Leica M11 Review by Jono Slack

[elmars]

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vor einer Stunde schrieb giampo:

Did you find any issue with some kind of micro blurred images when opened at 100%?

This is what I wrote in my report about motion blur:

 

Is motion blur a practical problem at such high resolution? It is said, that motion blur increases with sensor resolution. I always regarded that a bit of a myth. So I did a little test with the M11 and the Summilux 35 mm. I took ten photos with 1/30, ten with 1/60 and ten with 1/125 at each resolution (18, 36, 60 MP). I shot the first five photos at each speed relative slow one after the other (1/2 to 1 second in between), the last five photos so fast in single shot mode as I could. This was not a scientific test, which would require more photos and more persons. But my result is clear: At 1/30 I had about 20 % of the photos with obvious blur, at 1/60 and 1/125 nearly nothing. The resolution was irrelevant. Only one f-stop of speed mattered. For finest details (very fine lines) it is similar. They cannot be seen at 1/30, only at 1/60 and 1/125 in 100 or 200 % sight. Conclusion: The rule in Auto-ISO to double the focal length to determine the maximum speed (2f) seems to be correct, more (4f) is not necessary.

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[jonoslack]

2 minutes ago, elmars said:

This is what I wrote in my report about motion blur:

 

 

Is motion blur a practical problem at such high resolution? It is said, that motion blur increases with sensor resolution. I always regarded that a bit of a myth. So I did a little test with the M11 and the Summilux 35 mm. I took ten photos with 1/30, ten with 1/60 and ten with 1/125 at each resolution (18, 36, 60 MP). I shot the first five photos at each speed relative slow one after the other (1/2 to 1 second in between), the last five photos so fast in single shot mode as I could. This was not a scientific test, which would require more photos and more persons. But my result is clear: At 1/30 I had about 20 % of the photos with obvious blur, at 1/60 and 1/125 nearly nothing. The resolution was irrelevant. Only one f-stop of speed mattered. For finest details (very fine lines) it is similar. They cannot be seen at 1/30, only at 1/60 and 1/125 in 100 or 200 % sight. Conclusion: The rule in Auto-ISO to double the focal length to determine the maximum speed (2f) seems to be correct, more (4f) is not necessary.

Excellent Elmar - I couldn't agree more. 

[colint544]

Informative and balanced review, Jono - great! Love the beach pictures. 

I like the subtlety in the light and tones where you've shot directly into the sun. So often, with digital images, the sun comes out as a white blob.

Lovely.

[Tailwagger]

44 minutes ago, jonoslack said:

Probably I will Jeff, whether I should is different!

I'm keeping mine, but I'm worried that it could prove in the end to be psychologically damaging. I fear developing a split personality from having to monitor the M10 sub forum concurrently with this one.  Stronger minds have cracked under less pressure. 😃

[adli]

1 hour ago, hdmesa said:

BSI technology doesn't have the narrow wells that FSI has, which would block light coming in from too much of an angle. In theory. It's just with other brand's BSI sensors, I've never seen a single person demonstrate reduced vignetting. So the fact that the M11 actually does may mean Leica did some extra work in this department – or perhaps M lenses uniquely benefit from the more shallow wells of BSI.

 

 

This should imply that the M11 handles the 21 Super Angolon better as well?

[Chaemono]

I know there was some misunderstanding before, shutter shock and motion blur. When I used the M10-R, which I don’t own, and the M10M, most of the time the issue was camera shake for 1/focal length. Motion blur was when the pictures weren’t sharp because other people moved too fast for the shutter speed, camera shake when my hands did.

[ironhorse]

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jono

Thank you for this excellent review.

Your photographs are beautiful independent of the camera.

joe

[tonybill]

Thank you so much for such a wonderfully readable and very balanced review, and illustrated with some beautiful images too.

Edited January 13, 2022 by tonybill

[IkarusJohn]

Great review, Jono - well worth the wait!

As a Monochrom and M10-D owner, I’ll skip this one.  I like the loss of the baseplate, USB-C and new EVF (will get one), but I have zero interest in more MP, cropping and reduced MP files as I can do all that in post.  

Being in live view for metering is actually a bit of a turn off,  The sound of the damped shutter on my M10-D when not using the EVF is a pleasure.  I really don’t mind the rather vague centre weighted, off-the-shutter metering of old.

