Leica CL Review | 108 Data compared

The Leica CL is positioned as a traditional, EVF-equipped alternative to the TL-series, offering excellent image quality from its 24MP APS-C sensor and a highly capable, pocketable system when paired with the 18mm pancake lens. Key advantages include its intuitive, physical control dials and a high-resolution electronic viewfinder, which directly address handling issues found in earlier Leica touchscreen models. However, the review notes significant usability drawbacks, including frustratingly sensitive touchscreen controls and an autofocus point that is frequently shifted by the user's nose while using the EVF. Additionally, while compact, the 18mm lens produces subpar off-center sharpness, and the camera's rear-only dials offer less control than a front-dial configuration.

about adding this camera to your setup, let me know: Do you already own Leica M or TL lenses, or are you looking to buy into the ecosystem fresh? What genres of photography (e.g., street, portraits, travel) do you plan to use it for? Are you comparing it against a specific full-frame alternative? I can help you weigh whether its unique handling is worth the investment for your specific shooting style.

Leica CL Review Summary The Leica CL is a classic-styled, APS-C mirrorless camera that balances an exceptionally clean aesthetic with innovative, streamlined physical controls. It is highly praised for producing incredibly sharp, neutral-colored 24.3-megapixel images without an antialiasing filter, alongside featuring a big, bright, and comfortable electronic viewfinder. Its customized dual-dial configuration offers seamless, rapid access to broad shooting parameters, and its autofocus response provides a fast, snappy performance that benefits street photography. Additionally, the camera supports 4K UHD video recording and exhibits light-handed noise reduction at high ISO sensitivities, preserving crucial details even though it introduces noticeable graininess.

In the WIRED review, writer Michael Calore awards the Leica CL an excellent 9/10 rating, defining it as a highly capable, rangefinder-style mirrorless compact camera built around a 24-megapixel APS-C sensor and a Maestro II image processor. The camera earns praise for its stunning dapper design, featuring black anodized aluminum panels and a magnesium body wrapped in fine-grain leather. Performance-wise, the reviewer highlights the camera's blazing fast 49-point autofocus, pristine image quality, and 4K video capabilities. A major standout feature is the superior electronic viewfinder (EVF) equipped with an eye sensor, which completely transforms the shooting experience compared to earlier touchscreen-only models like the TL2. Additionally, testing it alongside the flat, stealthy 18mm f/2.8 "super pancake" lens yields phenomenal detail in portraits and landscapes, while the programmable menus provide an extra layer of custom usability. However, the Leica CL comes with notable downsides, primarily centered on its prohibitive pricing and ergonomics. At $2,795 for the body alone—or $3,795 for the tested lens kit—the price tag is heavily criticized, considering consumers could buy multiple high-quality competing compact setups (such as the...

The Leica CL is a digital mirrorless camera that honors the aesthetic DNA of Leica’s vintage 39mm thread-mount line, offering stellar build quality and exceptional ergonomics. It excels as a streamlined, photographer-oriented tool featuring an intuitive dual-dial interface and a highly customizable, simple menu system. When paired with native TL lenses, its autofocus is remarkably fast and reliable, and it provides a seamless auto-to-manual focus override assisted by clear focus peaking. The 24-megapixel sensor delivers excellent image quality, strong high-ISO performance, organic color rendition, and great flexibility for black-and-white conversion, making it a powerful contender for street photography. Despite its strengths, the camera has notable physical and operational downsides. Its battery and SD card compartment cover is disappointingly flimsy given the premium price point. Additionally, using the camera with adapted, non-native Leica M wide-angle lenses results in a clunky, unbalanced handling experience, frustrating manual aperture workflows, and diminished corner performance. The body also lacks any built-in or in-lens anti-shake image stabilization. Ultimately, the reviewer notes that the CL is not a true "mini-M" alternative or a replacement for the full-frame...

Leica CL Mirrorless Camera Review Summary The Leica CL is a classic, highly responsive APS-C mirrorless camera that provides an intuitive, streamlined photography experience reminiscent of a "mini M" format. Built with high-quality milled aluminum and magnesium alloy, the camera offers excellent, uncomplicated ergonomics featuring a remarkably clean layout with only three buttons, a directional pad, and two customisable top scroll wheels. Performance-wise, it features a 24.2 MP sensor without an anti-alias filter and a Maestro 2 processor, producing incredibly sharp, detailed images with natural color rendering and impressive high ISO performance up to 6400. Its 49-point contrast-based autofocus system is fast and accurate enough for street photography, and the built-in 2.36 MP EyeRes electronic viewfinder (EVF) provides an expansive, lag-free view. Additionally, it excels with manual focus M-mount lenses via an adapter, boasts a satisfying mechanical shutter sound, and supports 4K video recording and Wi-Fi connectivity. Despite its strong performance, the camera has notable design and financial drawbacks. On the technical side, it lacks weather sealing, internal image stabilization, and a tilting mechanism for its 3-inch LCD touch screen....

