Leicaflex SL2

Leica · Leica R mount · 24×36mm on 35mm film · 1974

Also known as: Leicaflex SL2 · Leicaflex SL 2 · Leicaflex SL-2 · Leica Leicaflex SL2 · Leitz Leicaflex SL2 · Leicaflex SL2 MOT · Leicaflex SL2MOT · Leica SL2 MOT · ライカフレックス SL2

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
SL2 '0 Series' (pre-series, 1973)	Leica R	1973–1973	1369801–1369875	75 serial numbers, assigned 23 October 1973 (Leica's serial data as published by CameraQuest; the Leica Wiki repeats the block from that list)
Leicaflex SL2 chrome (10021)	Leica R	1974–1976	—	—
Leicaflex SL2 black chrome (10022)	Leica R	1974–1976	—	—
Leicaflex SL2 '50 Jahre' (1975)	Leica R	1975–1975	—	1,750, in chrome and black (Wikipedia, citing Laney; Leitz Photographica Auction: '1750 cameras produced in Wetzlar'); no source splits the figure by finish
Leicaflex SL2 MOT (10023)	Leica R	1975–1976	1386601–1386700; 1387451–1387500; 1391761–1392000; 1393421–1393510; 1394301–1394600; 1415141–1415230; 1421001–1421150	1,020 numbers in seven dedicated blocks, assigned 20 January to 22 July 1975 (Leica's serial data via CameraQuest; camera-wiki; this page's sum of the blocks), plus an unrecorded number of MOTs taken at random from the last two SL2 blocks of 1975–76. The English Wikipedia's "10,000 SL2 MOT" does not fit its own total of "over 26,000" and is an error.

camera-wiki says the official body price was about twice that of a Nikon F2 Photomic, "approximately $1600 vs. $830 in 1975", and that Leitz still lost money on each camera, largely because of the shutter. It cites no price list, and does not say whether the figure is a US list price or includes a lens, so it is not given here as a launch price. Casual Photophile likewise calls the SL2 double the price of the comparable Nikon, without a figure. None of these sources cites a Leitz price list for the SL2.
The Leica Wiki gives a street price of €1,200 in 2015 for a chrome 50 Jahre, without saying whether it is a dealer or an auction figure.
Leitz Photographica's catalogue serials for SL2s are twice printed with eight digits (13854330, 13918140). They are most likely typing errors, not a separate numbering: both fall into SL2 blocks once the last digit is dropped.

How to tell them apart (expand)

LEICAFLEX SL2 on the top plate; a hot shoe on the prism, which the Leicaflex and SL lack
The aperture set on the lens shown in the finder, with a button on the prism that lights the scales from a separate battery on the front of the body (Wikipedia; camera-wiki; Casual Photophile)
A squarer prism housing and less curved back than the SL (Leica Wiki)
Split-image rangefinder in the screen centre with a microprism ring (Apotelyt; Leica Wiki; Casual Photophile); the SL has a central microprism spot only (camera-wiki)

SL2 '0 Series' (pre-series, 1973):

A serial between 1369801 and 1369875, more than 15,000 numbers below the first production block at 1385001
The number sits among late Leicaflex SL blocks: CameraQuest's list has SL production at 1368901–1369800 and 1369876–1372440 on either side of it

Leicaflex SL2 chrome (10021):

Satin chrome top plate and prism housing with LEICAFLEX SL2 engraved, and a hot shoe on the prism
A small battery compartment on the front, beside the mount, that powers only the finder illumination, with the illumination button on top of the prism (Casual Photophile; Wikipedia)
A squarer prism and top than the SL, the back less curved (Leica Wiki; Wikipedia)

Leicaflex SL2 black chrome (10022):

Black chrome plating, not the black paint of the black Leicaflex and early black SL (Wikipedia; camera-wiki)
Otherwise the same body as the chrome SL2

Leicaflex SL2 '50 Jahre' (1975):

