Leica M11-D

I've been interested in Leica cameras for as long as I can remember. They are beautiful, well crafted and sturdy. I've always appreciated their approach to design which feels restrained.

A few years ago I rented a Q2 and had a really nice time. I ended up buying a Q3 when they came out. While I enjoyed the experience overall, I just couldn't get great shots with the setup. I preferred the compact size of my Fuji cameras, and I sold the Q3 very quickly.

I still kept thinking about Leica and eventually I realized the only way a Leica would fit into my shooting routine was if it was distinctly different from my other cameras. That's why I purchased a Leica M11-D. It's a manual focus rangefinder digital camera, with no screen on the back.

While at first this design seems like a gimmick, to me it was not. I enjoy the process of shooting film a lot. I love my Minox cameras as well as my Canon AE-1 for their manual focus and simple user experience. At the same time, I am deeply rooted in the process of shooting digital photos.

While the Leica M11-D feels a lot like a film camera, I don't have to be locked into a certain ISO or White Balance. I don't have to carry extra film. I don't have to wait for weeks to get my scans. This camera is the perfect balance of digital and film, and also differentiates itself from my Fuji cameras in how I shoot it because of the manual control and lack of chimping.

I know this sounds cliché, but I really enjoy how it keeps you in the moment. Here are two examples:

1. After I got the camera, I took a photo of my daughter. She asked me to turn the camera around and see the photo. I said 'I'm sorry, this camera has no screen', and we went back to what we were doing. She's never asked again and when this camera is part of what we are doing, photos are less of an interruption.

2. When I'm taking a photo, the rangefinder view is not obstructed. I continue to see the scene. I never really realized how distracting that gap in time is. I truly am focusing more on moments when shooting with this camera.

The biggest shift in my flow using this camera is I shooting to RAW again. I really haven't shot RAW since my DLSR days. I find it necessary with this camera, because while the images it produces are clinical/beautiful, they also feel flat to me from a color and style perspective.

For better or worse, I still appreciate the film-like look I create with my Fuji recipes in color and texture, and I find myself working my Leica images into a similar but somewhat more restrained style in post.

The biggest downside of this camera is obvious. It is extremely expensive. I tried my best to find anything that could give me this kind of experience elsewhere, but really nothing does. The closest user experience is something like the Fuji X-Half in it's 'Camera Roll' mode where the screen is not used, but the quality of those images are insufficient. The Fuji X-Pro 3 can fold the screen inward towards the camera. While that adds some friction to chimping, I can already turn off the screen on any of my cameras. If it has a screen, I will still chimp. It also has autofocus and settings on the device. The Leica M11-D is the real deal if you want to truly get close to that film-like experience in shooting.