Leica M11 Monochrom Review: More Money for NO COLOR?! 

It's fantastic to see Chris and Jordan back in action. Only the channel name's has changed, the vibes, the energy, the fun... it's still remains the same ❤️

We're glad to see you two back at it again and are excited to be able to partner with you and Petapixel to bring more amazing camera reviews like this one to the photography community! 🧡

Congrats and wish you guys a long lasting collaboration 🎉 Petapixel, thank you for this possible continuity 👌🏻

You guys killed it on your first episode for Petapixel! Congrats, and can't wait to see what's coming.

Thank you PetaPixel for saving the legacy of Jordan and Chris! The photography community will be forever grateful.

Yay. Great to have you guys back. I love shooting black and white, but I think I'll always prefer using a colour array sensor to do it. I like to be able to adjust contrast and colour filters in post, rather than physical filters. Oh and I don't have a bazillion pounds to pay Leica money.

Let's go 🎉

A rainy/snowy day in Sweden is ok, when you can spend some time infront of the computer with your favorite camera reviewers on RU-vid! Great to see you guys again!

Welcome back guys! Can't wait to see you review the PENTAX K-3 Mark III Monochrome It is 1/8 the cost!

Great start to the first episode and love the adventure and coverage of the M11 Monochrom. Would have loved to see more high ISO low light shots though given their crazy ISO capability.

The magic continues! Thanks Chris, Jordan and the great folks of PetaPixel for keeping this series alive. And the M11 M is a perfect starting point. Onward!

Amazing to see you guys back - good on PetaPixel for scooping you up! Well done on a smashing first episode!

Great to have you guys back. Good stuff. I gotta admit I’m a bit “team Jordan” on this one though. “Hey for our first review, let’s do a monochrome camera on a fly fishing trip.” Just by the fact that I shoot way more stills than video I’m usually a “team Chris” guy, but this time, I think I feel Jordan’s pain.

Highlight weighted metering is where it's at with this camera. This thing is amazing. It's got 15 stops of dynamic range, same as the X2D but with more effective resolution (though yes "only" 14-bit instead of 16). Day one with it, I put on a 24mm Elmar with dark red filter, cranked up the ISO to 25,000, and kept the lens around f/11-16 with a shutter speed around 1/250-1/1000. With that wide angle and really high ISO, I could read the small text on the back liquor bottles behind dark glass five feet away, and that's not even with one of Leica's modern, benchmark setting APO lenses.

What a great episode to start the PetaPixel adventure. My first Leica was the Q2 Monochrom and absolutely fell in love with the platform. I still shoot Sony for the most part but NEVER leave the house without the Q2M. Looking forward to many, many more fun and adventurous videos/reviews with my favorite team.

I'm not a photographer. But, I want to keep up with you guys. Your reviews are fantastic. Great first episode.

Congrats on your first episode! Leica's are a love/hate for me as you can't argue with the image quality but the price tag makes me cry :D

Now that Chris and Jordan are are here, I think the channel should at least get to half a million subs. Also, good to have you back. A bit of a scare that might not happen.

congrats on the first PetaPiexel video! I just started shooting black and white and had the chance to play with the M11 Monochrom the other day. Beautiful camera! And amazing video, great work!

Excellent inaugural Petapixel episode, and great that the featured camera was the new Monochrom. Thoroughly enjoyed the whole review and wish you all the best on your new journey!

So great to see you guys back in a new place. I just watched an entire video about a camera I couldn’t care less about just because I wanted to watch Chris and Jordan.

Congrats to PetaPixel. Chris and Jordan are amazing! Now onto the M11 Monochrom: Leica digital cameras are luxury items. I saw photos coming out of the M11 Monochrom, and honestly I don't see a vast difference between it and any modern hi-res digital camera with monochrome settings. I take photos using the following settings and the image is very similar to the Leica Monochrom look. Any modern digital camera with a very sharp lens: Shadow +1 (out of 5) Highlights +1 (out of 5) Mid-Tones +1 (out of 5) Contrast -1 (out of 5) Sharpening 0 (out of 3)

Oh man, my old brain isn't working. I was just thinking, "Who the hell is PetaPixel and why are they in my notifications?" Good thing I clicked on it.

