Color Profile M11

[High_n_Dry]

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I recently purchased a Q3 43 and much prefer the color profile coming out the Q vs the M11. To me, the Q pics are much more reminiscent of the M10. I found this surprising given that the sensors are the same.

 

Anybody else have similar results?

 

 

[Tseg]

I'm pretty happy with both.  I rarely use jpeg and always edit RAW.

Are you specifically referring to JPG/Leica Looks?

[Velo-city]

On 4/6/2025 at 4:10 PM, High_n_Dry said:

Anybody else have similar results?

Yup. 
 

Sold m11. 
 

q3 not technically mine but have access to it. Colour-wise it’s much better than the M11, much more natural/neutral in all situations.  I’ll grab my Fuji before the q3 though, and wouldn’t be my preference if I had to just have one camera. 

[jaapv]

On 4/6/2025 at 5:10 PM, High_n_Dry said:

I recently purchased a Q3 43 and much prefer the color profile coming out the Q vs the M11. To me, the Q pics are much more reminiscent of the M10. I found this surprising given that the sensors are the same.

 

Anybody else have similar results?

 

 

The sensors are different…the only thing they have in common is the number of pixels. The Bayer filter is different, the IR filter is totally different, the coatings are different and the microlenses are even a different concept. And the processing pipeline is probably different as well. 

[bdjackson]

Although I generally don’t notice a significant difference between my Q3 and M11 in everyday use I find using Adobe’s colour profile over the Leica one and then setting the M11 WB to daylight helps - I then begin my edit from there. 

[Smogg]

4 minutes ago, bdjackson said:

Although I generally don’t notice a significant difference between my Q3 and M11 in everyday use I find using Adobe’s colour profile over the Leica one and then setting the M11 WB to daylight helps - I then begin my edit from there. 

I do the same.

[Telemetric]

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After a couple of months using my M11-P, I’ve managed to find a good workflow that allows me to achieve the same personal color style I already use with my Sony A7R V.

Getting to the same result requires much more work with the M11, but the experience of shooting with a rangefinder camera makes it worth it.

As I’ve said on other occasions, the Sony is like the efficient secretary who makes everything easy with a smile, while the Leica is the demanding supermodel who can sometimes make your life miserable — but when she’s on your side, you enjoy the company a lot. 
 

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[Fleabag]

I finally caved and gave the Cobalt base pack a try for my M11-P. Never used their stuff but read a lot of good things about it. The differences are minimal, but I like the Cobalt Standard over the Adobe and Leica Profiles as a base for editing. It can be achieved manually, but I can just apply the profile to the raws on import, so it saves time.

[LeicaGuyUK]

On 4/22/2025 at 7:51 AM, Telemetric said:

After a couple of months using my M11-P, I’ve managed to find a good workflow that allows me to achieve the same personal color style I already use with my Sony A7R V.

Getting to the same result requires much more work with the M11, but the experience of shooting with a rangefinder camera makes it worth it.

As I’ve said on other occasions, the Sony is like the efficient secretary who makes everything easy with a smile, while the Leica is the demanding supermodel who can sometimes make your life miserable — but when she’s on your side, you enjoy the company a lot. 
 

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

 

 

Would love to know what the workflow is, steps involved etc as it might be handy for other M11 users to obtain better colours?

Thanks

[nthomas]

Have tried the Q3 at store and made some untechnical comparison, I prefer the result from M11. The lens plays a huge part of the final color rendition as well

[costa43]

I’ve owned both cameras and the sensors are definitely not the same. They may have the same silicon but there are some differences in colour and latitude. The M11 sensor is stronger imo, there is less colour noise when lifting shadows (especially at higher ISO) and I also feel the highlight recovery is better. Colour wise there are differences too. What one prefers is subjective here, both have fine starting points to me. 

[don daniel]

Am 24.4.2025 um 16:19 schrieb LeicaGuyUK:

 

Would love to know what the workflow is, steps involved etc as it might be handy for other M11 users to obtain better colours?

Thanks

Open DNG in Adobe Lightroom. Chose Adobe color profile. Control whitebalance or correct it, especially tint. Colors are fine. 

[pgh]

On 4/22/2025 at 2:51 AM, Telemetric said:

Getting to the same result requires much more work with the M11, but the experience of shooting with a rangefinder camera makes it worth it.

As I’ve said on other occasions, the Sony is like the efficient secretary who makes everything easy with a smile, while the Leica is the demanding supermodel who can sometimes make your life miserable — but when she’s on your side, you enjoy the company a lot. 

