Leica M11 Monochrom Long-Term Review: Does it move the needle?
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- čas přidán 6. 08. 2024
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00:00 The Intro
00:57 Shooting in Black & White
03:00 Photography
04:43 Product Design
05:41 User Experience
06:58 Dynamic Range
08:01 ISO Response
08:36 Other Features
08:58 Improving the Camera
11:01 Who Is This For?
13:42 The Outro
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#Leica #LeicaM11 #Monochrom
The location, casio watch, the ring, the mustache, the storytelling ability of yours through script and visuals, its amazing! Please never stop being you.
Haha, thanks for watching brother ✌🏾
As a happy hobby photographer but with long experience from film late seventies to the present, I love my xpro 3 set to Acros when I walk the streets of Lisbon and Porto. Thanks for all the inspiration ❤
When I had my XPro3, Acros was the default. Loved it. Thanks for watching ✌🏾
I use Xt1 and xpro2 normally. Love jpgs and hate computer time...
A very honest and in-depth review. It's the only camera in its niche, perfect for those who know exactly what they're looking for.
Thanks for watching ✌🏾
Gajan I want to commend you on such a well spoken video. You absolutely nailed it better than I’ve seen anyone in regards to using this camera. I particularly liked the courage and Starbucks joke. Very eloquently and accurately put. 👌🏼
Appreciate you Kristian, thanks for watching ✌🏾
Thank you for your thoughts
I really hope Pentax produce a K-1m (a full frame monochrome sensor camera), after their success with the K3IIIm (an APS-C monochrome sensor camera) I believe this might be one of those rare instances where an OVF/non mirrorless camera works better for the shooting experience. Underexpose as much as you like, the OVF will show you what is really visible within the frame.
Love it. Subscribed. :) just starting out for 6months, got a 2nd hand xs20 and i find myself shooting more and more in black and white, negative spaces and all. yes it's liberating. for B&W. unfortunately, xpro 3 are commodities now and Leica are out of question for its price.
Excellent review as always!!! Thank you for putting out great content!
Thanks for watching ✌🏾
Have been an M10 & Q shooter for years and have thought about making the jump to a monochrome of either. Great video as always Gajan. Thank you
Thanks for watching ✌🏾
Subscribed... great stuff, Gajan. Thoughtful, no BS or hype -- thanks man!
Thanks, truly appreciate the support 🙏🏾
Having the M11 mono gave me something different then converting in post later, the tones the clarity
And rich blacks made for a different look, when I compare the files to m11 or even q3 when shooting 1600 iso 6400 iso the mono is so clean and keeps the black and white intact without so much separation and washed out from the RGB channel. Yes it’s a big investment but learning how to edit without the color channel it’s almost like working in the dark room.
Nice! Enjoy the journey ✌🏾
🇫🇷 here. Always enjoy and love your videos. Thanks for your great work!
Truly appreciate the support 🙏🏾 Thanks for watching.
Good review thank you. Bit out of my price range but one day maybe. Watching from NY on way to Seattle after a street photography day trip
Thanks for watching ✌🏾
M11M owner here… I shoot it more often than the M8 or the SL2-S. It‘s a liberating experience and reminiscent of film, but with much more precision and latitude film ever had. Thanks for your great insights.
Well said. Enjoy the journey ✌🏾
It took me a while but I found the right place for the M11M, after nearly selling it. I was using zone focusing, with street work, and I was only sometimes happy with the results. Not to mention feeling like an ass for ponying up a lot of dough only to have a 50% chance of a successful image (I shoot from the hip a lot). So I started using AF cameras for street again, and I'm happier.
I now take out the M11M for more static subjects, so anything that I would have previously shot on 8x10 or 4x5 is done on the M11M. When I use it that way, it's worth its price tag, and then some.
Having the M11M is like having three 8x10 cameras in your pocket.
