Re: Leica M11-V to be announced (Now called Leica M EV1)
Desmolicious wrote: Steve Spencer wrote: CVickery wrote: Steve Spencer wrote: stgrove wrote:
Thanks Steve for your hands on analysis.
Your SL3 comment about using M lenses on it instead of getting the EV1 got me thinking.
M11+Viso2 with grip and M 24/1.4 weighs 1205 grams.
X2Dii with 38V lens (30mm FF equiv) weighs 1265 grams.
SL3 with L-M Adapter and M 24/1.4 lens weighs 1421 grams.
X2Dii with Fotodiox Pro M Adapter and M 24/1.4 lens weighs 1453 grams.
At this point the feature set of the X2Dii with M lenses is my choice even though it weighs 32 grams more than the SL3 approach. Since M lenses vignette on the X2Dii means for me I can compensate for that while composing. Add to that the 100MP sensor and way better IBIS combined with a cyan focus peaking color that gets me a much better hit rate than I have ever had with previous focus peaking colors and usage.
And EV1 + CV 28 f/1.5 weighs 745 grams. Herein lies the possible advantage of the EV1. It can give you a very fast lens in a very small package with a quite good EVF if that is what you want.
Agreed, but the Q3 is 743 grams and has AF as well. The Q lens is a bit bulkier though.
The big difference of course is the EV1 is an interchangeable lens camera and you can have not only a 28mm lens at the Q3 size and weight, but you can add a small 40mm and or whatever focal length you like all in a very small size, and some--presumably the target audience of the EV1--will prefer that it is manual focus instead of autofocus.
So the big question now is why is the EV1 so expensive? The complicated optical rangefinder system is gone.
It now can be considered an interchangeable lens Q3.
Except the Q3 (correct me if I’m wrong) has a better sensor. And it comes with a lens! For $6400.
So why is the EV1 $9000? It can be considered to be a manual focus Q3 with an inferior sensor and a lens is extra.
I wouldn't say the Q3 sensor is better. The sensor in the Q3 and the EV1 are very similar. Both ~60 MP BSI sensors. The Q3 sensor has PDAF sites, which are useful for AF, but don't do anything for image quality, the EV1 doesn't have these PDAF sites, nor would they do anything for a MF camera that only has magnification and peaking for focus assist.
I am sure you know why the EV1 is so expensive--Leica can get that price for it and they aren't going to sell a variant of the M11 for less money than the plain M11. They never have. Take the back LCD off an M240 or M10--still the same price. For Leica, M variants can cost more, but they never cost less and this camera certainly confirms that.
I further suspect that this is billed as Leica M camera with an EVF, rather than an Leica Q camera with an interchangeable M mount because that lets them set the price higher. They want to avoid exactly that comparison you are making.
Oct 24, 2025 at 12:59 PM
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