New: Firmware Update v.4.0 for Leica SL3 / SL3-S

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15 hours ago, rcusick said:

Tested the eye auto focus on my cats.  Awesome!

Agree, testen the eye focus while almost be in the dark (are above the polarcirkel) and its a night and day difference.

[geronimosan]

6 hours ago, carlosgavina said:

 

However I do see some quirks/bugs still.

Tracking mode makes much more sense now, then toggling on/off the subject detection seems promising, however, there seems to be a bug/quirk:
- I I select tracking mode
- If I have subject detection off. Everything works great, I hold the shutter button, starts tracking whatever was behind the tracking indicator, take the photo, if I stop holding the shutter button the indicator returns to its initial location.
- BUT, if I turn subject detection on, the tracking just stops working if there's no subject in the frame. It becomes "useless" and works a bit more like the other modes where it only focus on anything on its initial position, no tracking. Only when a subject overlaps the indicator location, kicks in the tracking to the subject. I was expecting for the tracking to work the same if there's no subject detection in frame.

On the Nikon Z8, in their 3D tracking mode, you have the square tracking indicator (that can be moved), and if subject detection is on, but no subject is in frame, it just defaults to normal tracking whatever there was behind the indicator when you hold the shutter button. I think this makes a lot of sense to me. I believe it's similar to what the Sigma BF does as well.

This way it would make it even less frequent to have to toggle modes/subjects. Not sure how others do, but I do like to be intentional in "locking" into a subject, then press and hold the shutter button to "track" a subject, then recompose and shoot.

Yes, this is exactly what I experienced as well. And I don't consider this a small quirk - I'd call it a pretty big design flaw.

[LocalHero1953]

I've just updated my SL3-S (updated the Q3 43 last night). I updated via SD card, having previously downloaded my profiles to the CFe card which I then removed. It updated without problems. I had retained my profiles, so didn't need to reload them. Re-pairing with my iphone was simpler this time, since I started by deleting the old pairing in Fotos. I didn't have to touch the Bluetooth connection outside Fotos.

The first thing I did was check my profile settings that Body/Face/Eyes and Field were selected, then I re-saved the profile. I need to use the camera for a play rehearsal tomorrow and I don't want any glitches.

That said, I realised that the separation of AF Mode from Subject (and some rather obvious tweaking by Leica about how AF Mode works) meant that I would be better off switching from Field to Zone - this could work rather well, allowing me to define the area where I want it to select people, moving the zone around with the joystick. I'll try it tomorrow. It won't be quite so convenient on the Q3 43 because of the arrow pad rather than joystick, but I'll try it. Till now I had used the Q crops to limit the area of AF search, but the crops are centrally fixed, not movable.

[LD_50]

58 minutes ago, TOM CADWALADER said:

I was kind of expecting the AF Acquisition menu to have a sub menu where you select the animal to be tracked.  But it seems to lump birds, dog, cats, etc all in one animal group for focus tracking.  Am I missing something ?

I would rather not have to select the type of animal. I hope the camera has some ability to distinguish by size/color/movement how to best lock in focus and/or track focus on the animal. 

I haven’t had an opportunity to do any testing yet to see how well it does. 

[helged]

3 hours ago, TOM CADWALADER said:

I was kind of expecting the AF Acquisition menu to have a sub menu where you select the animal to be tracked.  But it seems to lump birds, dog, cats, etc all in one animal group for focus tracking.  Am I missing something ?

Either Human (eye and/or body), or Animal (eye and/or body). 

I suspect the pattern recognition algorithm is trained to identify various animals, as well as humans w/wo glasses, bear, caps, hats, etc.

I have a 8 cm high pinguin-something sitting in front of me; SL3 recognizes the body, as well as the painted eyes.

Edited Friday at 09:02 PM by helged

[Max EPR]

 

FlashGordonPhotography had the solution to solve my paring 4.0 issue. "remove the bluetooth device from the iPhone iOS. Thanks.

 

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12 hours ago, LD_50 said:

I would rather not have to select the type of animal. I hope the camera has some ability to distinguish by size/color/movement how to best lock in focus and/or track focus on the animal

It does, it’s pretty good, even when you choose animals it recognizes humans as wel, i think it’s just about prioritizing the algorithm.

[Jon Warwick]

Anyone tried yet the 240mp multishot and compared the results to a resampling up from the single-capture 60mp file? 

[Bernd-B]

vor 32 Minuten schrieb Jon Warwick:

Anyone tried yet the 240mp multishot and compared the results to a resampling up from the single-capture 60mp file? 

I have tested it yesterday with the Apo-Summicron-SL 35 and 90. First of all, starting at f6.3 you will see that diffraction issues are kicking in (241 MP seen at 100% - DNG file in C1). Scaled down to 60 MP I see even at f8 an improvement in color, in resolution it is very tiny. Afterwards, I did another comparison between the new SL3 multi-shot modus and my Hasselblad X2D II. For comparison, I have scaled the SL3 pictures down to 114 MP (same pixel count for both cameras on the short side). The results are:

Leica SL3 with the Leica 2.8/24-70 multi-shot at 38 mm scaled down as above against Hasselblad X2D II with the XCD 38V: Hasselblad has a better resolution

Leica SL3 with the Leica Apo-Summicron-SL 35 multi-shot scaled down as above against Hasselblad X2D II with the XCD 38V: Leica has a bit better resolution at f5.6, Hasselblad at f8

Compared with an older picture taken with my Leica SL2 (already sold) in multi-shot mode and the Apo-Summicron-SL 35, the new SL3 multi-shot mode is a clear improvement.