Hobby photographer in Ottawa. Made the journey through Fuji to Leica, first to the Q2 and then Q2M, I now have both an M11M and M11-P. Love the limitations and challenge of the M system and manual focus. I want both cameras. I shoot with intent and don't want to be thinking "colour or B&W?". No regrets on the investment. I dream of using my cameras every night when I sleep. Could I ask anything more?
That’s awesome, and congrats. Thanks for watching ✌🏾
Great honest review. I don't have an m11mc, but tge k3iiim and I've discovered almost the same, ISO invariant shooting. As for menus I agree, just let me get to the setting I need to change right now, else why am I in the menu.. for this I like my Sigma fpL. Happy shooting
Thank you, Gajan, for this insightful review of the Leica M11 Monochrome. As you said you need courage to explore monochrome photography, and even more in a country as vibrant and colorful as India, or any culture in the world often saturated with color. Keep inspiring us with your unique perspective! Thanks ;)
Thanks for watching ✌🏾
Very nice video - thanks for that! I own both M11P and M11M and think noise-wise there is an edge to the M11P over M11M: if you consider those AI Denoise options in Lightroom which is not available for pure monochrome RAWs from M11M. However shooting M11M feels way more exclusive to me.
🇩🇪 ✌🙂
Another awesome longterm review Gajan! I had the Q2M for almost a year and although I enjoyed shooting with b/w only, having kids and sharing pictures of them to family and friends, I often got the comment, why the pictures are only in b/w. Because there is an expectation of the people I share my personal work with regarding colour, that fact unfortunately killed the joy of shooting monochrome exclusively for me somehow. Today I do like you said, convert to black and white or pop a b/w film into my M6. But regarding the files and dynamic range regarding post flexibility there is no competition I guess.
I also found it interesting that somehow like Matt Day, who is a b/w photographer by heart got the M11 back instead of the M11M and he sees colour now as an opportunity to improve his photography (guess you might have saw his video).
Keep up the great work, love these videos of yours!
Thanks for sharing. And love what Matt Day is doing.
🇺🇸 love the channel, I ended up shooting Fujifilm because of your videos.
Thank you, enjoy the journey brother ✌🏾
🇦🇺Thanks Gajan, I always fined your videos insiteful and balanced.
Truly appreciate the support. Thanks for watching ✌🏾
nice done, informative vid. thank you.
Thanks for watching ✌🏾
I have to say, I haven't had the opportunity to use an M11 monochrom, but I do have the same Levi's shirt :-) great video.
Haha, thanks for watching ✌🏾
M11 mono owner here - I agree with everything you said regarding this camera
Thanks for watching ✌🏾
Greetings from Mexico 🇲🇽
Always top notch videos brother
Thanks for watching ✌🏾 I gotta come back to Mexico soon!!
I want the m11m just to correct all the longitudinal chromatic aberration in my lenses
🇺🇸 love your perspective as always
Thanks for watching ✌🏾
Personally I love color so much that it's hard to find photos where the removal of the color improved the photo. Even color photos/scenes with low color saturation most often makes me appreciate the color, as opposed to wishing there was no color. All that said, this specific camera is interesting! I would love to try it!
Shot with a Q2 Mono for the last 2 years and upgraded this year to the M11 Mono. No other camera comes close to producing the quality of B&W imagery that comes out of this tool. It doesn’t replace my Sony Alpha for sports and color work when needed but the M11 Mono is the camera that goes everywhere with me.
That’s awesome. Thanks for sharing ✌🏾
I’m a Q2M user, constantly thinking if i should upgrade to M11M. Not sure what to do…
Mr Mustache 🤠 !!! Nice shots as always ! 🙋
Haha, thanks for watching ✌🏾
Great Video with an interesting thought process behind your B&W view. It amazes me that the only two manufacturers using internal storage are Leica and Hasselblad. Seems that the big three are scared to go along that route. Keep well & stay safe 👍🇬🇧
Thanks for watching ✌🏾 And yea, I’d love to see more companies adopt internal storage along with a single card slot.
