Leica Guns For Canon And Nikon With New SL Camera System

Earlier this year, Leica released the Q, a fixed-lens camera with autofocus and the same guts as the brand's top rangefinders. It's mostly a camera for hobbyists or to serve as back-up for professionals. Now Leica's going a step farther with the SL, a new camera that aims to bring together the best of Leica's technology and optics to create a viable system that professionals can use in nearly any situation. Canon and Nikon, consider yourselves on notice.

If the Leica Q was a middle ground between the brand's consumer-focused point-and-shoot cameras and the classic M series rangefinders, the SL sits between the Q and the M. From a distance the SL camera body ($7,450) looks like that of the M, with the addition of a ridge on top to house the digital viewfinder and hot shoe. That's where the similarities stop. M cameras remain manual-focus only, use etched dials to manually set exposure, and encourage you to use the screen and menus as little as possible. The most recent M cameras are digital and produce great digital photographs, but they feel very much like shooting 50-year-old film cameras.