Last Updated on 03/14/2024 by Chris Gampat
“It looks like I was photoshopped in,” said my buddy Alex told me when looking at the images shot by the SL3. The thing is though that the images were still on the camera and hadn’t even been brought into post-production. The Leica SL3 is a camera that has a lot of what I’ve been waiting for. If you’re a high megapixel shooter who wants good autofocus and reliablity, then it’s here. If you want solid low light autofocus on people of color, then this is the camera to consider. And if you want a camera that’s for photographers first, then you really want to pay attention to this.
Table of Contents
The Big Picture
It’s packed away in a box right now heading back to Leica — and it’s honestly hard to imagine the rest of the year without the Leica SL3 in my hands. There’s a lot to really like about it. Leica has truly been listening to their customers and the market while incorporating feedback into the camera’s design. It’s smaller and lighter than the previous version — yet they also packed an extra dial onto the top of the camera. This makes it feel a bit more retro while also keeping the very modern and sleek look. Additionally, they gave the camera a tilting touchscreen. Yes, the menu is now touch capable. Plus, they improved the grip, gave it an incredible imaging sensor that rivals the Sony a7r V, majorly improved the autofocus, and built in some of the best battery life I’ve ever experienced. It’s hard to say no to the Leica SL3.
There are a few qualms I’ve got with the camera, but they’re almost negligible. The only big one is that I truly wanted the shutter to come down over the sensor to protect it when changing lenses. But Leica said that it wasn’t possible with the sensor’s design — and when you see what the sensor can output, you can probably believe that. A few functions can’t be done with older batteries; which I really wish wasn’t an issue. I can’t recall this being a problem when Canon switched their batteries. Like Canon, Leica kept the battery size from their older SL cameras. Unlike Canon, the older batteries don’t let you do some of the newer functions like faster shooting frame-rates and all. If you’re buying an SL3, then you’re getting a new batterty. But it also means that you’re bound to have them mixed with your older ones.
Still, overall, the Leica SL3 feels like a camera where photographers are put front and center. Sure, there are video features, but not a whole lot of emphasis was put on that. Instead, Leica focused on the things that matter more.
The Leica SL3 deserves our Editor’s Choice award and five out of five stars. So trust us, it’s getting it. Want one? They’re going to cost $6,995.
Perfect For
- People who actually consider themselves photographers first before any other variant of creator.
- L-mount shooters
- Strobists: the sharpness combined with Leica’s Apochromatic lenses is unlike anything else.
- Street photographers: the autofocus works well
- Wildlife photographers: you can go birding with this camera from what Leica tells us. We have to do further testing on that though. But it worked when photographing animals.
- Portrait photographers: Lots of beautiful details and colors from this sensor.
- Photojournalists: It’s a body that will be very reliable no matter what, and the battery life will keep on working
- Event photographers: You can switch autofocus to different subjects fairly quickly.
- Photographers photographing people of color in low light: This camera can pick up people of color in very low light much better than other brands can.
Pros
- The single fastest autofocus of the 60MP sensor I’ve ever seen. This puts the Sony a7r V and the Sony a7cR to shame.
- Beautiful ergonomics
- They made it lighter while still making it feel solid
- I actually like this grip
- The screen actually feels nice
- IP 54 durability rating; this is probably the toughest camera on the market with interchangeable lenses.
- The new touchscreen menu is almost perfect
- The sharpness with Leica Apochromatic lenses is excellent and with the resolution from this camera, the quality rivals that of Canon L and Sony G-Master lenses.
- The new phase detection autofocus is good even in low light; it tracks people of color almost as good as Nikon cameras do.
- Native ISO at 100 and 320
- The battery life using the new quick power-off is the single best of any camera manufacturer out there.
Cons
- I wish the shutter came down over the sensor
- Some functions won’t be available if you use the older battery. For example, it can’t shoot more than 2fps with the older battery and retain autofocus.
- No option to have the camera write to the SD card first instead of the CFe card. But we’re told this is being considered for a firmware update.
- I truly wish that when dropping the megapixel count, I could get increased variables with the drive move. For example, getting 9 fps with AF tracking at 14 or 12 bit RAW would be awesome when dropped down to the Medium DNG setting.
Gear Used
We borrowed the Leica SL3 from Leica. It was used with the Lumix 85mm f1.8, 50mm f1.8, Leica 28mm f2 Apochromatic, Sigma 24-70mm f2.8, several lens filters, and Profoto lights. We own all the lenses and accessories.
Innovations
You could consider this an innovative camera if you’re considering that this this the first camera with a 60MP sensor that has an IP durability rating. It also has the fastest autofocus of a sensor with this many megapixels. But perhaps the most innovative thing is the quick power mode. It puts the camera to sleep; and I was able to power it off of a single charge for a week. It’s pretty insane, and nothing else has battery power like this.
