Wow! Leica reduces the price of the SL by $1500!

32 Comments

1. I’d love to buy the SL, if only they fixed the focus point behaviour with manual focus lenses…

2. Hi there..I come back I see my comnent has not been published. Despite me giving you money by clicking on your links plus a donation. Since I pay you but you dont publish my thoughts, then my lawyer advise me to sue you. See you soon

   • NOW THIS wins comment of the year! A TROLL (who is lying here BTW) who trolls nasty comments towards others here, and they never get posted, now threatens to SUE ME for not allowing his troll comments. Lol, hahaha. I am laughing my rear off right now (I really am). Go for it tomato, come on, sue me for that!!! Sad that there are people like this in the world today. See you soon Mr. Tomatoe. If you had even a smudge of intelligence you would realize how NOT smart you sound here. What you need to do is enjoy your life, stop hating it. You may be angry with your situation but coming here to troll day in and out (and never seeing your troll comments show up) must be tiring. You will never have another comment appear on this site, ever again. So know that, and know that one can not sue a website for not allowing their comment. Lol. This is MY site, and if you abuse it, you will NOT be seen or heard on it. I let this one through as it is just so damn funny. Thank you. hehe, still chuckling.

   • You have got to be kidding us. What’s next, subscribing to Time magazine and suing them for not publishing your editorial you proposed? This comment is an insult to any reader who has contributed major work FOR FREE for this website and to Steve anyway.

3. Shoot SL about 95% using M lenses (& 1 R-lens) and Canon DS series with zooms about 5%. Love thel ergonomics of and IQ of the SL. At a crossroads with development of my SL system. To go 100% SL, I’d need to buy their $5000 24-90 and eventually the equally pricy 90-280. OR, move to the A9 and save a boatload of money in the long run. I just completely dislike the Sony interface, but realistically I’d never see Leica tech keeping up with the Sony development team. Having come from Canon DS series, weight is a non-issue for either the SL or Sony. If Sony had the A9 and this timeframe was just pre-SL, I would have choked and gone with the Sony system. Now I’m thinking of getting another SL body and the 24-90. Am I confused yet 🙂

   • You and me both. I love the SL as well, and to me, it is superior to the A9 in many ways yet the A9 is superior in others. The SL is a thing of Beauty for sure and can put out a lovely image.

     • Hey Steve:
       Just curious what you think is superior in the SL over the A9? I’ve got my thoughts, which must be positive or I would’ve jumped off the Leica ship a while ago. Just curious, your thoughts.

       • Well, looks/design, build quality, premium feel etc. Then the EVF, it’s bigger than the A9’s and appears more ‘picture window”. The color of the SL has its own signature, and IMO nicer than what comes from a Sony. If you shoot M glass or SL’s own glass, the quality is superb. The Sony pro’s are smaller size, more versatile with lenses, better in low light and high ISO, faster AF and great 4K video capability. Overall IQ though, I would give to the SL.

4. When is the new model going to be announced ? ? ?
   Anyway whatever the price, every time I complete an assignment with the Sl, I appreciate it more… it is a camera that works with the photographer..
   Stuart

   • I do not think there will be a new SL model for 2-3 years.

   • I think the single most compelling reason for the SL is that you can use M lenses and actually focus them very precisely. I’m not personally a fan of the native lenses; I think they are very large, very expensive and they just don’t render as nicely as the M lenses do; the images they produce, ironically, look a lot like the images I used to get out of my Sony A7rII.

     I am lucky that my approach to photography is to use a 50mm for 85% of everything I do and a 35mm for the rest so I can get both the lenses I need, second hand, without spending another small fortune. If I felt I needed or wanted a long telephoto or kit zoom I probably wouldn’t even consider the SL as an option. It is afterall ludicrously expensive.

5. This price drop should produce a nice uptick in SL sales especially since DiggyLloyd just eviscerated the M10 in his review. Many who were considering the M10 will undoubtedly go for the SL.

   • Diggy is a woman, and what review?

   • Well some reviewers ,maybe 1-2, like to find things wrong with cameras when used in ways no one would use said camera. The M10 is beautiful and I know SO MANY personally who ADORE it and love it and wouldn’t trade it for anything else. I was told by my readers that a certain reviewer also said the A9 had banding issues when myself and many other reviews couldn’t reproduce it if we tried. Again, use a camera how it is meant to be used and you should have no issues with any of todays cameras. The M10 is fantastic, the A9 is stellar and the best I have used to date for versatility and quality, the SL is gorgeous and one of my all time faves as well. Wish we were all rich so we could enjoy them all ; )

   • I just looked at that guy’s rant about the M10. Has he even tried it? He owns an M240, and doesn’t think it is a street shooter’s camera? Maybe he doesn’t know how to use it. It is ok if a rangefinder is not your thing, but if someone invested $30k in Leica gear and doesn’t like the M10, arguably the best Leica rangefinder and a nice improvement over the M240, then I cannot take that guy seriously. I’m sorry. Sell that Leica gear and enjoy that Hasselblad digital medium format camera (which I am not discrediting btw., but it was what the author mentioned in a price comparison.)

