Leicaflex SL2

<p>Wonderful camera, looks like new out of the box. Drooling here again. Great pictures with that Leica glass, but the photographers eye is far more important, and you have it in spades. I've recently gotten into the R4 series, largely because of their lack of respect bringing down prices. I've purchased four of them over the last 6 months, and a couple Minolta XD11 in black. I figured it was safe to get into the R4 now, because if it had the defects, they would have shown up by now and the camera would have been repaired or retired. The four I purchased were from KEH, and all classed BGN, with prices around $75US for the body. With the exception of one that the former user removed the white lettering, and painted over the red spot, the BGN class is better than most you find anywhere. I am using Tamron Adaptall zooms, that Leica glass is just not within my budget. Keep up the good work, and heal that tendon. They can be painful.</p>

Excellent work yet again Tony. I like both beach pictures

and the old trucks the best, I think.

<p>Wonderful! I was a user of a Leicaflex SL and R6/R6.2 with a whole suite of lenses for 25 years until I went digital. Fantastic lenses and quality. If only they had carried on into digital I would have them still. Favorite lenses: 50mm Summicron R 1st version, 35mm Summicron-R ver 2, 80mm Summilux. You should get the 28mm-R some day, as you say: an excellent lens. The only thing I have left is the SL body.</p>

<p>The older Leica R lenses are indeed heavy, which is one of the reasons I tended to upgrade to the later versions which are lighter. But this is a common trait shared by German cameras. The Contarex and lenses are even heavier</p>

<p>Another wonderful post Tony !<br>

From a Pnet thread <a href="/leica-rangefinders-forum/00LUPU">http://www.photo.net/leica-rangefinders-forum/00LUPU</a> from 2007:</p>

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<p>"Thought by some to be the toughest 35 mm SLR ever built. The Leica Solms museum has on display an SL2 MOT with Motor and 35 mm Summicron which survived a 25,000 foot (7600 m) fall from a Phantom II fighter jet: battered but in one piece, and deemed repairable by Leica"</p>

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<p>"inside" these Leicaflex Standard, SL & SL2 cameras, I couldn't believe how "linear, consistent, stable & accurate" the shutter speeds were on virtually all of these cameras. One day to my astonishment, I discovered that the gearing in the shutter mechanism for the 1st & 2nd curtains couldn't be physically scratched by my stainless steel tools! I believe that the Leica precision and the choice of materials were the reason for things such as this. Many including me give the vote for "the best SLR ever made" to the Leicaflex SL2. (The last & most featured Leicaflex)" <em>From a 2005 Pnet thread post.</em><br /> <br /> I still believe they're the finest S L R ever built...</p>

<p>That's a real beauty Tony, and your photography does it justice. Back in the early 70's. A Leicaflex was totally out of reach for a high school student like me. My local camera store had a chrome SL with a 50 Summicron upon it. The price then was close to $600 with case and strap. I remember being allowed to peek through it a few times. It was "jewel like", and things snapped into focus with a brightness and crispness unlike any other camera.</p>

<p>A new Nikon F with the latest metered finder could be had at this time with a 50/F2 for under $400. I settled with the Nikkormat FTN w/ 50/F2. Which cost me close to $300 with case and strap.</p>

<p> I've owned and shot a pair of old R cameras for about ten years. They really are special machines. Precision in their building that is rarely seen in today's world. Enjoy your SL2.</p>

<p>Thanks again for the positive feedback, and the l amazing to see how many people here have used the SL cameras. When the original Leicaflex came out it was shunned by the purists and tagged as the "diesel" Leica because of it's size and heft.<br>

There is a certain joy in using precision machines like this, and you know that they will keep on working long after many other expire. The lenses are of course, just as good as they can be and Leica didn't make a bad lens for the R system. I would love one of those 80mm Summiluxes but they are rare and expensive now, so the 90 will have to do!<br>

As for the best mechanical camera ever made, it's surely in there, but there is the Nikon F2..Canon F1, and the lovely Topcon Super D...I can see a shoot out coming up!<br>

Actually a Nikon F2 is next up...watch this space!</p>

<p>Very nice photographs Tony.<br>

I'm quite partial to the earlier Leica SLRs. I have owned, used, and sold a number of other high end SLR's - Nikon F1 and F2 and the Canon F1 among others. None of the others offered any particular advantage, IMHO, and none had the precision feel of the Leicaflexes. I still have, and use, a pretty Nikon F2. The difference between the Nikon and the Leicaflexes, to me, is like the difference between a German sports car and a pickup truck, the Nikon being the truck. The Leicaflexes appear to be indestructible; it has been necessary for me to have the potentiometer in the Nikon Photomic finder rebuilt.<br>

