Leica SL First Impressions: The SL Might – Just Might — Be Worth Its $8K Price

Look, there’s no getting around the fondness I have for the Leica brand. A Leica IIIa was the first 35mm camera I ever held, and both the company’s origin story and the values it has shown throughout most of its history are compelling – to me. Still, I approached the Leica SL at PhotoPlus Expo warily. 

Maybe it was the fact that my “most of its history” qualifier is a not-so-oblique reference to Leica’s more recent past – what I’ll call the wandering-in-the-desert/rebadged Panasonic/bling period – and I even ditched my M8 [B&H | Amazon] because I found it to be an unconvincing proposition.

There are plenty of people who would disagree with me, and that’s fine.

But this SL may mark an inflection point when industrial design competes on more even footing with pure specs per dollar by still delivering the goods.

You can read the rest of this post on planet5D, where it was originally published.