[Wetzlar, 20 October 2015] The Leica launched it’s latest SL system, marking the beginning of a new era of professional photography made in Germany. The Leica SL mirrorless system camera carries a 24 MP full-frame CMOS sensor, the high-performance Maestro II series processor, 2 GB of buffer memory, 4K video output, and the super impressive 4.4 million pixels EyeRes viewfinder!!
My humble initial thoughts of the new LEICA SL (Type 601)… I was honestly quite impressed.
Some rumours were that it was going to be a DSLR, and I’m very glade that it wasn’t. The Leicaflex SL was the first series of 35mm single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras manufactured by Leitz back in 1960s. The SL was replaced by the Leica R soon after, which has a fairly successful run, up to 2009 when Leica announced that it would cease production of the R-Series manual focus SLR and lenses.
It is somewhat fitting that Leica had chosen the “SL” name for what appears to be a replacement of the R in Leica’s lineup. While the “SL” meant “Selective Light” in the 1960s model, the “SL” of the Type 601 refers to the German word “Spiegellos”, meaning “Mirrorless”.
The Leica SL (Type 601) sits above the M (Rangefinder) camera, and below the S (MediumFormat) camera.
The thing I was most impressed about the Type 601 during my 10mins fondling it, was the 4.4MP viewfinder! If anyone has looked through a VF of a APS-C DSLR finder, then looked into the VF of a DSLR FF, and got all excited about how big and bright the FF VF was… well, in the world of EVFs, this 4.4MP EVF may possibly set the mark for a while to come.
But damn, the body was big and heavy, and the lenses were huge! I think we have the expectation FF mirrorless cameras to provide the same image quality as a FF DSLR, but in a smaller body. I don’t think Leica is nec going down the same route with the Type 601. Instead, Leica is developing a whole new professional system, with full bodied professional lenses, starting with the Leica Vario-Elmarit-SL 24–90 mm f/2.8–4 ASPH, Leica APO-Vario-Elmarit-SL 90–280 mm f/2.8–4, and Leica Summilux-SL 50 mm f/1.4 ASPH. With such lenses, and such a large EVF, it’s hard to imagine it mounted on a small body.
I can mount my M lenses! Manual focus assist is in the form of focus peaking and live view magnification.
Focusing was snappy, due to the new AF construct of the new lenses. But I would like to see how it preforms in real-life focus tracking. That been said, the SL was used by some professional photographers, with some very nice results, at the Singapore GP as well as the Moto GP. Further, the Leica SL is also touted as a professional system for video recording with 4K cine resolution. But that been said, I’m not much of a video man
In Singapore, we’re expecting the price of the Leica SL (Type 601) to be a cool SDG11k…
More of the review can be found on ClubSNAP – http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1564993
Leica Camera AG Leica SL | VARIO-ELMARIT 1:2.8-4.0/24-90mm ASPH OIS | ƒ/5.6 | 84.0mm | 1/250sec | ISO100
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