Advertisement
SNAPCLOUDBack up every photoUnlimited RAW storage, 30 days freeTry freeSample ad
Advertisement
Advertisement

Say hello to the Leica A7 :)

Leica SL et objectifs

Mirrorlessrumors just leaked the first images and specs of the new Leica SL. It is the first Sony A7 competitor (mirrorless, autofocus and Full Frame). And the design somehow reminds me also of the …Sony A7 🙂

The Leica SL has a 24MP sensor and costs $6900 Euro (twice the price of the A7rII and 4 times the price of the A7II). It’s certainly a niche product. But what could be a bit more interesting is that Panasonic is part of the project and delivers plenty of tech to Leica (4K video, processor, autofocus and so on). There might be a chance that sometimes in the not so distant future Panasonic will use the same mount to launch their first FF camera. And that would certainly be a worthy Sony competitor.

P.S.: Follow the Leica presentation live blogging on Mirrorlessrumors at 19:30 berlin time.

Share this story
Community

Join the discussion

216 Responses

  1. I don’t care too much for the overpriced camera, but that 90-280mm f/2.8-4 tele lens is yummy and I wouldn’t mind having such a lens for my A7!

    I like what PanaLeica are doing here because it will light a fire under Sony’s behind. Price-wise this SL system can’t compete with A7 + Zeiss Batis glass, so it will tank just like the Leica T, and afterwards Panasonic will (hopefully) step in with it’s own model.

    1. 90-280 sounds indeed interesting, and the pictures are showing nice
      size compared to the range. Would be interesting to know how the
      aperture is alongside the range. If it could manage something like 2.8
      up to 135mm, 3.5 up to 200mm it would be very desirable lense.

      I think Leica doesn’t want to compete against A7 series. Leica has a very
      own market, and I am pretty sure, they will achieve their sales
      expectation.

      1. they probably have their own market, but it doesn’t prevent them of failure as the Leica T demonstrate it.
        Look like Leica is acting as a cheap test of the market (regarding of the volume) for Panasonic for it’s own GH line.
        MFT to APS-C is a no go maybe MFT to FF.

      2. I think Leica has a market only where their most well-built lenses are. It must at least feel premium for there to be a demand. If they make expensive Panasonics that may actually be made themselves but still feel like Panasonics, then I think there won’t be a market there.

    2. Think they should have made the 90-280mm f/2.8-4 constant aperture. But they probably didn’t due to size considerations.

      1. Yeah but that would’ve been clear if it were like “THAT Sony A7 has a 24MP sensor and costs $6900 Euro”…on second thought why didn’t he type € but used a weird “$ Euro” expression?

  2. “The Sony A7 has a 24MP sensor and costs $6900 Euro”

    Is it that hard to proofread posts before publishing? They seem to be riddled with errors these days…

    1. But… but… but… it’s a rush! A rush to get the post published couple minutes before every other site on the web does!

  3. I don’t really see a reason to buy that camera to be honest…
    On another note that 90-280 looks cool. Excited to see new lenses from Sony tonight!

  4. Makes you wonder . . . this won’t appeal to Leica traditionalists, and it’s doubtful it will compete with the A7r2 in image quality, much less video, and without IBIS, and probably no apps, and other technological goodies we’ve come to expect from Sony . . . So, if it doesn’t appeal to the traditionalists, and it can’t go head-to-head with Sony, and it’s double the price . . . who the hell do they expect to sell these to?

    1. Pretty sure that it’ll appeal to Leica owners, there’s a lot of SLR owners around, and old people that find harder to deal with rangefinder too.

        1. That’s the J-discount detour.
          I have the feeling that if Panasonic was to re-release this camera under their brand, theirs will look better or more functional.

  5. Let’s see how the DFD will perform on different FF lenses.

    T-mount was an obvious choice.

    And now we know why Voitg and Zeiss started dedicating more time for FE, specially the Batis 85mm even got OSS for that IMO.

        1. Indeed.

          The Panasonic/Leica lenses are designed by Leica. So, the lenses above look like nothing else than Leica design.

          Maybe one exception: The Lumix DMC-LC1 was good, well balanced design.

          1. Yeah well the x-Luxs are probably Leica designs too so whether or not the lenses look and feel premium relies on many factors.

  6. I think this end up as a good news, now third party makers have another solid brand with close specs to develop new lenses.

