M11, happy launch anniversary.

[SrMi]

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Yes, I am one day late. M11 launched on January 13th. 
The launch of M11 was an important milestone for digital Ms. 
The launch started the freezing complaints and the anti-M11 trolling. But, for me, the camera worked beautifully. The past year I used my M11 more than any other digital or film M (my first Leica was M8), and I look forward to photographing with it more.

[jakontil]

not the best experience, losing the venerable baseplate, however i'd gladly trade with the new battery capacity and a usb c port though at times i still willing to make do with all those new features with a baseplate, sounds and seems useless but i miss it

 

[maxpower]

My M11 has been beautiful as well, I've had mine for 11 months now. For me it's my first M, although I followed it with an M10-M "Leitz Wetzlar" later in the year. After all the anti-M11/pro M10-R (mostly 1 person with multiple identities I think) I can't say I wasn't curious so I did borrow one to try it for a while. It's great too, but didn't feel like it made sense to switch from the M11 to M10-R for me personally. But I also haven't been affected by bricking or too many freezes.

With that experience and my M10-M I can join the club of people who does prefer the old baseplate and mechanical shutter operation (without metering on the sensor). But since I started out on M without those things already and just enjoyed a great camera with the most amazing battery life, I can live without them no doubt.

[DenverSteve]

1 hour ago, SrMi said:

Yes, I am one day late. M11 launched on January 13th. 
The launch of M11 was an important milestone for digital Ms. 
The launch started the freezing complaints and the anti-M11 trolling. But, for me, the camera worked beautifully. The past year I used my M11 more than any other digital or film M (my first Leica was M8), and I look forward to photographing with it more.

Indeed. The M11 is a pleasure to shoot with.  Fortunately, anyone can shoot whatever they prefer to shoot, so there's no reason for anti-M11 sentiment.  If one prefers an earlier model, or other camera entirely, they can shoot with that.  

Edited January 14 by DenverSteve

[IzelPhotography]

The M11 was my first M and bought a Voigtlander 15mm,Leica Emarit 28 & 35 Summilux. I did have a Q-P that I enjoyed using in manual mode so I knew I wanted a 28mm lens but also wanted a 35mm. For work I used to use all Sony before the Q-P but now the Sony A9 is reserved for when I need tracking or tethering.

I was concerned whether I'd get on with the RF focusing but as it happens I love it. So fast to use I don't really miss AF for most stuff. Love the white balance and colours, so rich and bang on to what I see. I rarely need to tweak the colours unless it's to move away from reality. While I know the Leica lenses are expensive and there are cheaper options available, I just love the way they render. The Elmarit 28 has a lovely punch contrast for landscapes. I'd say the 35mm is on probably 90% of the time at the moment but I think I'll add a 50mm. I really liked the Sony FE55 1.8, even though I didn't need to use it much it was fun when I needed it. Not sure whether to go for a Cron or Lux for the 50mm.

I had a few freezes to begin with then I changed to an older SD card and locked it when I offloaded to the Mac and all was good after that. That said, I use the SD as backup / extra storage now and just use the internal storage. I think there is definitely a learning curve to begin with but I just placed the Sony to one side and used the Leica 100% for a month or two until I'd worked out how to do what I needed to do. All good now.

For years I looked at Leica M and didn't really get it... now, I get it. It is special experience! Thanks Leica, and happy birthday M11!

Edited January 14 by IzelPhotography

[Qlan]

I started my journey with Leica with a Q2 after seeing the pictures my wedding photographer took with the Q. Loved the camera and experience (coming from a Canon 5D shooter) and made me want to take more pictures. But the 28mm was too limiting to me and I was intrigued with the M. Tested the M11 a couple of times in the Leica store and loved it (focusing with the rangefinder wasn't an issue for me).

So I soon returned the Q2 and got the M11 with a 28mm and a 50mm (both Voigtlander). Experienced plenty of freezes but didn't deter me too much. I have now returned it for an exchange. The new body will arrive on Tuesday, hopefully no more freezes!

[Henners]

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4 minutes ago, Qlan said:

I started my journey with Leica with a Q2 after seeing the pictures my wedding photographer took with the Q. Loved the camera and experience (coming from a Canon 5D shooter) and made me want to take more pictures. But the 28mm was too limiting to me and I was intrigued with the M. Tested the M11 a couple of times in the Leica store and loved it (focusing with the rangefinder wasn't an issue for me).

So I soon returned the Q2 and got the M11 with a 28mm and a 50mm (both Voigtlander). Experienced plenty of freezes but didn't deter me too much. I have now returned it for an exchange. The new body will arrive on Tuesday, hopefully no more freezes!

If you find the new one freezes and you haven't yet manually coded your lenses, you could try that. I've coded my Voigtlander lenses and not had a freeze since, although I've not used it much recently so could just be coincidence.

