find the having the entire line housed in identical cases provides benefits in handling consistency and perfect sharing of accessories like hoods and filters.
Like all of our gear the APO-SL lenses are tools with certain strengths. I find value in these strengths. Others may not. I will say that that value is difficult to justify at full retail prices. Fortunately the used prices fall strongly. Then hold value very well. I only buy Leica SL gear used which puts it in line value wise with other manufactures high end gear. I averaged less than $2,500 for each of my APO-SL lenses and $4,000 for the SL3 body. I consider this a reasonable performance value. Again, others will disagree.
Jun 01, 2026 at 06:22 PM
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