Key Take-Aways:

The Leica CL is a 2017 APS-C body with a built-in viewfinder, styled after Leica’s classic cameras, with its main controls on the top plate. One review praises its handling and image quality and faults the high price and the fixed screen.

From Leica:

The Leica CL is an intuitive tool, with all essential controls located on its top plate. In addition to the high-resolution electronic viewfinder, there are two dials for setting the aperture, shutter speed ISO value, and exposure compensation. Everything is so conveniently located that photographs can be made without taking the camera from the eye. An additional display on the top plate instantly provides information about all relevant settings and exposure parameters. Together with the perfectly defined release pressure point, this ensures that users have absolute control over every picture they take with the Leica CL.

Official Website

The maker page is Leica’s press release of 21 November 2017 presenting the Leica APS-C System with the Leica CL, the quote above is its paragraph on the CL, and Leica no longer has a product page for this body. The specs come from the technical data in Leica’s press information for the Leica APS-C System. The weight of 403 g is with battery, from that data (“Approx. 403 g/353 g (with/without battery)”) and confirmed by DPReview’s specifications page, which lists 403 g including battery; neither gives a figure with a memory card fitted. Leica gives 24.24 million effective pixels, which DPReview rounds to 24.2. Leica publishes no US dollar price in the press release: the launch price of $2,795 (body only) is DPReview’s listed US launch MSRP. The body is discontinued: Leica issued a statement in May 2022 on the phasing out of the CL and TL2 system, which was reported by Macfilos on 20 May 2022 and, quoting Leica’s statement, by Leica Rumors on 17 May 2022, so the year is 2022. The data gives ISO 100 to 50000 (so base ISO 100), about 10 fps continuous shooting with the mechanical shutter (shutter speeds to 1/8000 s) and 10 fps with the electronic shutter (shutter speeds to 1/25000 s), so the body has both shutters; an APS-C CMOS sensor with contrast-based autofocus only; 4K video at 30 fps and full HD at 60 fps, so there is no frame rate above 60 fps and no open-gate mode; one SD/SDHC/SDXC slot that supports UHS-II (no second slot) and no internal memory; a 2.36 million dot built-in electronic viewfinder; an ISO flash shoe; and the BP-DC12 battery rated at about 220 pictures by the CIPA standard. The data does not state a pre-capture burst or USB webcam use, and makes no weather-sealing claim, so the first two are left out and weather sealing is false. DPReview has no full review of the CL, so it is not listed. Product image: Leica Store Miami.

Reviews:

• Photography Blog: Leica CL Review, Amy Davies, Nov 2017

YouTube:

• Magic of Light by photographer Thorsten Overgaard: Leica CL Mirrorless Camera Review by Thorsten Overgaard, Dec 2018
• Matt Osborne: Digital Leica CL Review - Why You Should Buy! | Leica CL Digital 10 Point Evaluation, May 2020