Which Lenses for the 60-Megapixel Leica M11 Monochrom?
Related: apochromatic, black and white, digital sensor, Leica, Leica M, Leica M11 Monochrom, rangefinder
re: Leica M10 Monochrom
re: monochrome
See diglloyd Monochrome for detailed information about monochrome capture, post-processing, filtration.
The 60-megapixel Leica M11 Monochrom is far more demanding of lenses than the 40-megapixel Leica M10 Monochrom.
Anything that was weak at 40MP is going to look awfully soft at 60MP. And... think in terms of f/5.6 to f/8. Of course that speaks to technical excellence, “artistic” or “feel” photos have no such technical requirements.
Readers might want to review my summary of which lenses do not make the grade on the M10M. Hint: maybe as few as one (1) Leica M lenses are of sufficient technical performance for the 40MP sensor, let alone 60MP.
As I see it and setting aside the camera-as-jewelry (80% of Leica’s customer base?) and reportage and snapshot usages and speaking to high-grade technical excellence...
Which lenses?
The Leica M11M is essentially a compact digital back for ultra-high resolution monochrome image capture . To get anywhere close to utilizing that sensor fully means using rules-out nearly every Leica M lens excepting perhaps the Leica 35mm f/2 APO-Summicron-M ASPH, which I presume (hope) was designed assuming the presence of a sensor cover glass, in order to neutralize ray angle effects.
Fortunately, the Voigtlander M 35mm f/2 APO-Lanthar and the Voigtlander M 50mm f/2 APO-Lanthar are stellar performers at the same level as the Leica 35/2 APO, at a fraction of the price.
Other than the Voigtlander APO lenses and one or two Leica M lenses, fully sharp results means using lenses (via lens adapters) like Zeiss Otus and some Zeiss Milvus lenses and a few specialty ones like the Coastal Optics 60mm f/4 UV-VIS-IR APO-Macro.
Filtration
With suitable filtration, the Leica M11M should be able to outresolve the Fujifilm GFX100S using high-grade lenses like the Zeiss ZM 35/1.4.
If you’re buying a Leica M11 Monochrom, please buy through the links on this site when it becomes available at B&H—thanks!
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$949 SAVE $200 = 17.0% Voigtlander 35mm f/2 APO-LANTHAR .0 Aspherical IN STOCK in Lenses: Rangefinder
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$100 SAVE $72 = 41.0% Novoflex ASTAT-NEX Collar Mount with Arca-Type Foot for Select N… IN STOCK in Accessories: Tripods and Support
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Leica M10 Monochrom + Leica 24mm f/3.8 Elmar-M ASPH + filter B+W 091 Dark Red
ENV: Eureka Dunes, altitude 3350 ft / 1021 m, 60°F / 15°C
[low-res image for bot]
