Leica Club

Leica Club Welcome Pack – Digital Leica SL Series Cameras

Hello and welcome to the Leica Club! To help you enjoy your new purchase I’ve listed some information below to get you started and answer some of the common questions I receive.

Pack Includes:

  • Leica SL series camera accessories – Top 7
  • 7 tips for using your camera
  • Best lens for your Leica SL series camera
  • Leica SL series camera YouTube videos
  • Join a Leica community
  • Photo editing tips
  • Remote Leica support
  • Leica photowalks
  • Master your Leica

Leica SL series camera accessories – Top 7

After buying your Leica camera there are certain accessories you may want to get. Here are my top 7 –

1. Spare Battery

This is a must have. You can use Leica branded batteries or 3rd party batteries. I use both types.

2. LCD Screen Protector

A simple plastic matte finish screen protector transforms the camera. No more annoying finger prints! For more protection you can get glass screen protectors. Check eBay UK or eBay COM.

3. Soft Release Shutter Button

An affordable way to customise your Leica camera is with a custom shutter release button. I have red buttons on some of my Leica cameras.

4. Strap (Neck Strap and/or Wrist Strap) – See on YouTube

Your Leica camera is supplied with a neck strap. A new strap is another easy way to customise your camera. I use wrist straps for street photography and a neck strap for events. Peak Design products are a popular quick release camera strap system if you use multiple cameras. There are lots of nice luxury cameras straps available too.

5. Camera Bag – See on YouTube

As with camera straps camera bags are a personal choice. Ona and Billingham are popular brands. This is what I use –

6. Lens Adapters

The Leica SL series cameras are a fantastic platform for adapting lenses. Leica M, R, LTM, M42, Nikon F, the list is endless!

7. SD Memory Cards

My preferred memory card brand in SanDisk and that is all i’ve used for the last 5-7 years.

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7 Tips for using your Leica SL series camera

In addition to carrying a spare battery here are some tips you might find useful –

  1. To see light better I set the camera to B&W JPEG mode giving a B&W preview (even if capturing DNG only colour files)
  2. Use P-A-S mode to see in the dark, use P-A-S-M mode to preview the correct exposure (P-A-S is good when using flash)
  3. Turn on your grid in photo live view setup to aid composition
  4. Turn on your level gauge in photo live view to help ensure your horizon is level
  5. Get a 7Artisans L-M close focus adapter to focus all Leica M and LTM lenses closer than their standard 0.7m or 1m MFD
  6. Use Leica M mount lenses via a L-M adapter for a much smaller setup compared to native Leica SL lenses
  7. Tape up your camera Leica logo for a more stealthy street photography setup

Best lens for your Leica SL series camera?

Best is different for everyone depending on your needs. Check the lens reviews list for written reviews and YouTube. The SL series cameras give you so many amazing options:

  • Premium autofocus L mount lenses from Leica including Zooms
  • Cheaper autofocus L mount lenses from Sigma and Panasonic Lumix
  • Small autofocus L mount lenses made for APS-C cameras such as the Leica TL lenses (only work in crop mode)
  • Manual focus L mount lenses such as the Cine lenses from 7Artisans
  • Manual focus Leica R lenses via R-L adapter (including Zooms)
  • Manual focus M mount lenses (via M-L adapter) from Leica, Voigtlander, Zeiss, TTArtisan, 7Artisans
  • Manual focus vintage screw mount lenses (via M-L adapter + L39-M adapter)
  • Nikon F, M42, Minolta, Contax.. the list is near endless!

If you are still not sure what lens to buy make use of my Leica support service.

Leica SL series camera YouTube videos

If you want to see Leica YouTube reviews from other photographers see the Leica YouTubers directory.

Watch my Leica SL cameras YouTube playlist here –

Join a Leica Community

If you are new to Leica you might want to find a friendly Leica community. You can find Leica groups on Facebook and you can also join our Patreon group where we have a private Facebook group and 2 monthly Zoom calls.

Photo Editing Tips

If you don’t enjoy editing I recommend setting your camera to JPEG mode. JPEG can be posted and shred without any editing. To capture more detail set the camera to DNG. To use DNG files you will first need to process the files via software such as Adobe Lightroom. If you use Lightroom, give your DNG files a finished look in as little as 1-click by applying MrLeica LR Presets (colour and B&W).

Remote Leica Support

Struggling with your new Leica camera? Use my Leica support service to quickly resolve the issue. See the Zoom testimonials section.

Leica Photowalks

Join a small group of fellow Leica photographers for a photowalk workshop with MrLeica.Com.

Master your Leica

To get the most from your Leica camera book a 1:1 workshop with a Leica expert. Teaching Leica workshops worldwide since 2014. See the workshop testimonials.

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Do you use other Leica cameras?

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