I bought a new Leica M11 | first impressions and Q&A 

I love your videos because they’re very genuine, you don’t try to be overly cheery or include a lot of b-roll to get your viewers attention, you just do you, and even though this video was 20 minutes plus of you just talking to a camera, about a camera, I enjoyed it so much! Thank you for the amazing quality videos you put out!

Congratulations brother. Enjoyed hearing you talk about your journey here and what you’re taking from the experience.

Very nice! I actually just got my M11 last week. So far it’s been a great transition from the M10-P. I decided to go with the black and it feels amazing with the lighter build.

Congrat on your M11, I hope it makes all your projects even more attainable. I bought my M11 in July 2022 and found that it wasn't for me. Sold it back like a hot pancake. I'm back with the M10 and my wallet feels better. Love your channel your an inspiration since your first video with the M6 🙏

Great video. Best part of the message for me was the importance of spending time with family and knowing what’s really important at the end of the day 🙏🏼

Congrats Matt! I got a m240 years ago used and abused but she has been a great carry camera for me. She has lots of brass showing but lots of love and character. I had trouble with my eyes as well but I ended up buying a leica diopter for it and it helps a lot! The camera viewfinder by default I believe is -0.50 so I only needed a -0.50 diopter to get to -1.00. If your eye is +0.50 you would need a +1.00 to hit that. Good luck with your new toy and I look forward to seeing many more videos from you. :)

Out of all the M11 videos on YT, i love your most, keep it genuine matty

Congratulations. Can’t wait to see the work you make with it.

Wow, I can’t believe I’ve been following you for 8 years now. Time flies. Congrats on the M11! 💪

What I like about M11 is that finally they brought in relevant tech (worthy the full-frame camera in 2022), and also the lower weight, bravo! Fitting all of that into M body is a serious engineering dilemma

Every photographer secretly wants a Leica and all Leica shooters want the latest M . You dont have to make any excuses for purchasing one. Congrats and welcome to the club.

I’ve had an M9 and M9M for years now and still shoot them. FWIW, the Mono is my standard camera for pretty much anything. Love the B&W. Congrats and enjoy.

Hey Matt, it's always great to tune into your videos. I'm keen to see your images from the M11, it looks and sounds like a brilliant camera. I hope you're doing well. If you have time, it would be fantastic to catch up on life and photography. 📷

Congrats on the new hammer! ;) I read a lot of the comments about people not understanding why you'd spend that much money on a Leica, and they immediately go to it being a status symbol, but you and I know that's not it for some of us. I recently bought a Sony A99 since I have A LOT of A-mount glass and shoot the Alpha as my main film camera and I'm amazed at what that camera can do in all situations. But after shooting it for a month straight I picked up my M240 and it was like picking up that Estwing Hammer I've used for 30 years pounding nails with ease. It just works. The A99 is like a nail-gun, out performing the Estwing, but the feel and swing of the Estwing just works. I don't think everyone gets that and that's why it's easy to bring up the cost and the status thing, but for those that it works for, I just don't think there is another digital camera that does what the M does. I hope you try Cobalt's Monochrom Profile on the M11 at 60MP...I still think the advances in the M11 sensor over the M10 AND the Monochrom profile will make the M11 files look as good or better than a M10M file.

Just giving you a shout Matt. You, more than any other photographer, have inspired me to just pull out my camera a get shooting. Photography has done great things for me, and I just want to say thanks for kick in the pants.

Happy that you got the camera you wanted Matt. Hope it is a nice complement to your M6. There are many tools for photographers & it sounds like you found the tools that best suites your needs. Best wishes!😊

Hi Matt- Congrats on the M11. The shutter speed thing you mentioned just happened to me on an M10-R. It seem to set it into bulb mode so one click opened the shutter and the next closed it. Love the channel. Looking forward to seeing where the M11 takes you.

