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Switching to Leica S2 with H adapter?

camerafocus

camerafocus

New Member
Hello All

I've been offered an ex demo Leica S2 by Leica UK for only £8'200.00 inc VAT and given that the cameras smaller and seems to have good reviews when it comes to reliability. I'm thinking that this sounds very good.
I already have a number of HC & HCD lenses from my H3DII kit.

Has anyone had experience using the S2 with the H lenses?
 
Good Weekend with the Leica

Hello All

In case anyone is interested. The weekend with the loan S2 and the H adapter went very well. The camera worked seamlessly with my old H Lenses. the camera was fast and responsive and it was nice to have a smaller camera which could still give the same great image quality shots that I've come to expect from my Hasselblad.
The Leica lens that was provided was great to use and was nice and bright however I did not see a great deal of difference between the Hasselblad HC100AF and the Leica 70mm lens.
With the cost of the Leica lenses being much higher I think I'll stick to the H lenses.
The Leica glass only had a noticeable edge over the H lens when shooting into direct light where there was a noticeable reduction in reflections of the internal elements.
I Think that I will be going for the S2 body and H adapter to use with my old lenses and keep the H camera as a backup.
 
camerafocus said:
Hello All

In case anyone is interested. The weekend with the loan S2 and the H adapter went very well. The camera worked seamlessly with my old H Lenses. the camera was fast and responsive and it was nice to have a smaller camera which could still give the same great image quality shots that I've come to expect from my Hasselblad.
The Leica lens that was provided was great to use and was nice and bright however I did not see a great deal of difference between the Hasselblad HC100AF and the Leica 70mm lens.
With the cost of the Leica lenses being much higher I think I'll stick to the H lenses.
The Leica glass only had a noticeable edge over the H lens when shooting into direct light where there was a noticeable reduction in reflections of the internal elements.
I Think that I will be going for the S2 body and H adapter to use with my old lenses and keep the H camera as a backup.
Click to expand...

Hi! Thanks for sharing this experience. I admit I am also thinking to get a S2 or S2-P if I find a good deal. As I also own Hasselblad V & H lenses, the adapter rings could allow me to get into this system "smoothly"! :lol:

Is there a conversion ratio with the H adapter? Then, is the HC 100/2.2 comparable to a 'S 100mm' lens?
 
Last month I loaned an S2 with a V adapter for a day. In particular, I wanted to prove to myself that my fave 110mm f2.0 FE worked with it. At the low ex-demo price of £8,000 I'd decided that a successful day would result in a purchase. Thereafter, my intent was to buy a single S lens and use my 4 V lenses and slowly move over.

It was a complete failure. The Focus Confirmation system just did not produce sharp focus images more than 30% of the time. Absolutely zero confidence in it and a great disappointment. I took a few images with my 50mm FLE and they were OK/good. I came to the conclusion that S lenses would be essential and I'm not ready for that. Manual focus was better, but that defeated my purpose.

The dealer suggested that the Hasselblad lenses would need to be calibrated to the S2 body. Apparently, the S2 AF system sends a beam to the lens rear element and uses the reflection for confirmation. The rear element has therefore to be in the exact right place. I don't know if this is the case and would appreciate confirmation from anybody that knows.

Leica offered to pick the issue up on two occasions, but never followed through, so the issue was unresolved.
 
Thanks for info. I spent only 2 minutes with a S2 and did not succeed any sharp pictures. I probably made mistake or need to change my way to take pictures when I use AF camera.
 
bladdered said:
Leica offered to pick the issue up on two occasions, but never followed through, so the issue was unresolved.
Click to expand...

Well, I need to put this straight. Several days after my above post, Leica did contact me and went thru the issue. It's now resolved with all lenses focussing critically sharp. Amazingly sharp. Sharper than I've ever seen before, sharp.

Leica pointed out that the 110mm is identified on their list as not being suitable. I've had the opportunity to check-out my lenses again on the S2. The 50 &'80 work as well as anyone can expect. The 110mm is almost as good.

In the end, I'm very impressed.
 
Oh dear!

I wish I hadn't read this thread. The only thing stopping me buying the S2 was the limited number of lenses I would be able to afford (1 or 2 at most). Now you have removed this obstacle.
 
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