A new ultra-wide angle zoom addition to cover all your wide-shooting needs
Heads up, Leicaphiles! Welcome the new addition to the Leica SL family. The highly-anticipated Super-Vario-Elmar-SL-16 – 25mm f3.5-4.5 ASPH features a quick and quiet autofocus along with a versatile range of focal lengths for all kinds of shooting scenarios. It boasts of becoming the go-to lens for the Leica SL system, making sure you’re able to capture wide views for landscape, architectural, and event photography, and zoom-in on your subject’s details as needed for wedding, concert, and documentary photography.
The Super-Vario-Elmar-SL 16–35mm f3.5–4.5 ASPH boasts an autofocus that is both fast and quiet, thanks to a focusing drive especially developed with a stepping motor and linear positioning. It also has protected construction and AquaDura® front lens coating so you can take it with you even in challenging weather conditions.
The introduction of this new ultra-wide angle zoom lens brings a focal length range of 16 to 280 mm to the Leica SL-System, joining Vario-Elmarit-SL 24–90mm f2.8–4 ASPH and the APO-Vario-Elmarit-SL 90–280mm f2.8–4.
The Super-Vario-Elmar-SL 16–35mm f3.5–4.5 ASPH will be available worldwide in Leica Stores, Boutiques, and Dealers on April 23, priced at $5,495.00.
See the full press release below to find out more.
Leica Camera Announces Expansion of SL-System with an Ultra-Wide Angle Lens
The highly-anticipated Super-Vario-Elmar-SL 16–35mm f3.5–4.5 ASPH provides unparalleled imaging performance and versatility, coupled with supremely quick and quiet autofocus
April 9, 2018 – Leica’s new Super-Vario-Elmar-SL 16–35mm f3.5–4.5 ASPH. ultra-wide angle zoom lens perfectly rounds out the current zoom lens portfolio for the Leica SL, offering what is sure to be a go-to lens in the full-frame mirrorless Leica SL-System kit. While this ultra-wide angle lens is well-versed at capturing everything in a scene, its range of focal lengths makes it ideal for a diversity of uses, including landscape and architectural photography, wedding, event, and concert photography to reportage and documentary photography. The lens’s versatility and ability to capture not only wide scenarios, but also zoom in on a subject’s details, make it the most accessible, easy-to-use wide-angle lens in all of Leica’s impressive line-up.
In addition to excellent imaging quality throughout the entire range of focal lengths and at all apertures, the high-performance lens also offers simultaneously fast and quiet autofocus. This is driven by a specially developed focusing drive including a stepping motor and linear positioning. In combination, this moves a single, dedicated glass focusing element that, due to its low weight, allows for a very quick autofocus.
The camera is also crafted to perform well in challenging situations. The lens features protected construction and special AquaDura® front lens coating that can withstand adverse weather conditions. Additionally, the lens’s barrel does not extend when zooming, which further helps the lens endure more rugged scenarios.
The newly designed optical system of the Super-Vario-Elmar-SL 16–35mm f3.5–4.5 ASPH. contains a total of 18 elements in 12 groups that work to control distortion incredibly well. These elements include two asphericals for the correction of monochromatic aberrations and three elements made from glass with anomalous partial dispersion correct chromatic aberration. An improved mount geometry and high-quality coating ensure optimum suppression of reflections and stray light within the optical system.
With the addition of the Super-Vario-Elmar-SL 16–35mm f3.5–4.5 ASPH., the portfolio of zoom lenses for the Leica SL now covers a range of focal lengths from 16 to 280 mm. Together with the Vario-Elmarit–SL 24–90/2.8–4 ASPH. and the APO-Vario-Elmarit-SL 90–280 f/2.8–4, this trio of exceptional lenses are able to expertly capture all genres of photography and enables photographers a high degree of flexibility and versatility with their craft and creativity.
The Super-Vario-Elmar-SL 16–35/3.5–4.5 ASPH. will be priced at $5,495.00 and available worldwide in Leica Stores, Boutiques and Dealers starting April 23.
A new firmware update for the Leica SL, Version 3.2, will also be released April 23rd to address improvements specifically requested by Leica SL photographers:
- The joystick can now be deactivated from the menu to prevent inadvertent changes to settings while the camera is in use
- Eco Mode can be set to reduce the power consumption of the camera
- The standard white balance value for daylight has been changed from 6600 K to 6500 K
- Various improvements have been made for entering text and numbers (e.g. at WiFi password)
- Compatibility with the Leica SF 60 System Flash and the SF C1 wireless flash controller
- Other bug fixes
