Leica CL and Sigma 16mm f1.4 Portraits in the Afternoon

Leica CL and Sigma 16mm f1.4 Portraits in the Afternoon:

I don’t own a Leica CL but I borrowed one to review the Sigma L mount APS-C lenses that have been released so far.  I actually still have the CL in my hands, and have been using it quite a bit.  I’ve always wanted one, and after trying those Sigma lenses out on it, I’m even more tempted to buy one.  Anyway, I asked Stephanie (Instagram) to come over one day to help me review the Sigma lenses, and I thought I’d post some of the pictures that Stephanie had asked me to edit.  These were taken with the 16mm f1.4 DC DN Contemporary lens.

My go-to lenses for the type of work that I do are usually a 50mm f1.4 or a 90mm.  If any of you have been to my Instagram, you’ll see that nearly all the photos have actually been taken with my desert island lens, the Summilux-SL 50mm f1.4 ASPH.  However, there are some occasions where I like to use something a bit wider.  In the case of these photos, I wanted that wider perspective effect because I thought it would be kind of cool with the ladder, and Stephanie’s height.  I also had limited space, so the Sigma 16mm f1.4 was perfect for this situation because with the crop factor taken into account, it becomes a 24mm equivalent.  By the way, I haven’t released this lens review yet but I plan to very soon.

These were taken way back in November 2020 right before we had another big rise in covid cases here in NYC.  As some of you know, I used to post portrait sets weekly here but with Covid, it’s not always as easy to do these model shoots.  As I said earlier, I had asked Stephanie to come over to help me review the Sigma APS-C lenses, and we basically stuck to my studio space.  I have a roof top, and as you can see here, fire escapes, so we were able to get some cool pictures.  Since Stephanie had wanted me to edit these shots, I thought I’d post them here as well.

The photos here were taken around the later portion of the afternoon.  As you can see in the color photos, there was a nice warm light hitting Stephanie as the sun was beginning to drop.  We were lucky because once October comes along, the natural lighting at my place isn’t usually that great.  It doesn’t usually start getting better till March.

As I said, these were taken with the CL and 16mm f1.4 DC DN Contemporary lens combo.  I will be posting a review of this lens very soon with full details but overall, it works quite well with the CL.  These were all taken at f1.4 with 100 ISO.  If I recall correctly, the only lens that Leica currently has out for the CL that’s around this focal length is the Elmarit-TL 18 mm f/2.8 ASPH.  I’m actually a big fan of this lens as well.  It’s a pancake lens, and together with the CL, it makes such a great street combo.  But I’ve never been a fan of the 28mm focal length (with the crop factor, it’s a 27mm), and I much prefer a 24mm, which is what the Sigma equates to.  Plus, that f1.4 really comes in handy.  It’s a much larger lens than the Leica but it’s not that heavy, so it still balances nicely on the CL.

Editing wise, I stuck with Capture One for all the RAW processing and black and white conversions.  I used to jump around from Camera Raw in Photoshop CC, and Capture One for my RAW processing but I’ve pretty much been exclusive to CO now.  The skin retouching, and color grading was done in Photoshop though.

So, that’s it for now.  I will be posting a review of this lens very soon with all images taken with the CL.  Thanks for stopping by!