Leica announces SL (Typ 601), a 24MP full frame mirrorless capable of 11fps and 4K video
posted Tuesday, October 20, 2015 at 1:59 PM EDT
Watch out! Leica has officially launched the Leica SL (Typ 601), a brand new camera system designed to reign in a ‘new Leica experience’.
Inside the sleek, weather-resistant aluminum frame of the SL (Typ 601) is a 24-megapixel full-frame sensor powered by Leica's Maestro II image processor. ISO maxes out at 50,000 while also pumping out an impressive 11 frames per second (fps) in either 14-bit RAW (DNG) or 8-bit JPEG.
The sensor is also capable of recording DCI 4K (4096 x 2160) video at 24fps. The video is captured using the V-Log L gamma profile, ensuring as flat an image as possible is captured to retain as much dynamic range and information as possible.
The lens mount on the Leica SL (Typ 601) is a new ‘Leica L Bayonet Mount’. While entirely new in design, this new mount does work natively with TL-series lenses, although it’s limited to a special APS-C crop mode. Through adapters, the new mount is also capable of accepting Leica T, Leica M, Leica S, Leica R and Leica Cine lenses with the appropriate adapters.
For composing and viewing your images, Leica has included a 0.66“ 4.4MP EyeRes electronic viewfinder (EVF), which has a refresh rate of 60fps, magnification of 0.8x and a field of view of 37°. On the back of the camera is a 2.95” 1.04M-dot LED touchscreen that features an anti-fingerprint and anti-scratch coating along with a viewing angle of 170º.
Media captured with the camera is stored internally via dual SD card slots, one of which uses the UHS-II standard, while the other uses the UHS-I standard.
The Leica SL (Typ 601) also features built-in WiFi for connecting to your smartphone or tablet for complete remote control and GPS for keeping track of where your images were taken.
In addition to the Leica SL (Typ 601), the German manufacturer has released the Vario-Elmarit-SL 24–90 mm f/2.8–4.0 Aspheric zoom lens, the first of three ‘SL’ lenses Leica will be announcing over the course of the next year.
The follow-up Leica APO-Vario-Elmarit-SL 90–280 mm f/2.8–4 is set to go on sale in early 2016 while the Leica Summilux-SL 50 mm f/1.4 ASPH will get released in late 2016. Both of these lenses will feature image stabilization.
The Leica SL (Typ 601) will be available in November 2015 at a price of US$7450. The Vario-Elmarit-SL 24–90 mm f/2.8–4.0 lens will launch alongside it for US$4950. You can pre-order both through B&H now using the above links.