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Leica serves up yet another luxury mirrorless camera – the Leica SL

By Marcus Wong - on 21 Oct 2015, 11:31am

Leica serves up yet another luxury mirrorless camera – the Leica SL

Managing Director for Leica Asia Pacific, Mr Sunil Kaul says that the Leica SL “is the perfect tool for professional photographers; with the fastest autofocus in the professional full-frame camera class.”, which is quite a heady claim considering the current performers in the full-frame category.

Nonetheless, the Leica SL certainly looks like a most impressive camera. It features a 24-megapixel CMOS sensor that supports an ISO of 50-50,000, and uses the Maestro II series processor we first saw in the Leica S (Type 007). 2GB of buffer memory allows the camera to handle a continuous frame rate of up to 11 frames per second at full resolution and 4K video recording at up to 30 frames per second, and pictures can be saved simultaneously to SD card as both JPG and DNG to the dual SD memory card slots.

One of the best features of the new Leica SL is undoubtedly the EyeRes viewfinder, which has a latency time that said to be below the threshold of perception, and a resolution of 4.4 million pixels! The EVF has a magnification of 0.8x, (higher than what the optical viewfinders of the Canon 1DX or Nikon D4S offer) and is activated by the usual eye sensor. There’s also a 2.95” rear display that has 170-degree viewing angle and is touch-enabled for easy navigation.

The EVF has an impressive 4.4-megapixel resolution.

Video is undoubtedly another strong suit for the Leica SL, as the camera records video in UHD at 30 frames per second, Cine4K at 24 frames per second, and full HD at up to 120 frames per second. In video mode, the camera only displays information pertinent to video recording, like aspect ratio, zebra function or the audio recording levels, hiding the rest.

There’s an optional audio adapter which allows you to connect a wired remote, microphone, and headphones for monitoring, while the camera also boasts a full-sized HDMI port and a USB 3.0 port. The SL also supports V-log L Gamma profile which captures a wide dynamic range that’s great for color grading.

Like the Leica T system, the Leica SL is milled from a solid aluminum, and precisely engineered seals around controls and ports allow for optimum protection against dust, moisture and splashes. Much like most high cameras today, there’s also integrated ultrasonic sensor cleaning to remove dust and dirt from the sensor, making the camera a great tool in all conditions.

Three lenses have been planned for the SL line at launch, with more to come in the future.

Leica has adapters to allow the SL to work with almost every range of its lenses.

A new line-up of lenses specific to the Leica SL have also been announced with the first being the Leica Vario-Elmarit-SL 24–90 mm f/2.8–4 ASPH, a “standard” zoom that will be available together with the Leica SL. The Leica APO-Vario-Elmarit-SL 90–280 mm f/2.8–4 is projected to be launched in the second quarter of 2016, and will be followed in the later part of 2016 with the Leica Summilux-SL 50 mm f/1.4 ASPH. T-mount lenses can also be used without an adapter, and up to 145 Leica lenses can be used with the camera with full functionality by using the appropriate adapter.

Local pricing has yet to be announced, but dpreview.com has the Leica SL priced at S$11,000 (body only) with the Vario-Elmarit-SL 24–90 mm f/2.8–4 ASPH at S$6,850 (both prices incl. gst). Both will be available from 16 November, but interested customers in Singapore can pre-order their cameras from all Leica Stores and Boutiques located at ION Orchard, Raffles Hotel Arcade and Mandarin Gallery, as well as authorized Leica dealers from today.

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