🇪🇸 great video! M Monochrom (246) and M6 user here :)
Thanks for watching ✌🏾
🇹🇹 Thanks for the honest perspective.
The amount of years I spent growing up with Trinis, it’s a damn shame I haven’t visited yet, haha. Thanks for watching ✌🏾
Hello Gajan
Sha here from Baltimore MD USA
Loved your video. Also love the depth you dive in this vid. Wowza
You are superstar teacher. I want to join your photo club.
I have the Q2 monochrome and also the Q3 And I’m a maniac who loves color.
But after using both. Gotta say there is something magical about the Q2M
Truly appreciate the support, Sha. Thanks for watching ✌🏾
Really hard to describe the files until you shoot and work with a pure monochrom camera.I love my M10M and will be adding the M11M just for the .95. Need the electronic shutter when out in bright light. I have never used any JPEG settings or ever Shot in JPEG. Just something I do not need. Nice review. I have more straps than I know what to do with. I do not find BW only to be limiting. I find it to be the opposite. Brings back the pure joy of photography.
Gajan, another fantastic video! I think there's a typo in the title. I own this camera, but I often find myself returning to the M11 for color shots. Still learning storytelling in black and white.
Thanks for watching! And sorry, am I just blind to the typo?
@@GajanBalan I think you meant to say does “it” move the needle. Watching the video for the second time - love it!
@@antennaleo Got it! Thanks so much.
Man's droppin' bars from line one. (watching from Portland Oregon)
Haha, thanks for watching brother ✌🏾
🇫🇷 France here. Nice review. I don't have the means but lately I was thinking about how amazing a dedicated B&W sensor must be like the M11. There's also cheaper alternative like the Pentax. If Fuji made a very good sensor in a xpro body it would attract many people who can't afford that Monochrome.
Would love to see more competition in this space. And thanks for watching all the way through ✌🏾
Monochrome only is enticing. For a hobbyist like me, the m10 Monochrome used would be the choice. 24 megapixels is plenty. Paired with the 35mm f1.4 Summilux, special. I almost bought the monochrome over the m10. Even though the B and W photos from the m10 aren’t as pure as the m10m, they are still great. Thank you for sharing your thought on the m11m. Maine, USA
A M10M is still such a great offering. Thanks for watching ✌🏾
Great video. Every time I think I want a color EDC I take my monochrome out and things just click !
What’s crazy, I know I don’t want/need this camera or a camera like this. But every few weeks, I inch closer to just making the jump, haha. Thanks for watching brother ✌🏾
Me likey. Me Wanty. Eventually I will have this. PS ChurchXStreet is awesome.
Haha, appreciate you brother 🙏🏾
watching from Costa Rica 🇨🇷
I gotta come down to Costa Rica soon! Thanks for watching ✌🏾
Wow. This is EXPERT SHADE THROWING!! 😅😅😅 AWESOME. Lol
🤷🏾♂️😅
0:05 brutal 😂
And here's me switching to black and white recently because composing just light contrasts was easier than dealing with distracting colour elements and hazy muddy light in the city. I've been rumbled. I was hoping black and white would harken back to an era when photography was deliberate due to resource limitations, and give my misses a feeling of mystique, intentionality, and authenticity. 💀
I feel like you could just cut straight to John Wick club music after that comment and put shades on. 😎
Hahaha, nah. Enjoy the journey my friend. Thanks for watching ✌🏾
Black and white entails filters: yellow, orange, red, green, blue filters allow you to change the tone mix in the image. Whether for skins, foliage, skies, whatever, filters avoid your Monochrom from becoming monotone. In other words, they avoid boredom in rendition. And adding/changing filters as you shoot is immensely fiddly. It is also definitive: you cannot change that tone mix in post. Just like in the "good old days" of black and white film some;might say, except we evolved since, and black and white conversions of colour files currently provide all the refining anyone might need.
