Hi all,
I have been very excited by the Leica SL, both its form factor (rugged, design-heavy-functional), specs (viewfinder promise) and a sort of middle-finger towards the mantra of "Mirrorless should be small". This weekend I got to handle one for a bit (maybe 20 minutes indoors and outdoors) and well, I was sort of disappointed (this is not a review, just some thoughts!):
1) The design felt very Leica and very minimal, refreshing compared to the back of a Canon 7DII, but way way too extreme on minimal and lack of labels of any kind.
2) Most disappointing was the viewfinder (!). Ever since I first picked up and tested a Sony Alpha series (the mock-SLRs of a few years back) and was horrified, I have never considered abandoning optical viewfinders. Even this well spec'd Leica was laggy, colours were terrible and most important of all, it was uninspiring to see the 2D-ness of the preview (in fact it was flat in every meaning that the word could have...) and this deflated my enthusiasm.
3) I actually liked the size and the shapes (did not have battery grip on it) and yes like a 1-series or DX series you could probably hammer a nail into wood with it.
NOTE: I should have tried other lenses as the only available during playing with it was the new monster of a not-so-bright zoom lens with AF (AF was fast and accurate).
This is NOT a review, it is just a reaction to something I have been fantasizing about and I hope that Canon manages better. If I were Canon I would not compromise and release something serious (no offense to M-series -- but serious as in a 5-, 3- or 1-series mirrorless,-fullframe!) until I had something better than what the SL is delivering today.
All thoughts are welcome. Happy shooting y'alls, -John
I have been very excited by the Leica SL, both its form factor (rugged, design-heavy-functional), specs (viewfinder promise) and a sort of middle-finger towards the mantra of "Mirrorless should be small". This weekend I got to handle one for a bit (maybe 20 minutes indoors and outdoors) and well, I was sort of disappointed (this is not a review, just some thoughts!):
1) The design felt very Leica and very minimal, refreshing compared to the back of a Canon 7DII, but way way too extreme on minimal and lack of labels of any kind.
2) Most disappointing was the viewfinder (!). Ever since I first picked up and tested a Sony Alpha series (the mock-SLRs of a few years back) and was horrified, I have never considered abandoning optical viewfinders. Even this well spec'd Leica was laggy, colours were terrible and most important of all, it was uninspiring to see the 2D-ness of the preview (in fact it was flat in every meaning that the word could have...) and this deflated my enthusiasm.
3) I actually liked the size and the shapes (did not have battery grip on it) and yes like a 1-series or DX series you could probably hammer a nail into wood with it.
NOTE: I should have tried other lenses as the only available during playing with it was the new monster of a not-so-bright zoom lens with AF (AF was fast and accurate).
This is NOT a review, it is just a reaction to something I have been fantasizing about and I hope that Canon manages better. If I were Canon I would not compromise and release something serious (no offense to M-series -- but serious as in a 5-, 3- or 1-series mirrorless,-fullframe!) until I had something better than what the SL is delivering today.
All thoughts are welcome. Happy shooting y'alls, -John
