Leica Adds More Video Goodies To New SL Body

Essentially a replacement for the original 24MP Leica SL, the new SL2-S shares the same more compact body as the existing SL2, but has an all-new 24MP sensor and significantly enhanced video capabilities. The SL2-S joins a growing line-up of L mount fullframe mirrorless camera bodies that includes four from Panasonic and one from Sigma. The body construction is the same as that of the SL2, with the top and bottom plates machined from blocks of aluminium, and weather protection to IP54 standards for sealing against the intrusion of moisture and dust. It’s also insulted to enable shooting in subzero temperatures down to -10 degrees Celsius.

The main differences externally are a nameplate picked out in gloss black rather than white, and the inclusion of a small sensor to measure exposures when M mount lenses are fitted (for the sole reason of creating useable metadata since it isn’t available from the lens).

On the inside, the new sensor is a 24.6MP BSI-type CMOS which goes without a low-pass filter and has a sensitivity range equivalent to ISO 50 to 100,000. As with the SL2, in-body image stabilisation is provided via sensor shifting and operates over five axes to give up to 5.5 stops of correction for camera shake (depending on the lens focal length). Sensor shifting enables a ‘Multi-Shot’ high resolution mode which will capture eight frames – with half-pixel shifts – to give 96MP resolution.

Leica’s latest Maestro III processor does the number crunching, which includes continuous shooting at 25fps when using the electronic shutter and 9fps with the mechanical shutter. A 4GB buffer memory gives limitless burst lengths at 25fps for JPEG capture and up to 50 RAW frames (which are again in the Adobe DNG format). On the video side, the SL2-S can record both 4K UHD and Cinema 4K at 25 or 30fps with 10-bit 4:2:2 colour internally, and at 50 or 60fps externally via HDMI (the full-size Type A connector, incidentally). Leica L-Log recording is available with LUTs coming via firmware upgrade some time in the first half of this year. This will add the option of the more efficient HEVC H.265 codec, as well as the Long GOP interframe compression as an alternative to ALL-Intra. The upgrade will also add a waveform monitor, colour bars, time code support and a tally lamp. There is no time limit on video clips.

The SL2-S has dual SD memory card slots, both with UHS II speed support. It inherits the same 5.76 million dots OLED EVF from the SL2, and a fixed 3-inch LED-backlit monitor with 2.1 million dots resolution and touch controls. It also has the same user interface as the SL2 with dedicated ‘Photo’ or ‘Video’ main displays that adjust the readouts accordingly. With the latter, there’s the option of a Cine-orientated display, so ISO becomes ASA, the shutter speed is marked in degrees (as it would be with a rotary disk shutter) and f-stops are replaced by T-stops. As we noted with the SL2, the autofocusing appears to be a version of Panasonic’s DepthFrom-Defocus (DFD) methodology using contrast-detection measurements and 225 points. Eye detection focusing and tracking will be added with the firmware upgrade.

The SL2-S allows for tethered shooting with the latest Capture One 21 software, and other features include an intervalometer, multiple exposure facility and auto exposure bracketing. Otherwise, like the SL2, the SL2-S avoids any unnecessary frills.

The Leica SL2-S is available in Australia now priced at $7,500 body only. For more information visit https:// au.leica-camera.com