Screen-free Leica M11-D is a throwback to analogue photography
Luxury rangefinder compact ditches the display
Leica’s lustworthy premium cameras are already more in tune with analogue photography than most of the mirrorless camera world, with designs that can be traced back decades and an unshakeable fondness for manual dials. The Leica M11-D takes that to its logical conclusion, ditching the rangefinder-style compact’s rear LCD for a giant ISO dial.
Effectively the sequel to the Leica M10-D launched in 2018, the new M11-D considerably lighter at just 540g including battery – a 115g saving that should make it easier to use for full days of shooting. The Leica M lens mount plays nicely with every fixed focal length lens made since 1954, so there’s no shortage of high-end glass out there to bolt onto the front.
From the front it looks almost identical to the Leica M11 with which it shares its internals, but around the back the usual LCD display is gone. The rear buttons have also vanished, leaving just the oversized ISO wheel and rangefinder viewfinder. A shutter speed dial up top and a command dial near the thumb rest mean this is as analogue as it gets without actually shooting on film.
Inside, though, it’s ultra modern. The 60MP full-frame sensor can drop to 36MP or 18MP in-camera while still using the full sensor area, it can rattle off full-res shots at 5fps, and has an ISO range of 50-64,000. There’s also the same hardware-based authenticity tech seen in the M11-P, which guarantees no AI trickery has been used to mess with your shots.
A generous 256GB of internal storage means not having to mess around with SD cards unless you want to – it’ll still swallow one – and it plays nicely with the Leica Fotos smartphone companion app for fast file transfers. The app also lets you adjust white balance or pick between JPEG and DNG RAW formats, with the camera then using them permanently between power cycles, until instructed otherwise.
The Leica M11-D is on sale right now, directly from the Leica website and its bricks-and-mortar stores. Photographers wanting to say sayonara to their screens can expect to part with £8100 to add one to their camera bag.
Tom Morgan-Freelander
Deputy Editor 
