If you have been waiting to get your hands on Leica’s new APO-Macro-Elmarit-SL 100mm f/2.8, the wait is almost over, with orders now opening across the US and UK. In the US, the lens is priced at $2,700 and can be ordered through B&H, Adorama and Leica USA. UK photographers, meanwhile, can secure one for £2,110 from Wex Photo Video, London Camera Exchange and Clifton Cameras. B&H currently lists the lens as coming soon, while Adorama is already showing limited quantities available.
The APO-Macro-Elmarit-SL 100mm f/2.8 is a particularly important addition to Leica’s growing SL lens lineup because it is the first 100mm macro lens developed specifically for the SL system. It also has some serious Leica heritage behind it, taking inspiration from the APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 100mm f/2.8 introduced back in 1987 for its SLR cameras. This new version brings that concept firmly into the autofocus L-Mount era, giving SL photographers a true 1:1 macro lens without having to look outside Leica’s own lens range.
At its heart is a 100mm focal length combined with a constant f/2.8 maximum aperture and a true 1:1 reproduction ratio, which means subjects can be reproduced at life size on the camera sensor. The lens can focus as close as 30cm / 11.8 inches, making it ideal for everything from insects and flowers to watches, jewelry, and detailed product photography. Inside are 17 glass elements arranged across 12 groups, with Leica using an apochromatically corrected optical design to suppress chromatic aberrations and maintain strong sharpness, contrast, and color accuracy across the focusing range.
Macro lenses can sometimes feel like fairly specialized pieces of glass, but that certainly isn't the case here. A 100mm focal length also makes this a very tempting portrait lens, offering plenty of compression and separation between your subject and the background, while the f/2.8 aperture and Leica’s optical design should produce beautifully smooth out-of-focus areas. In fact, I suspect plenty of photographers will end up buying this as much for portraiture as they do for macro work, which makes that $2,700 / £2,110 asking price a little easier to justify.
Leica has also made sure the APO-Macro-Elmarit-SL 100mm f/2.8 is practical to use in the real world. There is autofocus alongside a dedicated focus limiter, allowing photographers to restrict focusing between 30cm and 50cm or from 50cm to infinity, which should help prevent the lens from hunting through its entire focusing range. The full-metal body is protected against dust and splashes, while Leica’s AquaDura coating helps repel moisture and dirt from the outer lens surfaces. It weighs 801g without the hood, measures around 137mm in length, and accepts 67mm filters, while compatibility with Leica’s 1.4x and 2x L-Mount extenders gives it even more versatility.
The Leica APO-Macro-Elmarit-SL 100mm f/2.8 might not be cheap, but this feels like one of the more interesting additions to the SL-System in quite some time. It gives Leica photographers a proper native 1:1 macro option, but more importantly, it isn't limited to photographing tiny subjects. Between its 100mm focal length, APO correction, f/2.8 aperture, autofocus, and typically robust Leica construction, this could easily become one of those lenses that moves between the studio, portrait shoots, and the great outdoors without ever feeling out of place. If you want one, I would be getting an order in sooner rather than later.
Check out our guides to the best Leica SL lenses and to the best L-mount lenses
