Feature Upgrades, Leica M11 Monochrom vs Leica M10 Monochrom
re: monochrome
The Leica M11 Monochrom will be here tomorrow April 26 for review. The EVF and lenses may take a few more days. See Overview of Leica M11 Monochrome.
Versus the Leica M10 Monochrome, the Leica M11 Monochrom has a better rear LCD, higiher resolution, wider ISO range, lighter weight, and an electronic shutter
- 60MP Full-Frame B&W BSI CMOS Sensor vs 40MP CMOS Sensor
- 2.3m-Dot Touchscreen LCD vs 1.04m-Dot LCD with Gorilla Glass
- ISO 125-200000 vs ISO 160-100000
- USB Type-C
- Lightweight Aluminum Top Plate
- 256GB buffer vs 64GB
- Battery now Leica BP-SCL7 with Leica BC-SCL7 Battery Charger vs Leica BP-SCL5 using Leica BC-SCL5 Battery Charger.
- Electronic Shutter or mechanical shutter vs mechanical shutter only. <====== important for long lens usage, might matter even at 50mm at some shutter speeds
Actual resolving power ability
The one thing that impressed me with the Leica M11 (color version) was its improved imaging performance. That turned out to be the result of thinner sensor cover glass. Similar gains in performance should apply with the M11M vs the M10M.
===> More improvement 60-vs-40 megapixels are realizable, especially in outer zones. That this is the case is already evident in the crops I posted a few days ago.
Long exposure noise reduction — Dark frame subtraction
Tens years or so late to the party, the Leica M11M has a dark frame aka “black frame” option for long exposures. For low ISO (125-160), this does not kick in until 160 seconds. Which is weird, since the idea that it is not needed at 159 seconds but is needed at 160 seconds makes no sense, and temperature can be a big variable also. But it’s good the option is there.
Electronic shutter
The M10M had only a mechanical shutter. This guaranteed some loss of sharpness at some shutter speeds were you to try longer lenses. Years ago on the M240 I found that the Leica 280mm f/4 APO-Telyt-R was unusable even at 1/125 or 1/250 because of shutter vibration. The newer M cameras are better, but that doesn’t take it from a major problem to a non-problem.
I never did get around to finding the sensor transit time for the Leica M11R. Presumably the M11M is the same as the M11, since it is the same basic sensor design.
With the M11M, there is an electronic shutter and a mechanical shutter. There are two times that a mechanical shutter is useful: (1) very high shutter speeds at very fast apertures to avoid bokeh changes, and (2) long exposure including dark frame subtraction. For many purposes, it is preferable to use the electronic shutter to eliminate the possibility of shutter vibration degrading sharpness. Depending on the sensor transit time, the choice will depend on focal length and shutter speed.
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