  7. that looks like it will fail. Q was very good. The S is peerless. The M is a legend

    this is going to flop considering there’s already the Sony mirrorless line with Zeiss glass for a fraction of the price

    1. The flange focal distance for these is probably too short to adapt them.

      Interestingly, it looks like the lens mount has 10 pins just like E-mount if I counted correctly (image is blurry so I might’ve screwed up). FT has 9 pins, MFT has 11.

      Although chances are 99% that despite having the same pin count, the protocol is completely different. There’s likely some MFT technology here, so the protocol is likely SPI-based. (E-mount uses async serial)

    1. IMO Leica is undermining its reputation choosing a design not only ugly but also similar to a 2-3 year old competitor model…They hinted it would look like Leicaflex and that’s the sort of ugly I thought it would be…But it’s the a7 sort of ugly and, frankly goes further down that ugly path.

    2. This lens is a Panaleica, it’s not illogical that Leica releases lenses like that. Concerning the camera, I find this new Leica a little bit ugly, and very A7 alike, but I don’t see any similarities in shape, grip or style with this Lumix…

    1. there is a 24-240 FE 3,5-6.3.
      Also if Sony release such a lens everyone will complaint about the size and how it look ridiculous on such a small body.
      It doesn’t seem to bother anyone for a Leica but for Sony’s cam it’s a different story…

      1. I do not want a compromise 10x zoom. I want moderately fast and sharp apochromatic 4x zoom.
        What is great about FE family is not that it’s small. It’s that it can be both small or big, depending on what you need. Screw the “smaller is always better” whiners.

  8. My humble opinion: I don’t like the looks at all. If it’s prized like a Leica, it should look like one.

  9. There are some Leica designs that I lust after — e.g. M2, M3, M4 and recent M’s, VarioX, Q — but this new Leica SL and the recent Leica T just look ugly to me. I realise Leica is trying to go for modern design, but I don’t think they’ve hit it on the nail. I like Sony’s modern look and its clean, stylish modern lenses. I actually lust more after Sony’s E mount gear than this Leica stuff.

    1. The only company that seems to be nailing modern design is Zeiss.

      The Oti, Milvi, Bati, and Loxiae look exceptional and modern at the same time.

      Nevertheless, I prefer cameras to look like nothing (e.g. A7, Leica SL) over faux retro (e.g. Fuji, Olympus).

  10. I’m eager to read all the review explaining that the SL is the summum of ergonomic and feel very well balanced in hand because Leica is camera company and not a an electronic one that produce toy while it apparently also share the same button layout.

  11. How does this SL-mount flange distance relate to E-mount?
    Any chance its longer so that the lenses can be adopted to E-mount?

    Lenses apart, its interesting at mirrorlessrumors 65% voted “its ugly as hell” 🙂

  12. Btw, according to pictures, Leica has chosen slightly larger mount diameter than E-mount. I wonder if Sony would have been better off if they created E-mount a bit larger too, to allow more versatility in lens designs.

    1. Seems like it would be easier to implement features like sensor based stabilization which was not supposed to be possible on the E-mount.

      1. Not only that. Smaller mount diameter introduces constraints on the design of rear lens element group. It is still unclear if and how this will limit FE designs.

        1. Based on the recent reviews of the Zeiss Batis and Loxia lenses I would say that assumption is just as inaccurate as the sensor stabilization one.

          1. Yep – every time somebody says it can’t be done, Sony pulls it out of the bag…

          2. Yet some people choose to keep repeating already disproven notions as if they been living in an alternate universe.

          3. A long time ago, Sigma said the E-mount was designed for APS-C sensor because of the small diameter. For supporting FF sensors without optical flaws, the lenses have to constructed quite complex.

            Maybe Loxia&Batis are constructed quite complex. This increases price and maybe size…. (check)

          4. And maybe Sigma was wrong a long time ago based on current facts. BTW Sigma’s current Art lenses are quite complex and fairly expensive.

          5. Or maybe it was just an excuse form Sigma to postpone E-mount FF lenses. Maybe maybe maybe, who knows.

            But some facts about diameters in mm: (according any wiki-page):
            Canon-EF: 54
            Canon-FD: 48
            Canon-EF-M: 47 or 54 (not sure)
            Sony-E : 46.1
            Olympus OM: 46
            Nikon F: 44
            Leica M: 44
            and according to this, there is no reason why a FF-sensor should not work on E-mount or why it should cause any trouble.

    2. I’m still not convinced that FF E-mount was planned from start to have room for FF; it might be just lucky coincedence that FF sensor fits.

