The new Leica Vario-Elmar-SL 100-400mm lens.

Leica Akademie Instructor Nick Rains takes a first look at this new telephoto lens addition to the Leica SL lens range.
Apologies for the video being in 720p not 1080p. it seems that the HD version never processed in the KZbin servers for some reason, only the SD version, so this video will therefore have to be re-uploaded at some point soon. This will also mean that all comments will disappear too, since a new video version cannot simply replace an existing one.

[@KristianDowling]

Hard to argue with the great photography. A lens is only as good as the pictures taken with it. Well done Nick!

[@ericwickfield1074]

Great to see you back, Nick. I'm sure many of us have missed your videos -- please continue!

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

More to come!

[@stefangroenveld]

These are some nice promising pictures. Thank you for showing us. I hoped you had added some pics with the TC.

[@suzanneoconnellaustralia]

Picked mine up today in Brisbane ... looking forward to shooting with it at Kangaroo Island next week.

[@PhillipJ]

Nice review, beautiful images, love the contrast and the sharpness!👍👏

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@EricLemonne]

Thank you very much for this first comparison, Nick. Unfortunately the Extender 1.4x L will not fit my brilliant APO 90-280. It seems it would be great to buy that new 100-400 for wildlife photography, and keep the 90-280 for closer subjects and astonishing portraits and landscape photography.

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

That's right, the 1.4 converter will only work with this new lens, for the moment. I am told there will be other lenses in the future which it will work with.

[@walkingmeditation61]

I don't think anyone on you tube will do it but I'd love to see a side by side comparison with the Nikon 100-400 Z which is like 600 dollars US more

[@SimonPhillipsPhoto]

Really nice video, shame about the video quality, I will keep watching it when you upload it again in full HD so I can experience these photos in a better way.

[@timbrown8512]

That is a great photo of the crocodile

[@wilfredshum3703]

Impressing pictures even with a Leica lens not made in Germany. Thanks for the early review.

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

Regardless of where a Leica lens in made - Japan, Portugal, Germany - it is still a Leica lens made to Leica's exacting standards. As a good example, some of the sharpest lenses ever made by Leica were in fact the now discontinued TL lenses, most of which were labelled as Made in Japan.

[@drrobertgoldman1806]

Great pictures. Does the 1.4 teleconverter work with the 90-280mm?

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

Unfortunately not. There is no space inside the rear of the 90-280mm to fit the extender. It will fit future lenses.

[@karinkooij2976]

Hi Nick, cheers for the footage. I recently bought the 100-400 mil and wonder whether to buy the 1.4 Leica converter or purchase a Sigma converter. However, glad to hear that the 1.4 works that well. I am a bit struggling though with my camera set up, regarding wildlife/Bird photography. Could you share some thoughts on the best AF set up for this kind of photography? iAF or AF, field settings or zone? Love to hear what your ideal set up is for fast moving subjects. Thanks very much for your time!😊

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

Not iAF for sure. I seem to get my best results with AFc and Zone focussing. Fast moving subjects are really hard for any AF system.

[@karinkooij2976]

@@LeicaCameraAustralia thanks very much for your reply! I am working with this setup but use spot as well when the animals are not moving like crazy and it works. Your suggestions make me feel more confident for being on the right track. Cheers!

[@andersphansson]

Great video! Any test with 1.4 extender and How slower Will it be?

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

The 1.4 extender makes the lens 140-560mm f7.1 - f9. It magnifies by 1.4 and thus reduces the light transmission by 1 stop.

[@wosam]

Hi. What's about the Sharpness at the edges? Is it sharp as APO SL 35 or as SL 16-35? Thanks

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

That's asking a lot! The APO-Summicron 35mm is possibly the sharpest lens made by Leica. So that would be an unfair comparison given the very reasonable price.

[@manojchandramishra906]

Could you compare this to a Panasonic and sigma 100-400? As a group test why not include to the famed canon 100-400 version 2, with sigma adaptor.

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

I'm sorry. We don't do direct comparisons with other brands on this channel. That's for others to do, they specialise in that kind of thing. This channel is much more about using a specific camera and lens 'in the wild', in real world situations.

[@KristianDowling]

To be clear, you weren't making up names for birds right, Nick. We did confirm this a couple months back I believe ;-)

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

Ha ha...😛

[@nielstrygvenergaard3303]

Great! Subscribing!

[@mike_qbik]

What camera was used?

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

SL2 and SL2-S - stills mostly SL2, video mostly SL2-S.

[@Suep1]

@@LeicaCameraAustraliaHi, do you think it would work well with the Leica CL digital?

[@mike_qbik]

@@LeicaCameraAustralia Thank you. Have my SL2S for few months and still in awe what an excellent camera it is. Stunning photos and video.

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

On the CL it would give you 24MP with a 600mm f6.3 lens 'equivalent'. The CL works well with the 90-280mm too.

[@Suep1]

@@LeicaCameraAustralia Thank you very much!

[@timslater9086]

Images are SL2 or SL2-S?

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

Mostly SL2.

[@wosam]

Can we have DNG files please? I would like to zoom and test everything. Thanks

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

These images were shot with a pre-production model and so we cannot share the original raw files. I suggest a visit to a Leica store with your camera, and shoot some test images for yourself.

[@joint831]

720p? Seriously? :)

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

Well that is odd. It was uploaded in 1080p. Apologies for that, the video cannot be replaced on YT unfortunately.

[@portoviejo_manabi7485]

I really do not understand the strategy here, Leica is following latest. Instead of growing the outstanding family of SL lenses like the APOs, we get flooded with many "i have seen it before many times" lenses. I am not willing to pay any premium above the sigma price list, if the only thing I may get here in addition is the red dot. And it scares me off for what is coming next! - sorry to say, but this feels like brand self-destruction mode.

[@johannesbasuki391]

the same lens like sigma 100-400 5.0-6.3

[@clearlyconfused9194]

Not identical, optically it may be the same which is sad if that's the case

[@brianbprice3693]

boo who wants a slow lens

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

Broadly speaking, a one stop faster lens in this class would be twice as big and cost four times as much. With good high ISO camera performance, slower apertures are almost a non-issue except for in very specialist applications.