🔴 Leica M10 Honeymoon OVER? 15 Reasons to buy a Leica SL in 2024 

After 2 months of owning my Leica M10 I used my SL and forgot how good it is!

You are the main reason why I bought an SL.😂 It was the best decision I ever made. It's my fav camera to date!! Thank you!!

I absolutely love how well you explain the value each camera offers while still mentioning their drawbacks. I purchased my own vintage M3-DS after months of watching your content. I’ve enjoyed my time with it but not cost of film! Now the M10 isn’t looking too bad in the long run. Thanks for the great video!

Matt you are right on here my friend. Excellent points! I first purchased M10-R second hand and loved it right away. After years of shooting Nikon and Canon, the Leica experience was exactly what I needed. I have added the SL2 with Sigma lenses to have AF. I enjoy shooting the SL2 as much as M10-R. Thanks for this video.

I gotta be honest. I went from liking my SL when I first got it, to hating it, to being absolutely in love with it and I’ll never let it go. My 3 Leica collection (Leica M10, M10 Monochrom, and SL 601) is probably all I could really want. Sure there is no IBIS in any of them but all 3 are very fun to use and each give me a different experience.

The only thing I don’t like about my SL is the size. It’s not exactly a street photographers dream camera. However, having looked at an M10 for quite a while, I can’t justify the high prices of this camera. I had also been looking for a CL digital but finally decided to go with Fuji to cut down on size from what I had been using. For the price of a CL body I got an X-E3 and five lenses. I don’t think I’ve lost that much in quality of photos by going that route. Great travel and street photography set up. Now back to M10 vs Leica SL. Phillip Reeves did a deep dive on the M10 and concluded that the M10 doesn’t offer enough to justify the price. In fact he stated that the Sony A7R series will give just about the same quality for a lower price point. He also listed a ton of negatives with the M10, some of which you covered here. It’s not the ideal camera for sure. But for some of the reasons you listed and the use of M glass it’s a must have I guess for those Leica fanboys. I’ll stick with my SL for those times I want to have the Leica experience and get some fantastic shots. I spent a day in Berlin a while back and got some amazing photos. I have heard the SL has the Leica magic that even the newer SL2 doesn’t have. Thanks again for advising me to pick that camera up Matt.

I think I wanted to emulate my M2 film experience when I got the M10m, and aesthetics are extremely important to me too. The M10 is a beautiful camera. But the SL seems very tempting with the close focus.

I agree with all of your basic points. However, I am now oversaturated with the proliferation of Leica models. When I bought a M2 in the early sixties, I found myself thoroughly familiar with it and still using it in the 1980s and 90s. Even an M6 in the 2000s was not different enough to change my basic use parameters. Now with digital, the "improvements" like color, dynamic range, low light capabilities are in the new model camera body where those things used to simply arrive with each new film emulsion. One has to buy a new model frequently to keep up with IBIS or ISO range, etc. Looking at dynamic range comparisons, most digital cameras do nicely in the 100 to 200 ISO range; as did basic film emulsions since around the 1960s. Digital dynamic range degrades rapidly at the higher "ISO" settings. As much as I have enjoyed owing/photographing with Leicas for many years, I simply do not need to be on the "New Model" roller coaster. I divested myself of all Leica lenses and camera bodies and am now the proud owner of the Nikon Zf with outboard ISO and shutter speed settings; sufficient megapixels to print sizes equal to any photograph I have ever been asked to produce; excellent dynamic range and IBIS.

I shoot music performance with my M240 and my Canon R and R6. If someone is moving around but coming back to certain areas (like a microphone on a stand there can be an advantage to pre focus and watch as they come in in the rangefinder, vs the frustration of seeing a good shot, someone turning their head and the autofocus pops to something in a back corner. (don't really like manual focus with evf). waiting for the Sl3 to come out, might then buy a sl2-s or the sl

I’m newly in love with an M10M and R and all the great glass. I also shoot Canon R and R5 with Zeiss primes. I have no use for big L lenses, but would adapt my ZE Zeiss and M lenses to a SL, but for now the R5 does that v well.

I got a good deal on an m10-p but sold it for an sl2-s, an even better deal. When I thought about it, the M10 was plenty heavy to where I didn’t want to carry it around unless I was going out specifically to shoot, and not knowing what was in my photos and if focus had been hit was frustrating since I was going out purposely to get photos. Final nail in the coffin was having important moments come and go without a picture because the camera didn’t start up fast enough or movement was too fast for rangefinder focus tracking. In an ideal world I keep it as a second or third priority camera for novelty when I want to feel cool and retro but the <300g weight difference between the m10-p and the sl2-s body isn’t much to me and if I want manual focus I just pop an M lens on. Added bonus is that amazing evf and ibis

I got a new Fuji x-H2 with a Voightlander 27mm F2.0 lens, its a pancake design but one stop faster than the Fuji pancake.

4 weeks to the SL3 🎉

Love my M10. I had a chance to shoot with an SL2-S recently, too, and it was great (the EVF is spectacular) but, at least for now, my Fuji X-T5 pretty much fills that role.

I had never had or even considered a Leica before but I bought an SL mainly because of your videos. I'm super stoked with it. An M camera to me seems like a ton of compromises. But the biggest reason is I'm left eye dominant so rangefinder style cameras don't really work well for me anyways.

Hi Matt, with the M11 the battery and shutter speed are no limiting factors any more. For me the SL2 was too slow to focus with M lenses, and the manual focus by wire just sucks. There is a clear advantage for the M coupled focussing. The SL(2(-s)) autofocus is ok if light conditions are good, but slow and unpredictable in suboptimal light. Hopefully the SL3 is finally working faster and with less light, the whole reason to have AF in the first place. EDC compactness and 100% selfblamability make me go for the M atm, but I enjoyed your views.

Hey Matt, I'm the fella who almost bought the M10 before you did! Park Cameras listed a Leica M10 for around £3600 last week and I snapped it up.... because it was actually a mint condition M10-R! Delighted! Park Cameras have some bargains sometimes.

I like all my Leicas, especially the CL and my Sl2-S.

I'd love an SL2/Sl2s but not sure I can justify the cost. But with SL3 out, the used SL bodies seem really good value. This video may just swing it... And, of course, I'll keep my M10 as it is spectacular and real fun to use

Hey Matt. Great points as always. I had the opportunity to buy an SL2-S with 35mm Summicron at a great price and can’t deny it was a great camera, especially with an M lens, but… despite the great grip etc, too big for me, and I traded it for a Q3, which I am liking very much. But… sometimes I look back at the pictures I took with the CL, and that really is the interchangeable lens camera that I really miss. It would be my choice over an M10 or SL.