Leica SL3 Review

After the Leica M Monochrom and the Leica Q3, I finally had the chance to test the latest representative of Leica’s mirrorless lineup—the Leica SL3. Every time a Leica lands in my hands, I somehow end up bringing it to the rocks to photograph climbers. I’ll admit, given the high price of these cameras, that might not be the safest testing ground. But in such an environment, details surface that I might have overlooked in more comfortable surroundings.

Leica SL3 Handling

In the Leica store, under the glow of a beautifully lit display cabinet, the SL3 (like every Leica) looks like a luxury piece of jewelry. Which, at $7,485, it essentially is. But then the sales clerk unlocks the polished glass case, the camera leaves the spotlight, and suddenly it’s exposed to the real world and daylight.

I received the camera with the Leica Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-90mm f/2.8-4 ASPH attached, and my first reaction when I picked up the combo was: Wow, that’s heavy! Don’t get me wrong, I like the feeling of solid metal in my hands—but the total weight of 2003g (battery and memory card included) was a bit of a surprise. For comparison, the Nikon Z8 paired with the Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4 S weighs 1540g. To be fair, most of the weight comes from the lens. Swapping it out for the Panasonic Lumix S PRO 16-35mm f/4 (500g) brought the camera back into the weight class I had expected.

It was with these two lenses that I photographed the climbers. My plan was to shoot not from the ground but from the tops of rocks, hanging on a rope directly on the wall. Shooting in such exposed places demands full concentration from the photographer, and carefully thought-out ergonomics from the camera. So, how does the Leica SL3 hold up in this regard?

Please take the following lines with a grain of salt. After all, I’ve been using Nikon cameras for the past twenty years, and my muscle memory runs along well-worn neural pathways. Still, the shape of my hand hasn’t changed much over the years, so hopefully at least my assessment of comfort is objective.

I’ll start with the two dials and the thumbwheel. Their movement is precise and clearly defined, leaving the impression of superb craftsmanship. As for the right dial, I personally prefer a recessed wheel (like the thumbwheel), but that’s really a matter of habit. The bigger issue is that the massive right dial prevents your index finger from easily reaching the two Fn buttons hidden behind it. If you want to use them, you either have to loosen your grip with your front fingers or use your thumb. Either way, you lose that secure hold on the camera.

Thankfully, all dials and wheels can be customized to suit your habits. You can decide which control handles aperture, which handles shutter speed, and even reverse the direction of rotation if you like. The thumbwheel has an interesting twist: pressing it cycles through the exposure modes (P, A, S, M).

The Leica SL3 offers six programmable function buttons, plus a joystick whose functionality can also be customized to some extent. On paper, that sounds like a generous set of user options. In practice, things play out a little differently. Along with the questionably accessible top-plate buttons, the two small, closely-spaced function buttons near the lens mount are relatively awkward in design:

What bothered me even more, though, was the question of what to map to those buttons. With cameras from other brands, I’m used to Fn buttons directly triggering the desired action—either by pressing the button itself or in combination with a dial. With the Leica, a function button often serves more as a shortcut to a menu item. It’s certainly quicker than scrolling through the menu, but you’ll still often have to take the camera away from your eye.

There was at least one area where my initial dismay turned into partial relief. With the latest firmware update (version 3.1.1), it became possible to use this camera with back-button autofocus, so—unlike with the Leica Q3—you aren’t stuck focusing and releasing the shutter with the same button. Namely, you can assign focus activation to the SL3’s joystick now. Still, I was surprised that back-button focusing wasn’t part of the SL3’s native “DNA” from the start.

Why only partial relief? Because my fear proved correct: Pressing the joystick without nudging the focus point around inside the frame was beyond my coordination skills. A dedicated AF-ON button would have been far more practical. There’s definitely enough space between the joystick and the thumbwheel to fit one in, so this omission is quite hard to forgive.

And then there’s the power button. I’m not going to criticize its design so much as its speed. Why should I have to wait several long seconds for the camera to power up or shut down? The switch on the SL2—or even better, on the Q or M series—turned the camera on more quickly and felt like a much more efficient solution. I found myself often just leaving the camera powered on, waiting for it to time out and turn off on its own, and then waking it by half-pressing the shutter button. But this isn’t a great solution either, because it can drain the battery more quickly and accidentally activate settings if the camera is jostling around in your bag. Well, the power button glows in the dark, so that’s something…

My final sigh over the SL3’s ergonomics has to do with changing lenses. There’s a good reason why Nikon and Canon place the lens release button on the opposite side of the mount from the grip. That way, you can comfortably—and more importantly, securely—swap a lens, with practice maybe even using just one hand. But on the SL3, the lens release button is on the same side as the grip.