All the dads jumping on digital… 🤣 calming to hear! 😉

Happy birthday! At 32 you’re still a baby. Many happy returns 😊

I sold my M240 a few years which I paired with my film MP. I ended up with an SL2 and have really enjoyed it. Tempted to go M11 but that SL2 EVF and the 50APO are so good. Maybe an M11 monochrome someday to pair with the MP again. looking forward to your experience as time goes on.

I have had mine since release and it is the best camera I have used. Fantastic! I had the M10P before but this is miles better. Foremost the faster shutter speed. Now I can shoot my noctilux 0.95 in the sun wide open.

Welcome to the M11 family Matt!

Great video Matt hope you and your family had a great Thanksgiving 👍

Thanks for a good video - I have an M10 and SL2 and have been curious about the real world experience with the M11. For a future video where you're sharing photos, I'd love to see some super high contrast shots to test the dynamic range. Of all the things about this camera, that's what intrigues me most.

Hey! You got it, awesome! Enjoy it man!

Thanks Matt, and agree on all the above. I shoot the Q2 Monochrom, and love it; it’s a game changer for me. But want better focus control, and of course, the ability to change out lenses, as such, I’m waiting patiently for the M11 Mono. (Hurry up Leica)

Boy be waving that $8000 camera around like it was a Yashica.

Congrats on the new M11! You’re not making it easy for me, cuz I really want one too. 😅 I have an M6 too and I take that camera everywhere. I usually find myself feeling strange whenever I don’t have my camera with me. But, congrats again, good luck with the lock up issue. Hopefully Leica fixes that issue soon!

Oh, you're killing me!!!! I'm on RU-vid watching review after review, and this pops up. I live in Chillicothe, btw, and I'm also a big fan of your channel! So, I own a Q2... which I do really enjoy, but, I really want more versatility with focal lengths. I should *probably* avoid jumping-in with a brand new M11, since I have zero experience with rangefinders (yikes), but, I just feel like I will love it. That probably sounds crazy... and maybe it is. I have been on the verge of buying the M11, but I keep reading in the Leica forums that some folks say you don't get the "Leica look" with the sensor in the M11. Honestly, the Leica-LOOK is my primary desire, as this will be purely a camera for my pleasure-usage. I find that the images I get with my Q2 are really gorgeous color and quality-wise with very little post-processing. So, I would be gutted if I bought the M11 and the files don't have that magical quality to them that I enjoy with my Q2... I really hope you will share more about this and share some images. I'm continually stalking Instagram for images, but, I'm still on the fence. The locking-up thing also freaks me out. I've seen several folks mention that!

Hey man I’d lie if I’d say I wouldn’t wanna see Matt Day load up a roll in a camera every now and then but as a father myself I can only commend you. Been there, done that. It’s just a natural progression in life with 3 kids.

Got mine three weeks ago as well. Enjoy it!

Congratulations, i can only dream. THAT CAM is GORGEOUS.

a digital leica is top of my bucket list. itll never replace the m6 but it'd be fun

I have the M11 and eventually sold the x100v. I also have the Q2 mono. The Fuji is a great camera but I enjoy the M11 so much more.

Good communicator. Very authentic.

The fix from Leica for the lockups is a replacement camera. Canon had the same problem with the R5 initially: they'd replace the main board. Given the price point of the M11, Leica is just replacing them. I assume the returned ones will show up as refurbished at some point. Since new M11s are still being made with this issue, it means Leica does not have a handle on the problem yet - they probably have boxes full of main boards and have no way to test them except for the consumer to try them in a camera. I sold mine and went back to the GFX 100S until they sort this out and start making M11s that don't roll off the line with lockups.

I also purchased the Leica M11 a few months ago after a trial with Leica Mayfair. Like you I sold a few cameras to help finance it, including my Fuji X100V. I still have a Fuji XPro 3 as I have very wide lens for that at 16 MM (24 MM equivalent). I love the M11. I have still got my M262, M3, M6ttl and X and not looking to get rid of those anytime soon.

Congrats on the M11! The lockup issue is unfortunately happening to a lot of people, me included... Hopefully can be fixed by a firmware update and it's not a hardware issue.

