Leica SL3 Field Notes - Iceland Winter 2025 Trip

[jplomley]

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I'm curious how the M system would hold up to the weather conditions of Iceland. I do have an SL2 system, but also an M which I prefer to use when hiking (M10-R + M10-Monochrom). Any feedback from those who have shot landscape in Iceland with the M would be appreciated!

[sebben]

On 6/12/2025 at 12:11 AM, jplomley said:

I'm curious how the M system would hold up to the weather conditions of Iceland. I do have an SL2 system, but also an M which I prefer to use when hiking (M10-R + M10-Monochrom). Any feedback from those who have shot landscape in Iceland with the M would be appreciated!

They are totally fine. Never had a problem in my 15+ years of shooting here. 
 

Just use common sense.
 

 

Edited June 13 by sebben

[LocalHero1953]

I took my M240 to Iceland. We had little bad weather, but it got quite wet in the spray from waterfalls. I just wiped it off after emerging.

[georgecp]

I wanted to add a few items to help close out this post....

First, in the post, I mentioned that the icons around the rear monitor of the SL3 were unreliable (not responding consistently) when I touched them.  As a result, I did not use them.  After updating to the recent firmware, I found the icons to work very well..which as a pleasant surprise.  I am also testing a different control configuration with back-button magnification when using my tilt/shift lenses (especially for tilt - where this is needed to gauge the right amount for near/far focus).

Second, my last trip to Iceland before this one was in 2013..I could see many (positive) changes in the tourism infrastructure..from what I have read, it is the largest industry in the country.  I believe there are many good companies that can help you arrange a tour - I wanted to provide a positive reference for the company I used.  www.nordicvisitor.com.  I gave them my self-driving itinerary and they arranged a great collection of hotels, car rental with wifi.  They also had a 24 hour whatsApp message and call line that I only had to use once.  The provided excellent support materials, maps, site overviews.  The price was reasonable for the value received.  Regarding navigation, cellular coverage is much greater than in 2013 so your favorite mapping app will work very well (I did not go to the far north so can't vouch for that).  Wanted to pass this along for anyone looking into a visit.

[Stuart Richardson]

On 6/11/2025 at 12:11 PM, jplomley said:

I'm curious how the M system would hold up to the weather conditions of Iceland. I do have an SL2 system, but also an M which I prefer to use when hiking (M10-R + M10-Monochrom). Any feedback from those who have shot landscape in Iceland with the M would be appreciated!

20 years of M use year round, no problems in that time from the conditions.

[jplomley]

15 hours ago, Stuart Richardson said:

20 years of M use year round, no problems in that time from the conditions.

Cheers Stuart, much appreciated. I have pressed the M into landscape applications in the past here in Canada, particularly during inclement weather. The only issue I had was the M10 Mono would unpredictably lock-up at temperature at or below -20C until I pulled the battery and restarted. I would be good for a brief period and then it would lock up again. Oddly, the M10-R under the very same shooting conditions on the same day did not have these same attributes.  

[Jeff S]

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3 minutes ago, jplomley said:

Cheers Stuart, much appreciated. I have pressed the M into landscape applications in the past here in Canada, particularly during inclement weather. The only issue I had was the M10 Mono would unpredictably lock-up at temperature at or below -20C until I pulled the battery and restarted. I would be good for a brief period and then it would lock up again. Oddly, the M10-R under the very same shooting conditions on the same day did not have these same attributes.  

I suppose you tried switching the batteries between cameras.

[jplomley]

17 minutes ago, Jeff S said:

I suppose you tried switching the batteries between cameras.

Yes sir. As well, regardless of which of my five M batteries used, the M10 Mono always exhibited this behaviour. I was going to send it to Leica for an inspection but just decided to live with it. Its really only a few months of the year temperatures are that extreme. Nowadays I pretty much use the SL2 for landscape anyway, but there is nothing like the M10 Mono 🙂 

[Stuart Richardson]

28 minutes ago, jplomley said:

Cheers Stuart, much appreciated. I have pressed the M into landscape applications in the past here in Canada, particularly during inclement weather. The only issue I had was the M10 Mono would unpredictably lock-up at temperature at or below -20C until I pulled the battery and restarted. I would be good for a brief period and then it would lock up again. Oddly, the M10-R under the very same shooting conditions on the same day did not have these same attributes.  

It does get to -20 here, but that is pretty rare. I have not really noticed that behavior. If you are by the coasts (which you likely would be in winter), the temperture is probably not going to dip much below -10. The problem is usually more the wind than the temperature, and of course that does not really affect the camera in the same way as it might your face or hands. I suppose I am not the best to answer on how it holds up over many hours, as I tend to photograph more in intervals. So if it is winter, it is more likely that I will be in the car or inside and go out for a bit while photographing, rather than for example, just staying outside for 4 or 5 hours. I have done it for sure, it is just not my main practice. If I were to do that, I would expect the batteries to go fairly quickly, and I would have a spare at hand in a warmer spot.

As for the weather, I think that the M's will hold up fine unless you do something stupid. A little drizzle or even light rain is probably going to be fine unless you just leave them in it for a long time. Photographing salty sea spray and crashing waves is probably not a good idea for an M camera. But I will say that I have never had an issue myself, but I just exercise normal judgement. If the camera itself was getting sprayed with salt water, I would put it away and then clean it with fresh water at home. I think perhaps tourists get themselves into situations I wouldn't really get myself into, so perhaps it is different. But living here, I don't really go under waterfalls and try to photograph Reynisfjara on a super windy day. If those are things you expect to do, then maybe a fully sealed camera is the way to go. But between Seb and I, both of us have lived here for a very long time and photographed with M's the whole time without much fuss.

Edited June 19 by Stuart Richardson

[Jeff S]

24 minutes ago, jplomley said:

Yes sir. As well, regardless of which of my five M batteries used, the M10 Mono always exhibited this behaviour. I was going to send it to Leica for an inspection but just decided to live with it. Its really only a few months of the year temperatures are that extreme. Nowadays I pretty much use the SL2 for landscape anyway, but there is nothing like the M10 Mono 🙂 

Indeed, we use the same 3 cameras, although my M10-R gets infrequent use. But if temps here got that low I’d likely be inside. 😉