      1. I’m sure it wasn’t. The first NEX cameras were placed as affordable consumer gadgets. Sony was baffled by the tremendous success.

  13. why oh why can’t they go FF rangefinder style on mirrorless camera’s? With just a A5100 style flip-able touchscreen (maybe little bigger though) and a good viewfinder in the corner? It’s time to stop beings stuck in these age-old design paradigms from the 90’s sony!

    I’m about switch from sony mirrorless to panasonic gh4. Especially the big miss of decent wifi functionality and the dreadful ergonomics make me switch as content should be king. Pitty. I would love to use the FF sony tech. But not in such a sluggish way.

    Design more often than not is more about the small details than the big specs. It seems like Sony doesn’t understand this.

    1. I agree with the desirability of a rangefinder style camera.
      But I don’t see the link with the GH4. That mental leap just makes no sense whatsoever.

  14. What happend to the once world class Leica design? This is…. I have no words. I didn’t like the T that much. Sub-par for Leica standards, not so great, but not bad. The Q was outstanding.

    But what the actual f*ck is this????

    1. Agreed, this is a me-too A7 knock-off.

      Sony’s next steps should include giving Zeiss a shot at designing a better A7 body.

      1. To me this looks like Panasonic making an A7 competitor under Leica brand so that it has more chance to compete at these insane prices.

        The 24-90 has some great coverage, but should have been constant 2.8 for that huge size. Keep in mind that this mount is larger diameter than E-mount so you can imagine the scale how large that is.

      2. Over the time i got used to the A7 look and now I kinda like it, but it wasn’t something that would win design prizes.

        To me this new Leica looks not like an A7 knock-off, it rather looks like the designer had desperately tried to resemble the old Leica SL and R3, which wasn’t great design either.

      3. No, their video division knows how to make better bodies, the FS5/7 are praised for it’s functional design.

    2. I still find hard to believe that it is the real one, but it’s better that those two look similar, to see how the bloggers around will try to justify the styling that they hate so much.

      1. There are still 3 hours until the Leica event starts. Maybe there is a tiny little chance that this “leaked” picture is a joke.

  15. Customers will be more than happy to pay a premium for this outstanding, best of the best camera system. It is priced to appeal to serious amateurs and pros who are having success in their line of work. Leica wisely wants to keep lesser individuals (Sony users) out of their ecosystem.

  16. a7 Leica SL? Any similarity or difference? Imho, one big and important difference: one sensor fitting one set of lenses fitting one sensor…… it’s a system

  17. Yet another lens mount?

    It’s a shame that the FF mirrorless world couldn’t settle on a common standard, like the M43. Maybe we could call it FE mount…

  18. I’m a fan of the A7 series and have used every body up to the A7ii with M lenses. But when I tried an M body I thought the files came out much better looking on a pixel level, not just on the edges. The 5-year-old Leica S2 also yield much better files (high ISO notwithstanding).

        1. Definitely, the Leica will have pixels that have higher individual definition, more per-pixel resolution, and rounded edges giving them that artistic Leica look. If you blow up the image to look at just one pixel on a Leica vs a Sony, you will see what you are paying for.

      1. I read the individual pixels have slightly rounded edges on this new Leica and are very sharp even in the corners compared to anything else out there, including the Sony 7 series.

          1. One needs to distinguish between the shape of the pixel and the visual quality of its content.

          2. A Martin Luther King quote, LOL. If the Leica SL is what it takes the get you to the promised land then go for it.

        1. That’s a terrible, terrible idea. Sony is actually doing Everything possible to minimize the Gap between each pixel neighbours, this way you capture more light and get better sensitivity.

          Rounded pixels is a waste of real estate, it’s the opposite of what Sony is doing.

          1. Don’t worry. The pixels have only slightly curved edges so they do not waste too much of the real estate. They bring an enhanced aesthetics to the pixel level which would not be there if the traditional pixels were utilized.

          2. I’m looking forward to seeing the output from the new SL, I’m sure in combination with the Leica lenses it will be outstanding.

      1. Hello Dmitry , I have A7 and A7R , can you Perhaps explain Why Sony is Not putting in a Thinner Filter straight aaway ? As kolarvision said there is no Exchange To use normal FE Lenses. Still. I really Wonder Wether To Do IT, As I like a small 35 mm Street Camera like My sonyA7R with a 35 mm summicron 2.0. but As of the Filter Problem havent Done IT already.

