SL2: Used +VE24-90 or new+24-70

[Filip Baraka]

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Hi all

I am on the verge of going in for a SL2, currently there is a promotion on the leica website for SL2+24-70 with -€1400 voucher, however it seams that I cannot for whatever reason activate that voucher, tried to contact support but so far no reply from them, I am sure they will sort it out soon. Price whith the voucher would be around €7500-7800 with tax. When I deduce VAT I am at around €6000-€6000 (I am waiting to check final price)
New is new, but at this point it's not that much of a deal? SL3 is on the horizon

Other option would be to go with used copy, there is several options around €3600-€3700 on mpb and given that sl3 is around the corner maybe that is a better way to go in to the system.
Lens of choice for used would be VE24-90mm. Total budget for used would be around €6500, so about the same as new but I will get a better lens. Is this the way?

Third option would be to go with Sl+35mm or 50mm kit and buy 24-90used 

Couple of questions:
There are no shutter counts listed, is this something that I should be worried?
Is there a way to check serial number production dates? There is couple of options starting whith 555xxxx and 556xxxx, is it important?

Anything specific to look/check in used VE24-90?
As you can probably see, I am leaning towards used but generally cautious about the reliability of the system

A bit of backround info: 
I am in to photography since the 90's and love travel/landscape/architecture/street. Getting in to the studio/light photography as I need to photograph some of my wine bottles and cellar, using mostly godox ad200pro's for that, I dont plan to have large system of lightning so I am happy whith godox.  Currently I am shooting fujifilm X system, XT4 with fuji 14/2.8 16/1.4 23/1.4 35/1.4 56/1.2, 10-24 and 16-55 zoom + I still have X-pro1 that initialy was a stepping stone into the fuji after selling all of my canon 5d with assortments of L lenses. Before that I was mostly shooting slide film on canon and I had a Contax 645 that is on of the reasons why I am looking into Leica SL system now. Planing to sell some of the fujifilm gear and leave a small kit that I can give to my teenager kids…

I was always interested in Leica M and planned earlier to go with M8 or M9 but I had other priorities and photography is not my proffesioal occupation

Some older work can be found at https://500px.com/baraka

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[dpitt]

I hope you do not forget the warranty that comes with buying new? That is worth something too. Even your resale value is affected. I bought my first M8 a a late production model with over a year of warranty left when it was out of production. Still I was very interested and paid a premium over equal offerings that were out of warranty. It served me well because I was able to get a free upgrade to an M9 because of a production issue Leica could not repair.

Shuttercount:
All Leica models released in the last 10 years or so do not offer access to that info. With LV models it is not relevant anyway because activation of LV counts as a shutter click.
Average shutter count life is so high that even heavy user can not reach it before the camera becomes obsolete/unservicable.

Serials
Ask Leica to verify the serial. They will tell you the production year. This is also a good way to check if the item is registered as stolen or still registered by a different user.

Regarding the other questions other members will have more experience than I can offer.

I have the SL(typ 601) and a set of M camera's and lenses. My main reason to buy the SL was that it is very suited for M as well as R lenses. So if you do not mind manual focus and want to have a rangefinder someday, buying a M lens with adapter makes a lot of sense. Of course M lenses only come as primes and are relatively expensive. R lenses are a lot cheaper, and still relatively small compared to the SL range. There are excellent zooms, and primes equal to the M lenses of the same period. They were sold at about the same price at the time. Leica stopped the production of the R range in 2009, so their design is a little bit older compared to the newest M lenses, and older than the Leica SL zooms and primes, but they are a lot less bulky. 

All you need is a mechanical (URTH/K&F/Novoflex) adapter R-L and set the profile manually to use them. Read up about ROM R lenses and the Leica adapter, if you need a little bit extra automatic info in the EXIF files. The same with 6-bit coding and the Leica M-L adapter.

PS:
I like your wide angle travel shots. You will love the wide options for the M and SL range, as mentioned above.

Edited December 18, 2023 by dpitt

[thatkatmat]

Just going by the title of your thread, I say the 24-90. I think it's superior to any of the other zooms for the SL mount (except its big brother, 90-280)

It gives you the same beautiful blotchy colorful bokeh and to me being able to zoom to 90 is really nice.

[Olaf_ZG]

I would be from a respectable dealer: new or used, which will put my mind on ease. I recently bought the 24-90, was doubting about it, but it is really great. But really really great. Within some years you might upgrade your camera, but the lens will remain, so buy the lens and a second hand body.

[robb]

Sl3 will still likely be quite a while til you can get one that is bug free.  And it may not push the limits that much more than sl2, so why wait.

I’d go with the 24-90.  SL2 and sl2-s are both phenomenal cameras.  I like them better than my hasselblad x2d and any other camera I’ve ever used in 35 years.

Robb

[Gavin G]

I would suggest go for 2490, even it's big and heavy

[WvE]

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I recently bought a new SL2-s with SL 50mm Summicron (non-apo), really a nice kit, less heavy. 

[Filip Baraka]

Thank you all for sharing your opinions, means a lot.

Waiting for Leica support to resolve the issue with my profile because I still can't activate/redeem the voucher for this. The Vienna store is asking for voucher in order to issue invoice with discount, and it seems they can't help me with the online part. 

If this resolves positively in the next couple of days, I will go with the SL2+35mm asph kit and add a used 24-90mm VE. 

 

[Olaf_ZG]

@Filip Barakadobar izbor!