[Tailwagger]

My day one M11 has been very solid with zero build issues over the past year.  Occasional freeze, but as I've remarked previously I've experienced freezes with every previous M from the 240 on as well.  In this regard, I actually find the M11 more convenient given that popping the battery in and out to reset no longer requires removing the base plate (or RRS grip in my case).  Firmware seems to be getting much better.  And where I had noted a large increase in chroma with the 28 'lux last winter when shooting scenes with bare branches, I'm no long much purple fringing at all this season.  Best M yet, AFAIC.  Waiting for a monochrome version to trade my 10-R in on. 

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[Harout62]

I got my M11 on lunch day a year ago, this was my 8 th digital M. And I have had at least that many film Ms in the past.  It is by far my favourite Digital M 

I have had the M9s , M240s , Mp240s , and M10R .  I have not had any Freeze issues with mine at all however I have had on  rare ovation the overexposed frame. I am very happy with my M11, I did like the M10R as well but I do think  it was a worthwhile upgrade. I am looking forward to some Traveling this year and taking great pictures. 

[setuporg]

I’ve checked the M11 out on the launch day and did not like it.  That was before the freezes.  I prefer the separate light meter and minimal shutter action of the previous Ms.  But I trust folks enjoy it.  Quite a new experience for me, not getting the new thing on the first day or even year!  Kept my M10R/M and got the X2D instead.  Looking forward to what M11-P will bring!  I’d love for the light meter to come back and have a choice of old vs new operation.

[Kwesi]

For the first time in my M journey, I was an early adopter. (Skipped the 10-R as it felt little transitional to me after having got the 10P on Day One after the M246 and MP 240). Picked up my silver M11 a week after launch and have enjoyed it immensely since. The M11 has certainly brought a lot of new users and heated debates to the forum this year and I hope the new users stay with Leica M despite the issues some have experienced with their bodies. Always nice to see a fellow M user out in the wild.

[Al Brown]

Looking forward to M12.

[Herr Barnack]

I am still at a loss to understand why some M11 owners have freeze-ups and others have no problems at all; can this be resolved with another firmware update?  It seems that the first one helped some users but others still have freeze-ups.

Another thing thing I have noticed is that early on, there were many complaints about the open/close/open/close/open working of the M11's new shutter design, a result of the off the sensor metering, similar to the metering in Sony cameras. 

As for the old style metering off of the shutter blades in earlier digital M cameras, I never found exposure metering to be a problem.  If it wasn't broken in the first place, why was the switch seen as necessary?  Was it just to keep up with Sony and silence critics of the M10's supposedly "obsolete" metering method?

I would like to have an M11 but the apparent crap shoot nature of whether or not your particular M11 will have freeze-ups makes me hesitate.  As long as freeze-ups continue to be an issue, I'll hold off or go with an M10R, provided they are still available. 

IMHO it would be a monumental mistake for Leica to retire the M10R before the M11 freeze-ups are 100% resolved.

Edited January 15 by Herr Barnack

[SrMi]

I hoped an M11 anniversary thread would not attract non-M11 owners to share how much M11 sucks since those points have been discussed ad nauseam. 
I was wrong.

[Tailwagger]

14 minutes ago, SrMi said:

I hoped an M11 anniversary thread would not attract non-M11 owners to share how much M11 sucks...

Funny, I always took you for a more of a realist 😆

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[Harout62]

1 hour ago, SrMi said:

I hoped an M11 anniversary thread would not attract non-M11 owners to share how much M11 sucks since those points have been discussed ad nauseam. 
I was wrong.

It is the same bla bla bla over and over again and the same 3-4 guys singing the same old song. 
while the simple fact is that most of the freez issues are due to the SD cards and it really is not a big deal at all.

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[hdmesa]

Leica launched the M11 in the winter, and some of them freeze up. Canon launched the R5 in the summer, and some of them overheat.

I hereby demand that from now on, all new cameras are to be released in the spring or the fall.

[SrMi]

4 minutes ago, hdmesa said:

Leica launched the M11 in the winter, and some of them freeze up. Canon launched the R5 in the summer, and some of them overheat.

I hereby demand that from now on, all new cameras are to be released in the spring or the fall.

Spring or fall would work as it does not matter in which hemisphere you live :).

[Overgaard]

1 hour ago, SrMi said:

I hoped an M11 anniversary thread would not attract non-M11 owners to share how much M11 sucks since those points have been discussed ad nauseam. 
I was wrong.

Problem with childrens birthdays. You cannot invite only some of the classmates. 

I noticed you did not bake a cake ?

[Al Brown]

34 minutes ago, hdmesa said:

I hereby demand that from now on, all new cameras are to be released in the spring or the fall.

Oh please not in the fall, those repairs are the most costly.