If high resolution, black and white photos are your forte, you won’t want to miss Leica’s newest camera to hit the market. The brand-new Leica M11 Monochrom Camera promises to deliver super high resolution images on a sensor dedicated to black-and-white photography. Let’s look at some of the best features in this brand new camera body.
Key Features of the Leica M11 Monochrom
- Triple-resolution technology sensor (60/36/18MP)
- ISO 125 to 200,000 range
- Weighs about 540 g
- 256GB of internal memory
- Buffer memory: 15 DNG shots or > 100 JPG shots
- Full-metal housing made of magnesium and aluminum
- Up to 4.5 FPS in continuous mode
- Up to 1700 shots in one battery cycle
- Extremely scratch resistant sapphire cover glass
- GPS available via Bluetooth
What’s New About the Leica M11 Monochrom?
Sensor Made for Black-and-White Photos
With a camera sensor dedicated to black-and-white images, Leica offers higher sharpness and brilliance than with a traditional color camera sensor of the same resolution. Details will look sharper and stand out from their surroundings with higher contrast. Since this sensor doesn’t use any color filters, it allows more light to hit the monochrome sensor. This offers a higher sensitivity sensor that produces far lower noise than a color sensor at the same nominal sensitivity. This new camera sensor has incredible performance at high ISO (up to 200,000) as well as the highest dynamic range ever seen in a Leica Monochrom camera.
Rugged, Clean Design
The M11 maintains the standard look and feel of a Leica camera, offering an incredible rugged camera in a body more similar to a film camera than a modern DSLR. The camera body itself is black and made of a high-quality aluminum top cover and scratch-resistant black paint finish. This is ideal for photographers who want to remain stealthy and discreet. Additionally, the M11 features sapphire cover glass, resulting in a scratch resistant finish.
Internal Storage
Perhaps one of the most unique features about the M11 Monochrom is the 256GB of internal storage. It is rare to find a camera on the market today with internal storage — let alone 256GB. While it does take a standard UHS-II memory card up to 2TB, you won’t need one if you find the 256GB to be sufficient. No more worrying about leaving your memory card at home!
Triple-Resolution sensor technology has been used to allow photographers to capture images up to 60 megapixels — up from the previous 40 megapixel sensor seen in the M10 Monochrom released in 2020. Higher resolution images allow you to capture the most detail possible, aiding you to create larger prints or even crop your images down. The lower resolutions are perfect for photographers who want to capture more in Burst mode, or for those who don’t need the extra megapixels and want to save on file size. You can expect the RAW 60 megapixel images to be approximately 70-120MB.
For burst shooters, you can expect to get 4.5FPS in Continuous-High Speed mode. This allows you to shoot roughly 3-4 seconds before hitting the 15 RAW file buffer. If shooting in JPEG, you can expect to get over 100 photos before you experience the buffer. So you can continue to shoot for well over 20 seconds before slowing down. The Leica M11 also has a low-speed Continuous mode, offering shooting at 3FPS in addition to a Single Shooting, Interval Shooting, and Exposure Bracketing drive modes.
Who Should Buy the Leica M11 Monochrom?
Black-and-White Photographers
If you’re a black-and-white photographer shooting on a color sensor, the new Leica M11 should certainly be on your radar. Not only does this compact camera have an incredibly high resolution, but you’ll also get much sharper images and better low light photos compared to shooting on a color sensor. In addition to the high megapixel count, burst shooting modes up to 4.5FPS will be sufficient for most kinds of photographers.
Even expert black-and white-photographers have a lot to love about the new M11. The massive internal memory means you don’t need to worry if you forget your memory card. Also, the resolution of the sensor compared to the size of the camera strikes an excellent balance between high quality images in very minimal, compact design. In addition to this, the high ISO performance is incredible. You can even salvage shots at a striking 200,000 ISO. On the other end of the spectrum, the M11 offers a base ISO of 125, which is the lowest ever in a M Monochrom.
Tactful Shooters
The M11 is a camera that comes in a very compact camera body, which can help photographers remain stealthy and discreet. The all-black body, dark chrome view finder coating, and the fact that there is no Leica logo on the front of the camera, all help you keep this compact camera out of the spotlight. If you shoot in situations where you must be discreet, the Leica M11 might be the perfect camera for you.
Leica Users
If you’re shooting on an older Monochrome sensor, the Leica M11 offers both a higher resolution, longer battery life, and better performance and sensitivity in low light situations. This camera will certainly feel like a massive upgrade for any photographer boasting an older monochrome camera.
Comparable Products
The Leica M11 Monochrom is an upgrade from the Leica M10 Monochrom that was released back in 2020. The new M11 boasts a higher sensor resolution (60MP vs 40MP), a higher rear display resolution (2.3 million pixels vs 1.0 million pixels), higher and lower ISO ranges (125-200,000 vs 160-100,000), a lighter weight (540g vs 660g), and a larger battery. Also, the M11 has 256 GB of internal memory, which is a new feature seen only in the M11. Overall, Leica improved quite a few features in the M11 version of their Monochrom camera.
New Lens Also Announced
Leica shooters will also be pleased to learn about a new lens releasing alongside the M11 camera. The new Summilux-M 50 f/1.4 ASPH Lens is a brand-new 50mm lens allowing you to achieve extremely high contrast and detailed images even in challenging lighting conditions. Unlike many other lenses, the Sumillux-M 50 has 11 aperture blades so you’ll have visibly rounder bokeh. Lastly, this new lens can focus as close as 45 cm away, allowing you to take excellent images while up close.
The new Leica M11 Monochrom and Summilux-M 50mm lens are sure to create some amazing results for black-and-white photographers. If you’re looking for an excellent monochrome camera in a compact and discreet body, this is certainly a camera and lens you should not overlook.