'50 JAHRE' surrounded by oak leaves engraved on the prism housing (Wikipedia; Apotelyt)
A separate edition number of three digits and a letter, apart from the body serial: 009-A, 047-I, 121-A and 311-E on the examples catalogued by Leitz Photographica Auction, which places 311-E on the back of the top plate; Casual Photophile also notes the special number on the back of a 50 Jahre
Body serials in the ordinary 1975 SL2 blocks: 1392624, 1394148, 1418469 and 1418725 on those examples

Leicaflex SL2 MOT (10023):

MOT engraved on the front of the camera (Apotelyt)
No self-timer lever on the front, and no meter switch in the advance lever (Apotelyt; Wikipedia, for the SL MOT)
Fittings to accept the Leicaflex Motor (Apotelyt)
Black: camera-wiki says only in black, Apotelyt almost all black

SL2 '0 Series' (pre-series, 1973): Leica's own serial data, sorted by Stephen Gandy at CameraQuest, labels this block "SL2 0 Series", a pre-series made about seven months before the first production block. The Leica Wiki prints the same 75 numbers as plain "Leicaflex SL2" with the 23 October 1973 date and credits Gandy's list for them. Neither list says what, if anything, distinguishes these cameras from production SL2s.
Leicaflex SL2 chrome (10021): Order number 10021 (Leica Wiki; Apotelyt). The Leica Wiki's serial table marks the first blocks, 1385001–1386000 and 1386101–1386600, as chrome; later blocks mix finishes. A chrome body with a Summicron-R 2/50mm, no. 13854330 as printed (an eight-digit serial, most likely 1385433 in the first block), made €1,200 including buyer's premium at Leitz Photographica Auction 9, lot 222; a chrome body of 1975, no. 1394889, with a Summicron 2/50mm made €540 including premium at Auction 33, lot 180.
Leicaflex SL2 black chrome (10022): Order number 10022 (Leica Wiki; Apotelyt). Wikipedia, citing Laney's Leica Pocket Book, gives the reason for the change from the SL's black paint: the paint coat was thicker than the plating, so parts had to be made to different dimensions for each finish, which cost more. The Leica Wiki labels the large block 1387501–1391760 as black and the last blocks of 1975–76 (1440001–1446000) as black.
Leicaflex SL2 '50 Jahre' (1975): Made for the fiftieth anniversary of the Leica of 1925. The Leica Wiki's table notes 50 Jahre cameras inside the blocks 1393511–1394300, 1394601–1395000 and 1415231–1421000, and labels the MOT block 1415141–1415230 'black.50 yr', but the chrome no. 1392624 falls in 1392001–1393420, which the table does not mark, so the block labels are a guide rather than a list. No source explains the letter after the edition number. Two SL2 MOT bodies with the 50 Jahre engraving are recorded, nos. 1393465 and 1393469, both inside the MOT block 1393421–1393510 (Leitz Photographica Auction 18, lot 187, which says only these two are known). Results at Leitz Photographica, all including buyer's premium: black 311-E / 1394148, €1,200 (Auction 46, lot 226); chrome 121-A / 1418725, €600 (Auction 46, lot 227); chrome 047-I / 1392624, €900 (Auction 45, lot 205); chrome 009-A / 1418469 with a Summicron-R 2/50mm, unsold against €2,000–2,400 (Auction 39, lot 167); SL2 MOT 1393465, €2,280 (Auction 18, lot 187).
Leicaflex SL2 MOT (10023): Order number 10023 (Leica Wiki; Apotelyt). The SL2 built to take the Leicaflex Motor (14077), the same motor as the SL MOT, used with the 14181 handgrip; Apotelyt gives up to three frames a second and notes that the motor about doubles the camera's height. There are two motor types. The Leica Wiki says motors numbered 2600 and below cannot take single exposures; the later type has an E (Einzel, single) setting (Wikipedia). Leitz Photographica Auction 9, lot 223, catalogued an SL2 MOT of 1975 with a second-type motor, no. 4510, "for single and multiple frames"; its serial is printed 13918140, most likely 1391814 in the MOT block 1391761–1392000. It went unsold against an estimate of €1,600–1,800. Casual Photophile says the optional ground-glass screen was standard equipment on the SL2 MOT; the other sources do not say so. Whether the black is paint or black chrome is disputed (see below).

