Member Kirsten Vignes

It would be cool to see a Leica lens on a smartphone, but first some observations:

While the lenses on the Panasonic-related D-Lux and D-Lux 6 are/were top-notch lenses, the Leica lens on the new $700 Panasonic ZS-100 is not so great. The Leica lenses on the Leica C and related Panasonic LF1 were not very good at all. The tiny LF1 was $500 and the Leica version around $800, so their lenses should have been superb, but weren't even very good.

Canon makes a pocket superzoom (SX720) whose lens is superb, from 24 mm equiv. to 960 mm – fantastic!

Apple's iPhone6 lens is incredibly good – limited only by a tiny phone sensor. Clip-on lenses from Olloclip and (soon to be) Zeiss extend the iPhone lens, with excellent quality results.

So, cellphones may benefit from a Leica lens, but only if they are made and implemented extremely well.

Thanks David,
You showed me some features I had yet to discover myself. The focus peaking in zoom with the ability to then see the finished result zoomed in and switching from one shot to the next still zoomed is a handy tool indeed.

I suggest you consider also to do a video on the use of wifi control sometime. Photographers who have had live view for smaller formats for sometime may be very familiar with the magic of wifi enabled focus but I was not. Using wifi control of focus on my iPhone is certainly more handy than merely having a swingable LCD display. This of course assumes one is on a tripod for critical adjustments. It also allows me in interior architectural work to place the camera totally against a wall for maximum field of view and still see what the camera is taking via the iPhone view.

not on a MacBook Pro running El Capitan

not on a MacBook Pro running El Capitan

Congratulations!
Excellent report, beautiful pics. The cyclist riding in the yellow morning fog and the very last pic are my favorite ones.
I guess I'm a dyed-in-the-wool M user and will thus not get excited about the SL. But it nonetheless seems to be a fascinating piece of technology.
Greetings from Sao Paulo …

David,
Excellent review.
I am a S2 and M240 MP owner.
Im on the fence with the SL.
Still love my S and M system, yet as I get older it would sure be nice to have AF or a good EVF option for my M system.

Simon,

The SL can certainly be used in a studio environment. But you are correct that that you need to turn off exposure simulation so that you don't get a black frame with typical strobe settings. To disable Exposure Preview, just go to the second page of the camera menu and set Exp. Preview to Off. Hope this helps.

Girogo,

The X-U can be submerged to 15m for 60 minutes. 2m shouldn't be an issue whatsoever.

Leica Store Miami should have the cameras in stock very shortly, so you'd certainly be able to get one for your assignment.

is it possible for leica to remove the gray band behind the viewfinder information so as not to obstruct the view of the entire image in the viewfinder for better composition?

is it also possible to introduce a square format?

thanks.
boy wye