SL3 Rumors

[PeterBoyadjian]

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My order is in with BH, 

Is Leica out of APO lenses for these reviewers? 

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The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[opera207]

My money saved, wait for a Lumix s1r2.

[John Black]

1 hour ago, Paul2660 said:

Also can’t tell if the self timer is back to a dedicated mode or can be used with exposure bracketing. Took Leica two years to allow this in SL2.

Looking at page 167, self timer applies to single shot and bracket shots.  It appears they have not done the global self timer option that some cameras saw in the firmware updates in late '23 or early '24.  

https://leica-camera.com/sites/default/files/pm-108314-leica-sl3_instructions_en_1.0.pdf

[padam]

6 minutes ago, opera207 said:

My money saved, wait for a Lumix s1r2.

As they are redesigning the shutter and IBIS to be smaller, it seems that bigger L-mount cameras are going away.
S5R is much more likely.

[SrMi]

35 minutes ago, opera207 said:

My money saved, wait for a Lumix s1r2.

It will still be a Lumix, with all its advantages and disadvantages. 

[hellobrandonscott]

Some real deal-breakers for me that maybe they'll fix in an SL3-S?

- Taking away the dual SD card slots breaks my heart as a wedding photographer. This is essential for me. Actually, ironically, before the Leica days, I was looking at upgrading my 5D4 to an R5 and when I saw it didn't have the 2x SD slots, that was the spark that made me look at changing brands and landing on Leica. 

- The illuminated on/off button is a no-go for light-sensitive environments for me. I know it's not bright, but like... why. I often have the LCD screen set to EVF Extended mode so that's not even on. I understand the move from switch to button, since the app now needs to wake the camera on its own, but IDK why the mandatory illumination. 

- That timecode socket... this is a petty gripe, but it's so ugly and just introduces another spot that can get damaged (or lost cap?) and I will 100% never use it. Just a pain point of making this both a video and photo camera. 

- Louder shutter. 

It's not all bad of course. Some great improvements, like the sensor obviously, and maybe the mag body? But overall, jeez, they moved it a big step away from a better photography camera and a big step toward being a better video camera. Great for videographers I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

[Simone_DF]

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5 minutes ago, hellobrandonscott said:

Great for videographers I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

Not at all. Battery life is bad and the sensor readout speed is a big no no. 
Even IBIS dropped from 5.5 to 5

[Geoff C. Bassett]

13 minutes ago, hellobrandonscott said:

Some real deal-breakers for me that maybe they'll fix in an SL3-S?

- Taking away the dual SD card slots breaks my heart as a wedding photographer. This is essential for me. Actually, ironically, before the Leica days, I was looking at upgrading my 5D4 to an R5 and when I saw it didn't have the 2x SD slots, that was the spark that made me look at changing brands and landing on Leica. 

- The illuminated on/off button is a no-go for light-sensitive environments for me. I know it's not bright, but like... why. I often have the LCD screen set to EVF Extended mode so that's not even on. I understand the move from switch to button, since the app now needs to wake the camera on its own, but IDK why the mandatory illumination. 

- That timecode socket... this is a petty gripe, but it's so ugly and just introduces another spot that can get damaged (or lost cap?) and I will 100% never use it. Just a pain point of making this both a video and photo camera. 

- Louder shutter. 

It's not all bad of course. Some great improvements, like the sensor obviously, and maybe the mag body? But overall, jeez, they moved it a big step away from a better photography camera and a big step toward being a better video camera. Great for videographers I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

I wish, it's a far worse video camera than the SL2 (Better rolling shutter, 4K 60p full sensor) or SL2s  (BRAW support).

Nobody actually working in video gives a crap about cropped 8K.

Edited March 7, 2024 by Geoff C. Bassett

[ZHNL]

I have a feeling that Panasonic S2R won’t have this set of spec, if they do, it is a DOA right there. Leica MAYBE can afford to have spec like this (poor) but not for Panasonic. 
 

[sebben]

11 minutes ago, Geoff C. Bassett said:

I wish, it's a far worse video camera than the SL2 (Better rolling shutter, 4K 60p full sensor) or SL2s  (BRAW support).

Nobody actually working in video gives a crap about cropped 8K.

The problem with SL2 is that it has aliasing a moire in the full frame video modes which is visible on skin not to mention buildings etc. I haven't tested the SL2-S so I don't know if they managed to fix that.

I am curious if the SL3 fixes this issue due to its multi resolution sensor architecture. The rolling shutter looks to be bad though...

