M11-P: Inconsistent Aperture Readout, Focus Misses at f/1.4, and Exposure Concerns on Auto ISO

[Enbee]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Dear Community Members -

I’ve been using the M11-P with a fast lens (usually wide open at f/1.4), and I’ve run into a few recurring issues:

1. Aperture Metadata Discrepancy: Even when I set the aperture ring to f/1.4, the EXIF data often shows f/2 or some other value. Has anyone else noticed this inconsistency?

2. Focus Reliability at Wide Aperture: At f/1.4, I feel like I’ve nailed the rangefinder focus, but the resulting image is often slightly off — especially in low light. I’m wondering if this might be a lens-body calibration issue or a common limitation of shooting wide open.

3. Auto ISO + Shutter Speed Behavior: Sometimes, even though I’m on Auto ISO, the camera selects shutter speeds like 1/15s or 1/20s, leading to motion blur or camera shake — especially with moving subjects. In other cases, images turn out noticeably overexposed or underexposed. Is there a way to set a minimum shutter speed threshold more reliably?

Would appreciate any insights from those who’ve dealt with similar challenges on the M11-P. Tips, settings, or calibration advice would be very helpful. 

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[LocalHero1953]

1. This is a well-recognised and understood behaviour - not a fault, just a limitation. The camera has no means of knowing what aperture you have selected. There is no electronic connection between the lens and the camera, other than the 6-bit code, which only identifies the lens. The camera estimates the aperture from the metered exposure (i.e. after light has passed the lens) compared with an external light sensor (front of the camera to the left of the hotshoe). It is only an estimate, and you should treat it so, not as a direct measurement from the aperture ring.

2. Accurate focus at f/1.4 is always a challenge - the longer the lens the harder. If it is actually incorrect focusing rather than user inaccuracy, then the camera rangefinder is the usual culprit. Test it by laying out a target, and focus on it both with the rangefinder and the LCD or (visoflex if you have one). Correcting calibration is straightforward, and can be done by the user if you're moderately practical with your hands.  

3. I have no direct experience with the M11. Others may comment.

Edited July 8 by LocalHero1953

[frame-it]

18 minutes ago, Enbee said:

using the M11-P with a fast lens (usually wide open at f/1.4), and I’ve run into a few recurring issues:

1. Aperture Metadata Discrepancy: Even when I set the aperture ring to f/1.4, the EXIF data often shows f/2 or some other value. Has anyone else noticed this inconsistency?

2. Focus Reliability at Wide Aperture: At f/1.4, I feel like I’ve nailed the rangefinder focus, but the resulting image is often slightly off — especially in low light. I’m wondering if this might be a lens-body calibration issue or a common limitation of shooting wide open.

1:. its an "analog" lens with no electronics, so how would the camera know the f-stop?

2a. its a manual focus lens, so focus reliability is all about you  

2b. if the lens needs calibration do a search on this forum and test it out at different distances and, if required send it to leica with the camera body to check + fix

2c. try focusing with the visoflex EVF

 

[justj]

1- normal

2- somewhat normal

3- Auto ISO Settings - Shutter Limit 

[jaapv]

A rangefinder is a camera that you need to learn how to use. Practise, practise, practise. The  camera does not miss focus, you do. It is perfectly possible to get consistent focus @  1.4 or for longer focal lengths.

From the general M FAQ thread:

Quote

The M works the same way as any rangefinder camera, the central patch in the viewfinder is your focusing tool.

It is important to look through the viewfinder in the optical axis. Looking into the camera skewed will result in inaccurate focus.

The first thing to do is to ascertain that you can see the rangefinder patch properly. A correct match between the rangefinder and your eye is even more important than it is using an SLR or EVF.

Leica sells corrective diopter lenses. Determining which one you need - if any- can be done by going to your optician and holding his try-out lenses between your eye and the viewfinder. The one that allows you to see the rangefinder patch and framelines sharply is the correct one. Order the nearest value from Leica. In a pinch you can use over-the-counter reading glasses for this test. If your eyes need special corrections, you can use your spectacles, provided you can see clearly at 2 metres distance ( the virtual distance of the rangefinder patch). Note that the background will be at background distance,so your eye should ideally be able to accomodate over the distance differential. However, there is some tolerance here.
WalterLeica offers custom-made diopters, also a model to accommodate astigmatism.
He also offers contrast-enhancing screw-in glass. 
https://walterleica.com

For special cases there are viewfinder magnifiers. They can help, especially with longer and fast lenses and they can give confidence, but they can also be not very useful; they cannot correct errors in the focusing mechanism or your eye, in fact they magnify them.
Basically, for an experienced user, magnifiers are not needed and will only lower contrast, brightness and reduce field of view, but some users do like and use them.

