SL3-S EVF vs Visoflex 2 - Night and Day Difference

[Tirpitz666]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I don't have the slightest doubt about that, so far love the images that are coming out of the SL2s, even the JPEGs SOOC are quite amazing, seems one of the best bang for the buck cameras at the moment in the Leica's lineup 🙂

[Jan1985]

So far what I like about the SL3-S as I'm testing it: I love the flip screen. Especially for videography this is a big improvement. And I plan to use it also for videography with the Sigma 28-45mm 1.8 which will arrive soon. 

The overall handling of the SL3-S is quite nice and it fits good to my hands. Better than the M11 with handgrip. I shot a wedding for 8 hours with it using mostly the 24-70 SL 2.8. Tried different AF modes and the performance was great. It's really another world when you have used just an M for the last decade for any type of photography.

And I start to love the EVF especially for focusing M-lenses. 

Thanks to all for sharing experience with the different SLs. In summary the EVF is totally the same, also 24mpx, AF performance of SL3-S is not that much better than that of the SL2-S, SL2-S is the overall better deal, both cameras are monsters in low-light, only the SL3-S has a flip-screen which makes videography quite easy.

[EJS73]

Re: 28-45mm lens: it’s large and heavy but image quality and handling (internal zoom, aperture ring, focus speed) are superb. The lens button is non functional on Leicas.

[Tirpitz666]

I can imagine it's wonderful, it's basically the re-edition of the beautiful 24-35 F2 in ML sauce, they've just revised upwards the available focal lenghts (more usefully so in my opinion, for a "general purpose zoom").

[Jan1985]

vor 40 Minuten schrieb EJS73:

Re: 28-45mm lens: it’s large and heavy but image quality and handling (internal zoom, aperture ring, focus speed) are superb. The lens button is non functional on Leicas.

I receive the lens today. Will test it on the weekend. I'm really curious. But I guess for my type of photography in quickly changing environments paired with the SL3-S could be a good a combo. the last 10 years i most used primes between 28-50mm on weddings and events for 95% of my work. And I sometimes missed a bit more flexibility because I prefer to shoot with one camera and one lens.

[ChumChum]

On 7/5/2025 at 10:58 PM, Jan1985 said:

I am now testing the SL3-S since one week. In summary the biggest improvement for me as a M-shooter is the wonderful EVF of the SL3-S. 

Now I totally understand why a lot of photographers say that shooting M-lenses on the SL is much easier than on the M. I shot wedding with the M for over 10 years with fast lenses such as the Noctilux 0.95. Even with the Visoflex 2 on the M11 focusing often was a gambling. Especially when you were sure you nailed the focus it was often off. 

The other features of the SL3-S are also impressive and the ability to shoot M-lenses as well as L-Mount lenses makes me really think of switching totally to the SL. The best would be to have the sensor of the SL3 with all the improvements of the SL3-S in one camera.

I don't know if it's just my SL3-s but I'm finding the EVF not to be that great in comparison to the SL2-s. In standard mode it's pretty much the same, but when using the magnification the resolution seems very pixilated. This wasn't the case with the SL2-s. Are you or anyone else finding the same?