THE WALK AROUND

The first thing you'll notice about the S2 is how surprisingly light it feels. This, in fact, is no illusion. Though it's slightly bigger than most pro-level digital SLRs, the S2 weighs about the same.

More importantly, the weight is distributed evenly across the S2's all-metal, magnesium die-cast body. This camera is very well balanced and comfortable with a nice ergonomic design that's suited for both shooters with small hands and those with big oven mitts such as Jason and me.

In early prototypes of the S2, the camera had a smooth rubber grip that molded nicely to your hand. While I liked that grip, the new textured, leather-grain finish is also quite comfortable. Overall, as you would expect of Leica products, the S2 is a solidly built imaging machine. Along with the tough metal body, the S2 is weather and dust-sealed making it feel more akin to a rugged pro DSLR than a delicate medium-format camera. Studio use with the S2 was a pleasure and we felt the camera offered a DSLR's versatility with the presence and gravitas of a medium-format camera.

Leica's penchant for Spartan elegance extends to the love it/hate it layout of the unlabeled, trapezoidal buttons surrounding the camera's 2.7-inch LCD. There is a certain logic to the controls, though, which have added "soft" functionality when you keep them pressed.

The S2's menu system is also logical and easy to read if a bit dull. And, of course, the trade-off to having such menu-driven control is that's it tougher to make quick changes when you need them. There's a command dial on top of the camera but it's pretty basic with just shutter speed settings and a choice of putting the camera in Auto or Bulb mode. A tiny OLED menu screen—we measured it at 1x.6-inch—on top provides data on your current settings. The only other switch on the camera is on the upper left near the viewfinder which turns the camera on or off and lets you choose between the Central Shutter (CS) focus and Focal Plane Shutter (FPS) focus.

The one other design "quirk" on the S2 is the dual card slots—for both CompactFlash and SD—which accept the cards with the front label facing in instead of out as is more typical. Leica says this is because the grip on the cards is on the rear—they're correct—but it's liable to drive you batty the first couple times you load the camera with memory.