While Leica is still best known for their innovative M Series, they have also been making more mainstream mirrorless cameras with their SL line since 2015. This year, they’re releasing the third generation of that mirrorless full-frame system in the form of the Leica SL3.
Like its predecessors, the camera combines the outfit’s signature styling with general handling that shares more in common with popular mirrorless cameras from Canon and Sony. Similarly, it’s packed with the impressive specs, bringing mirrorless fans a camera that can absolutely compete with the best the category has to offer.
The Leica SL3 is equipped with a 60-megapixel BSI CMOS full-frame sensor, which features 15 stops of dynamic range, 14-bit color depth, and, according to the outfit, “exceptionally good noise reduction,” along with a wide native ISO range of 50 to 100,000. They pair it with the outfit’s Maestro IV image processor, allowing it to capture images at either 60, 36, or 18 megapixels in DNG or JPG formats, as well as record 8K videos at 30 fps and 4K at 60 fps, making this an equally capable camera for photography and videography alike. If you record externally via the HDMI output, both 8K and 4K videos can be captured in 60 fps. It supports L-Log Rec. 2020 and HLG Rec. 2020 for both resolutions, although ProRes is only available for 1080p.
The camera has a new autofocus system that, the outfit claims, uses efficient algorithms to combine phase detection, depth map, and contrast detection, making optimized and precise adjustments to produce perfectly sharp images in any lighting situation. Naturally, it can handle face and eye detection, as well as animal detection and, supposedly, much-improved tracking for moving subects. It also boasts five-axis optical image stabilization, ensuring you can easily eliminate camera shake from your handheld photos and videos alike.
The Leica SL3 has a new 3.2-inch LCD in the back, which gets the ability to tilt in this iteration of the mirrorless camera, along with a 0.78x OLED electronic viewfinder. It runs an all-new software interface, too, which features simpler icons, better contrast, and different schemes for both the video and photo settings, so you know exactly whether you’re fiddling with one or the other. On the top left, the outfit added a new programmable dial, along with the two from the last model, for functions you want to put within easy access, while moving the rear menu buttons to the right side for convenient control using the right hand, which makes perfect sense when you see the much larger hand grip on the same side out front.
It has an IP54 rating, so you should be able to shoot outdoors without worry about dust or water splashes. Other features include 15 fps burst speeds, CFexpress type B and SD UHS-II memory card storage, HDMI slot, USB-C port, mic/headphone jacks, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi with MIMO, built-in GPS (availability depends on country), an 8GB buffer, and a full-metal housing.
The Leica SL3 is available now, priced at $6,995.