SL3 sample raw files

[pdk42]

For anyone interested, there are sample raw files available in this review:

Leica SL3 Review | Photography Blog

Expert review of the Leica SL3 full-frame mirrorless camera with full-size sample photos and videos.

www.photographyblog.com

 

[pdk42]

I took a look at the sample files and I’m very impressed by the IQ. Noise at higher ISOs is definitely better than the S1R’s sensor. But readout speeds look very slow.

 

[CharlesH]

Thanks for posting this. I downloaded most of the raw files. They are really quite good, among the best I've seen. i'd say Leica knows how to make a very good camera for photography.

(You know me) I also processed them with Lightroom HDR, viewing on a Pro Display XDR - to get a feel for the 15 stops of dynamic range. This really brought out the colors, the highlights and the shadow detail. The bright chrome on the antique automobiles pulls them into the present from their ancien past. Photo 32.dng, with its old pipes and valves and lighting from below becomes a masterpiece. The model's metallic dress brings her alive, you can see why she chose it and wore it. The SL3 is an HDR making machine.

I looked at the videos, color grading them with DaVinci Resolve. Ho hum, the person shooting the video has no feel for this, and it is so bad it is hard to look at and takes away from the color, lights, and dynamic range. It is sad, the person who shot the photographs was obviously very talented while the person that shot the videos had no clue. And the camera had trouble holding focus from time to time; but I'm guessing that wasn't the camers's fault. I really don't know whether the SL3 is a good video camera or not. The nice thing is my MacBook Pro handled both the 8K 30p and the 4K 60p just fine.

Would I buy this camera? I'm very much a hybrid shooter, so I want excellence in both photography and video. No doubt the photography is there. The video, probably not.

 

[Quentinquirelino]

Yes the readout speed and also the burst rate are the main drawbacks of the sensor respectively camera. That shouldn't be a issue for landscape, architecture or product photography. But if you should Wildlife, Sports or you are a video shooter, then the camera isn't optimal for you. Maybe we get a little faster mechanical shutter on the S1R successor, but the difference will not be huge.

I still hope for a S1II, like rumoured in early January. With a fast thirty-something sensor. I can't imagine Panasonic would build a video centred S1HII around that sensor of the SL3, like some other rumours suggested.

 

[pdk42]

Thanks for posting this. I downloaded most of the raw files. They are really quite good, among the best I've seen. i'd say Leica knows how to make a very good camera for photography.

(You know me) I also processed them with Lightroom HDR, viewing on a Pro Display XDR - to get a feel for the 15 stops of dynamic range. This really brought out the colors, the highlights and the shadow detail. The bright chrome on the antique automobiles pulls them into the present from their ancien past. Photo 32.dng, with its old pipes and valves and lighting from below becomes a masterpiece. The model's metallic dress brings her alive, you can see why she chose it and wore it. The SL3 is an HDR making machine.

I looked at the videos, color grading them with DaVinci Resolve. Ho hum, the person shooting the video has no feel for this, and it is so bad it is hard to look at and takes away from the color, lights, and dynamic range. It is sad, the person who shot the photographs was obviously very talented while the person that shot the videos had no clue. And the camera had trouble holding focus from time to time; but I'm guessing that wasn't the camers's fault. I really don't know whether the SL3 is a good video camera or not. The nice thing is my MacBook Pro handled both the 8K 30p and the 4K 60p just fine.

Would I buy this camera? I'm very much a hybrid shooter, so I want excellence in both photography and video. No doubt the photography is there. The video, probably not.

I totally agree with your comments on the stills. This looks an excellent camera/sensor for landscape, studio etc. As @Quentinquirelino says though, with its slow readout speed it won’t suit sports and wildlife types. But I’m really hoping for an S1Rii with this sensor. If it comes in around the same price as the Sony a7R mk V then it’ll be in my shopping basket.

 

[xaviergut]

Thanks for posting this. I downloaded most of the raw files. They are really quite good, among the best I've seen. i'd say Leica knows how to make a very good camera for photography.

(You know me) I also processed them with Lightroom HDR, viewing on a Pro Display XDR - to get a feel for the 15 stops of dynamic range. This really brought out the colors, the highlights and the shadow detail. The bright chrome on the antique automobiles pulls them into the present from their ancien past. Photo 32.dng, with its old pipes and valves and lighting from below becomes a masterpiece. The model's metallic dress brings her alive, you can see why she chose it and wore it. The SL3 is an HDR making machine.

I looked at the videos, color grading them with DaVinci Resolve. Ho hum, the person shooting the video has no feel for this, and it is so bad it is hard to look at and takes away from the color, lights, and dynamic range. It is sad, the person who shot the photographs was obviously very talented while the person that shot the videos had no clue. And the camera had trouble holding focus from time to time; but I'm guessing that wasn't the camers's fault. I really don't know whether the SL3 is a good video camera or not. The nice thing is my MacBook Pro handled both the 8K 30p and the 4K 60p just fine.

