Will the current R lenses work on a SL 2 Body? TIA. Regards,Richard Fulco

-- Richard Fulco (calcinc@mn.rr.com), August 22, 2001

Answers

The SL/2 requires 2 or 3-cam lenses. I believe all current Leica R lenses have only the 3rd cam and only work on the R3 and later SLR's. Some current lenses can be converted to 3-cam lenses but I don't know which they are.

-- Bud (budcook@attglobal.net), August 22, 2001.

Most current lenses can be used on the SL2, but if the lens is a ROM lens then the ROM connection has to be removed and the 2nd cam put on. This costs (I think) around $200 and Leica can do this for you, no problem. If you have an R8 then pretty much all works OK without the ROM anyway, so it is not a big deal if you have both and R8 and an SL2. If you buy older lenses then until about 1988-1990 or so all the R lenses were made with three cams (for all cameras up to the R7). After this time Leica economized and put only the 3rd cam on so they would only work on the R cameras (by "work" I mean will give open aperture metering). So, you need to check that if you buy a still-current non-ROM lens that it has 3 cams not just the 3rd cam. Leica can easily add a second cam to a 3rd cam-only lens if it is missing.

I think all current lenses can fit on the SL2, but I am not 100% sure of this. Some of the older lenses cannot be ROM-ed (90mm Summicrons and 135 Elmarit come to mind). Some more recent lenses cannot fit on the SL and Leicaflex Mk1, but I think the SL2 can take pretty well everything - if in doubt give Leica a call.

In purely practical terms you are better off looking for non-ROMed lenses with three cams for the SL2 secondhand as you save yourself some money.

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), August 22, 2001.

To carry Robin's arguement futher. You only need lenses with two cams and they are even cheaper than three cam lenses. Some optical formulas have not changed over the years (90/2, 400/6.8) so why not!!

Cheers

-- John Collier (jbcollier@powersurfr.com), August 22, 2001.

John is quite right, I forgot to make that point!

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), August 22, 2001.

I'll add a couple more points: 1)For those using an SL, only the *second* cam is needed; the SL2 requires 1st and 2nd cams. 2)For those using only R cameras, the used market prices for 3rd-cam-only lenses is often significantly less than 3-cam lenses.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), August 22, 2001.

Jay

I must say I have not noticed a premium on 3 cams over the 3rd cam. Many people can't tell them apart....

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), August 24, 2001.