two years in the making - my Leica SL review

[Ertos]

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Now that the original SL can be bought second hand, or even new, against an attractive pricepoint, I thought it the right time to capture my thoughts on why I like the SL so much. Most of it comes down to the handling and the interface which is unlike anything out there. Have a look: https://www.erwinhartenbergphoto.com/post/why-the-original-leica-sl-is-still-the-best-camera-in-2020 

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Edited June 1, 2020 by Ertos

[thatkatmat]

Love the review, I agree with pretty much everything you wrote.  I prefer the 24MP sensor as well.

I just purchased mine last week and have fallen in love.

I haven't purchased any M mounts yet but bought the Leica M to L adapter.

So it's true that with the Leica adapter and M lenses you simply push the "joystick for instant magnification"?

It doesn't work with SL lenses in MF, it AF's in MF if you push it.

 

 

[Guest BlackBarn]

It’s a classic......purity of design, quality manufacturing, simple functionality and exceedingly capable. Not certain it needed  the manufactures tags...the white Leica  name logo and the red dot stuck on it because who but Leica could have made something like this. 

So pleased they changed the design for the SL2....it makes owning the original that much more special.

Re the magnification question on M lenses. Yes a push does it, well it does on the one I’ve got.  I’ve never tried it with SL lenses in MF.

[Ertos]

it does on mine for M lenses. And I remember that I think you can configure it for AF lenses as well. I dont have AF lenses anymore for the SL but I think that's how you could get it to work too.

 

[Jeff S]

The 4 unlabeled button interface was first used by Leica on the S2, and continues to the S006, S007 and now to the newest S3.  But Leica didn't invent the design: they borrowed it from Phase One, back when the companies acted as partners.  Good ideas come from many places.

Jeff

[thatkatmat]

On 6/5/2020 at 5:38 AM, Ertos said:

it does on mine for M lenses. And I remember that I think you can configure it for AF lenses as well. I dont have AF lenses anymore for the SL but I think that's how you could get it to work too.

 

Having the zoom function is a pretty big deal for me as my eyes aren't what they used to be and I love to manually focus (with magnification)

Anyways...  I was setting up the AE Lock function on the Joystick, it let's you set it up for AFs AFc and MF. In the "MF" menu, one of the options was "Zoom", It's not in the manual so I'm guessing they added it with firmware. Works brilliantly. 

Edited June 6, 2020 by thatkatmat

[Daniel81]

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I have had mine for 8 months now and I LOVE It.  Have the 75 SL native lens and two R lenses - the 60 R Macro 2.8 and the 180 R 2.8 - with the Leica R to L adaptor and just love all of them.  About to get an APO S 120 Summarit macro with S to L adaptor for a very good price and excited to see how that goes with the SL.

[ropo54]

5 hours ago, Daniel81 said:

I have had mine for 8 months now and I LOVE It.  Have the 75 SL native lens and two R lenses - the 60 R Macro 2.8 and the 180 R 2.8 - with the Leica R to L adaptor and just love all of them.  About to get an APO S 120 Summarit macro with S to L adaptor for a very good price and excited to see how that goes with the SL.

The S120 is superb on the SL. (So are all of the S lenses, but the S120 is special). Congratulations.

Rob

Edited June 6, 2020 by ropo54

[Dr. G]

Thank you for this.  I had owned the SL when it was first released and then moved to the Sony a7r iii and the a7r iv.  I was all set to order the SL2 but then I received the Sony a9ii.  What I noticed was that even though the a9ii had lower resolution than the a7r iii and the a7r iv, the images were consistently sharper when shooting hand held.  When I had the SL, the images were always sharp (with the Summilux-SL 50) and I had little issue with noise in low light.  Also, the original SL images had a very special look to them that I couldn't replicate with the Sony + GM lenses.  I'm probably in the minority, but I prefer the images (color, micro contrast, etc) from the SL over the SL2, at least from the examples I've seen.

I recently found a very nice example of the original SL, the Summilux-SL 50 and a Summicron-SL APO 35.  I should have everything by week's end and I'm really looking forward to using it again.