Leica Camera zooms in on the action with “zoom-zoom” low light support
Sep 5, 2024
David Prochnow
Our resident “how-to” project editor, David Prochnow, lives on the Gulf Coast of the United States in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. He brings his expertise at making our photography projects accessible to everyone, from a lengthy stint acting as the Contributing How-To Editor with Popular Science magazine. While you don’t have to actually build each of his projects, reading about these adventures will contribute to your continued overall appreciation of do-it-yourself photography. A collection of David’s best Popular Science projects can be found in the book, “The Big Book of Hacks,” Edited by Doug Cantor.
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OMG! Please pinch me (but not too hard); Leica Camera has released a mega zoom lens for the SL lineup with a ridiculously large aperture (for all of you fast action, low-light Leica cats out there). Dubbed the Vario-Elmarit-SL 70-200 f/2.8 ASPH. At about one kidney of dollars, this beauty joins the existing Super-Vario-Elmarit-SL 14-24 f/2.8 ASPH. and the Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-70 f/2.8 ASPH. L-mount lenses for filling your kit bag with extended visual goodness.
By the numbers, this zoom is shrouded in a dust- and splash-proof aluminum housing with built-in optical image stabilization. So that the next time you’re attending the Tour de France you can isolate one rider from the peloton with aplomb.
Furthermore, the 20 elements arranged into 15 groups with three aspherical surfaces deliver cutting edge visual delight. If you want to get really technical, according to the, way too serious, Leica design team: “All lenses are crafted from high-quality glass, with seven featuring low refractive index and exceptionally low dispersion, and high abnormal partial dispersion, ensuring razor-sharp, high-contrast, and true-to-life colors. The lens’s various focal lengths are achieved through reliable internal focusing, maintaining a constant, compact length throughout the entire zoom range.
Oh, and if you need just a little more reach for those distant shots, Leica Camera has a couple of tele-extenders for getting you from here to there. There’s the Leica Extender L 1.4x to bump you to 280mm and the Leica Extender L 2.0x to cast your digital eye up to 400mm. Now that’s some kinda zoom.
You can learn more about the Vario-Elmarit-SL 70-200 f/2.8 ASPH here.
The manufacturer’s suggested retail price for the zoom lens is $3,295, while the Leica Extender L 2.0x is priced at $995.
David Prochnow
Our resident “how-to” project editor, David Prochnow, lives on the Gulf Coast of the United States in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. He brings his expertise at making our photography projects accessible to everyone, from a lengthy stint acting as the Contributing How-To Editor with Popular Science magazine. While you don’t have to actually build each of his projects, reading about these adventures will contribute to your continued overall appreciation of do-it-yourself photography. A collection of David’s best Popular Science projects can be found in the book, “The Big Book of Hacks,” Edited by Doug Cantor.
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