subscribe 0330 333 1113 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 25 January 2020 43
The SL2’s 47.3MP full-frame
sensor does without an optical
low-pass filter to maximise detail,
and teams up with Leica’s latest
Maestro III processor to provide a
sensitivity range of ISO 50-
50,000. Its 14-bit raw files are
recorded in Adobe’s standard
DNG format, which means they
should open in almost any
processing software (although
you’ll need an up-to-date
computer to handle the files).
There’s no on-chip phase
detection, but autofocus is
provided at 225 points arranged
across the entire frame.
Continuous shooting is available
at 10 frames per second with
focus fixed at the start of a burst,
or 20fps using the electronic
shutter (but with the risk of rolling
shutter artefacts and banding
under artificial light). If you require
autofocus and live view between
frames, the speed drops to 6fps.
The fastest shutter speed is
1/8000sec, but the electronic
shutter can be used to boost this
to 1/40,000sec, allowing the use
of large apertures in bright light.
One particularly significant new
feature is the addition of 5-axis
in-body image stabilisation (IBIS).
It’s rated to allow shooting
handheld at shutter speeds up to
5.5 stops slower than would
otherwise be possible, without
image blurring from hand shake
becoming apparent.
In tune with Leica’s philosophy of
stripping a camera back to its
essentials, you don’t get a huge
number of additional features. For
example, there’s a comprehensive
exposure bracketing control, but
nothing along the lines of focus or
white balance bracketing. Likewise
you get an intervalometer, but no
ability to generate time-lapsemovies in-camera. The Auto ISO
control lets you specify a minimum
shutter speed or allow the camera
to select it based upon the focal
length, but this can’t be biased
towards faster or slower speeds.
There’s no in-camera raw
converter, and fripperies such as
subject-specific scene modes or
image-processing filters are
entirely absent.
Videographers will, however, find
plenty to like. The SL2 handles
switching between stills and movie
modes particularly elegantly, with
a single button press activating an
entirely independent camera
set-up, including a video-tailored
onscreen quick menu. It’s one of
the few cameras capable of 4K
(3840x2160) recording at 60fps,
using almost the entire width of
the sensor. Switch from MP4 to
the MOV format and it can even
record 5K video (4992x3744) ina 4:3 aspect ratio at 30fps, along
with Cinema 4K (4096x2160) at
60fps, albeit with a considerable
field-of-view crop. But one glaring
omission is any kind of screen
articulation.
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are both on
board for connecting the camera
to your phone, using the free Leica
Fotos app for Android and iOS.
Unlike the SL, there’s no built-in
GPS unit, but images can instead
be geo-tagged using location data
from your phone via the Fotos
app. Set-up is done entirely using
Bluetooth, which makes it
particularly straightforward, and
the camera can be paired with
multiple devices at the same time.
You can use your phone as a
remote control, complete with live
view and the ability to change the
most important camera settings,
and copy images across for
sharing. I struggled to get this