Just recieved SL3S compared to M11

[Altair]

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13 hours ago, hdmesa said:

Per Leica, you need to run down the battery to nearly zero and fully recharge several times – after that, you'll have a the full battery capacity. That said, the SL3/S battery life is not great. Like SrMi said above, turning off the wireless connectivity helps.

Interesting, sakes staff did not tell me that. You are a most helpful person! Thank you!

 

I will do just that

[Altair]

13 hours ago, SrMi said:

Turn off Fotos (no Bluetooth or WiFi connection), and use EVF extended mode (less battery drain without LCD or EVF being active). Let us know how it works.

Note that you can put the camera quickly to sleep with a short press of the power button.

I turn on airplane mode unless I want to use Fotos and it's better but still not acceptable. I would double the capacit7 honestly.

 

Yes I keep it in sleep mode if I don't expect to take a photo for the next couple of minutes. Wake up time is fine for how I photograph with a Leica.

 

Thank you for the advice

 

[Altair]

On 2/3/2025 at 1:33 PM, Ken Abrahams said:

75 Nocti mmm, lovely. It's great to hear your descriptions of the new SL3S and so close to the unboxing. I would never have thought about the internal storage requirement for modern cameras but it makes sense. I don't know how many times I have left the CF in the computer and have to raid another camera for a spare SD.

The manual focussing workaround as SrMi outlines is a pain however it is the best way to potentialise critical focus with M lenses. Some lenses more so than others stopped down and I believe it's connected to focus shift. Its been around since the first SL 601.

Best

Ken

Sorry for the late response. I scrolled past your comment previously.

 

Regarding the internal storage....it's absolutely mandatory in modern cameras with the cost of storage becoming so cheap now. Having gotten used to the X2D with 1 terabyte and the M11P with 256 GB it's annoying to not have that feature on a new camera, especially one in the class of the SL3S.

 

That and the low run time aside, this is an magnificent camera. I absolutely love using it and it just might be my favorite camera

The combination of perfectly balanced size ( big enough to handle well and small enough to be portable) and the capabilities, serious photography design ( no vegging articulating screen but a tough tilting screen for example ) and the fantastic image quality plus, very importantly, excellent focus assist features when using M lenses, makes for a wonderful imaging machine! Love it!

 

One more quip though, personally not crazy about the colours. This is a VERY subjective factor though. Hasselblads colour are what I would label as Life +, realistic with a bit of vibrancy. Nikons colours are overly vibrant but I do like them in majority of scenes. Leica has what I would deem as an artful sombre pallete. Certainly has its place overall but I just feel it's a rather drab place to start your post processing from. I never touch the colours on my Hassleblad.

 

Minor three notes that can be worked around by : not forgetting your memory card carrying extra batteries and spending a bit more time in post or aquire/develop the right presets.

 

Notable also to mention: the very best file transfer and firmware update tools are Leica's. Fotos is absolutely fantastic ! Seamless across all platforms and devices.

 

[Altair]

Regarding the 75 Noctilux. Ridiculously great lens. Especially on the SL3S. This is kne lens that could do perfectly on the SL3 or the SL3S. Amazing resolving capability, sharp as you would want with perfectly natural yet impactfull falloff and a wonderful painterly defects rendering. Just sublime!

 

Then again, so is the more " humble" close focus 1.4 Summilux. I would rate them similarly with different strengths. The APO 35 does have more micro contrast, or detail, than both of them but in a colour sensor i would not opt for the APO personally.

With the M11 Monochrome on the other hand it's a different story. The APO reins supreme 

[Photoworks]

1 hour ago, Altair said:

Sorry for the late response. I scrolled past your comment previously.

 

Regarding the internal storage....it's absolutely mandatory in modern cameras with the cost of storage becoming so cheap now. Having gotten used to the X2D with 1 terabyte and the M11P with 256 GB it's annoying to not have that feature on a new camera, especially one in the class of the SL3S.

 

That and the low run time aside, this is an magnificent camera. I absolutely love using it and it just might be my favorite camera

The combination of perfectly balanced size ( big enough to handle well and small enough to be portable) and the capabilities, serious photography design ( no vegging articulating screen but a tough tilting screen for example ) and the fantastic image quality plus, very importantly, excellent focus assist features when using M lenses, makes for a wonderful imaging machine! Love it!

