The Leica CL is the prize of our 2018 contest so I decided to make a camera review from the point of view of a street photographer that is using the camera on the field.

The original analog Leica CL was a classic from the 70’s, a 35 mm compact rangefinder camera with interchangeable Leica M-mount lenses. It was developed in collaboration with Minolta and it first appeared in April 1973 and was released in the Japanese market in November 1973.

Although Leica has wanted to maintain a link with the past, the new CL is an incredibly modern machine and its technical characteristics can not but confirm it. Build quality is exactly what we’d expect from a Leica Camera in 2018: magnesium chassis, finegrain leather, elegant curved design and aluminum black anodized top and bottom plates.

A 24.2 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor with no AA filter makes brilliantly detailed images and can deliver a native ISO range of 100 to 50,000. The Leica CL mirrorless camera takes the L-mount bayonet so it can be used with Leica TL and SL lenses as well as with Leica M and R lenses with an adapter.