My new M11-P Safari - The Green King - Day One

[Viv]

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On 9/8/2025 at 11:08 PM, colonel said:

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There is no point writing a pre-amble of why I bought this. I picked one up and it is just really really nice ..... (if you like green that is). 

I have a M11, and I have one rule for GAS, never buy the same model twice. I convinced myself the M11-P is different.

The Last Red Phone Box

Just FYI, it is my first Leica with a serial number over 6 million - yay!

The green leatherette is very smooth and the green paint has kind of a diamond smooth feel. It is brass underneath and reveals the gold if pushed.

Tim Roth, The Ministry of Coffee

The M11(p) is a very accomplished camera. The software is finally excellent and as long as you stick to the recommended SD cards (maybe you don't need to anymore), it is fast, quiet and smooth in use. My main acquiescence with the M11 series remains the tiny delay when you switch it on, for the shutter to open for metering. I guess this will remain until a global shutter, or maybe a stacked shutter of the Z8 type can be used.

The complaint is that £8k doesn't buy you a charger. Maybe this is some kind of EU rule for the box, nevertheless you could be provided with a voucher for one. I also used to like getting printed copies of LFI sent to me for a year .. ho hum!

Love in Soho Square Gardens

However this doesn't detract from a beautiful object d'art which is compact, jewellery like and relatively light, taking gorgeous photos. I think the 60mp pixel sensor, and the hardware and software controlling it, has become really refined. The first 60mp sensors seemed flat somewhat and had excessive noise. The noise is now mostly like current 24mp sensors, and the right lens generates all the 3d micro-contrast you need.

It is always interesting buying a camera in the later quartile of its run. The M13 or M14 (there won't be an M12 due to copyright issues in the US) will probably arrive in 2026 or early 2027. The Safari version is always last quartile, so the next one is at least 4 years away. You have the advantage of the mature and functional firmware, and lessons learnt in the manufacture, and of course all the ownership joy which is .... priceless!

Reflections from a Different Dimension

 

 

That's a lovely camera. Envious? Me? Noooo.

You have used it well on your first outing; those photos are very good indeed.

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[colonel]

2 hours ago, Viv said:

That's a lovely camera. Envious? Me? Noooo.

You have used it well on your first outing; those photos are very good indeed.

getting more out of the UK and about now

this is Haifa Bay, Israel

 

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[Kiwimac]

On 9/14/2025 at 2:06 AM, microview said:

Yes it's great to wake up, switch on Macbook and see one-hour time slot ahead with DPD company. Have had less success with UPS when (twice) I waited in but got email saying no-one at home to receive item. Basement indicator label is perfectly clear at main upper door bell array. So for them I stick A4 notice on the door!

I was just quoted $250 to ship some heated motorcycle gloves from the UK to NZ. 
 

I think they just pull numbers out of a hat. 

[Kiwimac]

On 9/14/2025 at 5:38 PM, Eoin said:

The camera view finder and diopter/magnifier “port hole” for want of a better word, is larger since the M10 and perhaps this is what is referred to as eye relief.

All I know is there is a world of difference between using the newer larger diameter diopters and magnifiers and the older type that need an adapter to fit.
To echo someone else’s experience, shooting the M8 I needed the magnifier. I’ve always had a love hate experience with diopters, they are great to improve field of view within the viewfinder, but the constant flipping up/down of glasses or having to unscrew it to let a companion use the camera, means I go through phases of using them or not.

Congratulations to the OP on the new addition. The true satisfaction is in the hand and in the moment, it helps make the other issues irrelevant.

Aren’t the diopter adapters simply to alter the rangefinder so that it matches more closely to an individual’s eyesight? Like putting glasses on? Or do you mean the magnifying units?

I do miss the times when you could order M cameras with different magnification range finders  

OT but the Hasselblad X2D has the best evf I’ve used and the built in ‘eye test’ used to match it to your eye sight is very clever. 

[Eoin]

I was referring to the difference in the internal diameter of the "port hole" between diopters / mangnifers from the previous generation cameras prior to the M10 when compared to the wider internal diameter of the diopters and magnifiers made specifically for the M10 and later cameras.

Using a Leica thread adapter to convert older types of Diopters / Magnifiers one looses the benefits of the wider opening even more so than with diopters designed for the series. Both somewhat restrict my ability to see wider frame lines but the difference is quite stark between the generations. 