 

One more quip though, personally not crazy about the colours. This is a VERY subjective factor though. Hasselblads colour are what I would label as Life +, realistic with a bit of vibrancy. Nikons colours are overly vibrant but I do like them in majority of scenes. Leica has what I would deem as an artful sombre pallete. Certainly has its place overall but I just feel it's a rather drab place to start your post processing from. I never touch the colours on my Hassleblad.

 

Minor three notes that can be worked around by : not forgetting your memory card carrying extra batteries and spending a bit more time in post or aquire/develop the right presets.

 

Notable also to mention: the very best file transfer and firmware update tools are Leica's. Fotos is absolutely fantastic ! Seamless across all platforms and devices.

 

It has been difficult for Leica to get a proper connection to the computer. Reading the internal memory in a challenge that needed multiple revisions in firmware on the M11.

And still to this day Lrc Classic is the only software that can use it properly, and if you have a cable that is not the dedicated one, no previews come upon import.

In the revision process, they have changed the tether mode in the camera, you can no longer save to the card at the same time, and you can't shoot if you disconnect the cable. you need to restart the camera after changing the USB settings.

SL cameras have 2 card slots, if you forget both cards, well you probably forgot the house key and many other items.

Cards get old,  deleted, and recovery from internal memory at this point is not possible. you probably will have to trust Leica for a service that at this point nobody tried before.

[Altair]

Here is an example I just took of a car that caught my attention in front of a hotel

The Summilux M 1.4 and SL3S is as sharp and detailed and beutifull as anyone ever could need really. The 75 Noctilux as lovely as it is really is a luxury with a real cost to be paid in terms of its weight and size. The SL3S and Summilux Close Focus make for my favorite camera of all time. 

 

The first picture is a JPEG from camera resized to 60% to allow for posting here, the second is a screen capture on the phone from the first and yet note the detail of the sensor, the microcontrast of the lens and the colours ( in this type of scene i preffer Leica colours )

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[Altair]

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I am sorry for posting the same comment again, but who could possible want any more than the SL3S and Summilux Close Focus?

 

We can now close down all R&D related to photography. Other companies can go ahead and file for bankruptcy, camera and lenses review sites should just pist an image of an SL3S and the Lux CF with the caption "BUY THIS"

 

I am jocking of course, autofocus has its value and place, certain scenes call for wider or narrower perspectives, but I am generally in awe by the sheer perfection of this combination

[BernardC]

1 hour ago, Altair said:

Regarding the internal storage....it's absolutely mandatory in modern cameras with the cost of storage becoming so cheap now. Having gotten used to the X2D with 1 terabyte and the M11P with 256 GB it's annoying to not have that feature on a new camera, especially one in the class of the SL3S.

The main reason why the M11 offers internal storage is because of the single SD card slot. That isn't an issue with the CFe type B slot on the SL3. You can add terabytes of fast storage at a reasonable price if you want.

[hoolyproductions]

1 hour ago, Altair said:

Regarding the internal storage....it's absolutely mandatory in modern cameras with the cost of storage becoming so cheap now. Having gotten used to the X2D with 1 terabyte and the M11P with 256 GB it's annoying to not have that feature on a new camera, especially one in the class of the SL3S.

I was of the same opinion until it was pointed out that internal memory can (at least in principle) fail. It made me think twice and now I consider my CFe card as a kind of swappable internal storage (currently I have 512Gb) and the SD card for using with the card reader, using smaller SD cards for some further redundancy etc. So the only real difference (in my view) is that my CFe card did not come for free - on the other hand I got to choose which size I wanted and can change my mind.

(On CFe vs SD: I know the CFe card has faster download times but I don't shoot videos or bursts and the real bottleneck when importing photos is the generation of previews in LR.)

By the way, I only have SL3 for now, my SL3-S did not arrive yet so I haven't been able to assess battery life for myself. I'm very happy with battery life on my SL3 and SL2-S and can normally do a full day of shooting (unless shooting very intensively e.g. a music gig, where battery depletes faster but is still fine for me).

 

 

 

[Altair]

18 hours ago, BernardC said:

The main reason why the M11 offers internal storage is because of the single SD card slot. That isn't an issue with the CFe type B slot on the SL3. You can add terabytes of fast storage at a reasonable price if you want.

That makes sense and it's absolutely logical that's Leicas reasoning, but the fact of the matter is, people forget their cards and might underestimate, with the cost a d reliability of SSDs it is an easy to add and very valuable addition to any camera. I expect it to be standard on the next generation.

