During the testing of the Leica 24-70mm f2.8 SL lens, we found out that Leica did quite an overhaul on it just being a Sigma variant. While it’s got the same optics, the exterior and autofocus performance is much different. Leica’s is very quick while Sigma tends to drag behind the rest of the industry. But in our short period of time, we also missed a big problem that was brought to us by our readers. And so we’ve updated our review. You can read the entire thing here or see the big changes below.
One would think, “Oh, well Leica isn’t such a big brand.” Sure, they’re smaller than the others, but they’re a very important camera brand. In a world where camera sales are shrinking for photographers, Leica could be one of the last ones left because of them leaning so much into the romanticism of photography. Moreover, their products are built to last and they do a phenomenal job with them.
Below is the update from our review. If you’re interested, the Leica 24-70mm f2.8 SL lens can be had as either a Sigma or Leica variant on Amazon. If you want autofocus speed and durability, go for the Leica one. But if you just want to shoot with a cheaper lens, then go for the Sigma offering.
Update May 2023
We had the Leica 24-70mm f2.8 SL for only a short while, and so we completely missed an odd feature of the lens. As this is a reworked Sigma lens, there’s a key difference. Sigma’s variant has an autofocus/manual focus switch. As such, when you mount it to the Leica SL2s, the menu won’t show you a manual focus option. This is the same thing with Panasonic lenses. Instead, it understands that the lens has a switch and will proceed to let you make the decision through the lens interface.
However, if you’re using the Leica lens, you’ll realize that it doesn’t have an autofocus switch. Because of this, you cannot put the lens into manual focus mode. It’s a big oversight if you’re looking to shoot astrophotography in the dark or even dimly lit scenes. At times, it’s often just better to manually focus with all cameras and lenses.
Hopefully, Leica will fix this with a future firmware update. And we’re thankful to the readers that pointed out this problem to us. We’ve already made Leica aware of it.