[jakontil]

4 hours ago, Eoin said:

I was referring to the difference in the internal diameter of the "port hole" between diopters / mangnifers from the previous generation cameras prior to the M10 when compared to the wider internal diameter of the diopters and magnifiers made specifically for the M10 and later cameras.

Using a Leica thread adapter to convert older types of Diopters / Magnifiers one looses the benefits of the wider opening even more so than with diopters designed for the series. Both somewhat restrict my ability to see wider frame lines but the difference is quite stark between the generations. 

Yep, i have the diopter and mag frm previous generation, when i swapped to m10 and on, i get their own diopter 

[Kiwimac]

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20 hours ago, Eoin said:

I was referring to the difference in the internal diameter of the "port hole" between diopters / mangnifers from the previous generation cameras prior to the M10 when compared to the wider internal diameter of the diopters and magnifiers made specifically for the M10 and later cameras.

Using a Leica thread adapter to convert older types of Diopters / Magnifiers one looses the benefits of the wider opening even more so than with diopters designed for the series. Both somewhat restrict my ability to see wider frame lines but the difference is quite stark between the generations. 

I bought the 1.4 magnifier and sold it a few months later. It was simply irritating. 
 

I still had to use an adapter on the M11. 
 

I laugh when they say they improved eye relief. Even with well corrected vision I can’t see the 28 lines in full without moving my head. 
 

Eyepoint has shrunk progressively over the decades. A Nikon F3 with the High Eyepoint Finder allowed you to see the entire image from a distance of 2.5cm. 
 

The M that offers that I will buy immediately!

[Zeitblom]

When will Leica offer some green lenses again?

[colonel]

1 hour ago, Zeitblom said:

When will Leica offer some green lenses again?

It might be unlikely, as silver has dual use, safari and silver top, whereas green lens are very minority. It may be more likely they would do a kit with a safari and a green lens 

[jakontil]

2 hours ago, colonel said:

It might be unlikely, as silver has dual use, safari and silver top, whereas green lens are very minority. It may be more likely they would do a kit with a safari and a green lens 

I have to agree.. silver looks better than the green ironically.. however, green is rarity and im sure they will come back somehow

[Zeitblom]

Without the matching green lenses I would never have bought my M10-P Safari.
None of my silver, black, or nickel-colored lenses look better than the three green Summicrons.

[microview]

On 9/12/2025 at 4:47 PM, microview said:

 Am awaiting third-party ebony wood grip from Amazon which may look better (and is £100+ cheaper!) than the Leica. Anyone worried over the durability of the rubber flap on the Leica handgrip?

Grip now going back for refund. While very well engineered, the apertures for trigger access and battery dropping free were too restrictive. Didn't let battery drop freely and I thought edges would mark if used often. I see there are two or three non-Leica grips with similar features.

[satijntje]

Am 17.9.2025 um 22:23 schrieb Zeitblom:

Without the matching green lenses I would never have bought my M10-P Safari.
None of my silver, black, or nickel-colored lenses look better than the three green Summicrons.

Without my matching silver lenses, I would never had bought a M11-P Safari 🙂

[Derbyshire Man]

On 9/13/2025 at 5:22 AM, Kiwimac said:

I am jealous you get time slots. 
 

Courier delivery here in NZ is more like week slots. Maybe even month slots. 

I ordered something from Kentucky once. It took 3 days to go from Kentucky to Auckland and 2 weeks to get from Auckland to my house, a journey you could have done in a car in 12 hours. 

There's an upside though to living in NZ even if it isn't postal efficiency🤣

[Kiwimac]

On 9/22/2025 at 10:11 PM, Derbyshire Man said:

There's an upside though to living in NZ even if it isn't postal efficiency🤣

That is true. I had to ride my motorbike into the centre of Christchurch today for a service. Left home pulled up outside the dealer 41 minutes later having been stopped in traffic for zero minutes other than a handful of brief stops at red lights.

 

 

I can't recall the last time I could have managed such a journey in the UK - although my late father kept offices in central London most of his working life and as London got more and more snarled up with hideous parking costs, he entirely (unconsciously) refused to alter his journey times from about one hour, even though it was probably 1975 the last time that could be achieved!