Did I Like The Leica SL Mirrorless Camera? My Review

A new Leica SL is coming this year. Also the Leica SL is fully compatible with the more affordable full frame L mount Panasonic lenses and the forthcoming L mount Sigma lenses. That is very important.

Leica is overpriced ghetto fabulous garbage.
I left Canon for Sony Mirrorless and watched too many reviews of the no-better-than-a-kickstarter-cardboard-box-camera.

i had to subscribe ….. you are probably the cutest reviewer out there so……

6000USD

I'll never understand why people buy Leica cameras. Less features for 5 times the price. But the Lenses are top class, I'll admit.

May I know the back ground music? Thanks!

this was a great review. i like how you went in with an open mind, which is what 90% of people who bag Leica don't have. they look at the price and their mind is made up. as for M cameras, they are great. they're not for everyone though. it doesn't mean they're not for you. just not for everyone. people who don't 'get' Leica will always go back to price and value.

Can you tell me if you prefer this Leica to the Nikon D850?Jim

What a load of gushing crap. Really!!  And I have a M9  – not a leica hater. Just an honest photographer. This was not an honest review

Thanks for your video. I'm thinking about purchasing my first leica, and i think that would be the SL. For me SL is more interesting than M series because it's mirrorless, so I can try many vintage lenses, which i like because of its unique character. And I can easily shoot manually with the help of EVF.

I love how gentle you are when putting down the camera.

I am a professional street and art photographer who has always sworn by the M family of Leicas. My prints and exhibitions are sponsored by a camera chain that sells Leica and I am known by all the shop employees as Mr "M", which goes to show just how fanatical I am. I am often asked to test new releases of non-M cameras under all conditions and I always give honest appraisals from a working point of view rather than a technical one — about which I care little. When I tested the M10 I thought I was using the digital equivalent of an M3 and was very impressed. Recently however, I was asked to test the SL. Before giving my conclusions I should specify that I have reached an age where I have problems focusing due to problems with my vision and I have long been seeking a camera that really works at low ISO for my art photography, rather than extolling overblown theoretical values. I also have back problems and thus require cameras that are not very heavy. Finally, being a Leica fanatic I require extraordinary build quality (I don't change my cameras often) and decent weatherproofing. So after testing this camera that was initially released almost 3 years ago, I have reached the following conclusions: there is nothing better on the market for people with eyesight problems. It is far better than any Nikon, Canon, Sony an Fuji (including the medium frame camera, all cameras that I have used or tested). For low light it is exceptional; in the space of two days of testing I took a number of pictures, at night, at less than ideal conditions, at ISO 25000 and they were of such high quality (with some rather simple post processing) that I intend to exhibit them. At high ISO there is no chromatic noise and the overly large grain is simple to reduce with the "Noiseless" application. My eyesight require +3.5 correction and the SL can only go to +2, but it is very easy to view any scene using glasses (I also spoke personally with 2 people from the Leica company and suggested they increase the correction values with a firmware update. As to the weight, I disagree with TheSnapChick. She tested the camera with one of its very heavy native lenses while I only use legacy "M" lenses (I prefer them to new lenses as each lens has a very distinct personality), my 2 favorites being a 35mm/3.5 Summaron (1955) and a 1951, 90/F4 Elmar. Using the 35 Summaron on the SL only increased the weight by 237 grams relative to my M9. I did not test the weatherproofing with the "M" lens attached, but from what I have read, although it is not as good as with one of the SL native lenses, it is apparently quite decent. As far as build and balance is concerned, the camera is superb. And one last thing I would like to mention: I compared the image quality of the SL against the medium format Fuji (printing at about 60cm at the longest side – approx 20 inches) and the Fuji did not give superior results). There is only one more thing for me to add: I was so seduced by the SL that I have stopped dreaming of having an M10 and have decided to buy an SL (!). I have found a used one in nearly perfect condition (actually the one I tested) at a good price and will buy it next week. Please keep in mind that art and street photographers do not earn much so spending the money to acquire it will be a quite an effort.

Please have them send you the Leica S3 when they release it.
Be ready to mortgage your home
This will be the best that Leica ever produce.

If I could afford one, I'd definitely buy one……and a number of lenses!

I use Leicas (M6 and M240). They are fantastic tools. The SL is also amazing, but the lenses are exorbitantly priced, even more then M lenses. I would very like to buy a SL but I can not afford the lenses.

Are you so little or is this camera so big?

How do you go back to old school after you have experienced mirrorless and EVF? How do you even accurately focus on a distant object between other objects, like a tree behind a fence without EVF. I will never look back.

Leica loaned me one for a month, beautiful piece of kit but not a professional's camera: Limited raw tethering options, small file size and won't work with the brilliant Profoto Remote
system. Beautiful lens quality and had incredible results with old R Lenses. Feels great but at that cost, prohibitively expensive. I'm sure dentists and other wealthy camera buffs will love it.