Great video. Looking forward to your images.

the diet leica comment was gold lol. I just had a M11 on loan over the weekend, was super impressed with the colors and the natural feel coming straight from the M6. Think I'm gonna pull the plug on one too. 👀

Happy Birthday early, Matt. My boy turns 3 years old on Nov 30th, the same day as your birthday. 🎂

Nice video Matt. I’d love for you to rent/buy/borrow/etc. various M lenses to review and compare with your current kit. I know the 50 Summilux ASPH is legendary, but Leica do have those fancy APO Summicrons to compare to your 35 ASPH. As well Voigtlander have been releasing a ton of great M lenses in the past couple years. Not to mention Zeiss’ great lenses, 7 & TTArtisans, Light Lens Labs, and the many vintage options. I think your approach to reviews would make a great video series for this. Thanks again dude.

Great snag with the M11! I've had so many different cameras/systems throughout the years but I've never had a Leica. I know they have a build quality and feel that is unrivaled and the glass is exceptional but I never thought I would have the patience for the manual focus bit. Maybe I'm like you said and a bit lazy. I don't have the best eyesight and have had issues with other manual focus cameras like the Contax RTS III. But every time I see you going on about the M series, you get the itch started in me again. Who knows? Maybe one day. In the meantime, it's great to see someone fairly local doing well in a creative endeavor like this with both photography and RU-vid. I'm in the Huntington/Ashland area and this isn't exactly the peak enviornment for this kind of aspirational creativity. I hope you keep with it and enjoy even more success!

Told you about the lock ups. And it’s going to get worse over time. Mine was fine at beginning but every time it kept locking up more often. Ended up selling it and I’m more happy than ever now with the m10 (again) 😅

Useful, honest information. Thanks!

Totally get the focusing issues. I usually use focus peaking and "creep in" the same way i would with a rangefinder. Not the fastest method of course.

It’s like the M10 and Q2 had a baby 😂 My dream camera 😭

After shooting with Sony since the A7 and having pretty much every lens I need I decided to pull the trigger on the Leica Q2. I thought of the M11 but that would force me to build a new lens collection that I'm not ready to upfront at this time. Nonetheless if I would have to start from scratch I would've chose an M11 for sure! Enjoy it and keep us posted.!

Congrats Matt! But seriously dude... Not 1 single picture you took!? 🤣 Can't wait for the 30th! Will you be doing a livestream?

Congrats on the new M11! I've actually had that exact same lockup issue on my Q2 Monochrom. Not sure what it is though.

Congrats - you got what you wanted! That's all that matters and needs no defense. Nick Page just posted a video about his new Canon after switching from Sony. The youtube readers can be brutal and I find it interesting that the brand loyalty can get in the way of people's enjoyment of a professional like yourself and others who are just doing what comes naturally, exploring and creating. BTW - I had the same freeze up with my M11 and a Leica store guy told me to try switching from my Lexar pro SD to a quality SanDisk. So far so good but that might just be urban myth and I'm lucky so far. Keep up the good work and am looking forward to more videos to come.

Thank you, that was great. Very interesting throughout. Regarding buying a Visoflex...if you buy the 50mm f/0.95 Noctilux, I think you'll need a Visoflex. That lens is really difficult to focus 'wide open' without the Visoflex.

Great video Matt, very interesting to watch. My 32nd birthday is the day after yours (1st December) Happy Birthday 🎉

I had the same issue with the lock up. I think they'll probably hotfix it. The work around that I have found is turning the powersaving off (as opposed to 3 or 5 mins) and that seems to have fixed it. I've seen comments that say that Leica is replacing them, but Leica has yet to hear of that scenario ( I contacted them). The lockups that they'll replace the camera for are during use... ie not when the sleep timer is triggered.

Today was the day I realized our age isn't that different. Oh my. Such a strange feeling because I've been watching your videos for more than 5 years. I thought you were a big big senpai.

Congrats dude for your upload, I'm waiting to see your results. Are you going to shoot wedding with the m11?

