Leica's full frame system is firmly 21st century at last

RAW and JPEG sample images including comparison with M-series and L-mount lenses.

Perhaps the biggest camera launch of the year, yet another new offering from Leica and it doesn't overly rely on the Leica M legacy. It's the Leica SL Type 601, the camera that launches Leica's new full frame mirrorless camera system. I'll have a closer look at the hardware in a separate article but I can give you some fundamental first impressions to accompany the gallery of RAW and JPEG sample images accessible towards the end of this page.

High-tech full frame thoroughbred

It looks like the goal of a full frame interchangeable lens system camera was already in Leica's schedule when it launched the APS-C sensor T model last year. The full frame SL uses the same lens mount as the T, although full frame optics will be called L-mount lenses. SL bodies accept T-mount lenses without any need for an adapter and automatically crop the sensor to APS-C dimensions, reducing the pixel count from 24 million to 10 million. We think the CMOS sensor, which has an ISO setting range of 50-50,000 ISO, is variant of the one used in the recently launched and enthusiastically-received Leica Q fixed-lens 'compact' camera.

No aperture rings - minimalist ergonomics

Even more so than the T, the SL differentiates itself radically from the iconic M series; there are no aperture rings on the lenses and the body has hardly any legends on it. There is certainly no shutter speed etched knob - everything relies on context-sensitive buttons and switch/command dials as well as a touch-sensitive LCD screen. The Eyeres viewfinder is all-electronic, packing a 4.4 million pixel resolution and a spacious 0.8x view. You can shoot at up to 11 frames per second and the contrast-detect autofocus, at least for single-action focusing, is so fast that Leica says it's the fastest of any full frame camera system. You get two SD card slots, 4K video shooting at 30fps and Full HD video shooting at up to 120fps. You also get an OLED top plate status display, WiFi, GPS and USB3 built in. All this is housed in a body machined from just two blocks of aluminium alloy. Don't worry - this is a Leica so after machining the components are hand-finished.

24-90 promises much but it's enormous

Likely to be the most popular lens supplied with SL bodies to start with is the Vario Elmarit L 24-90mm f/2.8-4. This is an enormous lens for its class but Leica says its performance is, as you would expect, outstanding. The variable maximum aperture throughout the zoom range was necessary to keep the size of the lens down. Here are the maximum apertures available throughout the zoom range:

• 24mm - f/2.8
• 27mm - f/2.9
• 35mm - f/3.1
• 50mm - f/3.6
• 76mm - f/3.9
• 90mm - f/4.0

Using a Summicron-M 35mm f/2.0 Asph

I was also keen to see how the SL coped using an M-series lens and there was a Summicron-M 35mm f/2 Asph available and samples taken with this lens are included in the gallery below. My very early impression is that the SL sensor has been tweaked to deal with the problem of M-lens corner shading and loss of sharpness but it's not as aggressive as the sensors used in M-series digital bodies. However, it's significantly better than when using such lenses on a Sonly Alpha 7 body.

Sample images

And so onto the sample images - 26 in all and each with both in-camera JPEG and DNG camera RAW variants for you to download. I've included an ISO range comparison plus some general shots as well as a comparison using the 24-90 and the M 35mm. Colour wasn't really something I could play with much as London's sky was overcast - but at least it wasn't raining! Please be aware that the Summicron-M indictaed aperture value settings aren't very precise because they are estimate via the M-adapter coding system.

To view the photo in your browser just click on the appropriate thumbnail below. To download the image file, use the 'save target as' or equivalent function on your browser. All sample images provided here are copyrighted and made available for personal, non-commercial, evaluation only.