Serial-range notes

1369801–1369875: SL2 '0 Series', 75 numbers, 23 October 1973 (CameraQuest).
1385001–1386100: The first production block, 1,100 numbers, assigned 7 June 1974 (CameraQuest). The Leica Wiki splits it into 1385001–1386000, chrome, 1974–75, and 1386001–1386100, 1975.
1386101–1386600; 1386701–1387450; 1387501–1391760: 500, 750 and 4,260 numbers, assigned 3 July 1974, 20 January 1975 and 20 January 1975 (CameraQuest). The Leica Wiki marks the first chrome and the third black.
1392001–1393420; 1393511–1394300; 1394601–1395000: 1,420, 790 and 400 numbers, assigned 22 February, 9 June and 18 June 1975 (CameraQuest). The Leica Wiki labels the second 'black, 50 yr' and the third 'black, mot + chrome, 50 yr'.
1415001–1415140; 1415231–1421000; 1421151–1425000: 140, 5,770 and 3,850 numbers, all assigned 22 July 1975 (CameraQuest). CameraQuest prints the last as 1421151–1525000, a typing error: its own count is 3,850, and the Leica Wiki gives 1421151–1425000.
1440001–1443000; 1443501–1446000: 3,000 numbers assigned 19 August 1975 and 2,500 assigned 26 March 1976, the last SL2 blocks. The factory data says these two blocks also hold SL2 MOTs, 'not in order and taken by chance', and that the first includes one MOT with an unrecorded number (CameraQuest). The R3 numbers begin at 1446001.
1386601–1386700; 1387451–1387500; 1391761–1392000; 1393421–1393510; 1394301–1394600; 1415141–1415230; 1421001–1421150: The seven SL2 MOT blocks: 100, 50, 240, 90, 300, 90 and 150 numbers, 20 January to 22 July 1975 (CameraQuest).

Specifications

Format: 24×36mm on 35mm film
Finder: fixed pentaprism; full-focusing screen with central split image, a ring of coarse microprisms and fine microprisms over the rest; a plain matte screen was available (Apotelyt)
Shutter: horizontal-travel rubberised cloth focal plane, mechanically timed · 1s–1/2000 and B · flash sync X at 1/100, through the hot shoe or the front sockets · self-timer
Film advance: single-stroke lever
Back: hinged, opened by pulling up the rewind knob, with a safety lock (Leica Wiki)
Meter: CdS cell at the bottom of the mirror box, reading light through a semi-silvered area of the main mirror by way of a secondary mirror; selective (spot) TTL reading at full aperture, match needle, manual exposure only (Apotelyt). Powered by a 625 mercury cell (1.34 V in Apotelyt's figure, "the 1.35v era" in Tocchio's), which no longer exists: buyers should ask whether the meter has been recalibrated or use a voltage-matching adapter or zinc-air cell. Apotelyt warns that linear polarisers upset the reading because of the semi-silvered mirror, and that circular ones work properly.
Motor drive: Leicaflex Motor (14077), SL2 MOT only — Only the SL2 MOT takes the motor; the ordinary SL2 has no drive coupling
Weight: 770 g
Dimensions: 148 × 97 × 57 (Apotelyt); 148 × 97 × 50 (Wikipedia) mm
Country: Germany (Wetzlar)
Accessories: Leicaflex Motor 14077, shared with the SL MOT, with handgrip 14181 (Leica Wiki); early motors to no. 2600 run continuously only, later ones have an E single-frame setting · Plain matte focusing screen (Apotelyt) · Eyepiece correction lenses (Apotelyt)

Shows the shutter speed, the aperture set on the lens and the meter needle with its follow pointer. No diopter adjustment: Leitz sold correction lenses (Apotelyt). The SL2 has a depth-of-field preview but no mirror lock-up (Apotelyt). Apotelyt warns that the screen can yellow and the prism desilver with age; Tocchio, replying to a reader under his Casual Photophile review, says he has heard of desilvering especially around the edges of the frame.