I also have the lockup issue. My camera salesman said the Leica rep said to not touch the shutter release during startup. That seems to have fixed the lockup, for the most part. It's done it at least once since I've consciously avoided touching the release at start up, but I can't tell you what triggered it. My Q2 Mono has never had a lockup issue, though it had white pixels right out of the box. Pixel mapping fixed that.

Hey Matt, I'm a long time fan of your channel and find your insights valuable in considering my own photography, gear, etc. I wish you great shooting with your new M11 but I was a tad disappointed not to hear what technical reasons/features you found it to be so much more compelling over a used M10. You did say that since you were able to get the money together, you bought the 11 because it's the camera you really wanted. OK, but, still, why - what made the M11 so much better for you? Battery life? megapixels? EVF? I'm going through the analysis for myself so knowing what features you found compelling would be helpful. But, hey, if it's just that you had the cash and wanted the newest, that's fine too, so enjoy!

Not sure if you're using a different video set up, but you're lookin good man! Thanks for the review!

Thanks for an interesting and informative video. The information on using EVFs with lenses at say f5.6 and the gain being amped up was an eye opener to me, thanks for that. My question is does the camera have auto ISO, have you tried it, and is it successful? Cheers.

You should try a different SD card. I use Sony SF-G TOUGH 128GB on my M11 and never had a lockup. But I noticed a slowdown on startup when I put the SF-M version of that card, which has a slower read/write speed. Does it feel much heavier than your M6 TTL? I still can help to think that M6 was a bit easier to handle, but I didn't have one in hand for years😀

I’m on the fence about springing for the M11 and am laughing at your comments about your eyesight now that you are about to turn 32, and about your shaky hands. Try seeing that darn focusing patch at age 70! It’s all good, though. I’m also going the opposite direction, having ordered the M6, just to make life more interesting (i.e. difficult). Looking forward to your M11 sample images and, as always, enjoying your videos.

Every time I see the silver chrome, I feel like I should have picked that one instead of the black version. 😂

Mate. We take photos. We want the best kit to take photos. Leica is what we dream of. Leica M11 is the latest dream. I have one plus my dream lens - Summilux 50mm. Dream fulfilled 🥂

Thanks for sharing all your thoughts. Following your channel since years. Just as an idea, for pixel peeping at home it would be nice to have some sample dng to download 😉

Happy Birthday! Congratulations on adopting an M-11. I hope you remain very pleased with the camera. Is the camera body weather sealed? I am thinking the M lenses are not weathersealed. Please correct me as needed. If not weather sealed, I am curious as to how much weather / humidity is the danger threshold. Like some one else, I too am very interested in camera resolution / image sharpness / lower shutter speeds hand held. Looking forward to any video on this M. Thank you, Blessings. Martin

I also have the lockup issue. I was hoping a firmware update will fix it. I plan on emailing Leica to see what they have to say about it. But yes....other than that I love my m11!

Nice, congratulations on the purchase. I bought mine in October and am super happy with it. I also have to sell my whole film camera collection :( The only thing that scares you is carrying so much money around your neck. 😅

Hi Matt, congrats on the new M11. I have one too and love it. Is that a Pro Film Carrier 35 in the background? If so, how well does it work for converting 35 mm film to digital files? Which camera + macro lens do you use for that application?

Awesome camera! Thanks for sharing your impressions. Which cards do you use? Sony and Lexar cards might make it freeze.

Have to get this now

Mine locks up to and Leica SF replaced it. Not sure what does it but I love the camera.

Man, I’m listening to this while making dinner and that whole locking up thing makes me super nervous. I’ve heard that’s been an issue way too much :(

You’re 32? 32??!!! Get in line, Matt, to complain about eye sight! 😉 Always nice to see your videos - and welcome to the world of M11!

great video. where did you get it? definitely wont be getting it anytime soon just curious haha

I pulled into Kroger’s parking lot on trip to get bread and milk. I saw this and to stay and watch. Gue$$ life is going well for you Matt. What was I coming to get?

