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Paid up members of Leica Society International (LSI) will have received an email tonight inviting them to an exclusive discussion with Stefan Daniel, Leica Global Senior Brand Ambassador, at 4.30pm CET, 3.30 GMT, 10.30am US Eastern on Monday 15th December. This will consist, initially, of a discussion with Stefan conducted by our LSI member from Germany, Martin Eickelschulte The theme will be : The birth and development of the first digital monochrome camera at Leica. At the end of the discussion there will be an opportunity to put questions to Stefan about the Monochrom models and black and white photography generally. We are proposing to have a Monochrom/Monochrome Group at LSI which will be open to anyone interested in monochrome or black and white photography using digital or film. This will be a step beyond our existing LSI Monochrom Moments WhatsApp Group, which will continue in existence. We are also developing a module for online competitions for LSI members which will include a monochrome section. There you will be able to have comments on your images from Jono Slack and other experienced photographers. I hope that LSI members will join us on 15th December. It will be the first of a series of special talks which will feature Stefan Daniel in his new ambassador role, which he took up last Monday. William Fagan President LSI

Hello, dear Leica forum users. A brief introduction and a question about the D-Lux 8 post-processing within Lightroom. Introduction: I have also been using a D-Lux 8 for a few days now. It is a really nice camera, and the handling is really simple and convincing. Coming from the world of the SONY A7, I appreciate the easy and good handling of the D-Lux 8. The first pictures have turned out great, and I think I've found the right camera to accompany me every day and everywhere. It will certainly be a good companion for street photography too, as it is not as big as an A7 IV with a 35 GM or 50 mm GM - and not as heavy. Nevertheless, I'm still struggling with the DNG files. The import into Lightroom Classic works wonderfully. However, the monochrome images are displayed in RGB mode, which is initially based on the DNG format. For years, the majority of my images have been taken in monochrome and come very close to the “high contrast” monochrome of the D-Lux 8. I created a special sensor profile for my SONY A7 IV, which later displays the RAW files as desired. Here, I convert the RAW files into TIFFs using the SONY software and then just crop them slightly in LR. Thats all. Since there is no explicit software from Leica that can take over the monochrome "settings", the only way is probably via Lightroom. Now to my question: Are there any pre-sets for Lightroom that change the DNG so that they come very close to the appearance of the JPG image? - The JPGs are wonderful, but I would like to keep the DNGs and delete the JPGs, assuming that the DNGs can be displayed in this way. Maybe there is a software that can handle the monochrome "settings" of the DNG. Thank you very much in advance for your support and tips. Best regards

I bought my Leica Monochrom September 2013. Not only was it my first rangefinder, but also my first experience with Leica and I must admit that this has been a revelation for me. Like many of you it took me a couple of months to get used to iy but now I feel more and more confident shooting with my “Back Beauty” However, I am still struggling with these blowing Highlights. I already bought a 3 stop B&W ND filter but still… Reading this forum I understand that many others have had the same issue. I tried to expose for the highlights but then I tend to have pictures with a lot of shadow dust. Often other more experience users advise not to expose for the highlights but rather to expose “correctly”. Can someone please explain to me what they mean with “correctly”? Does this mean that if the DR of the scene is to important to be captured in one shot that I need to bracket my exposure or just have to decide to blow the highlights (or the shadows for that matter)? I do realise that this is a probably a beginners question (I started photography only 1 year ago so I guess I have an excuse ) but I really hope you take some time to help me out of this.. Many thanks, Frédéric

I did a search here on the Forum to see if there was any history or discussion on an interesting problem I was having with my M Monochrom 246 but found nothing. Therefore, I thought I would document my experience for the record. My issue was that the shutter was randomly misfiring, either too fast or too slow. This was producing some "unusual" results with some exposures unpredictably wildly off the mark. In my blind trust of Leica, I was a bit slow to conclude that the problem was with the camera rather than me. At first, I could not understand how such varying results could be produced in aperture-priority mode but gradually began to suspect the shutter. I took a series of shots of the same scene and the same lighting, with the same aperture, but with a manually-selected shutter speed both in "S" and "C" modes. As it turned out, the shutter speeds for each image file were all over the place with the minority at the actual set speed. Furthermore, it did not seem to matter what shutter speed was selected and, of course, it did not matter what lens was on the camera. When I wrote to Leica Camera USA describing my situation, I got an answer in pretty short order with the suggestion to do a camera Reset. This worked! The Reset function apparently is a like a o/s reboot on a computer which sadly had not occurred to me as a possible solution. Of course, all my menu-driven customizations were wiped out with the camera reverting to the factory default but that was a small price to pay to have normal shutter operation restored. Anyone else seen this?

