Leica M11 Monochrom

[Bent Hjarbo]

I had the opportunity to play with a Leica M11 Monochrom yesterday, on a Leica photo walk on Copenhagen.
The event was set up by one of the smaller dealers in Copenhagen (Njal foto) and Leica. They had send a representative from Stockholm to show at tell about  Leica, and give us the change to use a camera of choice on a walk around Islands Brygge for a couple og hours.

I choose the M11, to see what the monochrome was all about.

The M11 boost a 60.3 MP sensor 9528x6328, and no Bayer filter!

The finish of the camera and lenses is just Leica, perfect, the camera with the 35 f2 felt heavy and substantial.

I have had a Leica M4 from Canada several years ago, but did not feel comfortable with it, I am an SLR guy

The experience with this brand new M11, with some guidance from Leica was OK, maybe not my normal shooting style.
One thing that was a surprise, it was longer to wake up from sleep than my Z6, and this an ragefinder camera, my D500 will fire the moment I press the shutter regardless if it was in sleep mode or not. I did miss a shot because the sound it made when waking was the same as taking a picture.
The camera is very quiet, and well suited for street photography, also because it is unintrusive.

I was interesting to try something new, at the I did not know the price of the kit I was using, if I felt my Z8 was expensive the in comparison it was very cheap

I attach some images more or less strait out of the camera, or at least just the defaults from LRc.

[ColinM]

Was there anything about the design or usability of this camera that you felt encouraged you to approach your photography differently from usual?

Anything that might help you uncover things that you maybe wouldn't have seen or tried with your Nikon kit?

[Fons Baerken]

Handsome monochromes!

[Bent Hjarbo]

Was there anything about the design or usability of this camera that you felt encouraged you to approach your photography differently from usual?

Anything that might help you uncover things that you maybe wouldn't have seen or tried with your Nikon kit?

The use of a fixed distance and f8, I guess this zone focusing was suggested, I did that for most of the pictures.
This is not my normal usage, as I have AF.
With the fixed settings it is easy to just “shoot from the hip” without looking in the finder.

[Erik Lund]

Very nice camera! Thank you for sharing the images.
I find that B&W often need some extra attention while shooting and or editing.
Leica M are basically rangefinder cameras,,, so a completely other world re focusing.
Sorry to hear they didn't help you with that

[Bent Hjarbo]

Very nice camera! Thank you for sharing the images.
I find that B&W often need some extra attention while shooting and or editing.
Leica M are basically rangefinder cameras,,, so a completely other world re focusing.
Sorry to hear they didn't help you with that

I was told to use zone focus, so some advice was given. Using the “light spot” for focusing, is something one have to learn, not just try for an hour or two.
I wanted to try the B&W as this was what I used many years ago. You are right not all images turn out fine when the colours are gone.

[Erik Lund]

My obvious advice would have been to use the rangefinder!. These modern super sharp sensors has very critical slim depth of field, as can be seen from your images.

[Dogman]

I love the tonality of the monochrome images.  It's just beautiful.  But I do miss the grain we got with B&W film.  That can, of course be rectified by using Silver Efex Pro software to get a more film-like look. 

But I'm a B&W nut.  I just love the grey tone image and I seldom shoot color.  Like Bent, I also had a Leica years ago but I didn't get on well with it at the time being a life-long Nikon shooter.  Many years later I bought another one and discovered I loved using it, eventually buying a second one.  I sold them when I moved to digital but I fondly remember using them and the beautiful photos I did with them--all B&W.  I never used color film with the Leicas, only Tri-X or HP5+.  Seemed a perfect match.

[Bent Hjarbo]

My obvious advice would have been to use the rangefinder!. These modern super sharp sensors has very critical slim depth of field, as can be seen from your images.

I did also use the rangefinder, I may actually have used it on the photos shown.
But I also did try some street photo, with the zone focus.
The one with the straws is focused with the rangefinder.

[Erik Lund]

Good to hear! Yes it's an amazing series Leica M if only it was not so expensive   
Sharpness and rendering in the Monochrom is impressive.
Similar to shooting IR,,,