 

I don’t totally understand this logic, in like, a lot of ways. When it comes to the photography, the necessity of more computer work is pretty antithetical to the whole Leica philosophy. I mean if you need to justify your purchase I get it, but the M11 color is generally regarded as less pleasing for a reason. Some prefer it, that’s great.

Anyways.

The second comment, c’mon. This is just gross. These are cameras. There are more clever literary devices available to make one’s point. Idk about anyone else but I’m not seeing the positive side of upholding the stereotype of photography (especially gear based photography discussion) being a paternalistic old man club. 

[jaapv]

Come on indeed: “when it comes to film photography, the necessity of  more darkroom work is pretty much antithetical to the whole Leica philosophy”. Seriously?  Buy an M3 to have Walmart do your developing and printing? 

[rfunnell]

On 4/22/2025 at 6:10 PM, Fleabag said:

I finally caved and gave the Cobalt base pack a try for my M11-P. Never used their stuff but read a lot of good things about it. The differences are minimal, but I like the Cobalt Standard over the Adobe and Leica Profiles as a base for editing. It can be achieved manually, but I can just apply the profile to the raws on import, so it saves time.

I must say I'm not one for presets but having discovered Cobalt base pack and trying some of there products Im delighted with the subtle results I can achieve. 

[pgh]

20 hours ago, jaapv said:

Come on indeed: “when it comes to film photography, the necessity of  more darkroom work is pretty much antithetical to the whole Leica philosophy”. Seriously?  Buy an M3 to have Walmart do your developing and printing? 

Yep, almost. Leica’s are cameras designed for documentary use. Documentary photography means a lot of things to a lot of people but most would probably agree that a lot of postproduction and embellishment is not aligned with it. Yes, certain people have done it, but Leica is aligned with the digital content credentials for a reason that is actually about something having to do with transparency in images.
 

Leicas are about seeing, not fussing. At least that’s how they tend to design and brand their cameras. I think many would agree that artists like Bresson and Winogrand - who did not make their own prints and were more concerned with the act of photographing itself - are good representatives of what the tools excel at. In my mind workable color fits with this. If you want to fuss with color out of the camera that’s fine, unavoidable to an extent. But I can’t name a photographer I know of that would call this a positive trait in a simple and minimalist and elegant workflow. No, it’s a headache. Just like with film, if you’re going to obsess over the appearance as opposed to the content of the image and all that entails there are better tools to my mind. 

[jaapv]

Henri Cartier Bresson might disagree…(although he was no fan of doing it himself ) He had a penchant for giving elaborate instructions to the darkroom  

https://petapixel.com/2013/09/12/marked-photographs-show-iconic-prints-edited-darkroom/

The Leica M was and is a camera for quality work, just look at the attention Leica pays to its lenses. Sloppy postprocessing, both analog and digital is no part of that philosophy. Actually the less-than-brilliant OOC jpgs by Leica bear this out. 
If you are only interested in happy snaps there are better solutions than an M system. 
 

[pgh]

If anything Leicas are for sad snaps.

We can agree to disagree on the rest, as we’ve done many, many times over the years.
 

Nowhere did I advocate for sloppy post processing - you might read more closely. I advocated for less of it, which is very much in line with documentary standards. If you fail at a good picture in camera the most careful post is transparent in its attempt to save what can’t be saved, anyways. This doesn’t mean you don’t care how it looks in the end, it means that extra time having to fuss with it is antithetical to the nature of the pursuit. If Bresson had today’s tools I’m sure he’d agree. In his day he could tell a printer what to do, much less fussy than making his own. 

Edited April 27 by pgh

[jaapv]

Well, it depends on your definition of fussing To me postprocessing is an essential part of the creative process. The camera output is but the raw material to create the image I visualized. It is beyond my comprehension that people pay the price of a car for an M and a couple of Apos and then don’t care enough to invest some effort to reach the optimal outcome. 

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[LeicaGuyUK]

On 4/26/2025 at 12:35 PM, don daniel said:

Open DNG in Adobe Lightroom. Chose Adobe color profile. Control whitebalance or correct it, especially tint. Colors are fine. 

Yep, I’ve learnt to control it better than when I first got the m11, now I get a nice consistently blue sky and have to do little with the tint. My workflow has changed a lot since my m240 days but that’s expected I guess. Now I seem to love the m11 colours and am happy with it. I’ll upload some more images on the relevant threads once I get some more completed