Swapping lenses thirty meters in the air while photographing climbers thus became an unwanted adventure. I didn’t end up dropping any lenses, but I certainly breathed a sigh of relief when everything made it back to the ground safely.

Focusing

The Leica M and Q lines were never meant to be action-oriented cameras, and they don’t pretend otherwise. Their character leans toward quieter subjects—street, documentary, or landscapes. Their focusing behavior reflects that heritage. But with most other mirrorless cameras, we’ve grown accustomed to a different set of expectations. So, where does the SL3 fit in?

If I had to compare, I’d say its autofocus feels a lot like the first-generation Nikon Z cameras. Animal detection on the SL3 is still in beta, and to be honest, I didn’t even attempt testing it with the lenses I had available. Leica has always been more at home photographing people, so I was more curious to see how well it could lock onto human faces.

The camera does a decent job detecting faces and even eyes. As long as there aren’t too many people in the frame, you can leave the feature switched on and be reasonably happy with the results. Things get messier once the number of people increases. The camera tries to detect every potential subject, and you can then pick between them using the joystick. The problem is that if there are many targets, the camera often focuses on the one you don’t want. Narrowing the AF area in eye detection mode doesn’t really fix this issue.

For classic portraiture, where a head fills most of the frame, eye detection does its job very well. If there are more people in the shot, or if the person takes up a relatively small portion of the frame, you’re better off choosing “Field.” This will take you back in time technologically, but it will make the AF behavior more predictable and the results more consistent.

The SL3’s discomfort with action photography also shows up in its burst performance. With continuous autofocus, you’ll get full-quality RAWs at up to 4 FPS. Push it just one frame faster, and your RAWs drop from 14-bit to 12-bit. Between 6 and 15 FPS, both focus and exposure lock on the first frame of the series. In the most generous reading, with Leica, life isn’t meant to be rushed.

Optical Image Stabilization

With a 60MP sensor, steady hands—or strong image stabilization—are a must. In this respect, the SL3 doesn’t disappoint. Unlike its predecessor, it features 5-axis In-Body Image Stabilization (IBIS), rated for up to 5 stops of compensation. In practice, I was able to handhold shutter speeds down to around 1/15th second at 50mm and wider. At that point, subject blur can be the bigger factor.

Viewfinder and Rear Display

Looking through the SL3’s 5.76-million-dot OLED electronic viewfinder is a real pleasure. The image is bright, with pleasing color and contrast. I especially like the large diopter adjustment ring, designed much like the one you’d find on a pair of binoculars. As for information overlays, you can choose anything from a minimalistic exposure triangle to a full readout of every setting. So far, so good.

But a few quirks did distract me from the shooting experience. In manual mode, you’d normally expect the brightness of the image in the EVF to change as you adjust your exposure settings. The SL3 does this too, but just before the brightness settles into place after a half-press of the shutter, the viewfinder briefly darkens or brightens.

The EVF also behaves unexpectedly during continuous autofocus. When holding down the joystick (which doubles as an AF-ON button), the image in the viewfinder softens slightly, almost like the shimmering of hot air on a summer day. It often left me with the uneasy feeling that the autofocus wasn’t doing its job. Just to be safe, I found myself refocusing after a few shots. The resulting images, however, were perfectly sharp.

As for the rear 3.2-inch touchscreen, the SL3 finally joins the crowd of cameras with a tilting display. It only moves up and down, similar to the Nikon Z6 and Z7 series, but compared to the fixed screen on the SL2, it’s a big step forward in usability.

Menu and User Settings

Navigating the menus is in line with Leica’s other current cameras, which is a good thing. The most frequently used settings are grouped in the Control Center, accessible with a single press of the Menu button. A double press takes you into the detailed menu, which can be customized so that your most-used functions (up to 11) are grouped in one place. That creates a new tab—the Favorites Menu—which then becomes the first item in the menu.

For more complex requirements, it’s worth making use of User Profiles (up to six are available). These allow you to switch easily between different predefined setups. In essence, it’s Leica’s answer to other brands’ shooting menu banks or custom settings. To swap between them quickly, you can use either the menu itself or one of the four programmable Fn buttons.

Assigning functions to those Fn buttons is simple and intuitive. Just hold one down for a couple of seconds, and you can then pick from a long list of options. Unfortunately, as I mentioned earlier, Fn buttons are usually not truly “executive” in nature but instead act more like shortcuts to the most frequently used menu settings.

