SL3 - A case of what could have been(s)

[FlashGordonPhotography]

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Reds are fine. See below.

I like the new shutter. It's not loud. Just *crisp*.

I got 399 shots out of a new battery  with chimping, downloading and some Fotos use. 

Gordon

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[toyfel]

3 hours ago, hansvons said:

That's not how Leica works. It's never been. They have their own bus, which is slow but exclusive. This might be a very boring statement for specs nerds, but Leica has never been about electronic advancements or the cutting edge. Leica is about the experience, the lenses and the results that can arise from that singular combination. For some, it's the name.

...

If that were true we would still use the original SL, no need for a SL2, SL2s, SL3..... 

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[fotonutzz]

8 hours ago, Dipal said:

Here in Singapore, it gets very hot and humid, and I had the camera outdoors on a not so sunny day with average temperature of 28-30 degrees Celsius.

I'm in SGP too 😁

[hansvons]

3 hours ago, toyfel said:

If that were true we would still use the original SL, no need for a SL2, SL2s, SL3..... 

I bite. My statement is true for many applications if high-quality online photography and regular-sized prints are the goal. I shoot most of my stuff on Kodak and Ilford, even commercially. Resolution maxes out at 18MP and ISO at 640, but we see an incredible resurgence of that inferior medium, most notably in Holywood. 

If only the latest and greatest cameras were adequate, most of history's great photography would have lost its value, plus the billions of personal photos people still hold dear.

The exceptions are sports, birds in flight, similar AF challenges, and mainstream journalism. But Leica was never good at these (except journalism until the 70ies). So, yes, Leica is all about the user experience and the lenses, motivating people to go out and shoot, which is arguably the reason why Leica cameras exist. 

The big motivator for shelling out money for swapping old gear that is in working order for new gear with only incremental improvements is the pleasure of playing. Very rarely (I can only think of birds in flight in recent years) does the quality of one's photography get visibly better. There's nothing wrong with that. 

[jaapv]

12 hours ago, Dipal said:

You're right, I am using the stock profile.  I always thought stock profile was better but I should have known better  

You should - your own profile is always better. There is a slight but noticeable difference between cameras - of all brands. There is no way Adobe can compensate.

[Dipal]

16 hours ago, hansvons said:

That's not how Leica works. It's never been. They have their own bus, which is slow but exclusive. This might be a very boring statement for specs nerds, but Leica has never been about electronic advancements or the cutting edge. Leica is about the experience, the lenses and the results that can arise from that singular combination. For some, it's the name.

Comparing Leica products with the competition is a moot exercise because the competition is not a competition. No one in their right mind would buy a Leica for the specs. Sorry to hear you are underwhelmed. 

I'm not comparing for the sake of comparing. I know Leica doesn't work like that - I have quite a few Leica products myself and I'm generally very happy with all of them.

The problem (or perception of the problem) is exacerbated when you look at the SL system in general. Folks that I know who have been using SL for past few years are leaving the system because they are kind of expecting a camera with a pro body to be able to match up to pro bodies in the market and the disappointment is quite real tbh. 

User experience remains fantastic and that is one big plus for all the SL bodies. 

The M system or the Q does not *really* have competition. But the game changes when you look at the SL system. Whether Leica like to believe they have competition or not, reality is that the competition is providing much better *value*.

Please don't hate me for opining on this. I'm just giving you my thoughts. Don't hate Leica or anything remote to that  

[SrMi]

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2 minutes ago, Dipal said:

 Folks that I know who have been using SL for past few years are leaving the system

You are hanging out in the wrong circles ;-).

[Dipal]

17 minutes ago, SrMi said:

You are hanging out in the wrong circles ;-).

haha! 

[toyfel]

You seem to switch between different perspectives, which makes it difficult to understand who exactly you are talking about.

In your previous post you said:

" That's not how Leica works. It's never been. They have their own bus, which is slow but exclusive. This might be a very boring statement for specs nerds, but Leica has never been about electronic advancements or the cutting edge. Leica is about the experience, the lenses and the results that can arise from that singular combination." 

To me that sounds like you are trying to describe Leica's perspective. The values and philosophy inherent to Leica as a company and, consequently, how those values reflect on their products. If that is the perspective you were taking, I disagree with your statement. If Leica the company is only about 'experience and lenses' then why would Leica see any need to develop new camera bodies? Leica lenses and the 'Leica experience' have been available for decades. Hence my reply to your post.

In a later post it seems you are talking mostly from the perspective of a Leica user. From that perspective, there is no reason to argue with anyone having the opinion that he/she values a Leica product line exclusively for the lenses and the user experience it provides. Why would anyone argue with that? Use the camera equipment you like for whatever reason.

 

It gets somewhat problematic though, if you think everybody else should like and value Leica products for the same reasons, and only for the same reasons, you do.

If your intentions are to share your own passion about Leica products with the rest of us, go for it. You can do it without referring to other people as "spec nerds" who would be out of their mind to "buy Leica for the specs".

And statements like this don't exactly count as a rational or convincing argument in my view:

On 3/12/2024 at 6:47 PM, hansvons said:

If only the latest and greatest cameras were adequate, most of history's great photography would have lost its value, plus the billions of personal photos people still hold dear.

Why would anyone think that the value of any photographs taken in the past would depend on the existence or non-existence of any state-of-the-art camera body? 