Just for curiosity sake, if you had to replace your current monochrom and you were given a gift certificate for a brand new one, which would you get? Notwithstanding price difference and the fact that the MMI is no longer in production, but you found a little camera shop that had new versions of both on their shelf. The MMI even has the new sensor.

Ausblick zu den ‚Produktgedanken’ eines ‚L-User’: "Reduktion auf das Wesentliche der digitalen Farbphotografie" Oder - Die „Schwarz-Weiß“-Digital M wird zum Farbphotoapparat ================================================================= Farbfilter ‚RGB-Revolver M’ für Monochrom Die Zukunft der Farbphotographie Unzählige Ikonen der Schwarz-Weiß-Photographie sind mit den legendären Monochrom des L. M-Systems entstanden. Zeit für ein Kamera-Zubehör, das an diese Tradition anknüpft und die konsequente Umsetzung der authentischen Farbphotographie endlich präzise digital ermöglicht: Aus der langjährigen Entwicklungsarbeit: Erster Testaufbau Der Farbfilter ‚RGB-Farbrevolver M’ für die Monochrom. Der Adapter macht die Monochrom zu einer Kleinbild-Systemkamera, die auch für kompromisslose Farbaufnahmen entwickelt wurde. Das Ergebnis sind „echte" Farbphotos in bisher unerreichter Schärfe und Dynamik. Das macht den Farbfilter ‚RGB-Revolver M’ zusammen mit der Monochrom zum perfekten Werkzeug für alle, die reine Farben lieben. Unvergleichliche Schärfe der Farbbilder Die Monochrom liefert mit ihrer vollen nativen Auflösung von 18 Megapixeln zusammen mit den Farbfilter ‚RGB-Revolver M’ 300 % mehr Detailinformationen als der Monochrom-Sensor alleine. Da der Sensor reine Farben „sieht", liegen für jedes einzelne Pixel echte Farbwerte vor. Das heißt, der Sensor liefert in der Abfolge von je drei schnellen Aufnahmen ein „echtes" 54 Megapixel RGB-Farbbild. In Kombination mit der brillanten Abbildungsleistung der M-Objektive und der perfekten Abstimmung des Farbfilter auf die Monochrom entstehen Bilder mit herausragender Schärfe und natürlicher Brillanz in unvergleichlicher Bildqualität. Diese speziellen Farbfilter sind nicht mit den herkömmlichen Filtern für SW-Fotografie zu verwechseln, sondern machen eine Bayer-Matrix und seine Nachteile überflüssig. Volle Bildkontrolle Die Monochrom wird standardmäßig schon mit einem zukunftsweisenden Farbdisplay ausgeliefert, welches mit dem Farbfilter ‚RGB-Revolver M’ erst im vollen Umfang genutzt werden kann. Ausblick/Planung: ‚FarbMOTOR M’ für Farbfilter ‚RGB-Revolver M’ Der ‚FarbMotor’ M lässt sich wahlweise auf eine Bildfrequenz von 1,5 oder 3 Bildern pro Sekunde einstellen. Er läuft nicht nur äußerst leise, sondern bildet zusammen mit der Kamera auch eine sehr kompakte Einheit. Die Auslösung erfolgt wie gewohnt über den Auslöser der Kamera, die nunmehr auch bei Farbaufnahmen die exakte Beibehaltung des Motivausschnitts erlaubt. Aus der langjährigen Entwicklungsarbeit: Planung / Erster Testaufbau Farbrad Als Ergänzung ist ein angepasster Okular-Farbwechselfilter „Farb-OKUL“ in Planung: RGB-„Farb-OKUL“ : [thread=218638] Prototyp (hier noch ohne RGB-Filter) [/thread] ‚FarbVIT’ für Farbfilter ‚RGB-Revolver M’ Der Schnellaufzug ‚Farb-VIT’ M wird anstelle des ‚FarbMOTOR’ montiert und erlaubt geübten Fotografen bis zu zwei Farbaufnahmen pro Sekunde, ohne die Kamera vom Auge zu nehmen - batterieunabhängig. Man klappt den Aufzugshebel aus, zieht ihn bis zum Anschlag, lässt ihn zurückfedern und löst dann aus. Der ‚FarbVIT M’ passt nur an die Monochrom. Zusammenfassung: Um den Nutzern der digitalen Monochrom die Farbphotographie zugänglich zu machen hat die Entwicklung das in der Tradition von Ernst-Leitz Wetzlar stehende Zubehörprogramm erweitert. Der schwenkbare „Universal-Polfilter M“ wird um den ‚RGB-Farbrevolver M’ - einen schwenkbaren Farbaufnahmefilter für ‚Monochrom’ - ergänzt. Eigenschaften Farbfilter ‚RGB-Revolver M’ für Monochrom: - Sequenzielles Einschwenken der Farbfilter für die Grundfarben RGB - Volle Nutzung der Sensorleistung und Objektiveigenschaften - kein Moire - 54MP (3*18MP R-G- Farbphotos , DNG-Standard - Verschleißarmer Federmechanismus für die Ablaufsteuerung - Batterieunabhängig, manuelle Auswahl möglich FAQ: Die Monochrom am ‚RGB-Revolver M’ macht Verschlussaufzug-Geräusche, wie ich sie aus den Zeiten der M 8 mit alter Firmware und aktivierten Indiskret-Modus kenne. - Sie hören drei sequentzielle R-G-B Aufnahmen, bei aktivierter Mehrfachaufnahme (Rauschreduzierung) entsprechend mehr. Dies ist mit Adapter ‚RGB-Revolver M’ an Monochrom normal und Stand der Technik bei Systemkameras: FAQ: Das klingt alles sehr kompliziert. Wie sieht die Praxis aus. - Die Anwendungsprinzipien sind einfach und direkt nachvollziehbar. Die Anwendung ist vergleichbar einfach wie die Verwendung von Visoflex, Balgengerät , Zwischenringen und Objektivköpfen an der M : praktisch und flexibel – Handhabung wie sie es von Ernst-Leitz Wetzlar gewohnt sind. Wenn mir eine Monochrom mit Zubehör zur freien Verfügung gestellt wird - folgen bei konkreten Interesse weitere Berichte. =================================================================

