First look at the highly anticipated Leica M11 and everything you need to know about the legendary system

The Leica M10 was introduced to the world in January 2017, with its newest variant, the M10-R released in July 2020. It’s been a long 5-year wait, and finally this month of January 2022, Leica announces the M10’s successor — the Leica M11 — the upgraded and most advanced version of its iconic M series.

Above: The Leica M11 in Silver/Black.

The Leica M11 is a full-frame digital camera that is part of Leica’s M series of rangefinders. As expected, it accepts M-mount lenses, and is similar to the rest of the M cameras in terms of styling and handling. The key differences and upgrades to the system are:

• A new 60MP sensor (up from the M10-R’s 40MP).
• The removal of the iconic M baseplate. The base is closer to that of the Leica Q2‘s, with clear access to the battery and SD card slot.
• A USB-C port that allows charging the battery while plugged into the camera, and for data transfer directly to a computer or other smart device (eg. iPhone or iPad) using a compatible cable (the M11 box includes a USB-C to Lightning cable).
• Internal 64GB storage that allows for dual data storage (between the internal storage and SD card).
• The ISO has dropped down to 64 on the dial (on the M10-R, its lowest is 100).
• The front button on the M10 is gone and moved to the top of the camera next to the switch, giving the front of the M11 a cleaner, sleeker design.
• The battery capacity has increased by 64% (from the M10 battery).
• The black body of the M11 weighs just 530g with battery, which is much lighter than its M10 counterpart at 660g with battery.
• However, the M11 silver version is approximately 20% heavier than the M11 black version. It weighs 640g with battery, which is comparable to the silver M10 at 660g and silver M10-P at 680g.

Above: The Leica M11 in Silver/Black.

Here are comparison photos between the M10-R in black, with the M11 in black; and the M10-P in silver (with leather customisation in the colour Zinco), with the M11 in the silver/black combination.

Above: the leica m11 in black, paired with APO-Summicron-M 50 f/2 ASPH lens.

Above: (left) the leica m10-r in black with Summilux-M 35 f/1.4 ASPH lens, and (right) leica m11 in black with APO-Summicron-M 50 f/2 ASPH lens. the front of the camera bodies are similar with the m11 doing away with the front button.

Above: (left) m10-R and (right) m11. the button has moved to the top of the camera on the m11, and the iso dial goes down to 64 (the lowest is 100 on the m10-R).

Above: the back of the m10-r (left) and m11 (right) are similar, with a slight change in the order of the buttons.

Above: On the leica m11 (right), it starts with the “play” button, “FN” and then “MENU”.

Above: the base of the m10-r (left) and m11 (right). the baseplate is gone in the m11, with a “pop-out” battery slot.

Above: the battery for the m11 pops out of the compartment by pushing it in. The sd card slot is within the battery compartment as well. with no baseplate, it’s a lot more convenient to change batteries and sd cards while the camera is mounted on a tripod.

Above: the battery for the m11 (right) is different from the ones used in the m10 models (left).

Above: the leica m11 in black and in silver/black back to back. the silver body is approximately 20% heavier than the black one.

Above: the leica m10-p (left) and m11 (right) in silver. the bodies are similar in size and design. the hotshoe cover that came with the silver m11 is a black plastic piece (with the m10-p, it’s a silver metal cover).

Above: a closer look at the top of the silver versions of the (top) m10-p and (bottom) m11. note that the black plastic hotshoe cover might be different with the retail set of the silver m11.

Above: the front of the silver (left) m11 and (right) m10-p (with leather customisation in the colour Zinco).

Above: accessories inside the box — battery in pouch, wall charging head + battery dock, usb-c to lightning cable, USB-C charging cable, black leather camera strap in pouch.

Above: some of the accessories inside the box — wall charging head with adapters, battery dock, usb-c to lightning cable, USB-C charging cable, black leather camera strap.

Above: The silver/black battery inside the dock with usb-c charging cable.

Above: the leica fotos cable offers a direct connection between the camera (the usb-c port is on the base) and an iphone or ipad (with lightning port).

Above: the top view of the (top row left to right) leica m11 in black and m10-r in black; and (bottom row left to right) m11 in silver, m10-p in silver.

Here’s a test shoot I did with the new M11. The low-light quality is amazing, with hardly any visible noise in an extremely dark environment.

[Click on the images to enlarge.]

Model: Diamerlyn from BASIC MODELS
Location: The old Zouk compound at Jiak Kim Street

The Leica M11 is available in black and silver/black, and will retail at $13,130. Visit LEICA-STORE.SG for more information.

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