Category Archives: Photographs

Leica SL2-S and macro photography using Leica M lenses – Part II

Leica, Macro, Photographs

Proof of concept.

For an index of all Leica-related articles click here.

In Part I I detailed the hardware requirements to use an ancient Leica Bellows II for the M mount with a 135mm Elmar lens head and a variety of extension tubes, all used with an LED ring light.

I just ran a first test, using a pine cone as the subject.

Here’s the setting:



The LED light is some 24″ from the pine cone.

The Leica SL2-S’s exposure mode was set to Manual so that the same exposure would be used for the multiple images required for focus stacking in Helicon Focus. I set the LED ring light to maximum brightness and, after establishing critical focus at f/4 on the base of the pine cone using the handy magnification feature of the camera’s EVF, I proceeded to take 17 images of the pine cone. The focus for each was varied a small amount using the secondary rack and pinion rail of the Focusing Bellows II. This has a handy tightening lever which was set part way to prevent the lens assembly from drifting on the lower rack. While the sweet spot for the 135mm Elmar if f/8 to f/11 I used the maximum aperture of f/4. This would constitute a critical test of the focus stacking software. The shutter speed was 1/250th and IBIS was turned on. ISO was 2200. Though I used Auto ISO it is better practice to use manual ISO to ensure constant exposure across the range of constituent images.

The images were imported to Helicon Focus (v 9.0.2) and combined into one image, sharp overall.

Here is the result in LR Classic, top left, followed by the 17 constituent images:



The images and result in LRc.

Here is the final result.




Click the image for a larger version.

Check the large version and you can see that my focus on the base of the cone was incorrect, denying optimum results from Helicon Focus, but as a proof of concept for the rig and the application this is a promising start.

How to change focus when taking multiple images for focus stacking:

Changing focus using the extension of the focusing bellows is decidedly sub-par. A minuscule change in the bellows extension results in a large change in the plane of focus. By contrast using the lower rack of the Focusing Bellows II to move the camera/bellows/lens assembly nearer to – or further from – the subject is relatively insensitive to the change in the plane of focus. As an example, a subject depth of one inch at life size may require three to four dozen changes in the position of the camera, meaning three to four dozen exposures, easily done with the lower rack, where changes of as little as one millimeter are easy to accomplish. This is virtually impossible to achieve using the variable extension of the bellows itself.

If you are using a bellows without a lower focus rack, Novoflex makes one but as with most of their products the pricing is plain silly. The sole advantage I can see is that the rack range is 14.8″, which is large. Instead, check eBay searching for ‘Macro Focusing Rack’ and you will find many choices for under $50. But better yet spring for a Leitz Focusing Bellows II and experience the ne plus ultra of German mechanical engineering for a modest outlay.

Leica SL2-S with Leica M lenses – Part III

Leica, Photographs

Field experience and some snaps.

For an index of all Leica-related articles click here.



The SL2-S with the M-to-L adapter fitted.

Having spent quite a bit of time tuning the SL2-S to my way of working in Part II, meaning simplifying things to the point that it is more like a Leica M10 to operate with all extraneous noise/buttons/settings eliminated, I set about taking the camera for a spin. I brought with me the Voigtländer 21mm Aspherical Color-Skopar and 75mm Ultron, along with the Light Lens Lab 35mm 8 element Summicron clone. For the two lenses stashed in my pockets each is attached to a Leica Lens Coupling ring for safe interchange. All three are properly 6-bit coded for correct focal length recognition in the SL2-S.

The Good:

  • Beautiful color rendering SOOC using DNG/RAW.
  • Exceptional ability to recover burned out highlights.
  • Intuitive handling. The great mass of the beast is somewhat mitigated by the small and light M lenses and the absence of dozens of buttons and controls makes for easy use, even with gloves. In this regard the body is close to the best ‘glove handling’ body ever, the Leicaflex SL.
  • Drop dead phenomenal manual focus when using the magnifier feature. I took over 5 dozen images mostly at or near full aperture and each was critically sharp where I focused. The best MF experience ever, especially with longer focal lengths at large apertures where the focus point is truly binary. Either right or wrong. Accordingly, I did not bother with focus bracketing.
  • Exceptional EVF – once tailored for color and brightness it’s fast and responsive. I completely declutter the view so that only the shutter speed and exposure compensation are disclosed in very small font size when the first pressure on the shutter release is applied.
  • Lovely quiet shutter sound. Just a joy to perceive.
  • Effective IBIS.
  • The inexpensive aftermarket battery – $39 not the $240 Leica asks – works fine.
  • Framing is perfect. What you see is what you get. Not something that can be said of the M10.
  • I made maybe 15 lens changes on this outing and found the process safe, easy and speedy using the Leica M to L adapter. Just like using an M10 in this regard with a large, easily accessed lens lock release button.
  • Flattery. When using the M10 on the street I get the question from passersby “Is that a film camera?” surprisingly often, to which I lie, replying insouciantly “But of course. I would never use anything else”. Today, with the ugly hulk of the SL2-S slung around my neck, I got “Nice camera”!

The Bad:

  • Though it’s shown correctly on the camera files, in Lightroom Classic EXIF data display a time stamp 2 hours ahead of what is correct. This may be a Leica FOTOS anomaly. I will research it more.
  • Exposure (using Multi Field) is constantly 1/4 stop over in all lighting conditions. I simply amended my Lightroom Classic import preset to adjust for this.
  • The level horizon indicator is poor, often being incorrect. I have removed it from the EVF display.
  • Battery life is mediocre. I chewed through 25% in one hour, albeit with the awful Geotagging link to FOTOS on my iPhone running (or not) all the time which probably did not help. See below. I never turned the camera off, but did have the EVF set to sleep after 2 minutes of inactivity. No LCD chimping.
  • The Leica camera strap will have to go. The fact that it is rubberized on one side but slippery on the other does not encourage confidence and I dislike the loud LEICA letters emblazoned on it. It does do a good job of spreading the load, though.

The Ugly:

  • The camera constantly drops the link to FOTOS running on my iPhone 12 Pro Max. It tells you the link has been lost and subsequent images retain the last known good GPS data, which are incorrect. Further the date stamp remains frozen from the time applicable when FOTOS was first invoked. I will revert to using this technique for proper GPS recording. If I find a fix I will report on it.

Update March 9, 2026:

I resolved the issue with FOTOS disconnecting and report on that and on battery life issues when the app is running here.

Some snaps – a few treated in Silver Efex or Color Efex from the NIK collection:


Snaps from a first outing.