Leica SL Three Years After Launch, Part 1: First Frame

This is going to be the most personal camera review I've ever done, probably the most personal one I ever WILL do. Here's why.

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[RedlineRevenant]

The exposure of the opening three minutes of this video is the best I have ever seen in YouTube vlog.
Love the warm color profile, the soft lighting, the sharpness and detail in your face, and the separation from the background.
Everything is professionally done here.
I hope I can get myself to this level someday.

[mrpwd]

You have the best reviews online. Wonderful stories. Compelling commentary. The pauses give time to digest and focus attention. In a word. Masterful. Carry on.

[waldemirqueiroz]

Looking forward the sequel. It is amazing the amount of emotional attachment Leica embodies. It is not in their books but it is for sure the largest asset of the company. I can say it because it goes deep on my photographic soul as well.

[berthubbardt.o.o.c]

I know you are humble but you are a masterful storyteller, reviewer and photographer.

[michaelfedorsha]

What a great video. Great story about your first camera. Excellent voice and camera presence. Glad to have stumbled across this. Been thinking hard about picking the SL for my next camera.

[marcusnz]

I had an SL on loan from Leica NZ earlier this year. I have just got rid of my M240 body because I found I simply could no longer see all 4 edges of the frame with glasses on and I found the MF a bit too challenging to make it a useful tool. I kept all the M glass I have and my intention is to use the SL as an "M" where the EVF gives you WYSIWYG and spectacularly useful, well executed focus peaking which knocks the rangefinder focusing into a cocked hat.
I loved the SL - a brilliant camera. I just wish they would make it with the CL sensor in it so I could use it in full res with the CL lenses. It would be brilliant.

[fredreitz]

And the soon to be added 35 Summicron which some of us have been waiting for since 2015.

[BilBrown]

I've had my SL since about 6 months after inception. I've also recently started using it for video/cinematic workings and with the Atomos Ninja Inferno I'm SURPRISED at the output, especially next to an ARRI Alexa (I think there is a secret there that the two German camera giants aren't exactly telling us, like WHERE is this sensor made?). There are a few things that are interesting, that I hope you cover. I've only recently found your channel here and on VIMEO. I'm also here in LA, and I think we may have seen each other around... but back to the SL, back to Leica. Its worth it - its not much more than the Canon 1DX, it has better body resolve IMHO than the SONY or Panasonic bodies. I have other cameras, I've worked with the Canon, Sony, Pentax, Panasonic, Fuji and absolutely I come back to the SL. And now for cinema work without renting a higher end cinema body, I came back toe the SL. I've used M lenses, native lenses, R lenses, and cine lenses on the SL. I use the Ms, I use the "medium format" S, but the SL seems to be the camera I keep coming back to. The SL is without a doubt, to Leica and higher resolving lenses, what the other mirrorless cameras want to be. ANY lens that Leica has ever made, including ANY M mount from Voightlander, Zeiss, or any others can be used. The Leica varieties it even KNOWS which lens you have on the camera and resolves it accordingly. Its a BEAST. I hope you have as much LOVE for it that I have. Three years or not, the SL is STILL the best camera I have ever used!

[granferthegeek]

Thanks for the video, it brought many memories for me and one or two tears, but hold that thought 😀. I got my first camera when I was 8, a Kodak instamatic. But the camera I learn to really take pictures was my father's, may he rest in peace, Leica M3 what a camera and what memories. Anyhow thanks for your awesome videos.

[fotovideo]

What a coincidence, today I bought the camera, on which I shot my first pictures 30 years ago. The Practica, lots of memories come back,
Good feelings...

[kaczynski]

I have really come to appreciate your style, and your podcasts often leave me smiling.

Something tells me you are the guy to review the Leica M-D, so if you ever get a chance...

[KennyTjahyadi]

love that inspiring quotes. real inspiring story

[Cremsonify]

Thanks for always sharing you amazing videos

[jeansicard]

nice talking and voice, good views and calm/slow pace…rich approach

[carlosnieto]

The SL is really nice but I cannot see the way of justifying the price difference over a Sony A7RIII or A7III. The M10 is another kind of camera and I hope I can buy one in a not so far future. Meanwhile, I'm still in love with my M6 and R9.

[thisislife]

this is quite intense and make me feel why i hold this hobby. the observer is part of the prozess and a good photo tells a lot. sometimes you see something and act, a photo is born and is a own world. a storie, a living moment or a immortal emotion. i doubt only moving things a living beings. Ideas, meme, art is a form of life for me to. creating on picture you cant forget is a huge deal for me.

[robertkaffan]

Please. Manual focus only. The background focus breathing is distracting.