Of the Leicaflexes, the original Leicaflex, the "standard", again IMHO, has the most precise feel - non photographer (but German car expert) engineer friends have offered this comment to me. If I'm using lenses between 28mm and 90mm the Leicaflex standard suits me just fine.</p>

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<p>Someone asked about the distortion with the door. This is from an old shearing shed and there are no straight lines in there! The 90mm Elmarit is very distortion free.<br>

Louis, that Angenieux looks really interesting, love to see some shots from that. Angenieux make some very nice glass, but you don't see them very much...also getting expensive these days.<br>

Thanks for that information Gus, sometimes the things you can't see are the most important, and explain the horrendous cost of the SL when it first came out.</p>

<p>Thanks Wendell, I still own and use regularly the Canon F1 and Nikon F2, so I will do a comparison soon. I certainly get your point about the feel of the various cameras and the Nikon is a bit truck like in comparison, but I still love the Nikon in use. The Leica shutter does make a really nice Shiink when it fires.</p>

<p>The last really good 35mm camera I sold was my Nikon F2AS (DP12 finder) and I'll admit I almost shed a tear when I dropped it off at the Post Office. I've owned a few Leica's, both SLR and rangefinder, some of the best Canon 35's and a whole mess else, but of all the 35mm cameras I have fondled there is no doubt in my mind the best picture taking tool of them all was the F2AS. I could meter in candle light with that finder and the body itself was a work of art. Put my favorite 105mm f2.5 AIS Nikkor on it and it was a match made in Heaven. I keep telling myself that I'd like to have another F2, but I can't justify buying one since I don't shot 35mm much anymore at all. Still, if I were into 35mm again I'd be shaking the bushes for a F2 with at least the DP11 finder or better yet the DP12. The Leicaflex might be built better, but not by much in my book. Tony, I await your F2 post and I'm sure the great shots that go with it. JohnW</p>

Excellent shots. Never had the (obvious!!??!) pleasure to use a Leica SLR. My father-in-law came in to a collection of cameras this was the first outfit sold. I believe it was the R4. I really loved your photos. IF you are not a profi then could be one! The pick_em up trucks and the two beach photos are just great. Meanwhile I looked up the Pyrocat. Seems interesting and available in EU too. You seemed quite familiar and trusting with this brew. I'm surprised you have so many lenses in this group. I'm also surprised how many responders praise the camera but obviously they don't have it anymore. No sight like hindsight! Looking forward to a battle of the Titans; Teutonics sports cars and Japanese trucks!! Oooh 'dems fightin words !!

<p>The SL2 is a fine camera and yes, durable -- don't ever imagine it's too pretty to use. Mine spent two months in Antarctica in all sorts of conditions and still looks great. (That was some years ago but already it drew puzzled looks, along with some admiration, from those toting Canikons... which experienced a number of failures.)<br>

The real trouble with the SL2 is that it's still going strong, and such an ergonomic pleasure to use that it's spoiled me. The reason I still haven't managed to go seriously digital (beyond a lightly used pocket camera) isn't really film vs digital at all, but about camera design and automation. Where's the SL2 equivalent today? Who makes a digital SLR that's this simple and pleasant to use in manual mode, with a bright viewfinder, good focusing screen etc? Sure, in a pinch you can do manual focus and exposure with most cameras, but they're optimized for people who might <em>need</em> to do that 2% of the time... whereas that's about as often as I ever <em>need</em> AF or AE. As an amateur I have to enjoy using a camera to stay interested in photography. You'd think in the entire global market at least one manufacturer might cater to my taste too, but no...</p>

<p>So now, besides wanting a SL2 I want those old trucks.<br>

Followed prices for awhile and just could never pull the trigger what with lens prices. Maybe after I sell my M3. What's your battery workaround? </p>

<p>"What's your battery workaround?"<br>

I just have the technician recalibrate the meter for a silver oxide cell when to camera was in for a CLA.</p>

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<p>The Leicaflex SL is the camera that broke up my 15 year relationship with rangefinders. Now I know longer own Leica rangefinders, and although I'll try different cameras out every once in awhile, I still come back to the SL as the near perfect film camera (for me). That's not to say there aren't other great film cameras -- there are; from every manufacturer -- but give me a couple SL bodies and a 35mm Elmarit, 50mm Summicron, and 90mm Elmarit, and I'm content as a geeky photographer can be. </p>

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