Leica offers a 1.25x one and a 1.4x. These need diopter correction like the camera, but often of a different value than the camera viewfinder.

 

Once the viewfinder is corrected optimally, there are three methods of focusing, in ascending order of difficulty aka training.

1. The broken line method. Look for a vertical line in the image and bring it together in the rangefinder patch to be continuous.

2. The coincidence method. Look for a pattern in the image and bring it together to coincide. This may lead to errors with repeating patterns.

3. The contrast method. Once you have focus by method 1. or 2. a small adjustment will cause the rangefinder patch to "jump" into optimum contrast. At that point you have the most precise focussing adjustment.

 

Side remark:

If you try focusing on a subject emitting polarized light like a reflection it may happen that the polarizing effect of the prism system in the rangefinder will blot out the contrast in the rangefinder patch, making focusing difficult. In that case rotate the camera 90 degrees to focus.

BTW, you don't have to wait for Leica to calibrate your system. Any competent  service can do so, sometimes even while you wait. In some cases it can be a 5 minute DIY job. 

[Eoin]

On point 3, auto ISO is limited by the min and max ISO range set in the auto ISO settings. Minimum shutter speed setting is a limit the camera should take into consideration and either increase the ISO to achieve, but if the maximum ISO is set too low in the Auto ISO setting the camera has no option but to go below your min shutter speed to try and expose correctly.

Hope that helps. 

[LocalHero1953]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I wouldn't instantly blame user error for focus errors. At f/1.4 both the user and the calibration of both camera and lens have to be on top of their game, especially at f>50mm. Camera miscalibration is more common than lens miscalibration. I have sent two bodies (M9 and M240) to leica for recalibration. Knowing now what I've learned in this forum, I would do it myself. In any case, calibration error vs user error is easy to check using liveview.

Edited July 8 by LocalHero1953

[jaapv]

It is not a matter of blaming - We've all been through this stage.

[sdk]

Shooting with the M11 camera handheld requires very steady hands, and good camera handholding technique. If you don't have really low shake in your handholding, if you are a little unsteady on your legs, if you love coffee and drink a lot of it, like most people, you need to up your shutter speed. A general rule of thumb in the film days was the minimum shutter speed should be 1/1X focal length. So with 50mm lens that would be 1/50th of a second. But film was more forgiving than the high res 60MP sensor of today's Leicas. Now the recommendation for the average person shooting a 45-60MP sensor camera is to have a shutter speed that is 1/3-4X the focal length, so 1/150 to 1/200th of a second or higher for 50mm. Leica added the ability to use this multiplier to the M11 menu item (2nd Main Menu / Auto ISO Settings / Shutter Speed Limit). The choices are a particular shutter speed, 1/f, 1/2f or 1/4f with f being the Focal Length as coded by the camera (or entered manually when you select a lens from the Lens Detection menu list). See attached image of the menu page for Auto ISO.

You can also select a shutter speed manually on the shutter speed dial, your aperture on the lens, and then use Auto ISO, which is what I tend to do.

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!

Edited July 8 by sdk
Correction

[Elliot Harper]

5 hours ago, Enbee said:

 

Dear Community Members -

I’ve been using the M11-P with a fast lens (usually wide open at f/1.4), and I’ve run into a few recurring issues:

1. Aperture Metadata Discrepancy: Even when I set the aperture ring to f/1.4, the EXIF data often shows f/2 or some other value. Has anyone else noticed this inconsistency?

2. Focus Reliability at Wide Aperture: At f/1.4, I feel like I’ve nailed the rangefinder focus, but the resulting image is often slightly off — especially in low light. I’m wondering if this might be a lens-body calibration issue or a common limitation of shooting wide open.

3. Auto ISO + Shutter Speed Behavior: Sometimes, even though I’m on Auto ISO, the camera selects shutter speeds like 1/15s or 1/20s, leading to motion blur or camera shake — especially with moving subjects. In other cases, images turn out noticeably overexposed or underexposed. Is there a way to set a minimum shutter speed threshold more reliably?

Would appreciate any insights from those who’ve dealt with similar challenges on the M11-P. Tips, settings, or calibration advice would be very helpful. 

I think you will be better off with a Q.

M is not for you.

[JNK100]

1. There is no electronic connection between the lens and the body  so no way of accurately assigning an aperture value.

2. If it's a new camera, it is likely to to be user-error. It happens to us all sometimes. If you focus and recompose at F1.4 on a 50mm or longer lens you need to be careful not to move the plane of focus.

