Help with used M11 purchase

[Flyer]

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Just received a used from MPB in the UK and the camera looks in good condition. The date of  manufacture is 14.12.2021 so I think this was one of the first batches? It does come with a 6 month warranty but I wondered if there was anything I can check as it’s my first rangefinder. Also can I check the actuations as it’s over 3 years old.

Is the M11 a reliable camera or is there anything I should be aware of besides using the latest firmware.

 

Thanks in advance 

Edited February 22 by Flyer

[JNK100]

11 minutes ago, Flyer said:

Just received a used from MPB in the UK and the camera looks in good condition. The date of  manufacture is 14.12.2021 so I think this was one of the first batches? It does come with a 6 month warranty but I wondered if there was anything I can check as it’s my first rangefinder. Also can I check the actuations as it’s over 3 years old.

Is the M11 a reliable camera or is there anything I should be aware of besides using the latest firmware.

 

Thanks in advance 

The M11 is a reliable camera despite some reported firmware issues.

I don't know how to check the shutter- count but it should last a few 100k actuations at least.

I would check the range-finder is calibrated correctly with some test-shots and also that the sensor is clean.

You may want to check how well the battery keeps it's charge too although the battery lasts for ages.

Enjoy your M !

 

[BradS]

23 minutes ago, Flyer said:

Is the M11 a reliable camera or is there anything I should be aware of besides using the latest firmware.

I think maybe, you should have asked this before buying. I hope you got "a good one" as there are many very unhappy M11 customers. I suggest that you read the many threads here about the several known failure modes and check your specimen very carefully and thoroughly. I wouldn't hesitate for a moment to send it back for a refund.

[Steve Ash]

The only thing to check is the firmware version. As the latest release came a just yesterday it is obvious you need to update. Then enjoy the best Leica M out there- well not considering the M11 Monochrom 😀

[costa43]

Check the firmware is the latest and the rangefinder is properly aligned, then go out and shoot. Don’t worry about firmware freezes etc, enjoy your new camera.

Edited February 22 by costa43

[JNK100]

15 hours ago, BradS said:

I think maybe, you should have asked this before buying. I hope you got "a good one" as there are many very unhappy M11 customers. I suggest that you read the many threads here about the several known failure modes and check your specimen very carefully and thoroughly. I wouldn't hesitate for a moment to send it back for a refund.

 

15 hours ago, BradS said:

I think maybe, you should have asked this before buying. I hope you got "a good one" as there are many very unhappy M11 customers. I suggest that you read the many threads here about the several known failure modes and check your specimen very carefully and thoroughly. I wouldn't hesitate for a moment to send it back for a refund.

 

The M11 is a very successful camera. Reported issues here  are often not from the owner of the camera and often appear to be due to not formatting cards correctly or using faulty cards.

The OP should not worry and just enjoy taking shots in my view.

 

[Derbyshire Man]

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22 hours ago, Flyer said:

Just received a used from MPB in the UK and the camera looks in good condition. The date of  manufacture is 14.12.2021 so I think this was one of the first batches? It does come with a 6 month warranty but I wondered if there was anything I can check as it’s my first rangefinder. Also can I check the actuations as it’s over 3 years old.

Is the M11 a reliable camera or is there anything I should be aware of besides using the latest firmware.

 

Thanks in advance 

I’ve got three, M11P, M11M and M11D. I help with the beta testing. I try to make them fail. There *were* situations where I could do that. The latest firmware is excellent, I’ve thousands of shots without issue. 
 

There are a couple/few people with random failures of internal memory, these have gone back to the manufacturer so you shouldn’t have one of those.

Install the latest firmware and enjoy one of the finest photography experiences available. Shoot the living daylights out of it!

*The classic crash on earlier firmware was photo’s on SD card, copied to Mac, card returned to camera and more photo’s written on top without formatting card first. It didn’t like that! Doesn’t happen anymore, you can do that without problem.

Edited February 23 by Derbyshire Man

[Velo-city]

On 2/22/2025 at 3:57 PM, Flyer said:

Is the M11 a reliable camera or is there anything I should be aware of besides using the latest firmware.

Many here love their Leica Ms and will tell you the latest firmware makes them the best most reliable camera ever. I beg to differ. 
 

It depends what would bother you really. I’d suggest taking a load of images over a couple of weeks and then evaluate. Look at the colour. If you don’t like what you see - send it back you may get a different output on another body. Leica allegedly like to spice things up and randomise the colour output of the M series a bit even within the same line. 

If you get even a single freeze or lockup or something unusual that doesn’t feel right in the digital side, send it back. 

No guarantee sending back will resolve the issue of course. My hunch is the M11 electronics isn’t properly QA’d and possibly different batches/variants of components. Combined with poor firmware this makes for a bit of a mess, hence the huge level of posts around the web relating to issues. 

If the focussing works fine there’s probably not much else likely to be physically wrong that won’t be obvious. 
 

Not sure how the MPB warranty works since pretty much only Leica Germany can fix them and that in itself could be over six months. Presumably they just swap for another body if they have stock or  give you a refund?
 

Edited February 26 by Velo-city

[JNK100]

42 minutes ago, Velo-city said:

Many here love their Leica Ms and will tell you the latest firmware makes them the best most reliable camera ever. I beg to differ. 
 

