Leica SL3 Camera Review
Introduction
The Leica SL3 has finally landed, four and a bit years after the launch of the Leica SL2.
The Leica SL was announced on October 20th 2015. The Leica SL2 was announced on November 6th 2019. The Leica SL3 has been announced on March 7th 2024
The revolutionary days of camera development seem to be behind us; gone are the days of the great leap forward. However, incremental developments in sensor technology and processing power have really changed how easy it is to get great results in difficult circumstances.
One of the downsides of this is the increased complexity of modern cameras, complaints about menu-bloat are not unfounded, and they are an inevitable result of acceding to every customer's request. There is a point at which one may not even realise that a camera is capable of a function: Descriptions in the menu can be far from intuitive and are often hidden so well that you can't find them, even if you do know that they're there!
Leica have really made an effort to keep things as simple and logical as possible. I've become especially aware of this over the last 6 months as (in conjunction with our new puppy) I have been trying out several different cameras from other manufacturers. More about that later.
In the past new cameras have always seemed to coincide with one of our trips abroad, but in this instance the only trip was to the LSI meeting in Wetzlar, not an ideal situation for trying out a new camera!
On the other hand we have been to our house in Cornwall a couple of times, always beautiful and always a great photo opportunity.
Just before I received the camera in October we collected a 9 week old black Pyrenean Sheepdog pup, she is extremely speedy and has represented an interesting auto focus and dynamic range challenge, both to the camera and to me! I hope you'll forgive me for too many puppy pics here.
Body and Design
Weight
Lots of people I've spoken to have hoped for a smaller and lighter camera, so it's worth looking at the developing size and shape of the Leica SL.
These weights and dimensions are from the respective spec sheets:
The SL is 147mm wide, 104mm high and 39mm deep, weighting 860 gms
The SL2 is 146mm wide, 107mm high and 42mm deep, weighing 838 gms
The SL3 is 142mm wide, 108 mm high and 50mm deep weighing 762 gms
The extra height is misleading, when compared at shoulder height the SL3 is 3mm shorter than the SL2.
In actual fact the camera does definitely feel smaller and lighter than the SL2, added to which the deeper grip makes it easier to hold one handed. The narrow part of the body is slightly thicker (50mm vs 42). but although it's higher overall it's not quite as high at the shoulder, so if you have big hands you may be more likely to have a floating pinky!
I thought an interesting comparison was:
SL2 with 24-90 Vario Elmarit 2142 gms
SL3 with 24-70 Vario Elmarit 1760 gms
That's a significant difference - although you might prefer the 24-90!
Buttons and Dials
The layout of the buttons and dials is really similar - the only real differences being that the Play Fn and Menu buttons are on the right hand side of the LCD rather than the left, which seemed rather irritating at first, but you do get used to it quickly.
The only other difference is the addition of the extra dial on the top left of the camera - this defaults to ISO but can be set to exposure compensation or Shutter Speed. Currently I've left this at ISO, but I am considering setting it to Exposure compensation. I was a little worried that it would get knocked and changed, but it doesn't seem to be a problem.