highdesertmesa wrote:
Yes, I read that a mix of baking soda and water is how you neutralize the chemicals. I think the toxicity of the solution used to blacken the brass exceeds simple skin irritation, and my concern is the water wash is insufficient.
I couldn't get confirmation from IDS as to exactly what chemical they use. They said it was non-toxic because their artist who makes them gets it on their hands, but that didn't exactly inspire confidence. I am assuming they used something like what I linked to above and simply are unaware of the dangers.
The surface of the black aged brass grip has a powdery feel to it, and it does leave black on the thumb with use, which is what made me concerned if there were residual chemicals left in the finish. Note the mention of "dust" in the precautions statement from the product linked to above. It's not just the liquid form of the chemicals that are toxic.
After the wash with baking soda and water mix, there was no more power residue on the grip that comes off on my fingers....Show more →
If I get one, I’ll definitely use the baking soda method to be safe. Thanks for sharing this information.
highdesertmesa wrote:
I think you'll like it on your M-D.
After five months in service at Leica Germany, it looks like I'm getting my M-D back tomorrow. It underwent a CLA and had the shutter speed dial replaced. The dial was showing the wrong shutter speed and was badly scratched on the top, as if someone used a blade, so the replacement was for both functional and cosmetic reasons.
Fred Miranda wrote:
After five months in service at Leica Germany, it looks like I'm getting my M-D back tomorrow. It underwent a CLA and had the shutter speed dial replaced. The dial was showing the wrong shutter speed and was badly scratched on the top, as if someone used a blade, so the replacement was for both functional and cosmetic reasons.
Glad your M-D is finally repaired, Fred. It's like it went away to college but came back home for the holidays
I have been waiting for this model since the release of the M11 and finally had the right opportunity to purchase it, a birthday gift to me earlier this week.
My love affair with the "like " range finder experience started with the X-pro 3 body . Then I found Voigtlander and it pulled me even harder after trying the 40mm F1.2 giving me a FL of 60mm on the X-Pro. Then I made the biggest mistake that got me here, I rented a M10 for a long weekend and was blown away after experiencing the CV40mm f1.2 on the Leica and its rich files. Needless to say I bought a silver chrome M10 which I shot with all of 2021-2022 and felt right at home with the overall experience. In 2023, I sold the M10 and its replacement came along in the form of the M10-P.
This body came with me everywhere on all my business and personal trips all over the world. Early 2024 I purchased a mint 1957 DS Leica M3 as I was looking for a bit more of an analog feel but got frustrated with the development process of film. Needless to say I sold the M3 but kept on with the M10P. Enter January 2025, and I am finding myself with a new body, the Leica M11-D and it feels terrific for how I want to use this body for the next few years. A bit of an analog nostalgia with the convenience of a modern digital engine behind this body. One again, the M10 platform has been rock solid and it pulled me in so hard into this wonderful world of small, well built, range finders bodies.
I took the M11-D for the first time out to stretch its legs and it was wonderful to capture images with it. Once everything was set up on the Fotos app to my liking, the camera was ready to go. My workflow is simple, use its internal memory and use the SD card as back up, wait to get home and connect the camera to my Mac and pull up images in LR.
I upgraded to the latest firmware through the app w/o any glitches and the camera has been working beautifully. I cant wait to take it on my next trip Germany/Denmark this spring.
Favorite part of this camera is the shutter sound. It is a tiny tiny louder than my M10-P but a bit more metallic, however refined.
Camera has been set and I see no need to continue to mess with the app.
ZdevilH1 wrote:
I have been waiting for this model since the release of the M11 and finally had the right opportunity to purchase it, a birthday gift to me earlier this week.
My love affair with the "like " range finder experience started with the X-pro 3 body . Then I found Voigtlander and it pulled me even harder after trying the 40mm F1.2 giving me a FL of 60mm on the X-Pro. Then I made the biggest mistake that got me here, I rented a M10 for a long weekend and was blown away after experiencing the CV40mm f1.2 on the Leica and its rich files. Needless to say I bought a silver chrome M10 which I shot with all of 2021-2022 and felt right at home with the overall experience. In 2023, I sold the M10 and its replacement came along in the form of the M10-P.
This body came with me everywhere on all my business and personal trips all over the world. Early 2024 I purchased a mint 1957 DS Leica M3 as I was looking for a bit more of an analog feel but got frustrated with the development process of film. Needless to say I sold the M3 but kept on with the M10P. Enter January 2025, and I am finding myself with a new body, the Leica M11-D and it feels terrific for how I want to use this body for the next few years. A bit of an analog nostalgia with the convenience of a modern digital engine behind this body. One again, the M10 platform has been rock solid and it pulled me in so hard into this wonderful world of small, well built, range finders bodies.
I took the M11-D for the first time out to stretch its legs and it was wonderful to capture images with it. Once everything was set up on the Fotos app to my liking, the camera was ready to go. My workflow is simple, use its internal memory and use the SD card as back up, wait to get home and connect the camera to my Mac and pull up images in LR.
I upgraded to the latest firmware through the app w/o any glitches and the camera has been working beautifully. I cant wait to take it on my next trip Germany/Denmark this spring.
Favorite part of this camera is the shutter sound. It is a tiny tiny lourder than my M10-P but a bit more metallic, however refined.
Camera has been set and I see a no need to continue to mess with the app.
Fred Miranda wrote:
This is incredibly exciting! I hope it brings you lots of joy and amazing images.
It’s a smart choice to set up the camera once and then skip the app. Just treat it like a digital 'film' rangefinder and enjoy the experience!
