Leica M11 Monochrom
Announced April 13, 2023
PixelMeter The PixelMeter is our 1–100 aggregate of reviewer scores from trusted publications and creators. Weighted by source tier — not a raw average, and not PetaPixel’s own review.
Reviewer Consensus
Strong
The Leica M11 Monochrom is a specialized, high-performance tool that offers an unparalleled black-and-white shooting experience for dedicated enthusiasts. While its premium price and lack of color capabilities make it a niche investment, it delivers exceptional image quality, dynamic range, and build refinement for those who prioritize monochrome artistry.
Weighted from 17 reviewer scores
Pros
- Excellent low-light performance and dynamic range
- Premium, lightweight, and durable build quality
- Generous 256GB of internal storage
- Improved battery life and modern interface features
- Outstanding monochrome image quality and high-resolution sensor
Cons
- Niche, manual-only operation without color or video
- Very high financial cost for both body and lenses
- Lack of modern conveniences like image stabilization and articulating screens
- Potential performance issues including slow startup and file processing demands
- Challenging file handling and limited in-field preview accuracy
- Launch price $9,195 (USD)
- Sensor 60.3MP Full-Frame Monochrome CMOS
- Video No video
- Stabilization None
- Burst 4.5 fps mechanical
What the Reviewers Say
All 17 expert reviews, weighted into the PixelMeter score.
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- PetaPixel 8/10
If the budget allows, and the black-and-white obsession is present, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more fun and rewarding experience.
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The Leica M11 Monochrom is a specialist camera that is not for everyone. It’s obvious limitation – that it only records in black and white – will delight some and make no sense to others.
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In a lot of ways, I feel like it’s the one Leica most worth owning if you can just pick one.
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The Leica M11 Monochrom is great, classic stuff and brings the highest quality ever into monochrome photography, at ISO values that film users could only have dreamt of. Highly recommended and perhaps for some an essential creative tool.
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The M11 monochrome was fun to use.
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It features a black and white sensor, is manual focus only, lacks the ability to shoot video, and has a hefty price tag of over $9000.
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[I]t's difficult to ignore the price, which is simply out of reach for many, including young creatives who would truly benefit from picking up a rangefinder. But if you can afford it, the M11 Monochrom is a special camera [...]
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The Leica M11 Monochrom is a much more powerful camera than the M10 in terms of resolution but also in the operation of in-camera metering.
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Street photographers and portrait specialists who care more about light and shadow than they do colour will appreciate the incredibly nuanced images it is able to capture.
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The image is incredible, the design is beautiful, and it feels great to use the camera.
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If you always take black and white images, or if you have projects which are black and white, then the Leica M11 Monochrom is quite simply the best option available to you, providing both an excellent shooting experience and peerless image quality.
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I did like the fact that the Monochrom felt almost analog, but not quite. But at the same time, if you're only looking at the final images, once it came down to it, I'm like, it was fun to use the camera, but I'm just as happy with my M10 files.
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That's it for now, because it really is this simple: the M11 Monochrom is a breathtaking camera for those of us who see it that way, a significant upgrade to the M10 Monochrom, and mated to the 50mm f/1.4 Summilux, for me anyway, a joy.
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If black and white photography is your passion, there simply isn’t a better tool available than the Leica M11 Monochrom.
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I've got to say though, I am absolutely in love with the images that are coming out of this Leica M11 Monochrom. They're so they're so beautiful.
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I will just tell you, if you thought the M10 Monochrom was good, the Leica M11 Monochrom surpasses that to become my favorite M digital camera of all time.
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For those of you that pull the trigger, you're going to be met with this incredible shooting experience that gives to you as much as you give to it, and in some instances, even more.