That is definitely the case with 60 MP sensors as they provide more than enough RGB pixels to transform into a high res essentially noiseless black and white picture, even at large print sizes and even in low light. You'd be very hard pressed to detect any advantage to a monochrome sensor in final pics, except, MAYBE, by pixelpeeping at the most extreme ISO settings. Not something likely to be required in real life.
That is why I push back on monochrome sensors, and I disagree with almost everything you say in your video pitch. The quest for that kind of rigid ultra-minimalism when it comes to Leica M is - for me - senseless. Happy trails nonetheless ! ;)
Shout out from Denmark (Europe - Scandinavia).
Thanks for watching ✌🏾
I'm from Norway btw. (Yes I commented a little before the end of the video :P)
I’m gonna be very close to Norway soon. Visiting your neighbours in Finland next week. Thanks for watching ✌🏾
@@GajanBalan Oh cool! Hope you have fun! Looking forward to seeing if you make a video about your trip. (No pressure ofc.)
I think reddot did a video on this and found basically below very high iso, the differences are practically indistinguishable. Still, that says nothing about the process and the romantic idea of having such a single focussed tool. Happy shooting
I'm fairly certain that Greg Williams uses regular SL/Q3 cameras unless he switched recently.
He might have a Mono as well, just from some conversations at Leica. But the point was more about the type of photographers that would benefit most from a monochrom camera.
Thanks for watching ✌🏾
I’ll stick with my XT5 Fuji, black-and-white built in and so much more! Plus, I still have money for lenses! 😝
Fuji makes great stuff. And Acros is incredible. I can’t knock where I came from 😅
PeeWee Herman... love it! 😊
I think the best and only monochrome to have is the m246. It's the only one with video. It's cheaper and I think functionally it's the same. If my baby ever breaks I would buy another rather than upgrade. My color camera is an m3. But if I were to get another digital to have digital color, I'd probably get a m10r. M11 is great but I'd imagine if I ever had that much money I'd go medium format
The Q2 mono has video too
14:20 Well, Germany of course ;-)
I very much appreciate your intelligence ;-)
❤ malaysia
Thanks for watching ✌🏾
🇬🇧 in 🇫🇷
Appreciate you watching. Looking forward to being in London and possibly Paris this year ✌🏾
👍📷🇺🇸
Thanks for watching ✌🏾
@@GajanBalan M246 shooter…
QATAR 🇶🇦 🇶🇦 🇶🇦 🇶🇦 😊
Thanks for watching ✌🏾
🇩🇰 Denmark 👍😀
I gotta visit Denmark soon. Thanks for watching ✌🏾
🇬🇧
Thanks for watching ✌🏾
🇳🇱 m11m owner
Thanks for watching ✌🏾
👍🏻🇩🇪
Thanks for watching ✌🏾
Texas
Was in Texas last week for the first time. Loved Houston.
M10 brass.
🇱🇺
🇱🇹
Appreciate you watching all the way through ✌🏾
🇩🇪
Thanks for watching ✌🏾
No me gustó, prefiero mil veces Q2M, pero entiendo que la mayoría desean lo último de lo último con millones de gigas etc ...
It may not move the needle, but it sure empties your bank account fast!!! I still say that putting a 60MP sensor in a manual focus range finder without IBIS verges on madness. You will never get the benefit of all those MPs nor of the Leica glass handholding a camera whose sensor will show blur due to camera shake, as small as 0.01mm. Anyone who wants to disagree with me is welcome.
Yea, I disagree. But I understand where you’re coming from. Thanks for watching ✌🏾
$9k camera to shoot black and white? $9,000 dollars to shoot without color. LMAO dude, LMAO.
I know is a concept triggering to some people. The reality is the market exists 🤷🏾♂️
Game changing camera like the M10M before it. Have both.
🇩🇪
Appreciate you watching ✌🏾