Exactly, Fred. That is the only reason why I aquired this body, I wanted the closet thing to film on a digital body.
By the way, I have the IDS thumb grip on its way as well and will do the bakig soda bath previously suggested. :-)
So from what I've gathered for the M11 Ds, if they are defective, they would be defective pretty early on or dead on arrival? There's one for sale here but I feel like it's schrodingers cat purchase if it's unopened and brand new. Looks like buying one that has been used for a bit is safer at this point?
I've been waiting for a m10d replacement for a while and reliability issues aside seems like the m11d is the m'est M.
ftllens wrote:
So from what I've gathered for the M11 Ds, if they are defective, they would be defective pretty early on or dead on arrival? There's one for sale here but I feel like it's schrodingers cat purchase if it's unopened and brand new. Looks like buying one that has been used for a bit is safer at this point?
I've been waiting for a m10d replacement for a while and reliability issues aside seems like the m11d is the m'est M.
That wasn't my experience. I bought a barely used M11M in June and it worked fine up until beginning of January. Then a few times it froze up. I was able to get it back on by taking out the battery and card, reinserting them. But it wigged me out because I already had both a Q3 and M11P that bricked, so l just sent the M11M to NJ for servicing.
My M11-P and M11-M have been problem free for more than a year and still going. My M11-D is also problem free and just used it everyday on a just concluded 5 week trip.
The reality is there is no way of telling but I also wonder what the percentage of owners w/ issues may be. The model that I just purchased was also brand new, only firmware had gotten updated. Now, I knew the seller here on FM as we had done previous transactions (stellar guy) so if there was a problem I knew that between the two of us we would find a solution.
Needless to day, my positive experience with the camera for the little time that I have had it has has been just fantastic.
Does anyone know how many bodies will be produced overall? Curious.
ZdevilH1 wrote:
Does anyone know how many bodies will be produced overall? Curious.
Nobody knows for sure. However, it’s not a special edition, so I believe Leica will continue producing it until it no longer meets their sales expectations. The same likely applies to the new M11 Glossy Black Paint.
Fred Miranda wrote:
Nobody knows for sure. However, it’s not a special edition, so I believe Leica will continue producing it until it no longer meets their sales expectations. The same likely applies to the new M11 Glossy Black Paint.
I would imagine more DoA. Personal anecdote but I've ended up handling 3 of these for various reasons, including two used bodies and none of them had any problems.
Bob W wrote:
My M11-P and M11-M have been problem free for more than a year and still going. My M11-D is also problem free and just used it everyday on a just concluded 5 week trip.
I had one of the first M11, days after it was announced. It had freeze problems at first but it was fixed by firmware updates and it is problem free now.
But a few months ago, a friend of mine bought is brand new and he had several freezes a day. We tried everything and I mean everything to fix it. In the end, he managed to have his body exchanged for another one which works.
So I guess it is hit and miss and the fact that some of us have no problem at all is not significant if it is a random hardware issue.
pmeheut wrote:
I had one of the first M11, days after it was announced. It had freeze problems at first but it was fixed by firmware updates and it is problem free now.
But a few months ago, a friend of mine bought is brand new and he had several freezes a day. We tried everything and I mean everything to fix it. In the end, he managed to have his body exchanged for another one which works.
So I guess it is hit and miss and the fact that some of us have no problem at all is not significant if it is a random hardware issue....Show more →
I have mixed feelings about the M11. When it was first announced, I experienced issues with several units and eventually gave up on it. However, last year, Leica loaned me an M11, and after nearly three months of heavy use with the latest firmware, it didn’t freeze or show any problems.
In my view, this seems to be both a software and hardware issue. If the camera is 100% free of hardware defects, the latest firmware appears stable, and it performs well.
This is just my speculation, but since the M11 was primarily developed during the pandemic, much of the collaboration between development teams likely happened over Zoom. That might have contributed to these issues, or perhaps the inconsistencies are due to certain third-party hardware components.
Fred Miranda wrote:
I have mixed feelings about the M11. When it was first announced, I experienced issues with several units and eventually gave up on it. However, last year, Leica loaned me an M11, and after nearly three months of heavy use with the latest firmware, it didn’t freeze or show any problems.
In my view, this seems to be both a software and hardware issue. If the camera is 100% free of hardware defects, the latest firmware appears stable, and it performs well.
This is just my speculation, but since the M11 was primarily developed during the pandemic, much of the collaboration between development teams likely happened over Zoom. That might have contributed to these issues, or perhaps the inconsistencies are due to certain third-party hardware components....Show more →
This freezing issue seems so random in the M11 cameras. Some have been stable since release, others have it bad. I wish that Leica would do the responsible thing regarding the freezes. They have been issuing firmware updates to deal with this that appear to be largely successful. This indicates that they must have a pretty good idea of the cause at this point. If Leica would issue a statement explaining the issue customers would have much more confidence in the product. If it is in fact a hardware issue then Leica should know by serial number in which cameras the offending part, or batch , was used. A recall would be in order then.
This just seems like the low bar in customer care. Why a premium brand like Leica doesn't do this is beyond understanding.
1bwana1 wrote:
I wish that Leica would do the responsible thing regarding the freezes.
This is too much to ask.
1bwana1 wrote:
This just seems like the low bar in customer care. Why a premium brand like Leica doesn't do this is beyond understanding.
I could not agree more.
It underwent a CLA and had the shutter speed dial replaced. The dial was showing the wrong shutter speed and was badly scratched on the top, as if someone used a blade, so the replacement was for both functional and cosmetic reasons.
