The Leica SL2-S I use for photography on this site was purchased at the Leica Ginza store — Japan's first Leica flagship store. In addition to the full range of current models on display and for sale, the store includes a Pro Store space equipped for professional use, and a customer service counter for repairs and maintenance. From purchase through to ongoing care, a team of staff with deep expertise across the Leica range handles everything, making it possible to enjoy Leica products with complete confidence.
As I wrote in the SL2-S article, the staff go well beyond standard retail. If you explain clearly what you intend to photograph, they draw on real examples from professional customers and offer genuinely specific recommendations. Most digital camera use today is relatively casual, but here the advice is grounded in how professionals work toward a finished photographic image — which makes this an excellent shop for anyone who wants to take their work to a higher level of quality.
The Leica M-series needs little introduction — it has devoted followers in every era, and for good reason. Its performance has always been exceptional, and what sets it apart above all is the lens quality: there is a rendering that Leica glass achieves that no other manufacturer's lenses can replicate. In an age when anyone can take a photograph digitally with ease, the M-series — essentially fully manual, with every operation made by the photographer — continues to be loved worldwide. I think that comes down to the combination of Leica's exceptional equipment, its distinctive shooting process, and the fact that so many historically significant images have been made on M-series cameras.
The world of Leica can feel intimidating at first — the brand image and the full scope of what the system offers are not immediately obvious to newcomers. But visiting the store, handling the equipment, and talking with staff who know it deeply will make it all clear.
As imported goods with strong brand heritage, Leica products come at a price. But once you use one, the quality and the distinctive world it opens up are difficult to leave behind. The philosophy behind Leica's photographic equipment — elevating photography from simple record-keeping to something that becomes vivid memory, or in some cases art — has a way of producing devoted followers who cannot imagine working with anything else. It is a remarkable brand.
The place to experience that world firsthand is the Leica flagship store: Leica Ginza.
Website https://leica-camera.com
Leica Ginza Store | Leica Camera
〒104-0061
6-4-1 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Phone 03-6215-7070 | Fax 03-6215-7071
OPEN 11:00 - 19:00
Closed Mondays
Among the pieces purchased here: the SL2-S covered in the article, an M10-R Black Paint, an Apo-Summicron-M 35mm f/2, and others. I have also purchased the first-generation M Monochrome, a Summilux-M 35mm f/1.4, an Apo-Summicron-M 50mm f/2, an M 90mm f/2, and the Leica MD — a digital model with no rear LCD, a first for the line. I also purchased an M10 at one point, though I have since let it go.
My Leica journey began with the M3, a film camera, and has continued through to the current M11. What makes the M-series extraordinary is that the mount has remained unchanged since the first M3 — lenses made in the 1950s can still be used on the latest digital bodies. This is why film-era M-series Leicas continue to be used today just as naturally as current models, and why Leica commands a devoted following that no other camera system can match.
On a technical note: the flange focal distance has historically limited lens compatibility on many systems. Canon changed their mount, and Nikon for a long time could not escape the constraints of their original mount — Leica's approach, by contrast, has always prioritised continuity for long-standing customers. The flange distance issue has since been resolved by mirrorless systems, and in that context the contribution of the Sony α7 was significant.
I've gone on longer than intended, but a Leica camera is a strange thing — once you have one in your hands and have worked through the involved process of learning to use it, you find you cannot put it down. The layers of technical depth and history that come with it make it endlessly interesting, and that, unsurprisingly, is at the heart of why I love Leica.