        1. Because Sony own lenses are calculated for 2 mm glass 🙂
          They probably started doing that on A-mount and then just carried it to E-mount.

  19. The Camera is nice, but not really awesome. But the lense lineup is really nice, 24-90 and 90-280 (like my loved sigma 100-300) with those apertures is a thing, that sony also could need 🙂

  20. Ugh, Why the heck couldn’t Leica just license the E-mount from Sony?
    It could have been a great Leica / Sony alliance, a next generation of Mirrorless lenses which Sigma/Rokinon and the other third parties could optimise for.

    Instead we have to deal with yet another mount that will go nowhere.

    1. Panasonic wouldn’t let them.

      But I’m pretty sure that we’ll see the new Voigtlanders/Zeiss/Sigma/Tamron for T-mount too.

    2. Yeah, not very wise from Leica to start just another system in this tough market.

      How many current & active mounts do they have now: S, R, M, T and now SL?
      At least Sony kept one E-mount for both crop and FF for their mirror-less line.

        1. What is T-mount the flange distance, couldn’t find info anywhere?

          I can’t imagine that a year and a half after announcement of Leica T the there is no info on the internet about that. Low interest maybe.

          1. don’t know, and can’t find either.
            Maybe by deducing the Leica T to M mount adapter’s depth to the actual M mount flange distance is your answer.

          2. I was pretty sure it was 18 mm LOL.
            Google for Leica M-Adapter-T and compare to M-E adaptor.

            It looks like indeed FL of T-mount is about 18-20 mm.

  21. I suppose there are legacy Leica customers who’ve been waiting for auto focus, but this offering seems to say “be careful what you wish for.” The post says you’ll need an adapter to use other Leica lenses. If that means M-mount, seems like a bad decision.

  22. Competition is only serious is the price is within the range of the products it will compete against.

    And, once again, Leica clientele doesn’t just go for specs so it I still not an equivalent competing product because their market focus is different.

      1. But they will not choose an SL. Maybe some rare exceptions with a very very weird taste, like Mr. Beckham. If I were a billionaire, I wouldn’t.

  23. 3 word’s. Ugly as hell, for that price might be better served with an M or the next version, and will hold better the value through time.

  24. Looks like the Sony A7?
    Well, Sony A7 looks like mini 5DMkI, looks like OM-D EM1, oh, they all look a bit the same 🙂

  25. Hope that Sony doesn’t follow them and make the new FE cameras bigger, and the A9 should break the mold of camera design in general.

    The only thing that Sony might be forced to do is implement touch-screen.

  26. To quote the Soft Cell song of the same name: “Say hello, wave goodbye” (no one? just me then)
    .
    So it is actually a Panasonic with a Leica label? Sounds very Hasselblad-y

    1. No, it’s a paradigm change, this is Leica revolution!
      The leica T does that too, all fly-by-wire, if they did this it will be fun.

    2. The concept is the same as Zeiss Batis: have some Japanese firm (in this case Panasonic) design and manufacture the lenses to an extremely high standard, and sell with a German brand badge… AF, stabilization, focus-by-wire, and no aperture rings.

      The only difference is that Zeiss passes most of the savings on to the customers – those Batis aren’t priced badly at all – while Leica is squeezing its customers like there’s no tomorrow.

    3. Welcome to 2015

      Mechanical linkages have been dead for years. Aircraft have been fly-by-wire for over a decade, most cars have been drive-by-wire for over a decade, camera industry is slow.

  27. I knew once Sony released a $3200 model, others established brands were going to release models priced well above Sony. Prototype pic but I recon its priced about right. Above the Sony base line of $3200. In a year or so Sony will combine the specs of the A7sII with the A7rII for its next premier flagship and will probably be around $4500. Canon and Nikon will price theirs up there too, equal or above Sony. hahahahaha.

        1. I’ll reserve judgement then. I mean, I haven’t actually shot with these things. I read a glowing review of the HV and gave it another look. It might be a lot of bling, but they did incorporate a few design elements to elevate the user experience.

    1. Sorry, I totally disagree.

      This SL, if the picture is no fake, looks ugly and disproportioned. A big fail in Leica design standards. Compared to the rest of the industry, I would call it subpar.

      The Lunar is a kitschy design embarrassment of the first order.

      There are light years between them.

    1. Mirrorless have nothing to do with everything being smaller, it has to do with versatility of the mount and body size.

