LocalHero1953

I store all my Leica camera batteries in those little black cotton drawstring bags that come in the box with new Leicas - usually holding cables, manuals etc.

I get confused in threads like these. AF speed, to my way of thinking, is determined entirely by the lens motor, not the camera. Speed can be reduced if hunting means it takes time to achieve final focus, but that only happens in unusual cases: low light, flat surfaces etc. For neither of these two issues can I see much difference between SL2, SL2-S and SL3-S. What causes me AF problems is the camera identifying the correct thing to focus on and then tracking it: faces, tracked objects etc; for close faces, focusing on spectacles instead of the eyes behind them; the brighter distant faces rather than the nearer shaded face. For these things, I find the SL3-S to be a bit better than its predecessors, but not a lot.

I suspect Field AF is the culprit as well. What do you mean 'bounce'? Do you mean hunting back and forth? The Field shouldn't be moving sideways. Any reason for not using Animal Detection AF? I know it's supposedly beta, but I used it for the first time recently for rats, wolves and goats (Hallowe'en) and it worked OK. Your subjects don't look like they're moving fast, and eyes are visible. If I wasn't using Animal, I would try Spot on the eye.

Curious: what's the Sports version? I don't remember that one. Or a Sport long lens.

While swimming on the beach at Mogadishu in 1977 (in what was then the most peaceful country in Africa) I was picked up by a wave, turned over several times and bounced onto the shingle above the wave line. Somewhere in those moments my 2 year old wedding disappeared from my finger. If anyone finds it, please let me know. When I got home, my story evoked some hard stares from my jewellery supplier, but she forgave me, and I was able to find an identical replacement. I still wear it, which is remarkable these days.

In terms of image quality, that depends on the lens you put on the M11 - if it's one of the latest 35 or 50 M lenses, then I doubt one would notice the difference for most shots. As for technical elements, it depends on how much value you assign to such things as autofocus and image stabilisation, set against the ability to use a range of different lenses, and the ability to use advanced opto-mechanical rangefinder forcusing. But I'm sure all this stuff has occurred to you already. For day to day practical photography, I have the Q3 43. I have various film cameras (incl. M) for when I want to be romantic......

Manual lenses, M included, have one advantage over AF lenses when it comes to design: they don't require lightweight focusing elements, i.e. one less design constraint. One could guess (but what do I know?) that the best Leica L-mount lenses are slower focusing than Sigma or Panasonic equivalents (original or repackaged) because Leica is less willing to make the compromise to achieve the fastest focusing.

Cameras are not financial investments: they are investments in your photography that need time to mature. Selling after a year means you lose financially and will not have gained much photographically. That said, I bought a new SL2 in 2020; four months later the SL2-S was launched and I realised that was the camera I really wanted. Leica's London store swapped my 4 month old body for a new SL2-S with no cash payment (though the SL2-S new retail price was less than that of the SL2). Edit. I know that neither of these comments are of any comfort to the OP!

I think I paid a couple of hundred pounds for mine, but probably in the same ballpark after allowing for inflation.

A shrunk SL would not be a complete new design compared to a Q-shaped body??? I don't see a difference. (Yes, of course an actual Q with L-mount is a different animal, for the reasons you give).

Today, while photographing dancers, I shot just under 2500 photos in about 5 hours and got through about one and a half of the BP-SCL6 batteries, all with the 24-90SL zoom lens using various AF modes. Quite a lot of those shots were in burst mode (7 fps) - I probably pressed the shutter button around 1000 times. But there was a lot of use of the LCD to review shots. The SL3-S was set up with the default power saving and sleep modes, and the use of the rear screen set to ‘Extended’. I had taken 4 of the BP-SCL6 and one BP-SCL4, expecting to go through more. I was seriously impressed.

Of course if you want to go full on minimalist, then you could have fun with a pinhole lens.

Manual or AF? Among the former: Elmarit-M 28 ASPH? Summaron 35mm or 28mm?

I agree - or send it back for a refund. Looks like the lens hood has taken a couple of hits as well.

I can understand some of this, even though I don't agree that Leica has diluted their market (any dilution occurred when the L-mount alliance was launched). But I'm puzzled by your comments on the SL bodies: I've owned SL and SL2-S for most of their lives and now have the SL3-S, and can't see any significant push to the median. To my eye and hands the latter is simply an upgraded and improved version of the earlier ones; you lose little by staying with the SL2/2-S, but anyone buying new now will get the same practical tool now as they did then. Changes in buttons, shape and weight are mainly a matter of preference and habit: I didn't notice a significant difference in size/shape; with a lens is attached I don't notice a difference in weight; I find the simple buttons on the right to be faster and more accessible; and the tilt screen is a great practical improvement. A month in, the screen is the only change I still notice. I totally agree it is not intended as a street camera, nor a travel one, however much amateurs* use them as such. My view of the L-system is that it is an ecosystem of lenses, with cameras made to support it from a number of brands. So I wish Leica would design and make more of their own L-mount lenses, if only to convince me they are still in the lens business, not just rebadging, or, in the case of M lenses, reissuing old designs or extending the focal range of current ones. One can fantasise: perhaps they are putting all their efforts into designing a new range of lenses for a mirrorless S4? or a new range of small L-mount lenses for a future smaller SL? Personally I would like a Summilux-SL 75 with similar performance to the Summilux-SL 50 - but I suspect I'll be dreaming of this for a long time - I'll have to stick to the Sigma 85. * probably 99% of Leica's market, including me.