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Leica M11 Monochrom Review: Pure B&W Performance

May 13, 2023

When the original Leica M Monochrom was introduced back in May 2012, the world didn’t know it needed a purpose-built digital black and white camera. In fact, at the time, skeptics, cynics and armchair imaging ...

B&W ISO Showdown 2021: Leica Q2 Monochrom / M10 Monochrom / Q2 / M10-R

David Farkas

February 21, 2021

Since publishing the my B&W ISO Showdown last year, a new Leica Monochrom contender has entered the ring. And it's not an M. The Q2 Monochrom is the first non-M camera to get the purely black and white tre...

B&W ISO Showdown 2020: Leica M10 Monochrom vs. M Monochrom (Typ 246) vs. M10-P vs. SL2

David Farkas

May 13, 2020

Shortly after the M Monochrom (Typ 246) was introduced back in early 2015, I published an article comparing it to an M (Typ 240) with its color files converted to black and white to see if high ISO performance was really superior with a dedicated monochrome s...

Photokina 2016 – Day 1: Checking Out the 50mm Summilux-SL ASPH and Multifunction Handgrip

David Farkas

September 20, 2016

This is now my fifth consecutive Photokina, but walking up the steps to South Entrance on opening day still give me a little rush of excitement. What goodies await inside these hallowed walls?Historical...

24-90 Zoom vs. M Lenses on the Leica SL (Typ 601)

Luis Mora

September 12, 2016

A question that keeps coming up again and again is whether people should be shooting with M lenses or the 24-90 zoom on the Leica SL (Typ 601). A lot of Leica photographers have shied away from the zoom due to ...

Leica SL (Typ 601) Review: A Professional Mirrorless Camera

David Farkas

January 28, 2016

I sat in my hotel room in Gießen, Germany staring at my laptop screen as night began to turn back to day. Earlier in the evening, I attended the launch event at Leitz Park for the new Leica SL (Typ 601) and was attempting to piece together an analysis before g...

B&W ISO Showdown: Leica M Monochrom (Typ 246) vs. M Monochrom (M9) vs. M (Typ 240)

David Farkas

June 7, 2015

During my testing of the new Leica M Monochrom (Typ 246) in NYC and New Orleans, I was blown away by the camera's high ISO ability, so I wanted to see how it stacked up against the original M Monochrom based of...

The Bokeh Kings: A Look at 50mm M Lenses

Bill Rosauer

October 8, 2014

Wikipedia defines “Bokeh (usually pronounced Boc-ah) as the blur or aesthetic quality of the blur, in the out-of-focus areas of an image. The term comes from the Japanese word boke, which means “blur” or “haz...

Photokina 2014: A few quick pictures with the Leica Summicron-S 100mm f/2 ASPH

David Farkas

September 23, 2014

When I ventured by the S stand at the Leica booth on my last day at the show, I said hello to Dietmar Stuible, who was working the demo table. He is one of the optics designers at Leica and was responsible for the design of the Vario-Elmar-S 30-90mm ASPH, whi...

Leica T (Typ 701) Review

David Farkas

April 24, 2014

Mirrorless or EVIL (Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens) cameras have become increasingly popular since the first Panasonic micro 4/3 systems came on the market several years ago. Sony jumped in with the...

Leica X Vario (Typ 107) Review: Looking Beyond the Specs

David Farkas

July 7, 2013

Leading up to the launch of the new X Vario, Leica rolled out a teaser campaign for what they were calling a “Mini M.” The campaign was quite effective at building up anticipation for this new camera. So much s...

Testing the CS lenses on the Leica S2

David Farkas

March 1, 2012

When the S2 launched, Leica announced that the camera would feature a dual shutter system. The rear of the S2 has a power switch with three positions: Off, FPS and CS. FPS stands for focal plane shutter, which is standard in just about every SLR-type camera ou...

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