However, the camera has notable flaws, most notably a fixed 3-inch touchscreen LCD that frustratingly lacks any tilting mechanism, forcing uncomfortable shooting positions from ground level. The premium build quality is further let down by a flimsy, cheap plastic battery door that stands out negatively against the otherwise premium aluminum top and bottom plates. Additionally, the camera's out-of-the-box JPEGs suffer from heavy contrast and clipped highlights, making raw shooting almost mandatory. Finally, its launch price of $2,795 for the body alone makes it a tough consumer value proposition, especially when competing full-frame systems offer double the resolution and better low-light performance for a similar cost. If you'd like to dive deeper into this system, let me know: Are you looking to pair it with native TL crop lenses or adapted manual M-mount glass? What specific type of photography (e.g., street, travel, landscape) do you plan to use it for? Are you comparing it against a specific alternative camera system, like Fujifilm or Sony?

The digital Leica CL is a highly capable and portable APS-C mirrorless camera that continues to serve as an exceptional backup or standalone travel body years after its May 2022 discontinuation. In real-world use, its primary strengths include a robust, lightweight, and compact body design with intuitive menus, making it physically smaller than Leica M bodies and ideal for travel. It provides built-in autofocus capabilities for Leica L-mount lenses, an Electronic Viewfinder (EVF) that simplifies precise manual focusing, and a 1.5x crop factor that grants lenses extra reach. Furthermore, pairing the camera with a Light Lens Lab M-L close focus helicoid adapter turns it into an exceptional tool for vintage screw mount (LTM) and rangefinder lenses, effectively overcoming their traditional close-focusing limitations. However, the camera does carry notable limitations that buyers should consider, particularly on the used market where prices have steadily risen to around £1500–£2500. Its 24MP APS-C crop sensor means it lacks the full-frame look, meaning it cuts off the edge vignette and wide bokeh of full-frame lenses, while effectively turning a 35mm lens into a 52mm focal...

In his 2017 review, Steve Huff highlights the Leica CL as a highly capable and inspiring 24-megapixel APS-C digital camera that revives the spirit of the classic 1970s analog CL within a modern, TL-mount mirrorless system. A major standout feature of the camera is its minimalist design and intuitive dual-dial top controls, which prioritize simplicity and keep the focus entirely on still photography. Among its notable pros are the long-awaited integrated electronic viewfinder (EVF), exceptionally snappy autofocus when using native lenses, and remarkable compatibility with adapted M-mount glass, which features an effortless manual focus magnification aid. Furthermore, it delivers excellent color accuracy, punchy out-of-camera JPEGs, solid low-light performance up to ISO 10,000, and a versatile electronic shutter speed reaching 1/25,000 of a second to easily shoot fast lenses wide open in bright sunlight. Despite its strong imaging performance, the review outlines several distinct cons, most notably the high price barrier typical of the brand, with the body costing $2,795 and native TL lenses being heavily overpriced, such as the $1,295 18mm f/2.8 lens which Huff notes feels somewhat cheap and...

The Macfilos review highlights the digital Leica CL as a small, well-formed 24-megapixel APS-C system camera that evokes the philosophy of its 1970s film namesake. Sharing the same sensor and processor as the TL2], it delivers excellent image quality, natural colours, and strong high-ISO performance up to 6400]. A major advantage is its native L-mount, providing compatibility with TL and SL lenses, as well as M and R lenses via adapters]. Reviewer Jonathan Slack praises the camera's tactile ergonomics, minimal and logical menu system], integrated electronic viewfinder (EVF)], and improved autofocus speed with prime lenses compared to previous models]. Furthermore, its sensor cover glass is optimized to minimize edge-vignetting and smearing when shooting with manual M-mount lenses]. Leica Blog (Matt Osborne) However, the review details several notable drawbacks and missing features. On the hardware side, the compact body lacks sensor-based image stabilization, a built-in flash], weather sealing], and physical data or charging ports like HDMI or USB 3]. It also relies entirely on SD cards, discarding the internal storage option found in the TL2]. In terms of performance, the contrast-detect...

The Leica CL is a tactile, mirrorless camera featuring a 24.2-megapixel APS-C sensor, robust build quality, and a highly intuitive control setup with an exceptional electronic viewfinder. It delivers outstanding, high-resolution RAW images with excellent color accuracy and sharpness, making it a desirable, albeit premium, tool for enthusiast photographers. However, the camera's extremely high price tag, often five times that of similar competitors, is a major drawback alongside its lack of in-body image stabilization. Other cons include limited video exposure controls and an overlapping control design where touch-focus conflicts with viewfinder usage.

