Leica’s M11 Is The Same, But Different
From the outside, it’s hard to see much that’s different between Leica’s new M11 digital rangefinder camera and the last few generations of models. On the inside, though, it’s another story and Leica describes the M11 as “massively changed inside”, giving it the tag line, “The Legend Reinvented”. Mind you, some things externally have changed, starting with the adoption of a conventional battery compartment in the camera’s base. The fullydetachable baseplate – a leftover from the film-era M-series camera – has finally gone which, in all honesty, is probably a good thing. As on the SL-series cameras, the battery pack itself incorporates the compartment cover, and it has increased capacity claimed to deliver up to 700 shots per charge. In-camera battery charging is now possible thanks to the provision of a USB-C connection.
The M11 also has a new, higher resolution – now at 2.3 million dots – touchscreen display, but it remains fixed as Leica remains committed to optimising the integrity of the camera’s construction. Nevertheless, the M11 is 20% lighter than the M10 and the blackfinish version has an aluminium top cover while the silver camera retains the traditional brass casting. In both cases the main body chassis is magnesium alloy.
While it may still look like a classic M camera, the M11 incorporates many advances in its digital functionality, starting with a new BSI-type sensor with an effective resolution of 60.3MP and what Leica is calling “Triple Resolution Technology” which allows for two smaller image sizes – at 36 and 18 megapixels – to be captured stills using the full sensor area and pixel count. Consequently, the smaller size images still retain the same noise characteristics as the full-res files. The three res settings are available for both JPEG and 14-bit RAW capture (the latter continuing to use the Adobe DNG format) and Leica is quoting 14 stops of dynamic range for L-DNG files and 15 stops for M-DNG and S-DNG. The new sensor has a “remapped” Bayer colour filter and dual ultra-thin UV/IR filter glasses to make the most of the corner sharpness available with the latest APO-type M-system lenses. There’s no optical low-pass filter. The sensitivity range is equivalent to ISO 64 to 50,000 and dual-gain circuitry sets the base ISO at 100 and 800 for optimising dynamic range and sensitivity respectively. The new sensor is mated with Leica’s latest Maestro
III processor, and the M11 has an electronic shutter with a speed range of 60-1/16,000 second. The mechanical shutter can be set from 60 minutes to 1/4000 second. Multi-zone metering is now available when the M11 is in ‘rangefinder mode’ (i.e. when using the optical viewfinder) or ‘live view mode’. In fact, all metering is now performed using the image sensor rather than a dedicated cell when the camera is in RF mode. Electronic image stabilisation is available in live view mainly to assist with focusing which, of course, is still performed manually via a split-image rangefinder. Image stabilisation isn’t available with image capture.
The optical viewfinder at the heart of the Leica M cameras is unchanged from the M10 and has 0.73x magnification, automatic parallax correction and bright-line frame pairs for the 28mm/90mm, 35mm/135mm and 50mm/75mm focal lengths. Internal crop modes are also available which are equivalent to 1.3x and 1.8x – representing 39MP and 18MP respectively, so they give the M11 additional flexibility. Continuous shooting can be at up to 4.5fps, with 3GB buffer memory allowing for a burst of around 100 JPEGs. There’s a healthy 64GB of internal memory to supplement the SD card slot (providing UHS-II speed support). Images can be copied between the card and the internal memory. Other notable features include an intervalometer, exposure bracketing and a dual-delay self-timer. Accompanying the
M11 is a new accessory EVF – the Visoflex
2 – which has a resolution of 3.68MP and is adjustable for viewing angle.
The Leica M11 is available in Australia now priced at $13,500 for the body only. For more information visit https:// au.leica-camera.com. To purchase online, go to https://leica-store.com.au.