Word of warning-KEH has great product and their ratings are spot on. However, if you do have an issue with the order itself, “we’re sorry, but no one is available” is the only response support gives you.

Nice to see you are continuing the video reviews on this channel. I recently rented a monochrome Leica (Q2M) and did have a lot of fun. However not having the ability to change the spectral response by adjusting the color levels in a conversion from a color file is a constraint I don't enjoy. Putting a filter on the lens just takes away that extra stop of light sensitivity afforded by dropping the Bayer filter, so it makes more sense to go for the normal M11 if I was to splurge that amount of money.

i didn't comment the first time i saw this video, but i'm back here because i like M11 Monochrom. I'm so glad you, Chris and Jordan, still have a platform to do your thing. loved you guys at DP review. the only reason PetaPixel has my subscription is because of you two.

AAAHHHHH!!! It's the boys! Glad to have you two on my screen again.

Great to see you guys back 👍 If you can’t afford the Leica Chris, could you afford the new Pentax K3 monochrome? OK, it’s an APS-c 26mp Pentax, but would be interesting to compare to the Leica as the only other monochrome-only digital camera I know of.

I feel like I've learned photography from you two, good to have you back and reviewing a Monochrom!

I am glad to see a video that focuses exclusively on black and white photography. I grew up in an age where that was all you had. Once color was introduced that is all anyone wanted to use. Black and white photos offer so much more crisp pictures and offers a wonderful perspective that is great. I personally love their retro feel as well.

Yes! Happy that PetaPixel took you guys on board

Good to see you guys are up and running again. The very best of luck !

I actually just caved and bought a (color) M11 on Wednesday last week with film getting pretty comical for day-to-day life shooting. The rangefinder experience and fun really is pretty much second to none, as much as I love my Sony gear for many things... it's a very different feeling.

Happy to see you guys again !

I am so happy to see Chris andJordan back! Very very nice...Thank you...

Welcome back TCSDPRTV viewers ;)

Great to see you guys back! Also like the vibe of the new brand :) What I was wondering: I assumed the ISO advantage was more than one stop, actually. Of course compared to what? In case I come back to visit friends in Alberta, I‘ll let you know 😂

Delighted to see the two of you here! Bon chance!

hahaha that intro is fantastic, glad to see you guys back on the RU-vids Chris & Jordan !

Great to have you guys back. Excellent 1st episode and super excited to see some of the new projects.

Thanks to PetePixel, The Camera Store, and KEH for supporting Chris and Jordan. I am happy that you are all working together! Cheers!

I am so happy that you’re back! Congratulations on the video and keep them coming because I will be here to see them all. 😊

I'm so glad to see the Dynamic (range) Duo back in action!

Its indeed a pleasure to see you both reviewing stuff on RU-vid. And I wish you both well with your new home at PetaPixel. A digital camera that takes four seconds to boot up, only shoots monochrome and costs north of £7k in the UK? I know of a good tailor who creates new clothes fit for an Emperor who'd be willing to make a you a new suit.

Andddd here comes the ads and sponsored videos that Chris & Jordan said they’d never do…

Happy to see you two back again! Like old friends.

Welcome back guys!! Have been stalking you guys since u started! Great to see u guys back and getting unfiltered true inputs on the gear which we will always need as we will always have GAS! :p

I’ll stick with colour cameras and convert or shoot monochrome JPEG plus raw for maximum flexibility. For low light I favour the Sony A7III over my Q2 or any M4/3 but in truth black and white photography is very flexible and forgiving no matter which camera is used [within reason]. It’s not the camera that ‘makes' the picture.

Congrats on the channel move guys! And great video, hope more camera brands do monochrome versions of their cameras to join Leica and Pentax

Great to have you guys back. Jordan -- maybe you should lie to Chris and tell him he's fly fishing when he's actually forced to do BTS photography on an artsy independent movie set.

Oh man! Fantastic first video back! Loved it!