Hardware
When Leica originally briefed me on the Leica SL3, I was a bit disappointed that the camera would be smaller and lighter than the SL2-s — which is my main driver. But when I held the camera, I remembered that Leicas truly need to be experienced to be understood. We’re a very visual culture that doesn’t do well with the inclusiveness of the other senses. So for this, I want to channel the words of poet R.H. Sin. He says that fighting for someone won’t make a difference if that individual doesn’t appreciate you; and to not waste your time on someone who obviously wants someone else. When I look around the entire rest of the photo industry, I see brands that target their prodcuts to content creators and stop focusing on what photographers want — I even feel this way about Fujifilm, too! But in contrast, Leica is a brand that literally brought back the Leica M6 in 2022.
By all means, I think that Leica wants photographers. And that’s felt throughout the hardware of the Leica SL3. It’s smaller and lighter, but still feels solid. The company now gives photographers three dials to choose from to control exposure settings — and they’re placed in a way that’s akin to many retro cameras. The LCD screen is also much more useful now that it tilts. The camera still bears the lots of programmable buttons to get you to exactly what you need. Overall, there isn’t much to complain about.
You’re also getting a camera with an IP 54 durability rating. During my time with the Leica SL3, it didn’t rain and the weather was pretty mild no thanks to major corporations. But the durability is rated to be the same as the Leica SL2s, which has survived some absolute hell.
Focusing
I truly thought that it would’ve been a year or two more until 60MP sensors were able to focus quickly. However, the Leica SL3 has the single fastest autofocusing 60MP sensor I’ve ever seen. Indeed, it puts Sony to shame — but lags behind Nikon a bit when focusing on people of color in low light.
The only time that it slows down is when the camera’s exposure preview settings are messed with. However, it’s only minorly changed. This camera also autofocuses well in very low light — so much so that I never thought that we’d get a Leica that did just this well.
Of course, this is a Leica. You’ll want to know how it is for street photography, right? Well, for reference I tend to move towards someone as they’re moving towards me while I’m shooting. I also shoot wide open for tests like this. The Leica SL3 was able to nail autofocus at 2fps and in the multi-field focusing mode. Of course I also shot at a high ISO and a fast shutter speed. This way, I was able to get some of my favorite images for this review. So can the SL3 do street photography? Yes. Can Sony do this better at the same megapixel count? No. Leica hasn’t knocked this out of the park; they’re in a completely different playing field to begin with.
Here’s the incredible thing too: autofocus on POCs in low light is also pretty darn good. It’s not quite Nikon-level, but it’s better than Canon and Sony. Panasonic and Leica lenses track just fine. But in our tests, Sigma’s 24-70mm exhibited autofocus that felt like Stone Age technology that was mistreated by a museum intern. Honestly, I feel like photographers defend Sigma lenses in a similar way to how abused people defend their abusers. It’s almost like they’re waiting for their #metoo moment.
In continuous focus mode, Leica has this thing where you can press the joystick in to lock onto a specific subject. It’s very nice and works well most of the time when you don’t want to change subject in people detection.
My only complaint: I really wish I could apply people detection to all the autofocus modes like multi-area.
A huge thank you goes out to Jamel Shabazz for letting me shadow him on a shoot with this camera. Thanks to Alex Simmons for posing for me too.
Ease of Use
So far, I like the touch menu, but even this needs improvement. You still really need to use the joystick, menu button, or the dials and Leica could’ve taken this much further. You can’t get to exactly where you need to get to in two taps; which is something Canon had figured out a long time ago.
Part of what makes this camera so great of a shooting experience is that Leica kept the top LCD screen. I often don’t want to look at the back screen because it saves battery power, so I set the camera to EVF extended while using the top LCD. In addition to this, Leica added a new auto power off function that saves a lot of battery. Just by quickly pressing the power button, it powers the camera down. That means you can shoot for so much longer on one charge. I went for a whole week without charging. I haven’t been able to do that with a camera since the Canon 5D Mk II came out.
The auto power off setting has to be the greatest thing that they’ve ever done for battery life and power management. You can go pretty much more than a single day on a single charge and not worry about the camera otherwise.
The image stabilization is also quite powerful. In really low light, I shot at ISO 100 and 1/25th of a second with a flash to get a great portrait. But I could also handhold the camera to around 2 seconds and get photos that didn’t have camera-shake. It’s tough to do, but it’s possible.
Something that causes a lot of first-world sadness is that Leica couldn’t make the shutter come down to protect the sensor when turning the camera off. And yes, I did get photos where I found sensor dust later on. The company has a sensor cleaning function, but sometimes that isn’t enough.
Look: we’ve become a generation so good at pretending to be happy that we‘ve lost the desire to create true happiness. With the SL3, we’re so close to getting the absolute perfect image in-camera; yet this one thing fully prevents it from happening. If I’m paying this much, I don’t want to be stoic and persevere through it: I want to know that work I’ve done on myself as a photographer to make great images in-camera won’t be sabotaged by an issue like sensor dust.
One other thing I miss: being able to quickly flick the joystick upward to rate an image. Instead, I need to press a button or use the touchscreen. In-camera image rating has become very important these days.
Metering
If you’re a street photographer, landscape photographer, or shoot a lot of film, then you probably worry about metering. In Sunny 16 tests, the Leica SL3 seemed to abide more or less by what science tells you is the correct way to meter.
