Need help choosing my first Leica

[NFKDave]

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I’m trying to decide which of the 3 following camera/lens combinations to get. It will be my first Leica so I want to stay under £2000 and just stick to a basic 1 body 1 lens for now until I learn my way around the Leica experience. The choices are:

Leica Q Typ 116 (£1900 from MPB)

Leica CL and Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 DC DN Contemporary (£1700 from MPB)

Leica SL Typ 601 and Sigma 35mm f/2 DG DN Contemporary (£1700 from MPB)

I’ll be perfectly fine with a fixed lens with the Q as most of the photos I take are travel/holiday type with the odd landscape and also pictures at car shows. I just wonder if having the choice of different lenses in the future would make me lean toward the SL (because it would have better low-light performance being full-frame) or the CL as it is lighter.

It’s a tricky decision!!

ps. I've used Canon DSLRs for the last 10 years so I have plenty of camera experience, just wanting a change

[Lelmer]

Tricky decision...because only you what you need/want 🙂

My 2 cents...

I don't like 28mm FL --> Q is out (only Q43 would be an option for me, but far above your price limit)

CL line has unfortunately been abandoned by Leica --> no future with the CL

SL line is offering a large panel of products. Interesting if you stick to it and want to complete your system later

IMO, you forgot the M, which would be my preferred option. You can find a M240 with a 35 or 50mm for your price limit.

I am sure you'll get tons of other good advies very shortly.

Good reflection.

 

Alain

 

[David Cantor]

I think all your options have been discontinued so why discount the CL? It is my first Leica, I've had mine for about 2 and a half years and subject to it not failing, I have no plans to replace it. It does what I want more than adequately with the 35mm/f/1.4

Good luck with whatever you choose.

David

[Dazzajl]

If you can temporarily put the money into choosing, order them all and audition everything for a few days. Send back the 2nd and 3rd placing cameras, assured you made the best choice for you.

If you don't have a large stash of available, then you are definitely back to "tricky"

If size and weight are top line issues to you, then the CL has to be the top contender. I've not used one myself but even years after they were canned, the following for this Leica oddball remains huge. I have no issues with APSC but I know some people do look down on it. It feels like a more natural choice in the digital world that full frame to me.

If fixed lenses don't scare you and the size of the Q doesn't put you off, that has to be a good bet. I read somewhere that a fixed lens camera is totally defined by the lens, so why not have the one with by far the best lens. I know the Q2 and 3 are rightly very popular but I do think that the original is by far the nicest marriage of lens, sensor and colour science. The files it produces are sublime looking. Again, if you like 28mm??

The SL 601 is going to feel all of it's years old if those Canons you've used are modern. It's very odd to use, nothing will seem in the right place to you at first and it's pretty thin on tech. I use mine exclusively with manual focus lenses, mostly M mount and I adore it. The files have a soft colour palette and subtlety to them that tends to not be seen in modern higher resolution cameras.

Whichever way you go, you will get a great camera but other than the user experience, it's not going to be night and day compared to what you have. A great resource are the model specific image sharing threads on here. I've leant a lot about what I wanted from days spent enjoying everyone's input over the years.

[earleygallery]

They're 3 very different cameras, I'm not sure what you are expecting the 'Leica experience' to be like. 

Some will tell you that you can't get a Leica and then use a Sigma lens - but Leica have used Sigma lenses in the past (some R lenses) and one of my favourite lenses happens to be a Sigma zoom I bought for my Canon APSC DSLR some years ago! 

Personally I'd be buying a film M and lens, nobody could argue that that won't give you the Leica experience. But I guess you're not interested in switching to/back to film. You might be able to get a digital M240 and a 35mm lens (the Voigtlander Skopar is a great choice IMHO if the budget is more limited) but of course you're then switching to manual focus. 

If you want digital and AF, I think you need to handle the 3 options you listed and see what you prefer, I'm not sure what I'd choose, probably the SL (as I could use my R lenses with it). 

Let us know what you decide!