Battery Life

According to CIPA standards, the Leica SL3 should manage only 260 shots on a single charge. Needless to say, this is not a particularly impressive figure. Fortunately, in real-world use, the battery only gives up after taking a significantly larger number of shots. The best I managed was 775 shots on a single charge. To get there, I kept chimping to an absolute minimum, didn’t record a single video, turned the camera off during idle moments—basically, I was in power-saving survival mode. In more realistic use, expect closer to 500 shots per charge.

Build Quality and Weather Resistance

When it comes to build quality, describing a Leica feels like carrying coal to Newcastle or owls to Athens. It’s the very definition of “Made in Germany” precision. The camera should have no problem surviving weather outside the studio, with sealing rated to IP54. If I had to find a small flaw, it would be the card slot door, which felt just a bit “cheap” when gripping the camera firmly in hand. But on balance, this is one of the best-built cameras you will find anywhere today.

Image Quality

If you’ve gotten the impression that I’ve been somewhat critical of the Leica SL3 so far, then this is the section where I can only offer praise. Images born from the cooperation of the 60MP BSI CMOS sensor, the Maestro IV image processor, and a Leica (or Panasonic) lens are simply perfect.

If you’re a purist who dislikes editing, even the JPEGs straight out of camera look excellent. Just pick one of Leica’s color or monochrome profiles and start shooting. That said, I suspect most users will choose the RAW route, which usually means giving up in-camera color presets.

What you gain instead is nearly endless flexibility for color adjustments and a much wider dynamic range compared to JPEG. Leica claims the SL3 delivers up to 15 stops of dynamic range, though I find that a bit optimistic. I’d rather trust the measurements at Photons to Photos, which put it at 11.24 EV at ISO 100. For comparison, the same source rates the Sony a7R V’s photographic dynamic range at 11.69 EV.

For the image below, I intentionally overexposed a climbing wall scene to see if I could recover highlight detail. On the rear display, the climber was practically invisible against the lit wall, with only darker structures showing through. At ISO 10,000, the dynamic range shrinks to less than half, yet I was still able to recover most of the clipped highlights.

As for noise, the SL3 handles it impressively well given the high resolution. Even without noise reduction, “grain” at ISO 10,000 doesn’t feel distracting.

Competition

The Leica SL3 sits on the photographic equivalent of Everest, at least in terms of price. But at every summit, the wind blows strong. So let’s not look for competition in a similar price range, because then we would have to look at medium-format cameras with a resolution of 100MP. Even in these waters, you can get the latest Hasselblad X2D II 100C for almost $100 less.

So instead of comparing price tags, let’s look at sensor resolution. In that regard, the Leica SL3’s closest rival is the Sony a7R V ($4,198) with its 61MP BSI CMOS sensor. With the Sony, you get a far more advanced autofocus system, double the continuous shooting speed, significantly better battery life, and access to fast super-telephoto lenses (and a larger native lens lineup in general). A similar story would unfold if you compare it to the Sony a1 II ($6,998). Although its resolution is “only” 50MP, it outperforms the Leica SL3 in most other parameters. BUT, Sony is not Leica.

Let’s go a bit lower in resolution, and the pack of competitors gains strength. Canon EOS R5 Mark II ($3,899), Nikon Z8 ($3,797), or even Nikon Z7 II ($1,997). Frankly, out of all of these cameras, it is the Nikon Z7 II that reminded me the most of the Leica. A single-axis tilting LCD, a competent but unexceptional autofocus system, and brilliant image quality. BUT, Nikon is not Leica.

With Leica, you’re never just buying a camera. Much like with other luxury brands, you’re also buying the aura, the prestige, the feeling of owning something special.

Conclusion

If you strip away the luxury of a Leica, the SL3 is far from the most appealing camera that I have used. Even if you do place a high value on owning a Leica, other cameras of theirs, like the M-series rangefinders, seem to make more pragmatic sense to me. The SL3 is impressive in some ways, but I wouldn’t recommend it to most photographers who are considering one.

What I liked:

• Image quality from the 60MP sensor
• Clear and intuitive menu system
• The beautiful viewfinder (with the exception of its odd AF-C behavior)
• Seamless connection with the Leica Fotos app; firmware updates were simple, even without using a memory card (unlike Nikon)
• The Leica SL3 is a beautiful, charismatic camera, even if you cover up the red dot and bold LEICA lettering with black tape
• Exceptional build quality

What I didn’t like:

• Ergonomics and button design
• Long start-up time
• Slightly blurred viewfinder image during continuous autofocus (AF-C)
• Autofocus performance lags behind the competition by about five years
• Weight, especially when paired with the tested 24-90mm f/2.8-4 Leica lens
• Continuous shooting loses 14-bit RAW above 4 FPS, and loses AF and metering above 5 FPS
• The high price of $7,485

You can purchase the Leica SL3 and check the current price here from B&H.

More Sample Images