Keeping The Faith LEICA M11
How do you keep an iconic camera relevant in the age of full automation and AI smarts, when its origins date back to the all-mechanical, all-manual 1950s era? Leica knows that its digital M-series cameras can’t compete with the latest developments in mirrorless – it has the SL system for this – but they do need to offer some modern conveniences and benefits. The rangefinder is obviously the essential ingredient of a Leica M camera and, in turn, it dictates the classic design, but after this it’s a case of determining how far it's possible to go in terms of digital technologies without compromising traditional values. It looks easy on paper, but history – from the M8 onward – has proven that it's not.
It’s a given that some people will be buying a Leica M camera because it is a Leica M camera. Beyond the prestigious plaything though is a camera with serious intent, ideally suited to quite a number of applications where the RF viewfinder is still boon, allied by the capacity to work quietly and unobtrusively… which is where the digital functionality can be truly complimentary. It’s interesting – possibly even a little ironic – that the digital technologies make the Leica M even better suited to the roles for which the original 35mm cameras, starting with M3, were primarily intended.
The M11 is probably as much as Leica can achieve within the constraints of the existing mechanical platform without turning it into something else, but it's also the best interpretation of the brief. It’s still solidly grounded in the Leica M fundamentals, but it’s now also much easier to make the most of these characteristics within the context of a digital camera in 2022. Importantly, on the outside, the M11 looks pretty much like the last couple of digital models that have gone before it with a clear visual link to the 35mm dynasty, but on the inside it’s a different story. In fact, enough has changed for Leica to tag the M11 “A Legend Reinvented”, but how far can you go before you start to mess with that legend?
Traditional Views
What are the non-negotiables for a Leica M camera? Well, as already noted, it has to start with the combined viewfinder and rangefinder that was the triumph of the M3 when it launched in 1954. The ‘M’ model designation actually stands for 'messsucher' – yes, there are three esses – which is the German word for the integrated finder. So you couldn’t really change this element could you?
Leica’s way around it has been to add live view and then expand its functionality which, in