Thorsten Overgaard’s review of the Leica CL centers on its standout feature: a brilliant, crisp, and high-contrast built-in electronic viewfinder (EVF) that allows for corner-to-corner viewing even when wearing glasses. The camera delivers impressive, clean file quality up to 12,500 ISO, boasts a highly accurate, fast autofocus system with a manual fine-tuning option, and includes a uniquely secure, locking diopter adjustment wheel. Its 24MP APS-C sensor yields excellent overall image quality, maintaining a simple, uncluttered control layout that bypasses the need for bloated menus. Furthermore, firmware updates have introduced helpful fixes like an instant button lock, customized dial mapping, and streamlined Wi-Fi transfers directly to smartphones.

Summary of the Leica CL vs. Leica M240 After 12 months of side-by-side testing, the author surprisingly shifted from using the Leica M240 rangefinder to the digital Leica CL as their primary camera body. The Leica CL offers major operational advantages, most notably an electronic viewfinder (EVF) that provides an exact exposure preview and highly reliable focus peaking. This eliminates the classic rangefinder risk of missing focus due to physical camera misalignment. Additionally, the author found that the CL delivers vastly superior low-light performance, boasting up to two stops of improved high-ISO capability with no sensor banding at ISO 6400, alongside better dynamic range that prevents highlight clipping. The camera is also more affordable (over £1,000 cheaper), significantly more compact, features optional autofocus lens compatibility, and easily accommodates wider lenses without the extra cost and bulk of an external hotshoe viewfinder. Despite these strengths, the Leica CL has distinct drawbacks when compared to the full-frame sensor of the Leica M240. Because the CL uses a 1.5x crop APS-C sensor, all mounted lenses feel 1.5 times longer, requiring wider lenses (like...

The Leica CL mirrorless crop-sensor camera excels in user experience, exceptional image quality, and extensive lens compatibility. The reviewer, a knitwear designer and photographer, noted that the camera delivers a "glorious" rendering of skin tones and fabric textures with fewer issues like blown highlights or colour fringing in challenging light. A major benefit is its versatile lens compatibility; using lens adapters, it seamlessly integrates vintage Zeiss lenses, Leica M-mount lenses, and older screw-mount lenses. Furthermore, despite the reviewer's preference for analogue gear, the electronic viewfinder and programmable focus-assist features significantly improved focusing accuracy and reduced eye strain. Conversely, the camera suffers from a frustrating initial setup and a few functional limitations. The reviewer found the official setup instructions highly unhelpful, requiring hours of third-party YouTube videos to make the camera usable. Aesthetic and physical drawbacks include a modern, minimalist look that lacks the charm of vintage analogue systems. Performance-wise, the reviewer struggled to achieve the bright, noise-free high ISO results in low-light conditions praised by other reviewers. Finally, the camera lacks a physical remote shutter port, forcing reliance on a...

The Leica CL is a traditional, compact APS-C mirrorless camera that blends the design philosophies of the SL and M10 into a small, impeccably built body suited for street and travel photography. It shares the same 24-megapixel sensor and processor as the TL2, delivering natural color, strong dynamic range, and high-quality ISO performance up to 6,400. A major standout of the CL is its exceptional compatibility with Leica M lenses; it suffers from minimal vignetting and no visible smearing compared to its competitors, largely due to a thin sensor cover glass and the lack of an anti-aliasing filter. Additionally, the camera's contrast-detect autofocus is fast, accurate, and dramatically reduces hunting when paired with Leica prime lenses, while its mechanical and electronic shutters reach impressive speeds of 1/8000 and 1/25000 respectively. However, the camera leaves out several modern conveniences to maintain its small size and minimalist "Essence" philosophy. Its primary downsides include a complete lack of ports—meaning no HDMI, USB 3, or USB charging capabilities—as well as no internal storage, no built-in flash, and no sensor-based image stabilization. The camera is...

The Macfilos review evaluates the Leica CL system as a landscape and travel setup based on winter testing in Assynt, Scotland. The camera excels in portability, offering a lightweight, compact, and minimalist form factor with premium build quality. It provides excellent raw image quality via flexible DNG files that retain substantial latitude for pushing shadow detail. Coupled with the TL 18-56mm and 55-135mm zoom lenses, the system matches the performance of Leica M primes at landscape apertures without requiring frequent lens changes, which also keeps the sensor clean from dust. The camera also demonstrates solid low-light capability, achieving sharp, clean astrophotography results at ISO 1600 when paired with a fast manual M-mount lens. However, the review details several prominent drawbacks, particularly regarding software quirks and physical performance in harsh climates. In freezing temperatures (-3°C), battery life drops drastically, yielding only 86 shots with one bar remaining. The camera suffers from firmware bugs, such as unexplained changes in focus mode from "Field" to "Touch AF" and erratic file naming bugs when numbers roll over past 999. Additionally, the touch screen cannot...