My main result is: With the 241 MP we are reaching physical limits. Diffraction kicks in quite early around f6.3. Typically, I have used with my SL2 the multi-shot mode for landscapes (with very low wind) and still life. In these situation, focus stacking is easy and now a must to get a sufficient depth-of-field.

Therefore, please Leica: Give us an automatic Focus Stacking mode where we can set the front and back focus and the SL3 does the rest automatically.

Edited 20 hours ago by Bernd-B

[Drbajm]

24 minutes ago, Jon Warwick said:

Anyone tried yet the 240mp multishot and compared the results to a resampling up from the single-capture 60mp file? 

Yes, I did a quick test, handheld, which is impossible with the S2, and the result is literally impressive! Without double superior to any resampling.

However, I will still prefer to use a tripod.

[Jon Warwick]

Thank you Bernd, that’s very helpful (especially comparing to the 100mp medium format …I used to own a GFX100; and I also used to have an SL2, so am familiar with its own multishot), many thanks for taking the time to reply with such detail.

Edited 20 hours ago by Jon Warwick

[Bernd-B]

vor 3 Minuten schrieb Jon Warwick:

Thank you Bernd, that’s very helpful (especially comparing to the 100mp medium format …I used to own a GFX100), many thanks for taking the time to reply with such detail.

Please see my comments just for the comparison of the resolution. The Hasselblad X2D II 102 MP sensor delivers 16bit. Regarding color and dynamic range, the Hasselblad X2D II has a clear advantage over the Leica SL3 in multi-shot mode.

Edited 20 hours ago by Bernd-B

[mirrorless]

I wonder what the difference is between Person (Eye/Face/Body) and Person (Eye/Face) Obviously with the first option the body is being recognized in addition, but when should you choose only Eye/Face?

Also is it only me but after the firmware update the Eye-AF works only when the face is quite in the middle of the frame. When pointing on a person that is located in the left or right third area of the frame there is no recognition. Was that before? This is happening in both modes. Field/Spot and Zone.

 

[Photoworks]

48 minutes ago, mirrorless said:

I wonder what the difference is between Person (Eye/Face/Body) and Person (Eye/Face) Obviously with the first option the body is being recognized in addition, but when should you choose only Eye/Face?

Also is it only me but after the firmware update the Eye-AF works only when the face is quite in the middle of the frame. When pointing on a person that is located in the left or right third area of the frame there is no recognition. Was that before? This is happening in both modes. Field/Spot and Zone.

 

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[TOM CADWALADER]

2 hours ago, Bernd-B said:

 

Therefore, please Leica: Give us an automatic Focus Stacking mode where we can set the front and back focus and the SL3 does the rest automatically.

Yes , yes please do.  That would be so fantastic.  

[SoarFM]

On 12/19/2025 at 6:57 AM, carlosgavina said:

Tracking mode makes much more sense now, then toggling on/off the subject detection seems promising, however, there seems to be a bug/quirk:
- I I select tracking mode
- If I have subject detection off. Everything works great, I hold the shutter button, starts tracking whatever was behind the tracking indicator, take the photo, if I stop holding the shutter button the indicator returns to its initial location.
- BUT, if I turn subject detection on, the tracking just stops working if there's no subject in the frame. It becomes "useless" and works a bit more like the other modes where it only focus on anything on its initial position, no tracking. Only when a subject overlaps the indicator location, kicks in the tracking to the subject. I was expecting for the tracking to work the same if there's no subject detection in frame.

I also agree that this is undesired behavior. I don't know if it's a bug or intentional. But I'd like it to do standard object tracking if it can't detect any human or animal.

[SoarFM]

1 hour ago, mirrorless said:

I wonder what the difference is between Person (Eye/Face/Body) and Person (Eye/Face) Obviously with the first option the body is being recognized in addition, but when should you choose only Eye/Face?

Also is it only me but after the firmware update the Eye-AF works only when the face is quite in the middle of the frame. When pointing on a person that is located in the left or right third area of the frame there is no recognition. Was that before? This is happening in both modes. Field/Spot and Zone.

 

I point the focus square at the face on the edge, half press, it will catch the face/eyes/body and will be sticky as you reframe your shot. I believe if you have touch af enabled you can use that without reframing (i.e. if your'e locked down on a tripod, that would be useful.

Edited 17 hours ago by SoarFM

[LocalHero1953]

I have just commented in the Q3 f/w thread on my experience of using the SL3-S and Q3 43 side by side for shooting drama rehearsals.

I see from @Photoworks post above that one of my irritations need not necessarily be significant: the Zone size can be changed by touch/pinch. I hope this is possible by other means as well - I try to avoid touch other than in menus.

[BernardC]

3 hours ago, Bernd-B said:

The Hasselblad X2D II 102 MP sensor delivers 16bit. Regarding color and dynamic range, the Hasselblad X2D II has a clear advantage over the Leica SL3 in multi-shot mode.

Just curious, where do you find that the difference is most obvious: prints, post-processing (highlight/shadow recovery), fine gradations in areas of even tone, etc.?

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[LBJ2]

22 minutes ago, LocalHero1953 said:

I have just commented in the Q3 f/w thread on my experience of using the SL3-S and Q3 43 side by side for shooting drama rehearsals.

I see from @Photoworks post above that one of my irritations need not necessarily be significant: the Zone size can be changed by touch/pinch. I hope this is possible by other means as well - I try to avoid touch other than in menus.

We can also use the rear dial to resize the zone + or -