Figures we worked out rather than found: The SL2 blocks in CameraQuest's list, counting the 0 Series and taking the 1421151 block at its printed count of 3,850, sum to 24,555, and the MOT blocks to 1,020: together 25,575, the Leica Wiki's total · The '50 Jahre' MOT bodies 1393465 and 1393469 and the motor-equipped MOT printed 13918140 fall inside MOT blocks once the eight-digit number is read as 1391814

Where sources disagree

Production

24,555 SL2 numbers plus 1,020 SL2 MOT, 25,575 in all (Leica's serial data via CameraQuest; camera-wiki; the Leica Wiki's total)
About 25,500 (Apotelyt)
'Over 26,000 (25,000 SL2 and 10,000 SL2 MOT)' (English Wikipedia, citing Puts)

Better supported: 25,575 numbers assigned, from the factory blocks

The 24,555 includes the 75-number pre-series. These are numbers assigned, not cameras counted, and some SL2 MOTs were taken at random from SL2 blocks. Wikipedia's figures contradict each other and its 10,000 MOTs is ten times the blocks.

Meter sensitivity against the SL

Three stops more sensitive (English Wikipedia, citing Laney)
Four times as sensitive, that is two stops (Leica Wiki, quoting a contributor's description)

camera-wiki says only 'more sensitive'. None of these sources gives a Leitz figure.

SL2 MOT finish

All in black paint (English Wikipedia, citing Laney)
Only in black, type not stated (camera-wiki)
Almost all black (Apotelyt)
The Leica Wiki labels the MOT block 1394301–1394600 'black+chrom'

The rest of the SL2 line is black chrome. None of these sources describes a chrome SL2 MOT.

Dimensions (mm)

148 × 97 × 57mm (Apotelyt)
148 × 97 × 50mm (English Wikipedia, which prints the same figure for all three Leicaflex models)

Wide-angle lenses the new mirror admits

16mm Fisheye-Elmarit-R, 19mm and 24mm Elmarit-R (camera-wiki)
16mm and 19mm (English Wikipedia)
Fisheye-Elmarit-R 16mm, Elmarit-R 24mm and Vario-Elmar-R 80–200 f/4.5, the lenses Minolta designed and made for Leitz (Apotelyt)

First serial

1369801, the '0 Series' of 23 October 1973 (CameraQuest)
1385001, the first production block, assigned 7 June 1974 (CameraQuest; Leica Wiki)

Better supported: Both are right: the first is a pre-series, the second production

What reviewers say

James Tocchio (Casual Photophile) (blog) — Heavy, but a beautifully built all-mechanical camera with a bright finder and accurate meter; Tocchio rates it above every Leica SLR before and after, calling the later Minolta-era R bodies less reliable and too dependent on electronics.
Apotelyt (blog) — A specification-led profile: loved for its simplicity, reliability and bright finder, it needs two-cam lenses to meter, takes no ROM lenses and has a mercury-cell meter to sort out; check for a yellowed screen and a desilvering prism.

History

The Leicaflex SL2 is the third and last Leicaflex, made by Ernst Leitz in Wetzlar from 1974 to 1976. It is the SL of 1968 with a set of improvements. The aperture set on the lens now shows in the finder, and a button on the prism lights the finder scales from a separate battery on the front of the body. The screen gained a split-image centre. A hot shoe went on the prism, and the meter was made more sensitive: three stops by the English Wikipedia’s account, fourfold by the Leica Wiki’s. The mirror was redesigned so that the new short wide-angles could be mounted, which the SL cannot take. Sources disagree on which lenses those are: camera-wiki names the 16mm Fisheye-Elmarit-R and the 19mm and 24mm Elmarit-R, and Apotelyt the lenses Minolta designed and made for Leitz. The shutter is the mechanically timed horizontal cloth unit of the earlier Leicaflexes, 1s to 1/2000. The camera needs a battery only for the meter and the finder lamp. It meters a selective central area at full aperture, manual exposure only. Leitz also cut costs: black chrome replaced black paint, and more non-metal parts went in.

