A week after I thought there were no more cameras coming for the year (exceptpossibly for an irrelevant Leica SL2), the surprising Leica SL2 arrived. What surprised me isn’tthat an SL2 came, but that it isn’t irrelevant. Until it actually arrived, it was broadly assumedthat the SL2 would be essentially a Panasonic S1r in a nice metal shell, for about $8000 – thereare more differences from the S1r than expected, and it’s $6000 instead of $8000. The idea ofsimply putting a new skin on an existing camera has been tried before, notably by Hasselblad inthe 2012-2014 timeframe when they rebranded a bunch of very capable Sony cameras anddoubled or tripled the price. Sometimes the Hasselblad variant was ergonomically better,sometimes it was essentially unchanged, sometimes it was ergonomically worse.
Even the most ergonomically improved version was the Stellar, a Sony RX100 with agreat grip on it – for $2000. The RX100 was selling for about $800 at the time – leaving a lot ofextra money to figure out how to attach the grip! Fotodiox promptly figured out how to put anice grip on the (admittedly gripless) little Sony – for $40. The other Hasselblad versions of Sonycameras were either more or less unchanged from their Sony parents or else worse. The veryworst of them felt like trying to operate a Sony in an underwater housing…
Leica themselves have been guilty of rebranding Panasonic cameras in the past. Some oftheir rebrands have had a better lens than the original Panasonic. Others have been identicalcameras, but featuring a better warranty or additional software. At various times, Leicacameras have included Lightroom or Capture One, while the Panasonics have shipped with anold version of Silkypix. Still others have literally been Panasonic cameras with a red dot glued tothe front of them and no changes in included accessories – except a nice Leica box. Drivers next gen.
With this history, I didn’t hold out much hope for the SL2. The S1r is a very capablemachine, and there was no reason that the SL2 would be less so – but a S1r for twice the price?Leica surprised me, though… The SL2 appeared at $6000 instead of $8000 or so, and it is muchmore distinct from the S1r than I expected. It shares the (excellent)sensor and basicfocus/exposure/stabilization electronics of the S1r, but apparently not the image processinghardware, because some of the still and video modes are substantially different – mostly infavor of the Leica.
Convinced Leica SL users are forced to use Lightroom for tethering in a studio environment, and conversely convinced Capture One users will not work with Leica due to the same issue. It is in this higher end segment that Capture One can jump into a needy user. With fast, endless shooting thanks to the latest Maestro III processor, outstanding low-light performance up to 100,000 ISO, and full support with Capture One 21 tethered shooting, the Leica SL2-S is suited for all applications – from the field to the photo studio to the film production set. Leica Camera is pleased to announce a new partnership with Capture One, the award-winning photo editing software which, for the first time, supports tethered shooting on the Leica S3 and Leica SL2 with the newly launched Capture One 21 Pro.
The difference in image-processing hardware means that the output from the twocameras could be different – especially in JPEGs. The raw files should be very similar, althoughraw processors might very well handle them differently. Notably, the Leica’s raw file format isDNG, which is a public format. It should be easier for raw processors to support, although thereis still work involved in writing custom camera profiles and the like. The one thing the Panasonicoffers that the Leica does not is a huge number of in-camera crop modes. At this level, manyphotographers are going to be cropping in the image editor anyway, so the Leica’s lack of cropmodes should not be a major deterrent.
The Leica SL2 ($5,995. Leica Image Shuttle works with Adobe products, but if you use Capture One, you'll have to set up a watched folder to import photos as they're captured.
Leica Sl2 Reviews
The Leica has quite a few interesting modes that are not on the Panasonic – for manyphotographers, they won’t be worth the $2300 difference, but they may be for some. The twomost interesting are that the Leica has additional video modes, including 4096×2160 pixelCinema 4K (up to 60p) and 5K (up to 30p), and that the Leica has a 20 fps still capability (withexposure and focus locked). The SL2 is the only high-resolution full-frame camera to supportvideo resolutions above 3840×2160 pixel TV-standard 4K as of this writing (well, technically, the$50,000 RED Monstro would also qualify). The 24 MP Panasonic S1H supports up to 6K, as doseveral Blackmagic cameras – but none also offer high-resolution stills.
The Leica also has quite a different user interface from its Panasonic cousin. It is slightlysmaller and lighter, and it has many fewer buttons, levers and dials. Two dials, a joystick, a totalof five programmable buttons and three buttons next to the touchscreen (plus the shutterbutton and the lens release) create a clean, minimalist interface. The Panasonic, by contrast,has something like five knobs and dials, twelve buttons, three switches, a joystick and a 4-waycontroller plus the shutter button, lens release and a dial-locking button. Which one you preferis very much up to the individual photographer, but that’s certainly not “same camera, newcosmetics”.
The SL2 is rated to have IP54 weather resistance – one of the few cameras to actuallystate compliance with a standard, and the highest standard I am aware of (of course, outside ofunderwater cameras). It should be more resistant to rain and splashes than the already sturdyPanasonic, although I am not aware of anyone who has tested this. Unlike the S1r, both of theLeica’s card slots are SDXC – the Panasonic has one SDXC slot plus a newer XQD slot. XQD cardsare faster and more reliable, but you probably don’t own any, and they’re twice the price evenof expensive UHS-II SD cards.
There is one final difference between the Leica SL2 and the Panasonic S1r. The Leica hasa modified pattern of microlenses over the sensor, improving support for older Leica M and Rmount lenses. Older lenses were not made with digital sensors in mind, and light rays strike theimaging surface at a variety of angles. If the surface is film, it doesn’t matter – film can recordlight arriving at different angles. Digital sensors, however, need the light to arrive more nearlyperpendicular to the surface of the sensor, or the photons might bounce off without reachingthe light sensitive pixel, which lies at the bottom of a well.
Leica has had success in the past using microlens design above the sensor to improverecording of non-perpendicular rays – and they claim to have done the same thing on the SL2. Ifall your lenses are modern L-mount designs (which are, by definition, optimized for digital,since no L-mount film camera has ever existed), it doesn’t matter. If you have R-mount lensesor older M-mount designs (and M lenses are not redesigned all that frequently, so there mayeven be M lenses sold today that are based on film-era designs), the SL2 may very well be morecompatible with your lenses than the S1r.
Is the SL2 worth it? That is, of course, a question for each individual photographer. It will depend to a large extent on your existing lens collection. If you have only L-mount lenses, it would take either placing a very high value on the additional features or simply preferring the feel or interface by a huge margin to consider the Leica given the price difference. If you have and treasure M or R mount lenses, the SL2 is very likely to be worth it, especially if your lens collection is either very valuable, hard to replace in L-mount, or includes lenses that draw in unusual ways that a modern digital-optimized lens simply can’t replicate.
Dan Wells
November 2019
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Leica Sl2 Bundle
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