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Monday, 8 October 2018

THE 'L MOUNT SYSTEM' - What it seems to be becoming





























As more details emerge from Panasonic, Leica and Sigma, it's becoming clear what this L-Mount 'alliance' is going to mean. The head of Sigma, Kazuto Yamaki, has said that Sigma will be releasing 14 L-Mount lenses (the same ones made for Sony's E-System) next year. When you add in the Leica lenses for the SL and look at the lenses and body on the S1 R prototype, one thing becomes clear. This is no small and light system. Certainly nothing like m4/3. L Mount cameras and lenses are going to be big heavy, expensive and seriously high quality. In fact this is nothing less than a mirrorless alternative to the pro level high end DSLR's from Canon and Nikon. I think in a years time we are going to see a very serious, very professional collection of cameras and lenses that project the whole mirrorless 'full frame' concept into new territory. Sony, with their ad hoc approach have a system that attempts to match up (unsuccessfully in my opinion) heavy lenses to small overpopulated bodies. The L-Mount partners seem to have no such inhibitions. The Leica SL (Typ 601) is a big robust camera. So are the Sigma SD Quattro bodies and I see no reason why anything else they release is going to be substantially different. Nikon and Canon seem to have responded to the Sony FF e-mount offerings, but from what's on offer and what is projected to appear, I see no evidence of that from either Panasonic, Leica or Sigma. They seem to have completely ignored Sony and gone for a system that directly challenges what Nikon and Canon have been offering us for years with their DSLR ranges. and for me that's an entirely sensible way to go.

Because there are plenty of smaller lighter systems around anyway. Leica have their APS-C TL/CL system and Panasonic have m4/3. There is no point in duplicating them. I see some comments from photographers wanting these FFMC lenses to be small and light. This shows a lack of understanding of the nature of lens construction, when the idea is to create fast, optically superb lenses, small and light isn't an option. And these Sigma lenses (apart from the 70 f/2.8 Macro) are all either f/1.4 or f/1.8. You only have to look at the sizes of the fast high end Sony e-mount lenses to see what the size of the lenses are. If Sony could make these small and light, they would. But they can't, so they don't.

 For me this constant demanding of small cameras and lenses shows naivety and a lack of ambition. Ambition to produce the best quality images possible. People have to accept that the trade off for that is that reduced size and weight may not be an option. After all there are plenty of small light cameras and lenses around and if that's what people want, then they have choices. However if they want 'Full Frame' 135mm f/1.8 and 85mm f/1.4 lenses then they need to get prepared for some 'heavy lifting'. And you only have to look at news and sports photographers on TV and see what they carry around.

 So I'm pretty much saying that the L-Mount is not going to be for whining wimps. Now I would prefer my Leica SL + 24-90mm combination to be lighter, smaller (and cheaper!) but it's not, so my choice is simple. Live with what it is or use something else. And I think it's going to be the same when L-Mount gear starts appearing. And you only have to look at the demand for the Nikon D850 to see that lots of photographers are willing to make the tradeoff. Myself included. 


Stock photography by david martyn hughes at Alamy




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