Hi all, I'm starting out with my first Leica camera, I acquired recently. A M10 monochrom. And I'm quite pleased an happy. Gedenkbibliothek, Berlin, Germany.

Hello everybody, I just came across the website of ARRI (for those of you who don't know: it's a big cinema camera, lens and light manufacturer from Germany). They build the Arri Alexa camera as a monochrom version, which I guess is similar in sensor design as Leica does for photography (increased resolution, higher dynamic range, more light sensitive...). One thing I can't find anywhere is: do the Leica monochrom cameras also have no IR filter and that's the reason why they render highlights and shadows in a different way? In all the reviews out there, no one is talking about that point specifically. Here's the link to the ARRI website: https://www.arrirental.com/en/cameras/exclusive-cameras/alexa-monochrome-cameras

Both app and firmware (5.1) are up to date. I’ve deleted the app multiple times. I’ve removed and added the camera multiple times. It keeps telling me “check camera WiFi is enabled and try again”. To the best of my knowledge there is no way to “enable WiFi” very frustrating that such an expensive camera and good camera has such a bad software. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hello, I’m close to buying a new Leica. Trying hard to make the right decision. All options remain on the table, but I’m leaning towards a SL2-S or SL3. I made the decision to go Leica about a year ago. At the time, I was excited. I thought it’d be easy. Little did I know. The good thing is: it’s been a year. I’ve used that time wisely, I hope, to consider a lot (reading posts, watching videos, and trying out different cameras). I’m almost there. But before I pull the trigger again (more about that in a moment), I’d love to get some input, so if you have any thoughts to share … I’m all ears! A little about me: I’ve got a good amount of life experience and been a photographer for many years. Over the past decades I’ve shot Nikon film cameras & different mirrorless cameras including Fuji, Sony and Ricoh. I enjoy shooting landscapes, city buildings and some street in the endless pursuit of creating photographic art. I have a passion for B&W. So much so that after nearly a year, I made the decision to purchase a “like new” Q2 Monochrom. Unfortunately, it had debris in the viewfinder that I found distracting so I returned it. The experience was a good one because it caused me think even deeper about my commitment level and what I really want. They say the Leica Q’s are the “gateway drug” in the Leica world and I now see why. Yeah, even after a very short time with one. I’m someone that would be very happy with a Monochrom only camera. I shoot 90% B&W (at least), and the ability shoot at night with very high ISO’s with a camera that doesn’t have a bayer filter, and noise that looks more filmic is a very attractive proposition. If I missed color, I could always carry my trust Ricoh GRIII I Ruled Out a Leica Q I’ve ruled out another Q camera for several reasons, with the biggest being that I’ve got some wonderful vintage lenses and want to use them on a Leica (rather than continue using them on my Sony I think). Maybe a M11 or M10 Monochrom? I thought an M11 monochrome … or maybe an M10? … was the answer but I’m not sure a rangefinder’s for me. I mean I LOVE the look. Truly. It’s … beautiful. But I love shooting fast lenses. The rangefinder focusing … nice … but when it comes to focusing some lenses like a f/0.95 or even f/1.2 on a rangefinder … I want an EVF for critical focus. Sure, there’s a great external EVF for the M11 … and I’d be fine with buying that if I needed to, but in my opinion, it kinda messes with the whole rangefinder aesthetic to have to put that on the hot shoe. Also, I’ve heard more than one person talk about their rangefinder’s going out of alignment - and needing to be sent back in for recalibration. I’ve also read about freezing issues some have said they’d experienced with their Leica M11’s on this forum. On top of that, I like to focus CLOSE sometimes (not macro but down to 3/4 or 