Thank God it does not cost anything to look. LOL Thanks for showing, and can't wait to see some prints from it. Also, do you know anyone that repairs Pentax 67ii cameras. Can't find anyone. Thanks!

I've been relating so much lately to the whole not being able to shoot film thing. Digital isn't as bad as some people can make it out to be.

The only digital camera I could see myself using on a constant basis.

About the camera locking up - dude. Same same same but with my Q2. That makes me think it’s software related? Such an odd thing. Anyway, love the vids bud 👏🏼

Congratulations on the M11 Matt! I bought a Leica M240 and had to return it. I love the feel and the aesthetic but I had to accept my eyesight was not good enough for manual focusing anymore. So now I am just waiting for a x100v to get off backorder to help simplify my everyday carry. What does your everyday carry consist of now? Thank you for everything that you do!

great video! was wondering what mount you use that's behind you? the one holding the camera pointing down? Thanks

Always adorable hearing a 32 year old talk like they're getting old. lol. Timely video! Been looking at one of these. Can't justify the price, don't feel the camera does either, but that's just me.....

I bought a new Leica. M 11 with 35mm f 1.4 lens. Only thing bad is the batteries don't last...I wonder if that's an internal setting I need to turn off or something else.

M11 suits you Matt. 👏 looking forward to seeing your projects with it. I’m considering adding an m19 alongside my m8.2 for the low light you’ll see in my latest video. Winters get pretty dark here. It would be cool if you do a follow up video on how you find it in those sorts of situations. Enjoy

When Matt said getting a black monochrome would be a good idea I imagine him taking a break to do that math of what it’d take to get another M11 in black monochrome 😅

The two issues you experienced were mentioned by others also. Think Leica has been having some quality issues since pandemic, together with the shutter button issue with the m10r….

To help you fund it I’ve watched this video twice now! Will probably watch a third time as well 🤓

Are you getting younger Matt? Looking great dude!

How responsive is the shutter on this one? I have an M-E 240 and find the matrix metering mode to be useless (unless shooting live view) as the shutter lags long enough to lose the moment, so it's spot metering only. I realise they changed the way metering works on this model so I'd be keen to hear if this issue has been fixed? Bonus question: does the M10 lag in matrix mode?

I've bought it when it realeas, no discount. The price of second hand seems well now

Cool. With 61Mpixels, would you start seeing more flaws on the lens like off focus at wide open due to calibration? The reason I ask is that my Voigltander Nokton 35mm would back focus on my ME typ240 from F1.2 to F4. This is not apparent on film with my M6. I have the 35mm Cron and 50mm Lux. They are dead on when it comes to focus.

Same thing happens with M10R. I take the battery off just like you do, and it solves it.

I just checked, that I’m actually not a subscriber to Matt’s channel. RU-vid was just handing me videos every time they come up and I didn’t think twice about it. I’ve been watching the channel for years.

Any experience or comments using your m lens with the canon r5?

I'm preparing to buy my first Leica. I have been eyeing the M10-P. My wife asked me last night why I don't want the newest one. I was thinking the file size was unneeded as a hobbyist. What are your overall thoughts and guidance between the M10-P versus going all out with the M11 as a new Leica owner? I can basically get the M10-P plus a lens for the same price as the M11 body only.

Great camera. Wish I could afford one for myself.

Thanks for your video, can focus in live view mode?

Thanks for sharing Matt! Over the past several months I have found myself shooting more digital than film. I think digital allows you to create, edit and go to print. There is a lot more time required to work with film (developing, scanning and printing), there is a lot more issues with dust and things going wrong in developing that need fixing in post. Not only that, film prices have risen. I will be shooting most work as digital and shooting film on the medium format and 4x5. In the end it’s all about the image, whether it be posted on social, printed or published in a book.

You can buy aftershave and it's presented in a leather and velvet case, you can buy a cheap diamond ring and it's boxed with bows and ribbons... You buy a £7000 Leica and it's wrapped in plastic and put in a generic box 😂. Nice camera though and the lens is really nice on it, have fun with it.