 

[Dipal]

Update - I do love the camera and the file output is AMAZING but goodness me that battery life is terrible. I was browsing through some settings and trying out few things while the camera was on for hardly about 20 mins.

The battery fell by almost 2 bars. I don't know how much percentage this is but so far the battery life for me has not been that great.

Anyone else want to chime in ? @fotonutzz ?

[fotonutzz]

53 minutes ago, Dipal said:

Update - I do love the camera and the file output is AMAZING but goodness me that battery life is terrible. I was browsing through some settings and trying out few things while the camera was on for hardly about 20 mins.

The battery fell by almost 2 bars. I don't know how much percentage this is but so far the battery life for me has not been that great.

Anyone else want to chime in ? @fotonutzz ?

Errr.... I just shot 700+ photos last night on Time-lapse and it used up 2 bars on the battery.   When it's set on interval shooting, it lasts better. 

But you're right. When I'm playing around with the settings at home, configuring the profiles, testing AF, etc, it did drop by about 2 bars also. 

[LocalHero1953]

All new cameras are battery hogs. A combination of batteries that haven't been through a few charge/discharge cycles, and the user spending a lot of time testing and going through menus with the rear screen on all the time.

Edited March 15 by LocalHero1953

[Photoworks]

7 hours ago, Dipal said:

Update - I do love the camera and the file output is AMAZING but goodness me that battery life is terrible. I was browsing through some settings and trying out few things while the camera was on for hardly about 20 mins.

The battery fell by almost 2 bars. I don't know how much percentage this is but so far the battery life for me has not been that great.

Anyone else want to chime in ? @fotonutzz ?

Isn't that normal, every new camera owner complains about that, and so does every new phone owner.

The shooting parameters influence the amount of photos you can take the range is from 300 to 1400, so it is not much different than SL2

[Dipal]

Quick update. 

• Battery life is ok if you are mindful of the conditions you're in and act accordingly. For example, use the standby mode actively. I guess there *is* a bit of variation too based on what I've observed - one of my friends has not been very happy with the battery (after 1+ week of usage). While my rating is fair, his rating is poor. 
• AF-S hunts quite a bit - distractingly so. I was out on the streets yesterday and with AF-S and field setting on the streets in the evening the focus accuracy was not that great. Can anyone throw some light onto how they achieve accurate focus with AF-s. I don't believe I was putting the camera in a difficult situation. I did manage to get 60-70 % of a hit rate. I was also using a 85mm Lumix lens - would that be an issue? I have always had good experiences with Lumix lenses focusing nicely on the SL2-s.  In another situation, I was trying to capture a subject but it focussed inaccurately  even after changing to spot focus. 

How is the experience for the rest of you all after 2-3 weeks of testing ?

 

 

 

[Dipal]

Here are some shots that I've taken if anyone wants to view

https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBh545

[Jptsr1]

On 3/12/2024 at 10:40 PM, fotonutzz said:

I'm in SGP too 😁

Me three!!!

[jonoslack]

On 3/12/2024 at 3:22 AM, Dipal said:

I was using the Lumix 85mm 1.8s. Yes, I adjusted the sensitivity. I'm not giving up on the camera just yet  I do love the output from the camera. 

Hi There 

Good first take on the camera, but there are a couple of points I think. I was really grumpy to start with, but having done a circuit of stacked sensor cameras (OM-1, Sony A1) which certainly do have better tracking and AF capabilities I have found that I can get a pretty high it rate with a flying black puppy (harder than children on every level). Something which really couldn't be managed with the SL2. 

The interface takes learning, but it's actually inspired and supremely functional, both practically and intellectually. 

So after 6 months with the camera I've come to the conclusion that the only real bugbear is the battery life (which really is rubbish). 

The Olympus and the Sony A1 have gone, and I'm happily confirmed as an SL3 user

best

[Dipal]

On 3/26/2024 at 3:19 AM, jonoslack said:

Hi There 

Good first take on the camera, but there are a couple of points I think. I was really grumpy to start with, but having done a circuit of stacked sensor cameras (OM-1, Sony A1) which certainly do have better tracking and AF capabilities I have found that I can get a pretty high it rate with a flying black puppy (harder than children on every level). Something which really couldn't be managed with the SL2. 

The interface takes learning, but it's actually inspired and supremely functional, both practically and intellectually. 

So after 6 months with the camera I've come to the conclusion that the only real bugbear is the battery life (which really is rubbish). 

The Olympus and the Sony A1 have gone, and I'm happily confirmed as an SL3 user

best

So, you have indeed succumbed then
Jokes apart, as you mentioned you learn to love what you have, after all.

But as I mentioned earlier, the competition is really hot for this particular category of cameras and hence the myriad of thoughts (and dilemmas ) 

[Hanno]

On 3/15/2024 at 8:10 AM, fotonutzz said:

Errr.... I just shot 700+ photos last night on Time-lapse and it used up 2 bars on the battery.   When it's set on interval shooting, it lasts better. 

But you're right. When I'm playing around with the settings at home, configuring the profiles, testing AF, etc, it did drop by about 2 bars also. 

The difference in battery drain maybe that when playing with the settings you are constantly using live view for 20 minutes versus shooting perhaps via the viewfinder only without live view. Just a thought.

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica L-Mount

[trickness]

I’m curious - where does the noise on the SL3 start to really be obtrusive? I find on anything above 800 it’s kind of obnoxious on the SL2. Would be lovely if it started to get bothersome at 6400 or higher.