The photos on this website were taken with a Leica SL2-S.
When I thought about making this media and considered what camera to use for the photos, I thought that the Leica I was familiar with would be good, and as I had only used the M-type up until then, I decided to go for the Leica SL2-S, a mirrorless single-lens camera.
I also considered the Leica SL2, which has a higher pixel count, but for my purposes, the Leica SL2-S, which has a pixel count that is just right, is proving to be very useful. Both the Leica SL2 and the Leica SL2-S are currently on special offer, so they are available at a very reasonable price. I purchased the Leica SL2-S & Vario-Elmarit SL f2.8/24-70mm ASPH. set.
As the article was written in early spring 2023, the SL series has now been passed on to its successor, the SL3, as of 2024.
I bought this set at the Leica Ginza Store. When I was buying it, I consulted with the experienced staff at the Leica Ginza Store and decided on this set. I have known this person for a long time, as he is a veteran who has been promoting the appeal of Leica to many customers at the Leica Ginza Store over the years.
He used to work in the lab, so he has seen the final touches of professional photographers, and he knows the whole process from taking the photo to the final touch-up, so when I talked to him about this, he explained clearly why the SL2-S would be better for my purposes than the SL2.
The main reasons for the SL2-S's popularity are its high sensitivity, moderate file size and ease of use. As I had already seen a lot of professional final touches, when I thought about the final size and the tolerance for cropping, I talked about things like how much margin I would allow and how much of a burden the actual file management and development work would be, and I decided on the SL2-S after receiving advice that was more professional than my own thoughts, which were that I would buy a high-pixel camera anyway.
There are also many high-performance fixed-focus lenses, but it's not too late to take some pictures and see which size works best for you, and they explain that, while it's a standard zoom, the quality of the pictures at the telephoto end is high enough to satisfy you, that there are no problems with the wide end if you're not doing close-up photography, and that, while you may notice a difference when comparing it to a Leica fixed-focus lens, it's a good lens on its own.
After using it for a while, I really feel that this was a good choice. I have no complaints about the way I take photos now, and the quality of the photos is also Leica quality. It doesn't have the same kind of hobbyist appeal as the M-type, but the versatility of the SL series, which means there is no photo you can't take, is its greatest appeal. Also, the way the menus and buttons are designed is similar to the M-type, so I can use it almost without looking at the instruction manual.
As it is approaching the end of its model life, the next generation SL series is likely to be released soon, but for the time being, the SL2-S is maintaining a high enough quality, so it has become a very satisfying purchase.
*As this article was written in early spring 2023, the SL series has now been passed on to its successor, the SL3.
The fact that I can take the kind of photos below with a selfie is largely thanks to the fact that I chose the Leica SL2-S & Vario-Elmarit SL f2.8/24-70mm ASPH. set. For selfies, I use a Gitzo carbon fibre tripod and use the Leica Photos app to tether my iPhone.
*The original WordPress post was developed with a 2:3 aspect ratio for 135 format photos, but this site was developed with a 4:5 aspect ratio for large format photos.
- First photo: The colour photo is in focus on the GMT Master, and you can still clearly see the Leica-like sharpness.
- Second photo: I used a macro lens, but the focus is blurred and I had to stop down, so the high-sensitivity speciality comes into its own. I focused on the red side of the bezel and the long hand.
- Third photo: The image is highly resistant, so it's easy to process it by cropping, playing with the contrast, and processing it in black and white to give it an antique look.
As these cameras are made for professionals, the photography process, the development process and the final image quality are all of a high standard. They are also recommended for those who want to use Leica's historic lens assets, which are one of the company's advantages, with modern digital cameras.
As you can see from the technical specifications below, this is a professional-spec full-size mirrorless camera that can handle any subject, with features such as a sensor image engine, high-sensitivity characteristics, autofocus range and tracking, exposure control and range, and flash control, as well as professional-spec features such as a dustproof and waterproof body and a wide operating temperature range.
The photo-taking functions have been extracted from the Leica Camera JP / Leica SL-2S Technical Data. * I haven't used it, but the video-recording functions are also excellent.
