Shortly before heading off from my last short stay in the ant farm, and with an SL2 back in the arsenal, I fished an 11-23mm T out of the back of the dry cabinet and put it in my bag. It has proven itself both useful and extremely capable over the last few weeks.

When I was using the R 28-90mm on an a7rV last time on the road, I came to the conclusion that, while I don’t mind 900 grams of glass in the bag, I don’t want to haul it around mounted on my camera—unless it can shoot birds. Good as it is, it’ll probaby lay idle for a long while.

Reminded of the usefulness of a standard zoom by my use of the 11-23mm, I found a mint copy of the 18-56mm TL. Walking around with it this morning, I was again in awe of what a great job Nittoh Kogaku did in preserving the Leica look in these two lenses.

As if all of the aforementioned notions were proof that my photography brain runs in little circles, something popped into my head about the possibility of a CL as a travel backup. No IBIS, I told myself. Small EVF, I chided. Short battery life, I reminded myself as I did a google search for the camera. Second charger to lug around, too.

Still, the notion persists. Whether I will act on it or not, I don’t yet know. Unless, of course, I happen to see one in a familiar shop window when I’m in Bangkok later this month. Then I know what’ll happen. Well, unless I spot a cheap SL2 first . . .

SL2/11-23mm T . . .