Would I buy this camera? I'm very much a hybrid shooter, so I want excellence in both photography and video. No doubt the photography is there. The video, probably not.

Very interesting, Charles. It seems that Leica will remain more photocentric, as it always was.

I can imagine that the next Lumix S1RII will have better video capabilities than the SL3. I guess it will have 8k video and all the stuff of the S5IIx.

How do you find the S5IIx, besides rolling shutter and the moiré effect?
I wonder if the triple resolution sensor (60, 36 and 18mpx) will help to improve these aspects.

 

[xaviergut]

Very interesting, Charles. It seems that Leica will remain more photocentric, as it always was.

I think this short interview with Stefan Daniel confirms it:

Leica: "We have a partnership with Panasonic, we have a cooperation with Fujifilm, but you have to make a choice with whom you partner up"

"We're not the biggest guys in the industry, so why don't we team up and share some technologies?" says Leica exec Stefan Daniel – but it won't team up with just anybody

www.digitalcameraworld.com

By the way, this is what he says about the collaboration with Panasonic:

"The L-Mount Alliance enables you to combine that uniqueness of Leica with the specialties of other companies – like Panasonic, with L² Technology. Could you explain a little bit of what the L² relationship entails?

We have had this partnership with Panasonic since 2001. First, it was like optical technology to Panasonic and some digital technology to Leica. But over time it evolved much more and we said, okay, we’re both not the biggest guys in the industry, so why don't we team up and share some technologies? And because our brand positionings are so different, we don't interfere so much [with one another].

But we can really benefit from one party creating technology A and giving to party B, and vice versa, so that we all benefit from it and have some synergies, have some money, be a bit faster and just team up. That's what it all is about".

 

[pdk42]

Interesting. But I’m yet to see any specific example of the L2 partnership. Maybe it’s some Leica magic in recent LUMIX lenses, or perhaps Panasonic electronics expertise in the SL3. If that’s the case, then it’s about mutual tech to improve both their products and we’ll never know what specific features are the fruit of the partnership.

 

[CharlesH]

I can imagine that the next Lumix S1RII will have better video capabilities than the SL3. I guess it will have 8k video and all the stuff of the S5IIx.

How do you find the S5IIx, besides rolling shutter and the moiré effect?
I wonder if the triple resolution sensor (60, 36 and 18mpx) will help to improve these aspects.

About the S5IIx, its rolling shutter is about average. Not great, but not bad. It does not have an optical low pass filter so it has the same moiré as other cameras without this filter. Moiré is a thing to look out for but it rarely shows up for the things I shoot.

About higher resolution, my Sony A1 shoots 8K and does not have an optical low pass filter, and it's not immune to moiré. I don't think we'll want an optical low pass filter on a 60MP Panasonic camera either. As a rule cameras with more megapixels have worse video, such as more rolling shutter and slower frame rate codecs. However stacked CMOS sensors can help overcome this (Sony A1, Nikon Z9) but they are more expensive. I doubt we'll see Panasonic move this way, it will more likely be the sensor used in the Leica SL3 or the Sony A7RV, which is slower. A camera like this might do 8K video, but not be great at rolling shutter, and probably not do 4K 60p. Of course Panasonic could surprise us and do a stacked CMOS high resolution camera to compete with Nikon. That would make me happy, and sports and action photographers would be happy, but probably most photographers would not like the price.

 

[xaviergut]

About the S5IIx, its rolling shutter is about average. Not great, but not bad. It does not have an optical low pass filter so it has the same moiré as other cameras without this filter. Moiré is a thing to look out for but it rarely shows up for the things I shoot.

About higher resolution, my Sony A1 shoots 8K and does not have an optical low pass filter, and it's not immune to moiré. I don't think we'll want an optical low pass filter on a 60MP Panasonic camera either. As a rule cameras with more megapixels have worse video, such as more rolling shutter and slower frame rate codecs. However stacked CMOS sensors can help overcome this (Sony A1, Nikon Z9) but they are more expensive. I doubt we'll see Panasonic move this way, it will more likely be the sensor used in the Leica SL3 or the Sony A7RV, which is slower. A camera like this might do 8K video, but not be great at rolling shutter, and probably not do 4K 60p. Of course Panasonic could surprise us and do a stacked CMOS high resolution camera to compete with Nikon. That would make me happy, and sports and action photographers would be happy, but probably most photographers would not like the price.

Thank you Charles.

I think the price will be above 4.000€... If I am not wrong, the price of the S1R when it was launched was 3.800€.

 

[dirk]

Thank you Charles.

I think the price will be above 4.000€... If I am not wrong, the price of the S1R when it was launched was 3.800€.

puhhhhhhh..... This would be too expensive for me....