M11 as your first digital M camera

[fionapereira]

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Hi!
 

I'm looking to purchase my first digital M camera and was thinking about the M11. Anyone out there who has purchased the M11 as their first digital M and how has your experience been so far?

[jaapv]

It might be good idea to rent one for a few days first.

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[fotografr]

Are you familiar with rangefinder shooting?

I would strongly suggest downloading sample DNG M11 files and working on them with whatever software you have for processing. If you like that workflow and are reasonably proficient, jump in.

Edited May 24, 2022 by fotografr

[Herr Barnack]

@fionapereira  Welcome to the forum!

IMHO, rangefinder photography does require a little, but it is not at all difficult to learn.  My first rangefinder camera was a Hassleblad XPAN and I learned rangefinder photography with it.  The XPANs both I and II are great cameras, but the rangefinder mechanism and viewfinder in Leica M cameras are SO much better than the XPAN - or any other RF system that I am aware of. This can't help but make the learning process easier. 

If you buy your M from a physical Leica shop vs. online, you can ask the sales person there to show you the basics of RF focusing and framing.  With that information in mind, the rest is pretty much a learn by doing situation.  If you buy your M online, there are many videos on YouTube and Vimeo that can be of value in learning to use an M camera.

I would also second @jaapv's recommendation to rent a digital M for a few days to try it out before making your purchase.  If you encounter difficulties, the people at the Leica dealer can offer some advice. 

[Segal]

Got Leica M11 after years of shooting with Sony cameras and both Leica Qs, and so far I had no issues adjusting at all. It has pretty much every single convenience other modern cameras have, except for the autofocus. Auto ISO, auto shutter speed, auto exposure, focus peaking, etc.

Manual focus with Leica lenses and the rangefinder turned out to be much easier than manual focus on Sony cameras with Sony lenses - that tiny focus grip/bump coupled with mechanical focusing helps a lot. I don't think you'll have a lot of trouble using M11.

Of course, I'd try it first, if you have a chance, but it's not like they're hard to sell if you decide you don't like it 

[fionapereira]

Thank you all for your response  🙂

[mrmalo]

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18 hours ago, fionapereira said:

Hi!
 

I'm looking to purchase my first digital M camera and was thinking about the M11. Anyone out there who has purchased the M11 as their first digital M and how has your experience been so far?

The M11 is my first digital M!

I was familiar with the rangefinder experience having owned a Leica MP some time ago, however jumped straight in and felt right at home.

Perhaps, because this is my first digital M, I am struggling to find anything bad to say about this camera since buying it in January. It's outstanding (now that the majority of my gripes with the firmware have been fixed)... As a street shooter I can get sharp images with ease (I zone focus 99% of the time), I find the colours very true to life (when the weather/lighting conditions align) and the dynamic range and resolution of the files are beyond excellent.

I wasn't really prepared for the whole "workflow" that comes with shooting a digital M and I guess that statement could apply to any digital camera. Specially, buying more storage space to backup my photos and the art of processing them in either Capture One or Lightroom - I don't really enjoy this aspect at the moment, as I would prefer to be out taking pictures! I'm sure I'll learn to love it over time.

Edited May 25, 2022 by mrmalo

[maxpower]

For me the M11 is also my first M and my first rangefinder. I am extremely happy with it, but it definitely takes practice in the beginning to get a hang of all the ways you can put things into focus. I feel like I'm still learning even now, still not happy with my street zone focus results but I see improvement. Learning/practicing is also part of the fun of course! Framing is also something I need to practice more, but with 60MP it is so easy to just crop and/or rotate when needed and still get impressive results out of it. The raw files are extremely workable, photos that I thought were unusable are often salvageable (except focusing or poor framing of course). I think I've posted it before but for the first time I feel like a camera is not trying to be smart and getting in my way, it takes the picture when I press the button and whether it turns out alright or not is generally up to me (with some exceptions here and there, I don't always like the automatic metering results, but still use them often). It's a lot of fun, but it also depends on your use case. Especially when you are still learning, there's a chance you are going to miss the "moment" and be a second or more late to take the picture.

It's also a very expensive hobby. I couldn't decide which lens I wanted and now somehow I ended up having three. I had done a lot of research on the M11 itself before purchasing it, but had not done any research towards which lens would be best for me. I planned on having just a single lens and exchanged it twice for another one, before finding out I could get the other one as an occasion for much cheaper - it looks used but it works excellent. And then I was tempted by another one. (For the curious I have a 28mm cron, 35 lux and 50 lux now.). But when I go somewhere I generally only take one lens, so I have to think about the situation and what will work best for me.

The post processing workflow is also something I need to optimise still, right now I ended up using a CaptureOne Session for each month in a new folder (with odd separate session for specific events). But have yet to automate backups to my NAS and offsite. And CaptureOne is new for me as well so I'm still navigating my way around the program to find all it's potential and my preferences. This is slightly less fun than going out and taking pictures, but it can still be rewarding as well. Ideally I do it as little as possible though, and in most cases that is enough for me.

It took me a while to get over the "I feel like a target walking around with this much money strapped around my neck" and "should I hide the red dot to prevent standing out" feelings, but I rarely feel that anymore now. Or maybe depending on the area I'm in.