Vibration

Since the S2 handles much like a large DSLR rather than a medium format camera, I was quite curious to see how it would fare hand-held, especially at longer shutter speeds. The larger mirror of a camera with a sensor this size typically means more vibration and therefore a lessor ability to hand hold at low to moderate shutter speeds, especially since neither this nor any medium format camera has image stabilization.

Leica S2 with APO-Elmar-S 180mm f/3.5 @ ISO 200
Exposure – 1/30 second @ f/3.5 hand held

Above is a slightly cropped (for esthetic reasons) shot, which as you can see was taken at a 1/30 second, hand held with the 180mm lens. Below is a 100% crop. While resolution isn’t as high as it would be tripod mounted with MLU, it’s more than acceptable, even for a largish print.

100% Crop

It would therefore seem that Leica has done an excellent job with mirror and shutter damping on the S2.