Leica M11 Review by Jono Slack

[adan]

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4 hours ago, jonoslack said:

as far as I can tell, the shutter lag on both the M10 and M11 is about 5 hundredths of a second (a third of a blink) - I don't know what it is on an M6, but probably about the same.

I think the spec for film Ms was/is 20 milliseconds (2 hundredths of a second). Assuming one doesn't hesitate at the metering half-press point.

But film SLRs at their best were 50-60 milliseconds With a few of those with lots of mirror-damping (I'm looking at you, Leica R4 or Olympus OM) even longer (> 100 milliseconds).

If the 10 and 11 are indistinguishable, that'll be fine.

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[SrMi]

2 minutes ago, Artin said:

Puzzling this phenomenon is,, Sorry brother I have not had that experience with mine. It may be some silly setting that have not identified.. do me a favour, format both the internal and the sd card .  Set write to SD card first and try it out 

Thanks for trying too help!

Formatted both, internal and external, alway write to SD card first. No change.

 

[michaelcole]

Jono, 

Thank you for the nice review and wonderful photographs!

[Tailwagger]

41 minutes ago, Artin said:

Shooot I am sorry dude see if you can exchange it. Something not right 

Yeah, I concur on all fronts. Smells off.

[hdmesa]

1 hour ago, SrMi said:

Thank you for the suggestion, that fixed it. I was using 128GB Sony Tough card. Switching to Delkin 128GB or Sandisk 32BG fixed it.

- Srdjan

You would think that using a Sony sensor, they would work it out so that Sony Tough SD cards worked in it, lol. These cards refused to work in my M10 variants (froze up/battery pull required), and they are slow as turtles in molasses in my Q2 as well.

[SrMi]

17 minutes ago, hdmesa said:

You would think that using a Sony sensor, they would work it out so that Sony Tough SD cards worked in it, lol. These cards refused to work in my M10 variants (froze up/battery pull required), and they are slow as turtles in molasses in my Q2 as well.

It was not Sony card's fault, wrong alarm.

[hdmesa]

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Just now, SrMi said:

It was not Sony card's fault, wrong alarm.

I'd be pleasantly surprised if the Sony Tough SD cards end up working well in the M11. They were unusable on my M10s and Q2 whereas Sandisk was flawless.

[elmars]

vor 5 Stunden schrieb Artin:

Ok I just tested that 3 times right now from flick of the on switch to capturing an image is about 1 second on my M11 same firmware 1.2

That´s right. Startup-/wakeup-time are about one second. This is about 1/2 second faster than the M10 but still too slow.

[Thejoon]

@jonoslack one QQ. M11's shutter sound is the same as M10P? or... regular m10? 

[jonoslack]

10 hours ago, Daedalus2000 said:

Sunny in England or in Crete?

I hope in both

In both - and whether it's sunny or cloudy!

[jonoslack]

10 hours ago, docmoore said:

Forgive my late entry into the scrum ...

Working on a bunch of stuff today .... ES 335 clone that is now completely rebuilt .... plus all the household chores.

Great to see the grandchildren growing up and they look amazing ... not just your skills but I am sure due to the love and support of the you Emma and the family.

I hope the mother ship sent you a case of something in lieu of the party that must wait for a better time.

All of your photos and the review is stellar .... nothing new there ....

Your passion commitment and integrity continue to beguile and inspire us ... well done.

Best regards,

Bob

Hi there Bob

Happy New Year! Thank you very much for your kind words - The kids are great - Roo will be 4 in a couple of weeks! As for the mothership, I'm hoping to get over there in the not too distant future!. 

All the best

Jono

[jonoslack]

9 hours ago, Artin said:

Johno question here ,, don’t you find it odd that the centre button of the four way selector is now basically not used anymore ??  This could have been yet another function button. I hope they can do something with this in firmware upgrade 

Hi There - it's used as 'OK' on menus etc. 

I agree it could be another function button, but then there wouldn't be an OK button!

all the best

 

[jonoslack]

9 hours ago, 35photo said:

lol, Photography is about seeing and reacting to what to see... and you have to do this fast sometimes. Even on standby it takes forever to wake 2+ sec ....snip

Hi There 35photo
Camera Settings / Power Saving:

Camera Standby OFF

Display Standby 30 seconds.

This way there is no wake up time - I was out for 2 hours yesterday and again today for 2 yours and the battery is still on 50% - even with these settings.

I agree the startup ought to be faster, but this way there is no startup or wakeup time. (and it could never be that fast)

All the best

[jonoslack]

9 hours ago, SrMi said:

 

I wish there was a Camera Standby setting of 30 minutes or 1 hour, just in case I forget to turn the camera off.

Good Thinking - I might suggest that

Best

Jono

[Stevejack]

I’m sorry if I missed this Jono, but is the rear screen off when using the M11 in rangefinder mode? It’s hard to tell from the videos I’ve seen. 

[jonoslack]

1 hour ago, Thejoon said:

@jonoslack one QQ. M11's shutter sound is the same as M10P? or... regular m10? 

I don't have an M10P - much more like the M10R than the M10 - just slightly higher pitched note in it and a more complicated sound. I've grown to like it.

Best

Jon

[jonoslack]

15 minutes ago, Stevejack said:

I’m sorry if I missed this Jono, but is the rear screen off when using the M11 in rangefinder mode? It’s hard to tell from the videos I’ve seen. 

HI There Steve

Yes - unless you turn it on for Live View - it works the same as the M10

Best

Jono

[Stevejack]

18 minutes ago, jonoslack said:

HI There Steve

Yes - unless you turn it on for Live View - it works the same as the M10

Best

Jono

Thank you, and thanks again for your great run-down - always enjoy browsing your site 👍

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[adan]

A couple of questions (may have been mention, but hard to find in the tsunami of posts). I can't find pictures of the camera that are definitive.

- during a lens change, does the shutter open and close in protective mode? Or is the sensor uncovered?

- with the deletion of the internal meter cell in the shutter chamber, has the floor of the chamber been lowered compared to the M10s?

One of the few things that bugged me about the M10 was an increased tendency for flare patches from internal camera reflections off the "tight" walls and floor of the shutter chamber. (For some reason mostly with 90mm lenses, and even with a lens hood).

Or did Leica simply recycle the meter space for other electronics?

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[mike3996]

Huge thanks to your review Jono. You must be the best Leica salesman out there, even if you don't get commissions.

 

I am still wary of the shutter lag situation. I trust you when you say it's identical to M10R.

 

Still, with a Y-forked shutter cable and an app that counts milliseconds you could do scientific tests. This setup will not allow one to discover exact shutter lag of a camera, but it will reveal whether there's a difference (for example, one camera captures an image of 20.012 ms and another takes a shot of 20.021 ms). The Y cable can be bad so results have to be repeated with the cable ends switched.

Edited January 14, 2022 by mike3996