1/2 a meter) with my vintage lenses … I’ve can do that with an adapter on my Sony A7RIVa with vintage m mount lenses that normally wouldn’t be able to focus that close but would not be able to do that when using them on a Leica M. That frankly is a big deal (for me). Leica SL-2S or SL3? So that’s led me to consider a Leica SL-2s or maybe a SL3? Pros: Ability to convert M lenses and focus close using M to CL adapters. Check Built-in beautiful EVF. Check. More affordable than a Leica M11 Monochrom - check No calibration needed. Cons: No monochrome sensor in sight. Sigh. It’s so … BIG!! The M11 looks so much more inviting. Big Red Dot & Big Leica in big white letters … sheesh! I so prefer the look of the monochrom cameras. Discreet. So tape it up and cover up the dot I guess is the solution there. Perhaps not the best for street? More suited for studio than street? In conclusion: At the end of the day - is a Leica SL2s and/or SL3 worth spending thousands of dollars more - or should I just stick with my 60 megapixel Sony A7R-IVa and call it a day? Has anyone upgraded from the SL2-s to the SL3 .. .and if so, was it worth it? And why? Has anyone owned both a Leica M10/M11 along with a Leica SL series camera and if so, which do you prefer and why? Anyone move from a Leica Monochrome camera to the SL line ? Any regrets? Thoughts and/or Recommendation would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Hi friends, I’m not usually very active on the forum but I remember years ago being very curious about how a modern digital M camera would behave under real working scenarios, even more an M Monochrom considering how much limited is the choice of these tools. I felt that this recent example of a collaboration I had with a music band could be potentially useful for anyone interested in seeing real life results, especially under these challenging conditions. Hope you like it or that it’s somehow useful, best regards to all, Sergio. All photographs made with M10M, Nokton 35mm f1.4 v2 and 50mm Summilux Asph. Belter Souls Band - Leica M10M

probably coming soon....

I’ve been playing with the Leica M 11 Monochrom for about a week now. At higher ISOs, I have noticed the presence and some images of a tartan-like grid pattern. At first I thought it was lights that was causing this pattern. Then I started to wonder if my sensor was defective. After reading a review, I noticed that the reviewer also mentioned that at ISO’s as low as 6400 a tartan-like grid pattern could appear in the shadow areas of the image. So my question are as follows: • Is this a defective sensor? • Is it something that can be fixed with firmware? • Are Leica aware of this issue. • Are there plans to address it this matter? High ISO performance is all well and good, but if the image is ruined by pattern noise, then it no longer becomes usable at those ISO’s. More concerning is the revelation that this pattern noise may be present as early as 6400 ISO. This discovery has taken the shine of this camera for me. I do hope for some good news from Leica soon.

M8 Monochrom, Voigtlander 35mm 1.4 @ 1/125 at f5.7 ISO 400 at the Dunkin on the corner of 97th and Madison in Manhattan's Upper East Side.

Did you need the yellow filter for the clouds? Could similar or same be achieved post? Having specified a Q2M I wonder whether I should be looking out to fit yellow or orange glass in front of all that nice Q2M design?

I was excited to get a pre-owned M9 Monochrom in excellent condition with very few shots and a new sensor. Good looking camera, I have to admit. Coming from a Q2, honestly, the control/settings layout is a bit dated. But the pics show promise (I have to go out and shoot more). And the mechanical shutter sound and the file write delay...whoah. The settings offer two modes: soft and discreet. Both are so loud, forget about using this camera for wildlife shooting - it would scare away a bear. And the slow file write is...interesting. But if the pics live up to expectations, I can accept the annoying and tinny shutter sound. Cheers! CJ

man with angel hair : ) leica 246 monchrom | summilux asph. 50mm