londond

IMHO its slimmer and curvier than the SL2

Each to their own…I hadn’t really planned to get an SL3. Had gone to the store to get a M lens now out of stock potentially for months. Found the SL3 pleasing to the eye and hand, with an APO prime well balanced, compact but solid. This prompted me to trade my SL2 + deferred lens budget for the sensor + AF. In truth hard to justify that equation in economic terms but tbh that’s Leica... Take Stuarts point about the display text/icons lacking the boldness of the SL2 and agree functionally that’s not so good. But also adds to the slightly slimmed down vibe which clearly will appeal to some and not others. It’s all a bit less brutalist. When you change info profiles the info bars scroll in and out (can’t recall, but did they more pop in SL2?). Not sure if the rounded corners are in the same vein. Getting used to the camera will engender some of the grumpiness Jono notes, but a day playing suggests that for me that will be just like a new Mac OS release. I really like the configurability (e.g. the Control Centre) and putting ISO on the new left dial better emulates M. Feels to me like a camera I will enjoy using…

Had a slightly panicky moment updating the firmware via Leica Fotos - SL3 got stuck with Leica logo on screen and no amount of pressing the unfamiliar on/off or anything else did anything. Something had gone wrong compared to Fotos firmware update on M11s/Q2 and all the user guide says is whatever you do, don’t interrupt the power supply. So left it 30 mins before popping out the battery….so in my case it was more use the app to “stressfully update my firmware”. btw thanks Jono for the as ever balanced and informative review.

SL3/APO 50

Fair enough….

Am currently pondering the SL3 - the absence of a charger seems weird, visibly cheap and at odds with the premium brand. I have SL2/Q2M chargers so wouldn’t be affected and even if not it would make little difference, the increase to the overall cost of the camera is marginal. But likewise for Leica to bundle it. So not a dealbreaker for me but a sort of irritating curiosity…

Leake St M11M 21 SEM

Westminster Underground Station M11M APO 50

Would the ‘L-mount M’ be in the same sort of ballpark as the 61mp Sony interchangeable lens compact? https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/interchangeable-lens-cameras/ilce-7cr? I guess Leica might want to add that string to their bow but it seems different to an M - which for me is defined by the rangefinder/OVF and the mount supporting lovely mini manual focus lenses. I have APO 50 in L and M mount, for me the use cases are very different. A smaller body for my L lenses would be of marginal use to me (and indeed unbalanced on the zooms) - and between Ms, SL2, and Q2(M) I’m personally covered. But the fact that other manufacturers make similar things to the Sony presumably suggests there is market for them?

Each to their own - I enjoy Ms primarily for the user experience, and like the cleanest possible images which I sometimes play with in post. My other M lenses are 21 SEM, 50 APO and I’m mulling a 75 APO - so all in the same vein. If I could only keep one, it would be the 35 APO which I find a joy to use, size v performance is great, with headroom to crop on M11/M if necessary. Can see it’s not for people who prefer more vintage lenses, or indeed those have something more sensible to spend their money on. Am sure there are many lenses which are as good but in a different way and cost a lot less.

Have just received a survey from Leica following up with people who had reported freezes with the previous version. Having made a few frustrated posts here - and at risk of irritating those still suffering - just felt I should say I’m happy with how they handled this. The support person (Tim) was courteous and professional in diagostic questions, the latest release fixed my problems and I’m impressed they followed it up. I still get a very rare freeze, perhaps the same frequency as before v2.01, which does not compromise my user experience. In an earlier grumpy post I had accepted, from my own background delivering complex IT, that you get problematic releases, the test would be how it’s handled. From my perspective, this was fine.

Upload via FOTOs worked fine for both M11 and M11M (have to wait a bit with the red light flashing for the restart which was momentarily worrying). Took about 400 shots on M11, no freezes at all where before it had been freezing on average every 50-70 shots. Had been frustrated that 2.0.1 appeared to have introduced freezes to my previously fine M11s - am optimistic they have fixed it with .02, restoring both camera reliability and confidence in Leica s/w and f/w. 🤞

Gave it a try, freeze after about 40 frames - but appreciate your taking the time to share the idea…

Ah, understand a sort of register thread for reference - makes sense.