It is a Wetzlar design. Leitz had been working with Minolta since 1971 by English Wikipedia’s account, or under an agreement of 1972 by camera-wiki’s, and camera-wiki describes the SL2 as the last Leica SLR with no Minolta influence until the R8 of 1996. It was also the last all-mechanical Leica reflex until the R6. The reason it lasted only two years was cost. camera-wiki and Apotelyt both report that Leitz lost money on every SL2, chiefly because of the shutter, and in 1976 it was replaced by the R3 (camera-wiki). The R3 was developed in cooperation with Minolta, together with the Minolta XE in the English Wikipedia’s words, and had an electronically timed shutter and automatic exposure. Stephen Gandy’s list of Leica’s factory serial data, published on CameraQuest, assigns 24,555 numbers to the SL2, including a pre-series, and 1,020 to the SL2 MOT, 25,575 in all. The English Wikipedia’s figure of 10,000 MOTs is an error.

The lens question is about cams. The SL2 meters at full aperture through the second of the two sloped cams, so 2-cam lenses, made for the SL and SL2, and 3-cam lenses, which keep both sloped cams and add the stepped R cam, both mount and meter normally. Lenses for the original Leicaflex have one cam. On the SL2 they mount and meter stopped down only: that is the English Wikipedia’s account of the R bayonet, while Apotelyt says simply that their metering will not work. The R-only lenses made from the late 1980s, and the ROM lenses that followed, have only the R cam. The R-only mount is deliberately shaped so that it will not fit a Leicaflex (English Wikipedia), and Apotelyt says ROM lenses cannot be used on any Leicaflex unless they are refitted with the Leicaflex cams. English Wikipedia adds that converting a lens to ROM removes its sloped cams, and Leica’s R9 instructions say a lens so converted can then be used only on R bodies from the R3. Leica service converted lenses between cam types, so check the rear of any lens offered with an SL2 rather than trusting its year. The 21mm f/3.4 Super-Angulon, which needs mirror lock-up, does not fit at all; the retrofocus 21mm f/4 does.

There are five versions. A pre-series of 75 numbers, 1369801–1369875, appears in the factory data as the “SL2 0 Series”, assigned in October 1973 among late SL blocks; what sets these cameras apart from production SL2s is not recorded. The production cameras were made in chrome (order no. 10021) and black chrome (10022). In 1975, 1,750 were engraved 50 JAHRE with oak leaves on the prism for the Leica’s fiftieth anniversary, by Laney’s and Leitz Photographica’s figure. Each carries an edition number such as 311-E, on the back of the top plate, separate from its serial. The SL2 MOT (10023) is black, has MOT on the front and no self-timer, and takes the Leicaflex Motor shared with the SL MOT. Motors numbered 2600 and below run continuously only (Leica Wiki); later ones have an E setting for single frames. Two MOTs with the 50 Jahre engraving are recorded.

When buying, look first at the finder. The prism can desilver, and the screen can yellow (Apotelyt); Tocchio has heard of desilvering starting around the edges of the frame. The meter was designed for a 1.35 V mercury cell, so ask whether it has been recalibrated, or plan on an adapter or zinc-air cells, and check the reading against a known meter. Use a circular polariser, not a linear one, because the meter reads through a semi-silvered patch in the mirror. Leica no longer services R bodies. At Leitz Photographica, ordinary SL2s with a 50mm lens have made €540–1,200 including buyer’s premium, and 50 Jahre bodies €600–1,200. The one 50 Jahre MOT offered there made €2,280.

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This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Photographs

Leicaflex SL2 in black chrome, 1975 — Sodacan, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

More sample photos elsewhere

These photographers keep all rights to their work — enjoy it at the source.

Live listings

Leicaflex SL2 Black — HK$4,800.00 · LSKamera · likely black-chrome
★希少品★ ライツ・ウェッツラー LEITZ WETZLAR LEICAFLEX SL2 50 JAHRE #561@x RO5991 — from ¥1 · Yahoo! Auctions Japan · auction 2026-11-15 · likely 50-jahre

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Listings updated 2026-11-09. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.