Leica SL (Typ 601) review

Leica developed the SL for speed, but is it enough to tempt the pros away from more affordable options?

(Image: © Future)

Digital Camera World Verdict

A Leica comes a certain degree of exclusivity and prestige, but you pay a lot extra for these attributes. The SL is extremely competent, but there are less expensive cameras from Canon, Nikon and Sony that perform just as well.

Pros

  • +

    Superb build quality

  • +

    No-frills approach is actually a positive here

Cons

  • -

    Big, heavy and very expensive

  • -

    Limited lens choice

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Perhaps one of the most notable of the Leica SL’s many surprising aspects is that when its design team first sat down three-and-a-half years ago to create a new professional camera system, they knew it wasn’t going to be an SLR. Yes, even before the arrival of Sony’s Alpha 7s, the Olympus OM-D E-M1 or Fujifilm’s XT-1, Leica was certain the future would be mirrorless.

At that stage even the future of mirrorless cameras was by no means certain so Leica’s strategy was courageous to say the least, but the basis of the design brief was a simple one.

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