Given my eyesight, I have struggled to use Leica’s rangefinder cameras. I love the M-Monochrom series of cameras, and I love the colors that come out of the old M9 camera. But they are more collector’s items than my everyday cameras. For me, the SL bodies with their astonishingly good viewfinders make them ideal devices, especially for using the M-lenses and other vintage lenses.
Despite my reticence, I decided to try out Leica’s latest flagship rangefinder — the61 megapixel M11 model. With this camera, Leica has streamlined its entire range of cameras around a singular interface — three buttons layout, the menu layouts, and the features on SL and M-bodies mimic each other. The M11 can be used with a new version of Leica’s viewfinder, a boon for someone like me who struggles with the rangefinder.
I don’t quite have a full opinion on the new camera, but I wanted to share these two photos made in Iceland. I was visiting the country to speak at Startup Iceland. The first image (on the left) is right out of the camera, with no edits. The image on the right is my B&W conversion. I used my trusted Leica APO-Summicron-M 50 f/2 ASPH lens. Both images were captured using the following settings: Aperture: f2, ISO 100, and exposure time of 1/250th of a second.
The bigger sensor and the new color science make this one of the more exciting M-cameras since the M9. So far, the camera has impressed me — and perhaps that’s why I am excited for the next version of the SL camera.
July 21, 2022. San Francisco