Camera body
- Type: Mirrorless system camera with 35mm full-size sensor
- Buffer memory: 4GB (DNG™: 999 or more, JPEG: 999 or more)
- Recording media: SD memory card, SDHC memory card, SDXC memory card compatible with UHS-I and UHS-II (recommended)
- Construction: Full-metal body made of aluminium and magnesium; synthetic leather exterior; dust- and splash-proof (equivalent to IP54 in IEC 60529)
- Lens mount: Leica L bayonet mount with contacts for data communication between camera and lens
- Operating temperature: -10 to +40°C
- Dimensions (W x H x D) 146 x 107 x 83 mm
- Weight Approx. 840g (excluding battery) / Approx. 920g (including battery)
Camera body
- Type: Mirrorless system camera with 35mm full-size sensor
- Buffer memory: 4GB (DNG™: 999 or more, JPEG: 999 or more)
- Recording media: SD memory cards, SDHC memory cards, SDXC memory cards that are compatible with UHS-I and UHS-II (recommended)
- Material: Body: full-metal construction of aluminium and magnesium; exterior: synthetic leather exterior; dust- and
- splash-proof (equivalent to IP54 in accordance with IEC 60529)
- Lens mount: Leica L bayonet mount system Equipped with contacts for data communication between camera and lens
Operating temperature: -10 to +40°C - Dimensions (W x H x D): 146 x 107 x 83 mm
- Weight: Approx. 840g (excluding battery) / Approx. 920g (including battery)
Viewfinder/Display
- Viewfinder (electronic viewfinder) Total number of dots: 5.76 million Display frame rate: 120 fps Magnification: 0.78x Aspect ratio: 4:3 Field of view: 10 0%, eye point: 21mm, diopter adjustment range: -4 to +2 dpt. with eye sensor (automatic switching between viewfinder display and LCD monitor display is possible), display time lag: 0.005 seconds
- LCD monitor: Touch panel LCD monitor Screen size: 3.2 inches Aspect ratio: 3:2 Number of dots: 2.1 million dots Equipped with LED backlight Scratch-resistant and fingerprint-resistant coating
- Top display: High-reflection, semi-transmissive monochrome LCD Display size: 1.28 inches Number of dots: 128 x 128 dots Viewing angle: 120° Anti-fingerprint coating
Shutter
- Type: Electronically controlled focal plane shutter, electronic shutter
- Shutter speed: Mechanical shutter: 30 minutes (bulb) to 1/8000 second Electronic shutter: 60 to 1/16000 second Flash sync speed: 1/250 second
- Shutter button: Two-stage activation point: half-press to activate electronic control functions (auto focus, metering), full-press to release
- Self-timer: 2 or 12 seconds
- Continuous shooting: Slow: 2 frames/sec, Medium: 5 frames/sec, High-speed: 9 frames/sec (when AFc, AE lock and white balance are not used), Ultra high-speed: 25 frames/sec (when electronic shutter is used, AFc, AE lock and white balance are not used), Interval shooting, Auto bracket shooting,
- Multi-shot: 96000000 pixels (8 images are combined into one high-resolution image)
Focus
- Focus mode: Auto focus (intelligent AF, AFs, AFc, touch AF), manual focus. Focus aids and focus peaking can be used when in manual focus mode.