  28. Why would Panasonic want to sell a Full Frame camera. Full Frame is a Niche Market with Canon, Nikon and Sony already in the pond—Panasonic would be a really small fish in that pond.

  29. People were btchng about the Sony FE 55 1.8 being too large. If this image is proportional to body, that Leica 50mm is huge.

    So, Leica defenders, how small you said they can make AF FF lenses?

    I respect the brand and the M is a fantastic product for them (as the M9 monochrom are) but when it comes to AF and other tech advances, Contax did it better as did everyone else.

  30. Please God someone come up with something different!!! Is a square sensor too much to ask for? I will sacrifice a small goat if Fuji makes a medium format square sensor.

    1. Fuji gave up sensor production, they buy a part from Sony and they cannot produce the sensor you describe.

        1. yes. it’s comparatively easy to replace CFA on request which Sony did for Nikon too (except Nikon did not ask any fad CFAs like Fuji)

    2. I would love a 36x36mm square sensor! Camera makes need to think back-in-the-box. 42mp sensors means that we can easily crop to 4:3, 3:2, 4×5 dimensions or FF square w/o having to ever rotate the camera for verticals. I hate that all FF sensors are 3:2. It’s a nice format for reportage but for portraits and details at weddings it’s rubbish.

      1. You mean you would like to pay Leica S prices for a Leica SL system? Or Pentax 645Z prices for a (Japanese) FF DSLR?

      1. For choice.
        There’s people that like the SLR form factor, others prefer the rangefinders, mirrorless should always be about versatility.

        See Panasonic line-up, GM-GX-GH, that’s what sony should be doing with e-mount.

      2. Sony can have low and middle ground and Zeiss the high end to compete with Leica. I would buy Zeiss over Leica….even if only because I like the name. Also will be difficult for Sony to compete directly for the high dollar vs. Leica, Sony can only come across as “cheaper”.

    1. But only a true rangfinder like the last film Zeiss Ikon. Just a real Leica M competitior for half the price. That would be niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice!!

      And of course with M-Mount.

  31. Can someone tell me what the site leicarumors is for? They are always so late with any Leica related news. LOL

    1. They’re having a NDA. Now Leica sends them the gear exclusively a few weeks prior to the release, so they can have a review ready for the announcement day.

  32. In other news- I’m starting to warm up to the RX1 II. With that said, I’d like to see a Sony FF in a similar vein to the Minolta TC-1. What an awesome compact camera. I’ll take the 28mm 3.5 with the retractable lens, no video just rediculous IQ and 100 pocketable. Take it a step further, why not a Contax T2 cybershot. It’s just a pipe dream but it sure would be nice.

    Take some design cues from the legends Sony. LEGENDS.

    1. I think the reason why the RX1R1 lens can’t collapse/retract is because its glass elements are very large the has a lot of depth, just like the Loxia Biogon design.

      It simply becomes physically impossible to retract that amount of volume of glass.

      1. I’ll take a slower speed then for the convenience of it being truly pocketable. I want the FF though.

  33. Since the GX8 can do 12fps on a 20mp camera, maybe this Leica can do around 10fps in full AF mode, that way this could be atractive for sport folks, the DFD-AF is great for quick snap, it just lacks a bit in tracking.

  34. I like this Leica: 11 fps + touchscreen

    Sony: put this on your FF-mirrorless roadmap and we can talk about forgetting APS-C emount.

    1. Quote from Dpreview:
      “While the SL has a lot of buffer memory (it can take ~35 DNG+JPEGs in a row at 11 fps), we did notice that it takes an unusually long time to finish writing to the memory card – we measured nearly 90 seconds.”

      Decent sized buffer but the clearing time is a bit long.

    1. Much larger than the image posted at the thread heading would lead you to believe, it’s huge. I like the looks and the full sized HDMI receptacle, the controls are unusual and would require some time for familiarization. An interesting piece of hardware but odd in some ways.

  35. I made a comparison chart to A7 ii and D810, assume the SL using T mount which has the same flange distance with Leica T.

  36. Looking at the dpreview image comparison tool (which is very slow at this time), the color rendition and detail look about average compared to other full frame 24 megapixel sensors. Certainly nothing exceptional.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search

Search
Advertisement
SNAPCLOUDBack up everyphotoTry freeSample ad

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

*Please also check your spam folder if you don't get the confirmation mail. And mark the mail as "non-spam" to see the future newsletter.

Advertisement
SNAPCLOUDBack up everyphotoTry freeSample ad
Advertisement
Advertisement