Is the Leica SL2s Still a Good Camera in 2026?

Everyone loves to hate on Leica cameras, but the truth is that if you know, you know. A while back, I purchased the Leica SL2s and it continues to be my main camera to this day. With the camera being discontinued and replaced by the SL3s, and with the used camera market being what it is due to the semi-conductor shortage, I’m sharing my thoughts on whether or not this camera is still good in 2026. Did I make a good decision?

Below is the updated text to our full review. You can read the entire review here at this link.

The Leica SL2s in 2026

Since purchasing the Leica SL2s in March of 2021, I’ve used this camera as my main camera body for so much of my work. And since then, it has evolved with me. Some of the big updates that I’ve done with it:

• Expansion of lenses: Viltrox recently started making L-mount lenses and I now own several Sigma and Panasonic LUMIX lenses along with TTArtisan and other brands too.
• A camera sensor filter cover: I purchased an in-camera filter to protect the sensor from dust and stuff
• A cover: I covered the camera body with a skin to make it part of my identity and make it more unique of a product to just me.
• Several new firmware updates
• The addition of Leica looks to the Leica Fotos app which making applying these looks a bit easier.

Since buying this camera, I needed to have it serviced once when the hot shoe was having issues and the autofocus started to degrade a bit. Why did this happen? Well, I’ve abused this camera far beyond what I’d do with Sony, Canon, and Nikon cameras. And it has survived so much. More importantly, it has continued to work.

With the Leica SL2S, I’m not sitting here saying to myself, “Why won’t the animal autofocus work?” Instead, I choose the focus point and I make it work. It will work well enough with humans and if I remove the mist filter, it works very well overall. It’s not so overly packed with tech that it gets in the way of making good photographs. And for that, I really can’t find fault with it.

I’m going to say something that’s going to annoy a lot of techies who pretend to be photographers: I haven’t once had a paid gig where I was paid to photograph animals at an event instead of humans. The SL2s is a great camera for photojournalism, and if you embrace an older way of working with it, then it does a great job.

And that’s probably an idea that will break everyone’s brains. Why not pay less money and get better technology? Instead, I look at it the other way: why not pay money, make your life simpler, and secure a product that will get repaired still even when it has been discontinued? Why not also have a camera that can survive darn near everything? I know that I can rely on my skill set to make better images instead of relying on the camera to do it for me.

But there are things that I still wish Leica had implemented. For example, I wish that I could set the 28mm f2 APO SL to focus to six feet away and then lock the focusing similar to zone focusing. But I can’t do that with the SL2s. Why not? Well, that’s actually beyond me to understand.

I also wish that Leica would get on the multiple exposure train, yet they still haven’t done so.

In 2026 so far, I don’t have any paid photography gigs lined up. But last year, I had a lot. And I used the SL2s at nearly every single gig. It did an incredible job. Still though, the camera shoots like something that any camera could’ve done. That overall is a statement I could say about almost any other camera on the market. Where the SL2s differs though is with reliability. And that reliability has served me better with the work that I do here at the Phoblographer than the paid gigs I do as a photographer on the side who still earns taxable income on what I make from it.

There are surely times that I’ve considered owning the Q3 or something else. But I don’t regret this decision. This camera has been with me for a long time and continues to be the camera that’s been serving me the longest. I also tend to use my Sony a7r III, but generally speaking I really hate Sony’s ergonomics and way of doing things. And I wouldn’t want to upgrade to their newer cameras with the exception of the A1 II. Still, even that doesn’t have Leica’s reliability and it still kind of feels like a Playstation even though it also feels more like a proper Minolta camera.

On top of all that, I should mention all the other things. This camera is metal and it reminds you that it is a camera. Plus the battery life is great — far better than most other mirrorless cameras out there on the market right now. And the menu interface is arguably better than most of them on the market right now too even though I wish that the entire menu system was touch capable.

Ultimately, it feels like the Sony a9 II in a much more durable and rugged camera body and without the animal detection features. That, to me, makes it much more of a professional feeling camera for someone who cares about making stills.

But would I buy this camera all over again? No. The Panasonic LUMIX S1R II serves me better with more megapixels and multiple exposure RAW in addition to Real Time LUT capabilities. So more often than not, that ends up being my main camera alongside the Leica SL2s. Even then, I wish that the SL3 embraced that mentality even more. Though ultimately, what I really yearn for is a Leica M11-D.

Throughout the journey of my photography career though, I truly have to hand it to how good the Leica SL2s has been to me.