Key Take-Aways:

The Leica TL is the 2016 update of the Leica T, an aluminium unibody camera built around a large touchscreen with an optional add-on viewfinder. The one review linked praises the minimalist design and the clear, intuitive touchscreen, and faults the missing built-in viewfinder and playback button, autofocus that is not quite rapid in busier scenes, and noisy images at the top ISO settings.

From Leica:

Building on the Leica T camera system, which has been continually advanced in terms speed, ease of handling and flexibility since its launch in 2014, the Leica TL embraces all the perfected features and leads the innovative camera concept into a new generation with even more innovations and new aspects of its design. One of these innovations is the doubling of the size of its internal buffer memory to 32 GB. Other new features are improved autofocus, especially in AF-C mode, and optimised compatibility with lenses from other Leica camera systems. For instance, the Leica TL now supports SL-Lenses with OIS and allows the use of Leica R-System lenses in combination with the R-Adapter L. A new Leica TL app with revised functions offers additional options for sharing pictures by email or on social networks and is now available for the first time for Android as well as iOS devices.

Official Website

The maker page is Leica’s press release of 8 November 2016 presenting the TL system, the quote above is its opening paragraph, 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 TL, which states that the camera is available from the date of launch. The weight of 384 g is with battery, from that data (“Approx. 384g / 339g (with/without battery)”) and confirmed by DPReview’s specifications page, which lists 384 g including battery; neither gives a figure with a memory card fitted. Leica gives 16.2 million effective pixels, while DPReview lists 16.3, so the maker figure is used. Leica publishes no US dollar price: the German press release gives a recommended price of 1,650 EUR, and the launch price of $1,695 (body only) is DPReview’s listed US launch MSRP. The body is discontinued but the year is not reliably sourced: Leica published no discontinuation notice, the TL was followed by the Leica TL2 in 2017, and the only report found of an end of production is JuzaPhoto, which lists production as 2016 to 2017 and appears to draw on a shared database rather than an independent source. The data gives ISO 100 to 12500 (so base ISO 100), about 5 fps continuous shooting, an APS-C CMOS sensor with contrast-based autofocus only, 1080p at 30 fps as the highest video mode (so no open-gate or slow-motion mode), 32 GB of internal memory, one SD/SDHC/SDXC slot with no UHS class stated by Leica, so card_slot_1 is plain SD (no second slot), an ISO flash shoe, and the BP-DC 13 battery rated at about 400 pictures by the CIPA standard. The shutter is taken to be mechanical: the data gives a shutter range of 30 s to 1/4000 s with a flash sync time of 1/180 s, and Leica’s TL2 press release introduces an electronically controlled shutter (silent exposures up to 1/40,000 s) as a new development of the TL2. Leica’s press release names the Visoflex as an optional accessory, so there is no built-in viewfinder. The data does not state the SD card speed class, a pre-capture burst or USB webcam use, and makes no weather-sealing claim, so the first three are left out and weather sealing is false. DPReview has no full review of the TL, so it is not listed. Product image: Leica Store Miami.

Reviews:

• Photography Blog: Leica TL Review, Gavin Stoker, Jan 2017

YouTube:

• Paul Takes Photos: BOUGHT MY FIRST LEICA CAMERA FOR $400 | LEICA TL, Sep 2022
• David Saylors: Leica TL compact digital camera review and why I SOLD it…, Jun 2021
• RAMSEY SPENCER: LEICA TL …. A DIFFERENT TAKE FROM A REAL PHOTOGRAPHER., Mar 2024