Leica Vario-Elmar-SL 100-400mm f/5-6.3 lens review by Cristopher Frost
His conclusion:
- Build & usability:
- Excellent, tough metal construction, weather-sealed, and a pleasure to handle despite being large (1.12 kg).
- Smooth zoom and focus rings, though manual focus response feels inconsistent.
- Image stabilization is effective.
- Optical performance:
- Sharpness in the center is excellent at shorter focal lengths, but weaker contrast and corner sharpness at 400mm.
- Stopping down to f/8 improves sharpness and contrast slightly.
- With the optional 1.4x teleconverter, sharpness and contrast degrade further, and some optical decentering was noted.
- Vignetting and distortion are well-controlled, but pincushion distortion increases at 400mm.
- Bokeh is pleasing and smooth, with no chromatic aberration detected.
- Other observations:
- Autofocus is fast, quiet, and reliable.
- Flare is moderate at wide angles and improves when zoomed.
- Close focusing (1.1m) offers good magnification and sharpness.
- Value:
- At ~£2,000–2,300, it’s more affordable than most Leica lenses but still pricey.
- Best suited for 24MP cameras; likely struggles to resolve well on higher-resolution sensors.
- Verdict:
- Great for wildlife and telephoto work with excellent build and nice bokeh.
- Not quite sharp enough at long end and on high-res cameras to fully justify the price.
Leica Vario-Elmar SL 100–400mm f/5–6.3 at B&H Photo, Amazon, Adorama.
