Leica M Monochrom Verdict

For those that are convinced that black and white photography is their preferred medium, then the Leica M Monochrom will be highly desirable. However, for many, even those that are dedicated street photographers, shooting colour gives the option to convert to black and white as well as keep the colour, choosing which is best at a later time. With the Leica M Monochrom you are stuck to pure black and white, and for many that will not be appealing, but for some, this will be exactly what is wanted. Without doubt, the Leica M Monochrom gives impressive resolution and sharpness, where every pixel is recording detail, unlike the more traditional colour bayer sensor where surrounding pixels are used to generate colour and detail information. The JPEG and raw images straight from the camera are quite flat, and to get the best out of photos, to give the feeling of high contrast black and white images you will benefit from editing your photos, and using the provided software can give impressive results. Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro software is provided, and is useful to get the best out of the images produced by the camera, letting you produce much more dynamic and punchy black and white images. The Leica M Monochrom doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of a modern Digital SLR or the newer Leica M (Typ 240), and in that sense it feels like using a true camera, just one that also happens to record digital images. In addition the subtle all-black design with no red Leica dot makes this a discreet camera in use, one that can easily be ignored, making it ideal for street photography. Personally speaking, I’d rather not draw attention to the fact that I’m carrying around a £6000 camera, so am glad that there isn’t a large red Leica logo on the camera, although others may not be as pleased…….

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