- Detection method: Contrast detection method and depth map method
- AF mode: Intelligent AF (automatically switches between AFs and AFc), AFs (single, focus priority), AFc (continuous, release priority), AF settings can be saved
- AF distance measurement: Spot distance measurement (position can be changed), single-point distance measurement (position can be changed), multi-point distance measurement, zone distance measurement (position can be changed), face recognition, tracking AF, touch AF
- AF distance measurement points: 225
Exposure control
- Metering system: TTL metering
- Metering modes: Center-weighted metering, multi-segment metering, spot metering Exposure modes: Program AE (P), Aperture-priority AE (A), Shutter-priority AE (S), Manual exposure (M)
- Exposure compensation: ±3 EV in 1/3 EV steps or 1/2 EV steps
- Auto bracketing: ±3EV in 1/3EV steps, 3 or 5 shots
- ISO sensitivity: Auto: ISO 100-100000, Manual: ISO 50-100000
- White balance: Auto, sunny/5200K, cloudy/6000K, shade/7000K, incandescent lamp/3200K, HMI/5600K, fluorescent lamp - warm colour/4000K, fluorescent lamp - cold colour/4500K, flash/5400K, grey card Live view, manual setting, colour temperature setting (2000- /4000K, fluorescent light - cold colour /4500K, flash /5400K, grey card live view, manual settings, colour temperature settings (2000-11500K)
Flash control
- Connection of flash unit: Connect to accessory shoe
- Flash sync speed: Flash mark: 1/250 sec. Flash photography is also possible at slower shutter speeds. If a shutter speed faster than this is set, it will automatically switch to high-speed sync photography (when using a Leica flash unit that supports high-speed sync).
- Flash sync speed: TTL centre-weighted flash with pre-flash just before exposure (when using Leica SF26, SF40, SF58, SF60, SF64, other compatible flash units or Leica SF C1)
- Flash compensation: 1/2 EV steps in the range of ±2 EV (when using the Leica SF 40)
1/3 EV steps in the range of ±2 EV (when using the Leica SF 60)
Other features
- Microphone: Built-in stereo microphone. External microphone terminal (3.5mm stereo jack, plug-in power system, approx. 2.5V)
- Speaker: Built-in mono speaker. Headphone terminal (3.5mm stereo jack)
- Wi-Fi (wireless LAN) Requires the ‘Leica FOTOS’ app (available for download from the Apple App Store™ and Google Play Store™) Compliant standards: IEEE 802.11b/g/n (wireless LAN standard protocol, 2.4GHz band, frequency range/centre frequency: 1-11ch/2412-2462MHz), IEEE 802.11ac (wireless LAN standard protocol, 2.4GHz band and 5GHz) frequency range/centre frequency: 1-11ch/2412-2462MHz), IEEE 802.11ac (wireless LAN standard protocol, 2.4GHz band and 5GHz band, frequency range/centre frequency: 39-48ch/ 5180-5240MHz, 52-64ch/5260-5320MHz, 100-140ch/5500-5700MHz) Encryption method: Wi-Fi compliant WPA™/WPA2™
- Bluetooth Compliant standard: Bluetooth Ver. 4.2 (Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)) Frequency range: 2402 to 2480MHz
- GPS function Use the ‘Leica FOTOS’ app
- Display language English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean
Power source
- Rechargeable lithium-ion battery (BP-SCL4) Rated voltage: DC 7.2V Rated capacity: 1860mAh Charging time: Approx. 140 minutes (from a completely discharged state)
- Number of shots possible: approx. 510 (based on CIPA standards, with auto power off set to 10 seconds), approx. 1430 (based on CIPA standards, measured by repeating a fixed shooting procedure*; auto power off set to 5 seconds)
* Measured by repeating the following shooting procedure: Power on → Take one photo every three seconds → Power off after taking 10 photos → Wait for five minutes → Power on → Take one photo every three seconds → Power off after taking 50 photos → Wait for five minutes - USB charging/power supply: USB charging is possible in standby mode and when the power is off, and USB power supply is possible when the power is on
- Battery charger (BC-SCL4) Rated input: AC 100-240V (50/60Hz, automatic switching), 0.25A Rated output: DC 8.4V, 0.85A
Leica Ginza Store
I bought the Leica SL2-S & Vario-Elmarit SL f2.8/24-70mm ASPH. set at the Leica Ginza Store.
It is the first Leica store in Japan, and the staff, who are very knowledgeable about Leica, will make various suggestions, so I recommend it as a place where you can make a satisfying purchase. The M-type shooting process is interesting, and the M-type lenses produce very interesting images. Also, the SL series, which I purchased this time, is a camera that can take any kind of photo, and the pictures it produces are definitely Leica quality.
