By Sean Reid of Reid Reviews
Before I begin this, I should explain that I have been beta-testing the Leica SL (which was code-named "Max") since August of this year. I've worked with both pre-production and production level versions of the body with the newest test firmware being 1.1. So I've gotten to know the camera pretty well and have used it under a lot of different circumstances. The following is not a review, it's just a collection of some thoughts I've put together at Michael's request. A very extensive review of the camera, and articles about testing it with M and R lenses, can be found on my site www.reidreviews.com.
The key thing to understand about the SL is that it is intended to be the market's first full-on professional 35 mm format digital camera with an electronic finder. Many people use the term "mirrorless" for these cameras but I don’t do that because it isn't a very good descriptor (it's actually a marketing term Panasonic invented many years ago for a set of pres...
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Sean Reid has been a commercial and fine art photographer for more than thirty years. He studied photography at Bard College under Stephen Shore and Ben Lifson. In the late 1980s he worked as an exhibition printer for Wendy Ewald and other fine art photographers. In 1989, he was the first American photographer to receive an artist-in-residence grant from the Irish Arts Council in Dublin, Ireland and his work is held in their collection. That same year he gave a guest lecture at Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art in Dublin. In the early 1990s Sean met occasionally with Helen Levitt to discuss and edit pictures he was making in the subways of Budapest and New York City. These were exhibited in New York in conjunction with performances by Jens Nygaard's Jupiter Symphony.
Sean's work for clients is often of weddings and architecture. His editorial work has appeared in magazines such as Motorcyclist, Rider and The Robb Report. His personal work is primarily of people in public places -- especially in rural New England where he resides.
In 2004, Sean began reviewing cameras and lenses for Luminous Landscape. The following year he began Reid Reviews (link: www.reidreviews.com), a site -- of equipment reviews and essays on photography -- that accepts no advertising and is paid for entirely by subscribers. Written primarily for professional and serious amateur photographers the site has become known for its in-depth analysis based on both field and studio testing. Sean also serves as an unpaid consultant, advisor and sometimes beta tester for several camera and lens manufacturers.
http://www.reidreviews.com
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