Jono Slack Review: Leica SL2-S

[jonoslack]

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Leica introduced the SL2 just about a year ago (on November 6th 2019), with what’s been happening since it seems more like 100 years ago!

I was initially rather grumpy about it (and I quote):

The SL still fulfils all my requirements, and I’m still in love with the interface. So why would I want something different, and let’s be honest - how often does one really NEED 47mp. Added to which the strap lugs on the SL2 stick out, and it only has 3 buttons on the back (rather than the 4 on the SL), and they have writing on them!

You can read the rest of the review: https://www.slack.co.uk/leica-sl2.html

I had three SL2 cameras to test spanning the period from January 2019 until September (with a few gaps). In the end I was convinced that the new camera was a real improvement, slowly discovering that I really did ‘need’ 47 mp and I soon bought my own SL2.

Today Leica are introducing the Leica SL2-S, which is certainly the camera I would have wanted back then. The new camera is directed primarily at videographers and photographers who are more interested in speed or file size than they are in high resolution. Photojournalists, Event and wildlife photographers spring to mind. The new ‘stealth’ look with the blackened out Leica points in that direction.

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I only had the SL2-S for a couple of weeks at the end of August and the start of September this year, so this article is based on a relatively short time with the camera. I’m not going to do a detailed write up of the body and design, or of the operation of the camera, as these features are the same as the SL2.

What’s different?

Photography

The SL2-S has a brand new back-lit BSI-CMOS sensor with 24MP of resolution. It is capable of shooting 9 frames per second with the mechanical shutter and 25 using the HS electronic shutter. The SL2 also does 9 fps with the mechanical shutter, but only 24 in HS Mode. As the file sizes are much smaller on the SL2-S and the buffer is the same 4GB, this means that you can shoot many more shots in a burst (largely controlled by the speed of the SD card). I didn’t have a very fast SD card to test, but Leica claim that you can carry on shooting at 9 fps (mechanical shutter) pretty much until the card is full.

There will be a firmware upgrade in the first part of 2021 which will have improved AF Eye Detection will be coming a little later There will also be a transparent ‘overlay’ function so you can perfectly repeat the alignment of the previous image (hopefully it will come to the SL2 later on).

Videography

Here the changes are more notable The Leica SL2-S shoots 10-bit 4:2:2 video with Leica’s L-LOG gamma at frame rates up to 60fps. Unlike the SL2 there is no limit to recording time with the new camera (beyond that imposed by internal or external memory).

The new firmware will allow segmenting video into 1 minute chunks (to avoid data loss). It will also allow internal 10 bit 4K/60p and 50p with HEVC video compression and have an individual Viewing-LUT upload function.

There will also be an integrated waveform monitor and automatic follow focus.

The Price

The SL2-S will be €1500 cheaper than the SL2 (€4500 as opposed to €5990) at the time of writing I don’t have UK or US prices.

The Paint

The only visible difference is the stealthy black writing on the front of the camera (perhaps Leica should have blacked out the red dot as well). In fact the writing is in gloss paint, but the body in matt (like the SL2)

What’s the same

Apart from the sensor and the price, pretty much everything is the same, same body, same processor with the same buffer and the same shot to shot times. The same weather sealing and image stabilisation. The same 5.76 million dot EVF with 0.78x magnification and the same 2,1 million dot LCD display.

High ISO

Sadly I’m not qualified to test or write about the camera’s video features so I’ll stick to discussing the image quality of the new sensor. In the limited time I had it seemed most relevant to check out the high ISO characteristics of the new sensor. To that end I set up my trusty tripod in our rather dark sitting room to take some images of books. Here is the scene:

This was shot with incident daylight seeping through a north facing window - difficult lighting conditions indeed.

The SL2-S goes up to 100,000 ISO, but rather than leave the other side blank I’ve compared it with 50,000 ISO on the SL2:

The SL2-S was so obviously much better at 100,000 than the SL2 at 50 I’ve done another comparison with the SL2 at 25,000 ISO. Here perhaps the extra resolution gives the SL2 the edge, however, even at 25,000 ISO there is some minor banding on the SL2, more at least than there is in the SL2-S at 100,000.

 

This is an impressive improvement, closer to two stops than to one, and something that street and low light shooters are going to appreciate. Even if you would want to avoid 100,000 ISO, 25,000 is really pretty good.

