Down the slippery slope one day, up the learning curve another, with today being among the latter.
A peek through the 280 in strong light revealed that the rear section’s flocking doesn’t show as flat black, which could be the cause of the apparent loss of contrast I see in some shots. As this was among the first copies to be produced, maybe it was altered in subsequent copies.
Whatever the case, a moderately dim overcast morning gave me a good excuse to head out the door with a capable f/4 on the camera. Results were plenty sharp, but I’m seeing color issues as they relate to metering. Still, in these conditions the lens produces some pleasing results at the right distances. Gotta say, though, that Leica full frame bodies, particularly the SL601, are the only ones that get the most out of the lens.
Out in doom, gloom, and rain in the afternoon, my aim was to see if the 180/2X does better wide open on the R7 than on full frame. The short answer is no. The long answer is that the R7 makes f/8 a non-issue. As an example, the crop below was shot in a driving rain in almost dusk-like lighting at ISO 12800. Typically, these are conditions under which I’d not even bother to frame a shot, but it’s nice to know that I can if the need arises.
Not wanting to let the R7’s other talents go unused, I also have a copy of Canon’s “disposable” tele zoom RF 100-400mm inbound. It’ll be interesting to do direct comparisons with the other two options . . .