Idk if I could ever get into the vibe of black and white for the sake of it. For me black and white is just another kind of colour grade. If it suits the scene then 100% do it, but it really feels awkward if it's just slapped onto anything. This feels particularly apparent in low contrast high key grey scenes. I think it works best in high contrast low key light, abstract shape work, or when you're capturing emotion in a subject's face. The rest of the time it reminds me of being an amateur, when I didn't understand white balance, so if the colours were whack I'd just change it to black and white regardless if the scene called for it. That's just my perspective though.

first

Great to have both of you back on air ...

Great to see you guys here. Welcome back!

It's great to see you guys here! Same energy, new home. Love what you did with the B&W grading on the ZV-E1!

Chris and Jordan are back, baby! Will follow you guys anywhere.

Glad to see you back guys.

Love having yall back!

happy to see you back on air - thanks for the video !

Great that you're back online! 👍

Let's get it on , awesome to see you two on here , they're here

Great to have both of you together at PetaPixel!

great seeing you guys are still around.

I grew up with using lens filters to alter how my photos look, rather than doing everything in post via digital darkroom software. The M11 monochrome really appeals to my creative itch... Love the video 💙

So good to see you here! As an M11 owner, the only real grip to me is slow start up time. I’m glad you pointed that out. Great vid and I look forward to more.

Omg that intro is dynamite!! Already in love with this landing for you guys. Let’s go!

Wishing you the best guys 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

Yes, Jordan and Chris are back!!! 🎉🎉🎉

A new era begins...with a review of a camera I will never be able to purchase. I'm watching anyway! Welcome back.

So happy to see you guys back!!!❤

Good to see you two back on YT.

Great to see you guys on PetePixel. I've watched you for years on DPReview. I'll be interested to see what you think of the Pentax K5 III Monochrome, when you can get your hands on one. I gather that it keeps selling out in Japan! Only 1/4 of the price of the Leica, so bringing a dedicated monochrome camera into the price range of us mere mortals!

Happy to see you back in action dear Chris and Jordan in B&W 📸😆

Nothing but love for you guys.

I'm so happy to see you guys with new content, I even watched a video about a B&W camera in 2023 until the very end 🤪

Glad to see your still doing what you love.... Always... ALWAYS...enjoyed all the years of your Photographic Expertise.... 🧐👍👍👍

It is nice to see you again, guys. Warm greetings from your old fan from Poland! :)

Great start. And I love how the gear was provided by The Camera Store!

Congratulations on your first PP video. I have been watching you two since camera store and appreciate your opinion. Keep up the good work!

Great to have you back. Your journey into black and white took me back decades when film was only available in B&W. On a Praktica camera with a fixed focal length Zeiss lens, I captured some memorable photos. But $9000+ for this Leica - wow!

So nice to have you back! The best of luck in your new chanel. Best regards from Brazil.

I can't believe you guys took this long to finally get around to the legendary photo destination Ennis Montana! It's always been a dream of mine to get up that way to take photos, which is why everyone loves it and it is not known for anything else. Like, as a random example, excellent fly fishing. Glad to have you guys back!

Always High Quality and Much fun to watch!!!

so happy I found you guys!! I used your videos all the time!

Great to see you back, and love the intro

So good to see you again, I wish all the best!

yay! good having you guys back

yes! glad to see you guys back in action!

Great to have you guys back.

Kicking your PetaPixel era off with Jordan barely tolerating Chris! This should be fun!

That 8-bit intro :))) Perfect!

Great to have you guys back on a new channel

Great to see you back, and back on the road! 😊

I´m so glad to see you back guys!

It's wonderful and absolutely necessary to have you guys back 💚

I don’t care too much about PetaPixel, I don’t care about this camera at all; but I do care about Chris and Jordan (very much so) and that is why I am watching this amazing video! Love to you guys and to PetaPixel for hiring you both! ❤❤❤❤❤

Good to have you guys back!!

Really good to see you both back on RU-vid, and again a great review which gets a PetaPixel sign up and a 👍

They are HERE!!!!!! Good to see you guys!