3. Adjust the min. shutter speed.

 

I am a little unsure why you would purchase a camera like this without researching beforehand. M's are not for everyone and a Q may be more appropriate.

[Enbee]

Thank you all for your thoughtful responses. I appreciate all the help and I have the answers that I need at this point of time. I will try out some of the suggested things. 

[Overgaard]

6 hours ago, Enbee said:

 

Dear Community Members -

I’ve been using the M11-P with a fast lens (usually wide open at f/1.4), and I’ve run into a few recurring issues:

1. Aperture Metadata Discrepancy: Even when I set the aperture ring to f/1.4, the EXIF data often shows f/2 or some other value. Has anyone else noticed this inconsistency?

Despite the self-confident comments here that this is entirely normal - yes and no. 

I recently noticed that in Lightroom Classic, the aperture would bump up and down from 1.4 to 5.6 and all around the globe for the same setting. I really haven't paid attention to this in a long time, but here I noticed how off it was. 

Traditionally, the Leica M rely on the little round sensor eye on the front top to give information on how much light there is in front of the camera, combined with the amount of light that hits the sensor. As there is no coupling between the lens and camera to tell wha the f-stop is set to, this is the way to give a guestimate as to what the aperture is. 

Generally it has proven to be fairly accurate, with some off when the sensor is hit by direct sunlight, and so on. Also, if you mount an ND filter on the lens, the aperture will be similarly different (f/1.4 lens with a 3-stop filter in front, LR will guess it to be f/4.0 because of the differencse in light intensity).

All in all, you could be right. It tends to be fairly accurate, most of the time. Not having digged deeper as to why, I noticed the same just last week with the Leica M11-P, and I left it with that, because I knew what aperture I had shot it with. 

 

Edited July 8 by Overgaard

[Overgaard]

6 hours ago, Enbee said:

 

1. Auto ISO + Shutter Speed Behavior: Sometimes, even though I’m on Auto ISO, the camera selects shutter speeds like 1/15s or 1/20s, leading to motion blur or camera shake — especially with moving subjects. In other cases, images turn out noticeably overexposed or underexposed. Is there a way to set a minimum shutter speed threshold more reliably?

 

First thing to do on any Leica camera is to set the min shutter speed to 1/250 and the max ISO to for example 3200 or 6400 (or how daring you want to be in regards to ISO noise). 

This way, it will always shoot at 1/250 or faster, avoiding motion blur or cars driving, bicycle passing, etc. 

Funny enough, if the camera runs out of possibilities within these settings, if it is really dark, it will overrule the settings and get the shot anyways. 

This setting works on Q3, SL3, M11, D-Lux 8, etc. 

[Jeff S]

1 minute ago, Overgaard said:

First thing to do on any Leica camera is to set the min shutter speed to 1/250 and the max ISO to for example 3200 or 6400 (or how daring you want to be in regards to ISO noise). 

This way, it will always shoot at 1/250 or faster, avoiding motion blur or cars driving, bicycle passing, etc. 

Funny enough, if the camera runs out of possibilities within these settings, if it is really dark, it will overrule the settings and get the shot anyways. 

This setting works on Q3, SL3, M11, D-Lux 8, etc. 

While you’re visiting, maybe reply here…

 

[Overgaard]

6 minutes ago, Jeff S said:

While you’re visiting, maybe reply here…

 

Thanks, just did. Hadn't seen that.

[lct]

9 hours ago, Enbee said:

Auto ISO + Shutter Speed Behavior: Sometimes, even though I’m on Auto ISO, the camera selects shutter speeds like 1/15s or 1/20s, leading to motion blur or camera shake — especially with moving subjects. In other cases, images turn out noticeably overexposed or underexposed. Is there a way to set a minimum shutter speed threshold more reliably?

In auto iso mode, just set the shutter speed limit to 1/(2f)s or higher.

[Jeff S]

2 hours ago, Overgaard said:

Thanks, just did. Hadn't seen that.

Maybe you don’t check your personal “mentions”.   You just received another one in that thread. 

[Advertisement]

Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[Elliot Harper]

7 hours ago, Overgaard said:

Thanks, just did. Hadn't seen that.

No you didn't. You have been running this scam (including selling the hood/shade) for years since covid time.

Edited July 9 by Elliot Harper

[SrMi]

8 hours ago, Overgaard said:

First thing to do on any Leica camera is to set the min shutter speed to 1/250 and the max ISO to for example 3200 or 6400 (or how daring you want to be in regards to ISO noise). 

This way, it will always shoot at 1/250 or faster, avoiding motion blur or cars driving, bicycle passing, etc. 

The camera will shoot at a slower speed than 1/250 if you reach the ISO limit. That is why I do not use Auto-ISO limits.