Key Take-Aways:

Leica’s 2015 full-frame mirrorless body, sealed against dust and spray and built around a high-resolution electronic viewfinder, which Leica positions as a professional tool. Both reviews praise the image quality, the electronic viewfinder and the solid build and both fault the high price; one review (DPReview) also faults the weight and balance with the native lenses and the grip.

From Leica:

The mirrorless Leica SL-System successfully launched in October 2015 underlines the positioning of Leica Camera AG as a premium-segment provider of professional tools and services for all areas of photography. Its impressive electronic viewfinder features EyeRes technology, a concept developed by Leica especially for this camera. With a latency time below the threshold of perception, an impressive resolution of 4.4 million pixels and magnification reminiscent of a medium format camera, this electronic viewfinder offers an entirely new visual experience Whether shooting still pictures or Cine 4K video, the 24 MP resolution of the camera’s full-frame sensor makes no compromises in terms of imaging quality. At the same time, the Leica SL sets entirely new standards with its intuitive handling concept, logically positioned, individually configurable controls and outstanding versatility. Reasons enough for the top ratings and outstanding reviews the dust and spray sealed camera received not only from its users, but also from specialist photographic and technical media around the world.

Official Website

The maker page is Leica’s September 2016 press release “New lenses expand the Leica SL-System”, the quote above is its opening paragraph on the camera, and Leica no longer has a product page or the October 2015 launch release online. Leica’s SL-System technical data sheet (January 2018) could not be reached, so the specs come from Leica’s technical data as reproduced in the specifications section of Photography Blog’s review and from DPReview’s specifications page. The weight of 847 g is with battery: Photography Blog’s copy of Leica’s data gives “approx. 771/847 g (without/with battery)”, and DPReview and Wikipedia also list 847 g including battery; none gives a figure with a memory card fitted. The dimensions of 147 x 104 x 39 mm are from the same Leica data and Wikipedia. Leica publishes no US dollar price today: the launch price of $7,450 (body only) is DPReview’s listed US launch MSRP, and Imaging Resource’s launch report of 20 October 2015 also gives $7,450. Wikipedia’s infobox gives $5,995, which is the later reduced price, not the launch price. The body is discontinued, but the year is not sourced: Leica published no discontinuation notice and no two independent reports naming a year were found, so the year is unknown. The data gives ISO 50 to 50000 (DPReview lists 50 as the lowest, so base ISO 50), a focal plane shutter from 1/8000 s to 60 s with 11 fps continuous shooting (the 7 fps with autofocus figure is not used), and no electronic shutter figure was found, so only the mechanical burst rate is given; a 24 MP full-frame CMOS sensor with contrast-based autofocus only; video at 4K (4096 x 2160) 24 fps and 3840 x 2160 at 30 fps (in a Super 35 crop) and 1080 at up to 120 fps, so slow motion is FHD 120p and there is no open-gate mode; a 4.4 million dot electronic viewfinder; two SD slots, slot 1 UHS-II and slot 2 UHS-I; no internal storage (the 2 GB of internal RAM is a shooting buffer); an ISO flash shoe; and the BP-SCL4 battery rated at 400 shots by the CIPA standard according to DPReview, which Wikipedia also gives. The data does not state a pre-capture burst or USB webcam use, so those are left out. Dust and spray sealing is stated by Leica in the quote above. DPReview has a full review and it is listed first. Product image: Leica press render from DPReview’s product page.

Reviews:

• DPReview: Leica SL (Typ 601) Review, Carey Rose, Feb 2017
• Photography Blog: Leica SL (Typ 601) Review, Mark Goldstein, Feb 2016

YouTube:

• The Art of Photography: Leica SL (Typ 601) Hands On Review, Oct 2018
• Kristian Dowling: 5 YEARS 1 CAMERA | Leica SL, Sep 2020
• Slow Spin Society: Leica SL (Typ 601) Review: The Affordable Way Into Leica Full Frame, Aug 2026