[Altair]

17 hours ago, hoolyproductions said:

I was of the same opinion until it was pointed out that internal memory can (at least in principle) fail. It made me think twice and now I consider my CFe card as a kind of swappable internal storage (currently I have 512Gb) and the SD card for using with the card reader, using smaller SD cards for some further redundancy etc. So the only real difference (in my view) is that my CFe card did not come for free - on the other hand I got to choose which size I wanted and can change my mind.

(On CFe vs SD: I know the CFe card has faster download times but I don't shoot videos or bursts and the real bottleneck when importing photos is the generation of previews in LR.)

By the way, I only have SL3 for now, my SL3-S did not arrive yet so I haven't been able to assess battery life for myself. I'm very happy with battery life on my SL3 and SL2-S and can normally do a full day of shooting (unless shooting very intensively e.g. a music gig, where battery depletes faster but is still fine for me).

 

 

 

An SSD failing is a rare occasion and if it does its like any other part of the camera say the battery, except in the case of an SSD it's great to have but can be used if that part fails. In any case, using the built in SSD as the main is not the right way of going about it, it absolutely should not be depended on for every photo session. It's there in case your card storage fails or you forget to bring it along.

[Altair]

Regarding how good the SL3S is at focusing manual M lenses. I felt like doing a test today. I had the 75 Noctilux and the SL3S on the passenger seat next to me and decided to see if I can focus on a moving car while driving my own car. Focusing on a.moving subject while in a moving vehicle while driving is the ultimate test of focusing ease and is absolutely the stupidest most dangerous thing I have done to date. Do NOT do this!

 

That said, here is the picture. First shot came out super sharp and detailed. Cropped image attached to show that it is possible to nail perfect focus even in that difficult scenario, I am sure we can imagine how seamless everyday photography with M lenses is.

 

I have also adapted my M lenses to a Z9, Zf, and an X2D. The SL3/S was obviously designed with M lenses in mind! This is one more area where Leica reign supreme! The focusing peaking accuracy in addition to the size and design of the camera helps balance even the heaviest largest M lenses with absolute ease! LOVE IT! This opens up a new world when it comes to the 75 and 50 Noctiluxes and even the Mandler 75 and CF 50 Lux are a joy to use compared to the M11P.  I can't recommend this camera enough 

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[Photoworks]

45 minutes ago, Altair said:

That makes sense and it's absolutely logical that's Leicas reasoning, but the fact of the matter is, people forget their cards and might underestimate, with the cost a d reliability of SSDs it is an easy to add and very valuable addition to any camera. I expect it to be standard on the next generation.

I will bet you will make the error, once, maybe 2 time, if you have not learned by then. it is time to switch to recording real-life memories.

[BernardC]

4 hours ago, Altair said:

That makes sense and it's absolutely logical that's Leicas reasoning, but the fact of the matter is, people forget their cards and might underestimate

I feel the same way about that as I do about people who forget to bring film with an analogue camera. It's unfortunate, but it's not the camera's problem to fix.

You can buy a MicroSD card and adapter at almost every gas station, grocery store, pharmacy, etc., these days. Those are the same places where you could buy film in the analogue days.

[LD_50]

5 hours ago, Altair said:

Regarding how good the SL3S is at focusing manual M lenses. I felt like doing a test today. I had the 75 Noctilux and the SL3S on the passenger seat next to me and decided to see if I can focus on a moving car while driving my own car. Focusing on a.moving subject while in a moving vehicle while driving is the ultimate test of focusing ease and is absolutely the stupidest most dangerous thing I have done to date. Do NOT do this!

 

That said, here is the picture. First shot came out super sharp and detailed. Cropped image attached to show that it is possible to nail perfect focus even in that difficult scenario, I am sure we can imagine how seamless everyday photography with M lenses is.

This isn’t a very helpful test in my opinion. I would never shoot anything like this with an M or an SL. A more meaningful test would be focusing on the iris wide open in a portrait where the subject is not posing statically. This is where AF and eye detection have become helpful. It’s also where the quick snap in focus of the RF is helpful, though not reliable with these longer focal lengths and large apertures. 

[jaapv]

As for battery life, ever since the M8 I found it essential to have at least three batteries. One in the camera, one in the pocket and one in the charger. With any camera.  As I am regularly in situations where recharging is a bit of a problem (generator has run out of fuel for instance) My two SL cameras share six… My other cameras have multiple ones as well.  Much better than hoping for the best and managing camera reserves. 
The best solution would be if Leica dropped the price  or allowed third-party licensing.