Leica SL3 Image Quality
Before we go on, I’m convinced that this sensor might be the same as the Sony a7r V’s even though the Leica focuses much faster. That has to do with the fact that the native dual ISOs are 100 and 320 — which both sensors have. So if you shoot at film ISOs or lower ISOs most of the time, you’ll be very happy.
At the time of my testing, the Leica SL3 doesn’t have official and full support in Capture One or even in Lightroom. So at the moment, the colors are a bit odd. However, that doesn’t mean that they’re bad. They’re just not really like I expect them to be from Leica. At times I really want more vivid skin details, but that’s not happening right now. It will change when we update this review.
What I’m very excited about is the fact that the dual native ISO settings for this camera are ISO 100 and 320. That means it’s really designed for low-ISO work. This, perhaps more than anything, really excites me. I shoot like I shoot film and I don’t often let the ISO go where it wants. Instead, I tend to shoot at film ISOs. That makes the low ISO output so much more attractive for me.
Still, that’s only the RAW files. The JPEG output is simply stunning. And this is a camera that fills me with so much joy because there’s also access to Leica Looks – but at the time of initial testing, they’re not available to me. The other day, I was speaking with one of site’s more budding staff members. She explained to me that she was out shooting all day and then came home exhausted. We started talking about how we don’t want to edit and instead, just have the photos be what they are right out of camera in the first place. She agreed, and has started to find ways to do that recently in order to save energy, time, and give herself more of the recharge she needs to be able to handle her days. Leica looks in the SL3 would allow for this. My colleague shoots on Sony, and the fact that this isn’t available is truly starting to annoy her.
At ISO 6400, there is a whole lot of image noise in the shadows. However, if these images are only staying online, they’re perfectly fine. Even 12,500 looks great. I sometimes also saw a bit of detail loss, but it’s not anything to cry home about.
Leica SL3 Image Quality Update March 2023
We tested the Leica SL3 before the announcement and before all the other press and YouTubers got a hold of it. At that time, software wasn’t fully supported.
Our standard high ISO test has us taking an image shot at ISO 6400 and printing it at 17×22 inches. We use the Canon Prograf 1000 and Canson Infinity paper. Everything is printed from Capture One, and we do no noise reducton to the image. We also do nothing that would affect the noise rendering at all. The results are impeccable. Compared to the Sony a7r V and the Sony a7c R, the Leica SL3 is much, much cleaner. We went through the image above with a loupe and checked out the deepest blacks and the various colors available.
I can say with full affirmation and confidence that the Leica SL3 has the cleanest high ISO rendering of any 60MP full-frame sensor camera that I’ve used. In fact, it even seems cleaner than the M11 and the Q3.
In addition to that, you’ll find an update to skin tones. Capture One, as of March 13th, has the Leica SL3 set to Neutral. You have to dig into the menus to find the ProStandard option. Once you select that and then mess with the curves, the skin tones become much, much nicer — especially with people of color with melanin in their skin. What’s more, this image was shot at ISO 8000. That’s insanely impressive!
Leica confirmed with us that this is because of the beta firmware that was in the camera.
Similarly at the lower end of the ISO range, the RAW file versatility is really quite exceptional when you apply the ICC profiles accordingly.
For real photographers and those making prints, you’ll want to note that skin tones in prints show us extra hints that the sensor in the SL3 is made by Sony. At times, more purple than is expected appears in the skin tones of people of color. It’s a common issue that we’ve seen over the years. You might not notice it all that much when looking at digital photos on a screen. But when staring at a print, you’ll absolutely notice what’s going on with the colors.
The idea here is that the finished photograph is then printed to become manifest, so you’re as precious about your photographs as parents are about their unborn child. This means you’ll have to fix it in a few ways by giving it what it needs to thrive. It means adjusting the white balance, tint, or specific color channels in various cases. In daylight white balance, it sometimes means that purple and blue channels bleed into one another. Adjusting the hue, lightness, or saturation can give you the results you’ll probably be happier with. You might also find joy when shifting the tint over from purple into green a bit more. So, when you’re editing your prints, take this into consideration.
Image Samples from the Leica SL3
The Phoblographer has been huge on transparency with our audience since day one. Nothing from this review is sponsored. Further, many folks will post reviews and show lots of editing in the photos. The problem then becomes that anyone and everyone can do the same thing. They’re not showing what the lens can do. So, we have a section in our Extra Image Samples area to show edited and unedited photos. From this, you can decide for yourself.
Some of these images were edited using the Phoblographer’s Lightroom presets, which you can purchase in our store.
Unedited
Edited
Leica SL3 Tech Specs
- 60MP full-frame sensor with 36MP Medium DNG and 18MP small DNG settings
- 769 grams without battery
- 104mm height
- 141mm width
- Leica Looks
- ISO range from 50 to 100,000
- Hybrid AF with Phase detection and contrast
- Maestro IV
- SDHC and CF express type B slots
- HDMI 2.1
- 8GB of buffer
- USB-C 3.1
- IP 54 certification
- 5.76MP viewfinder with up to 120 frames a second
- 3.2 inch touchscreen with 2.3 million dots
- $6,995 price point