As an enthusiastic amateur, there’s not enough to tempt me, but I do applaud Leica for improving the M series without spoiling what made the M9 and M10 such great cameras.

Best
John

[RayD28]

3 hours ago, jonoslack said:

Quite usable with decent colour

 

Jono, thanks for the detailed review.  At 10,000 ISO did pulling shadows create a enough noise that you felt post processing was necessary? 

[adan]

29 minutes ago, adli said:

 

This should imply that the M11 handles the 21 Super Angolon better as well?

Possibly. But always remember that one photograph is worth 10 million words of theory.

[farnz]

Oh noooo!  How will I spend hours working out how to get the unremovable sticker off the baseplate if these's no baseplate???

As always, a very readable, balanced and thoughtful review, Jono, filled to the brim with your extraordinarily good pictures.

Thank you from me.  ("I'll get you!" from my bank manager.)

Pete.

Edited January 13, 2022 by farnz

[charlesphoto99]

Hey Jono,

One thing I haven't read about is sensor cleanliness. How has your experience been with that? More or less than previous gens? 

Best, CP

[35photo]

I still think start up time from the time its ready to shoot is something no talks about but for those you need speed the M10 isn't the greatest the M9 was acceptable,  M10 not acceptable... There are ways to work about this, but its some leica should have addressed long ago... Tells me they don't consult pros in the field who shoot a lot and need speed on the streets...

[SrMi]

1 hour ago, Chaemono said:

I know there was some misunderstanding before, shutter shock and motion blur. When I used the M10-R, which I don’t own, and the M10M, most of the time the issue was camera shake for 1/focal length. Motion blur was when the pictures weren’t sharp because other people moved too fast for the shutter speed, camera shake when my hands did.

That terminology is good for me. Typically it can be deducted from the context to what motion blur refers. So it makes sense to differentiate between camera shake and motion blur when the context is not clear.
Nowadays, I am more focused on persuading people to use the term "live sensor mode" instead of "live view mode." 🤣

[jonoslack]

3 hours ago, Reciprocity said:

Good review as always, thanks. A quick question..

I am hearing from one reviewer that the mechanical shutter sound on the M11 is about where the original M10 is, so louder than the M10-P or M10-R. 
Do you find this to be the case?

Okay, So I have enlisted the help of the boss (Emma) and we listened to the M10-R and the M11 next to each other. There is a higher component in the M11 which makes it perhaps very slightly louder, but it's certainly nothing like as loud as the M10. 

[jonoslack]

3 hours ago, LocalHero1953 said:

Thank you for your great review, as usual. You have answered (almost*) all my questions, and I thoroughly enjoy your photographs.

For me, reviewers are useful only as far as you can trust their comments, based on previous reviews and personal experience. I find your reviews utterly trustworthy. 

 

*One question - what does the shutter sound like, both in rangefinder and liveview mode? How does it compare to the M10R? 

Hi there Paul

As mentioned above, it has a slight higher note in it, but to be honest, it's so close to the M10-R as to make no significant difference

best

jono

[SrMi]

22 minutes ago, 35photo said:

I still think start up time from the time its ready to shoot is something no talks about but for those you need speed the M10 isn't the greatest the M9 was acceptable,  M10 not acceptable... There are ways to work about this, but its some leica should have addressed long ago... Tells me they don't consult pros in the field who shoot a lot and need speed on the streets...

According to DPR, the startup of the film M7 is 2 seconds, and M10-R is the same. According to Sean Reid, the startup time in rangefinder mode is about 1 second (a bit faster than M10-R). That is considerably faster than a Nikon Z7.

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[LMBSGV]

Great review that covered all my questions, including dropping the camera and weathersealing. Thank you!

[jonoslack]

3 hours ago, Jeff S said:

Thanks for your typically fine and practical insights, Jono. Thanks, too, for reproducing Roger’s Appendix, which I’ve linked here about a dozen times over the last year. I trust that far more people will actually read and trust the information presented by you, hopefully dispelling somewhat the ubiquitous camera/lens MP myth. Now if Roger would only write about high resolution motion blur.

Jeff

Hi There Jeff - thank you very much.

It was a bit cheeky to use Roger's Appendix (although I did ask first) Basically I wanted to deliver something definitive in the hope of avoiding a dispute! (I hope it worked)

As for high resolution motion blur, I think that @elmars did a good job on that!