I was taking stock of my camera inventory recently and came to notice that all except one of my camera bodies are long discontinued - the exception being my Pentax K1 mkii. While this is still available new, there is speculation that it has been out of production for some time, and that old stock is simply being used up.
Pentax excluded, development cycles for digital cameras are much shorter than back in the analogue days, and we are often encouraged to trade in our exiting stuff for the ‘latest and greatest’ where incremental updates amount to little more than marketing hyperbole. One of the positive aspects coming from constantly pushing new product releases is that the ones being superseded are often sold at discount simply to reduce inventory. When it comes to Leica, I am happy to be on technologies trailing edge due to the high cost of ownership. This was never more true when it came to picking up a SL2 body.
In June 2023 the Leica SL2 Silver Edition was announced which was limited to just 1000 pieces worldwide. Its looks are a retrospective nod to bygone times and immediately appealed to me. From the silver coloured anodised top and bottom plates to the textured black leatherette, this variant leans into past camera design heavily. However, its high cost put it immediately out of my reach. This changed in March 2024 when the SL3 was announced. There was clearly a lot of SL2 inventory sat on shelves as deep discounts were immediately announced in an effort to move to it. As the months went by it was clear that stock of SL2’s was very slow moving and prices were reduced again. As the silver version was also included in the discounts, I began to take notice again. By April 2024 we were looking at a price drop of around 35% which brought it into the realms of my budget.
As I was already a SL2-s owner I was in a position to part exchange it, reducing the cost of its silver sibling to a minimum so I jumped in and the following day, received my new toy. Silver cameras do not appeal to everyone but for me, it was everything I anticipated. As the two cameras are so similar I was very quickly able to set the SL2 up with the same settings as my SL2-s and run off a few test shots.
Cosmetically, both cameras looks very different, but operationally they are similar to the point of being identical. Under the hood they use different sensors (SL2 being 47 megapixels, SL2-s being 24 megapixels). Of course this affects the results but one is not necessarily better than the other. In fact there is an argument for running both models side by side if the expense can be justified. For less noisy results and smaller files, reach for the SL2-s. If larger files are required at the expense of a little more noise when shooting higher iso’s, use the SL2. There was a time when a smaller file size would have appealed to me. But in these days of enormous hard disks at affordable prices I am much less concerned. If I am being completely honest, the only reason I have changed to the SL2 are for cosmetic reasons and no other. The bump in file size is something of a bonus and I avoid shooting high iso’s unless absolutely necessary.
An additional cosmetic bonus comes in the form of my silver TL 35mm Summilux and 60mm Elmarit lenses. Originally purchased for my T series cameras and now used on my CL, I was pleasantly surprised to see how good they looked on my silver SL2. The finish matches perfectly and adds to the retro look. Of course, these lenses are designed for the smaller APSC sensor but still produce very usable 20 megapixel files from the larger 36x24 sensor. If I ever find myself in a situation where I do not want to carry around my much larger (and heavier) SL lenses, these two beauties offer a great solution. As the TL 60 is a macro lens that gives wonderful results, it also means I do not need to invest in any further lenses offering a close up solution.
The SL2 has been used for a significant amount of work throughout 2025 and I have been very pleased with both performance and reliability. Used with the SL 50mm Summilux lens is (for me) a match made in heaven and it is this combination I favour the most. It is a heavy marriage but results speak for themselves, and serve to inspire me to use it more.
What has really surprised me is that at the time of writing this (early 2026) new examples of the SL2 Silver Edition can still be found. Given the very limited run, I can only assume that my love of this finish puts me in a minority of appreciative users. While writing these thoughts down I also noticed that one reputable vendor is now offering their final new stock at something approaching 50% discount which, if I was still in the running for, I would be placing an order today. Oh how I love the arrival of new models…maybe when a successor to the Q3 43 is announced we will see a huge drop in the cost of its predecessor. Maybe there will be a silver version, or a ghost edition…time will tell.