It depends what would bother you really. I’d suggest taking a load of images over a couple of weeks and then evaluate. Look at the colour. If you don’t like what you see - send it back you may get a different output on another body. Leica allegedly like to spice things up and randomise the colour output of the M series a bit even within the same line. 

If you get even a single freeze or lockup or something unusual that doesn’t feel right in the digital side, send it back. 

No guarantee sending back will resolve the issue of course. My hunch is the M11 electronics isn’t properly QA’d and possibly different batches/variants of components. Combined with poor firmware this makes for a bit of a mess, hence the huge level of posts around the web relating to issues. 

If the focussing works fine there’s probably not much else likely to be physically wrong that won’t be obvious. 
 

Not sure how the MPB warranty works since pretty much only Leica Germany can fix them and that in itself could be over six months. Presumably they just swap for another body if they have stock or  give you a refund?
 

I am not sure what this reply is aiming for,  but the assertions within it are without foundation.

Hearsay and "hunches" are not interesting nor useful.

I would say to the OP - enjoy your camera as it is likely to be working fine for years.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Velo-city said:

Many here love their Leica Ms and will tell you the latest firmware makes them the best most reliable camera ever. I beg to differ. 
 

It depends what would bother you really. I’d suggest taking a load of images over a couple of weeks and then evaluate. Look at the colour. If you don’t like what you see - send it back you may get a different output on another body. Leica allegedly like to spice things up and randomise the colour output of the M series a bit even within the same line. 

If you get even a single freeze or lockup or something unusual that doesn’t feel right in the digital side, send it back. 

No guarantee sending back will resolve the issue of course. My hunch is the M11 electronics isn’t properly QA’d and possibly different batches/variants of components. Combined with poor firmware this makes for a bit of a mess, hence the huge level of posts around the web relating to issues. 

If the focussing works fine there’s probably not much else likely to be physically wrong that won’t be obvious. 
 

Not sure how the MPB warranty works since pretty much only Leica Germany can fix them and that in itself could be over six months. Presumably they just swap for another body if they have stock or  give you a refund?
 

I sympathise that you've had a bad time with your m11 and want to share this as much as you can, but it's probably not really healthy to be quite so obsessed when there are plenty of other forums where you can enjoy a positive experience.

[Dazzajl]

Very unlikely that your new camera will have anything wrong with it. Its a couple of years old now and if there was a fault lurking from the factory it would almost certainly be apparent by now. Use it lots in the first week or so and if you do have any doubts, send it back for another.

[Velo-city]

50 minutes ago, Corius said:

I sympathise that you've had a bad time with your m11 and want to share this as much as you can, but it's probably not really healthy to be quite so obsessed when there are plenty of other forums where you can enjoy a positive experience.

Certainly not obsessed. 
 

It’s always good to get a range of opinions rather than those more fan-base centred. Especially for newcomers. 
 

I just don’t think the M11 is a great camera even forgiving actual faults. Others can of course  freely disagree. 

Edited February 26 by Velo-city

[JNK100]

57 minutes ago, Velo-city said:

Certainly not obsessed. 
 

It’s always good to get a range of opinions rather than those more fan-base centred. Especially for newcomers. 
 

I just don’t think the M11 is a great camera even forgiving actual faults. Others can of course  freely disagree. 

If you don't like your M11 I suggest you sell it and buy a different brand you will be happy with. You say the M11 without faults is not a great camera which begs the question: why did you buy it?

Your multiple assertions here are not helpful to anyone (yourself included).

[MinRas]

I was in the same boat because wanted to join in to M family and found a "lot" maybe not good word  better huge amount of messages regarding M11 reliability issues.

At the end calm down and found very interesting thing (just filtered profiles and nick names in platforms) that same few persons can generate they bad luck experience messages across platforms ( forums, social platforms, reddit etc. ) and it looks like thousands of cameras totally trash  . 

Bought from MPB tested a lot of different things written or reviewed as "experienced" persons with big "problems" and nothing, stable like rock  , checked around with local people who have M's one of them using as is and don't know that firmware update exist , simply people enjoy their cameras and experience provided by Leica.

All brands have issues some more some less, everybody forgot sony where firmware update bricks cameras massively and canon hotshoe issue when flash light drops with connector  (had this experience twice  ) and not cheap cameras.

This is why I never pushing my self in to the firs lines when new product is released  as I know how developers is working and stabilization part in process cannot be missed or bypassed  

[pedaes]

13 minutes ago, MinRas said:

At the end calm down and found very interesting thing (just filtered profiles and nick names in platforms) that same few persons can generate they bad luck experience messages across platforms ( forums, social platforms, reddit etc. ) and it looks like thousands of cameras totally trash

A great piece of research! 

Enjoy your camera, as most of us do!

[Henners]

Upgrade the firmware on it asap and you should have a very fine rangefinder camera. For some info, I have an M11 and have done for a year or two which I bought second hand. Not sure how old it is but originally I would get the occasional lockup, not often but enough that it was a slight concern.

With the latest firmware it's no longer a concern for me, I find the camera has no issues although I haven't been putting it through its paces and stressing it to see if I can make it freeze. Either way, I love it and it's a fantastic camera.

My Ricoh GR3 and GR3x cameras also very occasionally freeze but you don't really hear about it. I guess we expect more from Leica due to the heritage and the cost which is fair and something I agree with, but it's all electronics and coding now so bugs and weirdness is a thing unfortunately.

Edited February 26 by Henners