Amateur Photographer - UK (2020-01-25)

46 25 January 2020I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI subscribe 0330 333 1113

beusedtosetexposure

compensationdirectly;

indeedyoucanspecifywhichfor

theP, A andS modes

independently.If youwishtouse

exposurecompensationwithAuto

ISOin manualmode,simplyassign

it tooneof thefunctionbuttons.

Tothisendtherearefive

programmablebuttonsarranged

aroundthebody,whosefunctions

canbeeasilyreassignedby

holdingthemdownfora second.

TheonebesidetheLCD,labelled

Fn,cyclesthroughonscreen

informationdisplaymodes,and

I preferredtoleaveit thisway.

Therearetwomoreonthe

top-platebehindthefrontdial;by

defaultonetogglesbetweenstills

andvideoshooting,whilethe

otheris usedforsettingISO.This

requiresa substantialshiftin grip

topress,butI foundit less

annoyingin real-worldusethan

I expected.Theothertwoare

placedonthefrontplatebeneath

yourthirdandfourthfingers,and

arethemostobvioustoconfigure

toyourpersonalpreferences.

Thewell-placedjoystickis used

tonavigatemenusandposition

theautofocuspoint.It canalsobe

clickedinwardstoactivate

autofocus,evenwhenthecamera

is settoMF,whichcanbehandy

for‘one-shot’focusing.If you

prefer,it canbesettovarious

combinationsof AFandAElock,

ortoactivatefocusmagnification

in MFmode,whichis greatfor

workingwithmanuallenses.

HoweverLeicahasmisseda trick,

asit’snotcapableof movingthe

AFareadiagonally,whichslows

thingsdownwhenyouhaveso

manyfocuspointstochoose

between.Onethingthefirmhas

gotright,though,is itsonscreen

quickmenuforchanging

secondaryfunctions,whichis

accessedbya pressof themenu

buttonandnicelyintegratedinto

thecamera’stouchinterface.A

secondtapof thebuttontakesyou

intothemainmenu,whichis

refreshinglycomprehensible.

ThisallmakestheSL2much

moreconventionalthanits

predecessor,andonceyou’vegot

it setuptoyourliking,it’sfarmore

pleasanttouse.Indeedit’sthe

kindof camerathatgetsoutof

yourwayandbecomessecond

naturetoworkwith.HoweverI

wouldn’tsayit’sclearlybetterthan

itsclosestpeers,theLumixS1R,

NikonZ 7 orSonyAlpha7RIV,

which are also highly refi ned.

Viewfinderandscreen

Onestandoutfeatureof theSL2is

itsviewfinder;indeedits

5.76m-dotEVFis oneof thebest

I’veeverused.It’slarge,brightand

incrediblydetailed,withkey

exposuredataoverlaidonblack

barsaboveandbelowthepreview

image.Thestandard60fpsrefresh

ratecanbeboostedto120fpsto

givesmootherrenditionof

fast-movingsubjects,andyoucan

overlaygridlines,anelectronic

level,andanunobtrusivelive

histogram.Bydefaultthecamera

willpreviewtheexposure,butyou

canturnthisoffin manualmode

forusewithstudioflash.One

surprisingoversight,however,is

thatthere’snoapparentwayto

engagea depthof fieldpreview.

A sensorabovetheeyepiece

switchesautomaticallybetween

theEVFandscreen.At3.2inand

2.1mdots,therearLCDis also

largeanddetailed,whilebeing

extremelyresponsivetotouch.

Howeverit’sdisappointingtoseea

screenwithoutanyformof

articulation,especiallygiventhe

usefulnessof thePanasonicS1R’s

triple-hingedunitfor shooting at

unusualangles.

Autofocus

LeicadescribestheSL2’sAF

systemasbeingbasedon‘contrast

meteringanddepthmapping’,

whichsoundsverymuchlike

Panasonic’sDepthfromDefocus

technology.In practiceit behaves

in muchthesamewaytoo,withfar

greaterdecisivenessthanis usually

displayedbysimplecontrast-

detectionautofocus.

Acomprehensivesetof focus

optionsis available,withthe

defaultSmartAFmode

automaticallydetectingsubject

motionandswitchingbetween

single-shotandcontinuousmodes

accordingly.I foundit gotthings

rightmostof thetime,butit’salso

possibletoselecttheAF-Sand

AF-Cmodesmanually.Youcan

allowthecameratochoosethe

focuspointitself,butI suspect

mostuserswillprefertospecify

thismanually.Thestandard-size

AFareais fineenoughformost

purposes,butthere’salsoa spot

AFoptionforpinpointfocusing.

Alternativelyyoucanselecta

wider-areazonemode,which

makesit easiertofollowmoving

subjects.Objecttrackingandface

detectionmodesarealsoonoffer.

In C-AFmode,theSL2

gives the kind of control over

TheSL2’sblocky,angularbodyissparseonthe

controls,but packs in a good array of features

Focal points

Testbench CAMERA TEST

Dualcards

Bothcardslotssupport

thehigh-speedUHS-II

standard.Theycanbe

usedsequentially,to

back-upfilestoboth

cards,ortosplitJPGs

tooneandDNGs to

the other.

Power

TheneatlydesignedBP-SCL4batteryfitsflushtothebaseplate,with

noseparatecompartmentdoor.It’sgoodfor 370 shotspercharge,and

can be topped up either externally, or through the USB-C port.

Connectors

Ina welcomeadvance

overtheSL,microphone

andheadphonesockets

arebuilt-in,alongside

USB-Candfull-sizeHDMI

ports.Bothaudiosockets

canalsoacceptthe

optionalRC-SCL6wired

remoterelease,asit uses

a 3.5mm connector.

L- m o u n t

TheSL2is compatiblenotjust

withLeica’sownSLlenses

(andTLlensesin APS-Ccrop

mode),butalsoanincreasing

rangeofPanasonicLumixS

andSigmaL-mountlenses.

CanonEF-mountlensescan

alsobeusedviaSigma’s

MC21adapter,butwith some

AF limitations.

OLEDpanel

Thismonochrome

displayshowsthe

exposuremode,

shutterspeed,

aperture,ISO,

remainingcard

capacityand battery

status.

UserProfiles
Uptosixcustomcameraset-upscanbesaved,andbestofall,
givenmeaningfulnamesforeasyrecall– somethingthat’s
sorely missing from most other manufacturers’ cameras.

83mm

107mm

146mm