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Anyone here with an SL3?
- Thread starter pdk42
- Start date
I was able to test the camera last weekend at a small exhibition at a local dealer. To be honest at the end I was more interested in the DLux8 and not in the SL3! The DLux is a nice small camera for traveling with very good handling.
The SL3 was extremely slow in startup and the general "feeling" was nothing to spend nearly 7000€. If Panasonic will build the 60MP sensor into an S5R as a high level S5II it would be much more interesting for me, especially if the price would be only half of the SL3...
The SL3 was extremely slow in startup and the general "feeling" was nothing to spend nearly 7000€. If Panasonic will build the 60MP sensor into an S5R as a high level S5II it would be much more interesting for me, especially if the price would be only half of the SL3...
pdk42
Moderator
Thanks for that. An interesting observation about its performance on startup. €7k is a very big pill to swallow! Let's see what Panasonic do in 2025.
I hadn't realised until recently that there was a new D-Lux (the 8). The 7 was of course (almost) the same as the LX100ii, but it seems at the minute that the 8 doesn't have a direct Panasonic equivalent. From what I can see the main improvement over the D-Lux 7/LX100ii is that the viewfinder is much improved. There are also some big changes to the button layout which make it look closer in approach to other Leica cameras, rather than the stereotypical "Japanese" layout of the LX 100ii. I wonder if Panasonic will bring out an LX100iii? I guess if they do that they'll omit the button changes on the D-Lux 8.
The big omission on all the LX cameras to date though is the lack of a tilt or flip rear screen. I decided years ago that I'd never buy another camera without both an EVF and a tiltable/flippable rear screen. I haven't yet gone back on that!
I had one for the last weekend - and I have to say my observations are very different.
Actual start up from cold wasn't great but no mirrorless is really - however if you put it in sleep (short press on the power button) start up is instant.
As a whole I would have to say it's far and away the best camera I've used and definitely feels the most premium - I haven't used a Canon R1 but have taken tens of thousands of images with the R3 and have handled most of the other flagship cameras and the Leica feels the most intuitive and the most solidly built to me. I really liked not having markings on the buttons so that you're not having to fight with what you read or see when you configure it to work the way you want it to.
The AF is a lot better than I was expecting (similar with subtle differences to my S5II) and the EVF, screen, and menu system are all flagship level.
I think it might be a bit caught, it doesn't initially feel as direct to control as the technology focussed cameras - and it is way to complex for someone that doesn't understand photography or cameras to use well. But it hits that sweet spot for me of elegance, which I see as making things as simple as they can be without over simplifying.
Unfortunately storm Darragh and having a lot of children to entertain got in the way of really giving it a great go outdoors or trying to use it for sports but even indoors in relatively low light at relatively high ISOs it did a great job.
The interface is so good too - when you change things like burst rates it tells you at each setting what the bit depth and other limitations (AF / NO AF) are. I really liked it.
Thinking as I type that - I strive for that as simple as possible approach in everything and that's what my career is built on, so that's probably why it resonates so much with me!
If I could afford one at the moment I would have ordered it.