Of course none of the marketing material addresses any of this, I don't really want to be a guinea pig for a $7000 camera.

Edited March 7, 2024 by sebben

[padam]

7 minutes ago, ZHNL said:

I have a feeling that Panasonic S2R won’t have this set of spec, if they do, it is a DOA right there. Leica MAYBE can afford to have spec like this (poor) but not for Panasonic. 

It should be pretty obvious that it's not going to better Leica. Pretty much no one complains about an A7RV having these specs either...

[ZHNL]

Just now, padam said:

It should be pretty obvious that it's not going to better Leica. Pretty much no one complains about an A7RV having these specs either...

Check early post SL3 vs A7R5, ( a camera introduced 2 year ago?)

[opera207]

57 minutes ago, SrMi said:

It will still be a Lumix, with all its advantages and disadvantages. 

That's fine, I won't spent $7000 for a "5-stops IBIS", "CIPA 260 shots" camera only because of the LOGO, at least Lumix won't have such bad specs.

Besides, Sl3's new menu design doesn't work well according to reviews.

[frankchn]

54 minutes ago, hellobrandonscott said:

- Taking away the dual SD card slots breaks my heart as a wedding photographer. This is essential for me. Actually, ironically, before the Leica days, I was looking at upgrading my 5D4 to an R5 and when I saw it didn't have the 2x SD slots, that was the spark that made me look at changing brands and landing on Leica. 

Hmm interesting, I really have no problems with CFexpress on my various cameras that support it (Canon R3/R5, X2D). I get that the slots being asymmetric is annoying, but I find that CFe cards are more robust and currently cheaper than the highest end V90 UHS-II SD cards.

Edited March 7, 2024 by frankchn

[SrMi]

Just now, opera207 said:

That's fine, I won't spent $7000 for a "5-stops IBIS", "CIPA 260 shots" camera only because of the LOGO, at least Lumix won't have such bad specs.

Besides, Sl3's new menu design doesn't work well according to reviews.

I do not consider the logo an advantage of SL3 or a disadvantage of Lumix. CIPA values typically have no practical meaning for IBIS and battery life. We'll see how it fares.

[opera207]

1 minute ago, SrMi said:

I do not consider the logo an advantage of SL3 or a disadvantage of Lumix. CIPA values typically have no practical meaning for IBIS and battery life. We'll see how it fares.

Yes, CIPA values are not practical values, but generally, cameras with higher CIPA values perform better.

The worst CIPA battery value I know is GR3x, only 200 shots, its battery performance is indeed quite poor. Second is SL3.

[Simone_DF]

7 minutes ago, SrMi said:

I do not consider the logo an advantage of SL3 or a disadvantage of Lumix. CIPA values typically have no practical meaning for IBIS and battery life. We'll see how it fares.

Yes, agreed, but, according to CIPA values, it dropped from 370 of the SL2 to 260, and same for IBIS, dropped from 5.5 to 5. 

Even if you can take more shots, the difference seems significant. 

First time I see a camera successor with lower specs.

[MediaFotografie]

vor 2 Minuten schrieb Simone_DF:

Yes, agreed, but, according to CIPA values, it dropped from 370 of the SL2 to 260

and you have to consider: SL2(S) with old battery BP-SC4, SL3 with the more powerful BP-SC6; that's not so funny 

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica L-Mount

[BernardC]

58 minutes ago, Simone_DF said:

Not at all. Battery life is bad and the sensor readout speed is a big no no. 
Even IBIS dropped from 5.5 to 5

They have several remote power options now, including a dummy battery (which is what many many people use for video), so that's a positive.

We'll have to see some results for IBIS. I know Sony rates theirs at 8 stops, or something like that, but their video results are absolutely useless. You get large corrections every second or two, which is worse than camera shake. The IBIS on previous Leica and Panasonic models was good in video (meaning that you could actually use it!), so it's fair to assume that this one is too. I've only watched Kai's review, and the video IBIS seemed fine.

Rolling shutter is what it is. No whip pans, I guess. Whether or not that's a positive thing is up-to you. I wonder if they could implement a feature that disables zooming in videos too?😀

[BernardC]

12 minutes ago, Simone_DF said:

Yes, agreed, but, according to CIPA values, it dropped from 370 of the SL2 to 260, and same for IBIS, dropped from 5.5 to 5. 

Kai said he got hundreds more shots then the camera is rated for, so it may depend on the test protocol. I wonder if the IBIS difference is down to more megapixels, since the system seems to be the same. It could be that a level of shake that is immaterial at 47MP becomes noticeable at 60MP.