What’s in a name

So, what does the S in SL2-S stand for? I’m afraid we aren’t going to get a definitive answer to that, it could be Speed or Sensitivity, or perhaps even Stealth or Small (file size), or all of the above. I’ve asked the question of those who ought to know and they aren’t telling!

Shooting with M lenses

Of course the main purpose of the camera is for fast AF and video, but I know that quite a lot of people are going to be interested in how well it does with M lenses. Sadly I didn’t have time to do any very careful comparisons of corner definition and vignetting with the SL2, but the general impression was that the SL2-S was at least as good and probably better.

However focusing was better on the SL2-S, especially when zooming in on the EVF (which has a slight visual susurration on the SL2) it also seemed that nailing focus generally was easier on the newer camera. This might be because of the lower resolution, but whatever the cause it was tangible. I have established that the SL2 and SL2-S have the same sensor stack. It would be nice to do a proper comparison, but not having a camera I’m going to have to leave that up to others!

Who is it for?

Well, as Leica say in their press release:

“The SL2-S is the perfect choice for customers who favour fast operation over the exceptionally high resolution of the Leica SL2”

But I think it’s going to appeal to a wider audience than that, especially at the considerably reduced price point. I think the very good high ISO, together with fast AF (and eye focus in the spring) is going to make the camera very popular with all kind of wedding and event photographers, especially with the ability to mix and match Leica, Panasonic and Sigma lenses (there really are a lot of L mount lenses around). If you’re going to shoot 2,000 shots at a wedding, you really don’t want them to be 85mb per shot (40 is bad enough!). Added to that you really don’t need the resolution.

More than that, quite a lot of people are already using the SL2 with M lenses, and I think a lot more will find the SL2-S even more attractive. I’ve heard from many saying that they really don’t want 48mp, mainly because of the storage requirements, but also for the heavier processing load.

The new fast M lenses (90 Summilux, 75 Noctilux, 50 Noctilux) all handle better on an SL body and for many people focusing on an EVF based camera is simpler than using a rangefinder, the SL2-S is less challenging to focus with M lenses has a better magnification experience.

Conclusion

The Leica SL2-S has much improved video, with better things promised with firmware upgrades in the near future.

It is also a fine stills camera, allowing really fast shot to shot times and extremely good high ISO. It’s great to focus with M lenses and produces excellent image quality. For many people 24mp is still the sweet spot for resolution.

Added to all of this it’s considerably cheaper than the SL2, so it’s likely to attract new Leica users.

Once again Leica have produced a sensible and interesting camera which is going to appeal to a lot of different users, both old and new.

Sample Images Leica SL2-S

[TheGodParticle/Hari]

Lovely write up Jono! As always. 
24MP is indeed the sweet spot for my needs 🥂

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[helged]

Thanks @jonoslack! Will be interesting to see a comparison of high-ISO images from SL2-S vs Lumix S1 and S5. Anyone out there...? 

[jonoslack]

3 minutes ago, helged said:

Thanks @jonoslack! Will be interesting to see a comparison of high-ISO images from SL2-S vs Lumix S1 and S5. Anyone out there...? 

Not I!

[jonoslack]

6 minutes ago, TheGodParticle/Hari said:

Lovely write up Jono! As always. 
24MP is indeed the sweet spot for my needs 🥂

Thank you Hari - I think it probably is for lots of people I'm afraid that I've rather been seduced away to the high res side . . I'm trying to compensate by being much stricter with my culling!

 

[Aaron Daniel]

Wonderful review! Really interesting to see them branch into this segment of camera. I'm curious to know if you heard anything about accessories with this release – specifically in terms of video accessories/extras (though I understand you mention you aren't "qualified to test video"). Any mention of additional support with external recorders?

[jonoslack]

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7 minutes ago, Aaron Daniel said:

Wonderful review! Really interesting to see them branch into this segment of camera. I'm curious to know if you heard anything about accessories with this release – specifically in terms of video accessories/extras (though I understand you mention you aren't "qualified to test video"). Any mention of additional support with external recorders?

Hi There Aaron

Thank You!