6. $4,000 more and I’ll buy one. 😀

7. Ouch….
   Not sure who’s feeling the pain worse, the guy who just listed his for sale today and finds out his selling price equals or exceeds the brand new price, OR, the guy who just paid $1500 more for a new one, OR, the guy who just paid more than the new price for a used one last week ???

   Hurts all around

   On the other hand, the guy who was in the market and didn’t pull the trigger yet surely has a nice surprise, so its all relative I guess….

   • It does suck, but this sort of thing always happens in the digital era. You loose money as soon as you “drive it off the lot.” Hopefully, people will just use the camera extensively for many years. I owned an M8 and then an M9 and a Monochrom. Price per photograph, they have been my smartest decisions. It goes back to what Steve wrote in his last article: buy what you really love, and use it. Then it is worth any price.

8. The SL is a great camera and the viewfinder is a game changer. I am an M user and the weight and bulk makes the SL a non-contender for me, but I know that it is a well-thought out camera and a great performer that makes for a camera to be used and enjoyed for many years to come.

9. Steve, I have the SL mainly on the strength of it’s fantastic EVF performance. However, the wight is getting my down and will move to the M 10 ordered from Ken Hansen (BTW a really nice guy to deal with, as you have said). And now my SL is worth less on the used market. Tough, but I do miss the M RF shooting.

   My question of you is, how much will I give away putting aside the SL EVF and moving to the Visoflex 020 on the M 10, in your opinion? Your M 10 review is a rave WITHOUT THE VISOFLEX 020, but do not believe you covered the EFV. You liked the more open OVF, but I wear glasses and have 82 year old eyes!

   • The EVF experience on the SL will beat the M10 with EVF experience. The Leica M10, while much better than the 240 in regards to EVF lag and slowness is still not up to the SL which is still the best I have shot with when it comes to EVF size and WOW factor. The M10 is really meant for RF use and the EVF is there “in case you must have it”. Not bad, just not up there with the SL in use.

   • With the Visoflex the difference between SL and M10 is 100 grams or something? If you don’t use native SL lenses, the differences in weight are minimal.

10. I understand the Leica Vintage/Heritage/Legacy Red Dot mystique when it comes to their Rangefinder though it is still just a boutique camera for the uber-rich IMHO. Mere mortals simply cannot justify spending all the extra money to make a better picture when there are much better alternatives at 1/3 the price. In the case of the SL, Leica attempted to step out of its Rangefinder comfort zone and test the mirrorless full frame waters. They simply underestimated the full frame juggernaut that has become Sony Alpha Series. Call this recent development (a fifteen hundo price drop in the SL flagship) just another result of the “A9 Effect”. Canikon be afraid…be very afraid 😉

    • “Mere mortals simply cannot justify spending all the extra money to make a better picture…”

      They don’t make better pictures, you do. No matter how good your oven is, the skill of the chef and quality of the ingredients are the only thing you’ll “taste” at the end of the day.

      Any high-quality camera made today can produce more than sufficient IQ for the vast, vast majority of needs.

11. Sigh…. I just paid full price for the SL ONE MONTH AGO (29 May 17)!!!!!!

    What I want is the price of the lenses to come down so that I can buy the 90-280!

    Wishful thinking anyway….

    • Hate when that happens, but sadly, it happens.

    • Ask for a price adjustment or just return it.

12. Don’t say “nobody”. I know a long time Canon shooter who was torn between upgrading to the 5D Mark IV and the A9. In the end he went with the Canon because he has lots of Canon lenses.

13. It’s due to the Sony a9. Canon and Nikon prices seem to have just come down at shops here as well. Nobody is going to buy something like a 1dx over the Sony a9 now.

    • In your opinion maybe. I disagree. I dont want to get into it because this site isn’t called DPR.

    • Well, the Sony A9 may well be a factor. More broadly, makers only reduce prices if either: 1) a new model is due to come out shortly and they’re clearing inventory; or 2) if the product isn’t selling very well. Given the amount of the reduction, I suspect it’s number 2 … and Sony likely has something to do with that.

      • I agree. Nobody lowers there price by 20% without a very good reason.

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