The new Leica M11-D is finally here. Ever since the original Leica M11 was introduced, real photographers have highly anticipated it. In 2022, we called that camera a fantastic blend of three cameras in one. But with the introduction of M11-D, the trialogue becomes a quadrologue. For anyone who’s been a fan of the company’s D series of cameras, this is a clinquant option that’s bound to help you see the happiness in your face reflected in the eyes of those you photograph.
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What Makes the Leica M11-D So Unique?
So why is this variant of the Leica M11 so unique? Well, the Leica M11-D is, in some ways, a penultimate camera. Leica took away the screen for this camera and replaced it with an ISO dial. But that’s not all. It’s got 256GB of internal storage, a 60MP CMOS sensor, Content Authenticity credentials, the better battery that Leica has been using in the past few years, and no video mode. That means that it’s really just designed for photographers — not creators, so to speak.
Some of this may sound dumb to you unless you’ve got a lot of foresight into the work you make or you’re really in the zone. And ideally, every photographer wants to be in the zone.
Unfortunately, there’s no brass version. And it’s going to cost $9,395.
Why No Screen?
There’s no screen with the Leica M11-D because it is designed to be a fusion of a film-interface camera and a digital one. If you’ve ever shot with the Leica M6 or anything else, you’ll understand. First off, why shoot film in 2024? Because it helps develop your photography and creativity muscles in ways that digital absolutely can’t. When you look at an EVF of some sort, you’re often looking instead of seeing. That’s to say, that you’re embracing the creative vision that the camera can give you instead of creating something that both the human eye and camera can’t see.
A great example of this is the work that Phil Penman does. He often anticipates a scene that the human eye cannot necessarily see, nor can the camera. So he isn’t capturing something, he’s creating something that otherwise isn’t possible to be seen normally. And that creation often comes from his creative mind. It’s the difference between looking and seeing.
Not always being able to see the moment takes us back a bit to the days of DSLRs when you used an optical viewfinder. But in this case, you’re using a rangefinder and you can’t see the bokeh or anything else. So you are absolutely forced to come up with some sort of idea of what’s going to happen in front of you. Unlike with film, you’re going to be able to access the files immediately through the Leica Fotos app or on your computer.
This, combined with the flexibility of the 60MP sensor and the Content Authenticity stamps are insanely important in a world where Generative AI is trying to replace photographers and people are trying to get better at how to communicate with prompts. Our society is in a major dialogue breakdown right now because we don’t know how to communicate.
Worth the Money?
Here’s where I’m pretty critical: $9,395 is a lot of money for a camera like this. One can say that there’s no autofocus, no video, and no scene detection. But at the same time, the build quality is insane. Though Leica doesn’t officially say that it’s weather resistant, this lineup of cameras are known to have endured insane things. Plus, Leica repairs cameras even when they’ve been discontinued. The Leica M9 is a great example of this.
So paying nearly $10k for what’s essentially a buy-it-for-life-style camera seems worth it to me.