I would think it's going to be an attractive proposition for you? The number of weddings I do, I'm happy to work with the SL2 and M10-r. Sorry - I don't know anything about new accessories - might be worth looking on the Leica website?

best

 

[Danner]

The lenses are too large.

[BernardC]

10 minutes ago, Aaron Daniel said:

Wonderful review! Really interesting to see them branch into this segment of camera. I'm curious to know if you heard anything about accessories with this release – specifically in terms of video accessories/extras (though I understand you mention you aren't "qualified to test video"). Any mention of additional support with external recorders?

On a related note, I wonder if Leica will finally make their LUTs available. It's one thing to provide an internal LUT that works on the rear LCD, but we also need LUTs (or IDTs) for the rest of the process.

[Marc Tenner]

Nice review Jono, als always! :-)

Leica does not mention anything about sensor-optimization für M lenses (microlenses), but you write both SL2 have the same sensor stack. So:

Thinner sensor-stack and optimized microlenses with the SL/SL2

Thinner sensor-stack with the SL2-S

 

Edited December 10, 2020 by Marc Tenner

[oldwino]

Since this seems to be a new (to Leica) sensor, and it will have Eye-AF at some point soonish, is it a phase detect capable sensor? Or still contrast detect? 

[Simone_DF]

1 hour ago, jonoslack said:

There will be a firmware upgrade in the first part of 2021 which will have improved AF Eye Detection will be coming a little later There will also be a transparent ‘overlay’ function so you can perfectly repeat the alignment of the previous image (hopefully it will come to the SL2 later on).

Perfect, that's all I was waiting for.

[Cattoo]

I'm wondering how this will perform for startscape/milky way photography.  I've never been satisfied with the images I've gotten with my SL2.  Too much noise at high iso, and it's difficult to avoid star trails with 47mps.  

[Chaemono]

vor 56 Minuten schrieb helged:

Thanks @jonoslack! Will be interesting to see a comparison of high-ISO images from SL2-S vs Lumix S1 and S5. Anyone out there...? 

There is no word on dual native ISO.

[Regor]

What about TL lenses?  On the SL2  you can shoot them and still have 20mp images.  So I like the SL2 for my needs, using Sigma and Panasonice full-frame lenses (and  Laowa 15 f2) and the three Leica Vario's I bought for my CL.  The SL2 with TL lenses is great for casual shooting and gives a nice balanced camera.  I use two SD cards and have it set to record DNG on one and JPEG on the other.  I then download the JPEG files only and see how they look.  If I need more adjustment or more cropping I can download the raw files from the other card.  This minimizes the storage and gives me the  option of RAW on those images I need it for.  So for me the SL2-s doesn't offer anything I dont already have with the SL2 and I would guess is not great with TL lenses.

[jonoslack]

56 minutes ago, Marc Tenner said:

Nice review Jono, als always! 🙂

Leica does not mention anything about sensor-optimization für M lenses (microlenses), but you write both SL2 have the same sensor stack. So:

Thinner sensor-stack and optimized microlenses with the SL/SL2

Thinner sensor-stack with the SL2-S

 

HI There Marc

Ias I understood it, the micro lenses are part of the sensor stack - so - identical with the SL2 from a technical point of view until you get to the actual sensor

[jonoslack]

45 minutes ago, oldwino said:

Since this seems to be a new (to Leica) sensor, and it will have Eye-AF at some point soonish, is it a phase detect capable sensor? Or still contrast detect? 

Hi There - as far as I'm aware it's still contrast detect.

Best

Jono

[jonoslack]

41 minutes ago, Cattoo said:

I'm wondering how this will perform for startscape/milky way photography.  I've never been satisfied with the images I've gotten with my SL2.  Too much noise at high iso, and it's difficult to avoid star trails with 47mps.  

Hi there - It isn't something I ever do, but the noise characteristics are quite different (and much better than the SL2). 

[bradhusick]

Perhaps the reviews of this camera should be titled, "Leica Finally Makes a Pro Sports Camera". I used to shoot pro sports and moved from the Canon 1D series to the Nikon D3 and D4, then to the Sony A7 and A9. If I was still shooting sports I'd now be moving to the SL2-S if the autofocus is good enough.

Edited December 10, 2020 by bradhusick

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Hallo,

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[Vicar]

Thanks for the review Juno, very informative,