Jon Sienkiewicz

Leica just announced the Leica M11 Monochrom, the B&W-only version of their M11 flagship digital rangefinder camera, and Shutterbug had the opportunity to test run a production sample early on in the release cycle. Our conclusions are not as simple as black and white.

You’ve probably seen dramatic waterdrop images like this one and sensibly assumed that it took years of experience and thousands of dollars in equipment to get similar results. Frequent Shutterbug Photo of the Day contributor and long-time photography professional Jeff Van Scoyk introduced us to the Miops Splash, the $150 photo accessory for controllable waterdrop photography.

Here is my dilemma. Since discovering OpenAI’s DALL•E 2 image generator a few weeks ago, I’ve had good success and great fun creating images I’m truly proud of. No, it’s not photography, but it’s still pretty amazing. More importantly, however, it raises a fundamental question: Is it ethical to publish AI-assisted images instead of photos of living, flesh and blood models, even with clearly-worded disclaimers? Frankly, I’m torn by this predicament.

Leica just announced the M11 Monochrom, their latest black-and-white-only camera, and Shutterbug had a chance to use one for several days well ahead of the launch. Based on the Leica M11—which we labeled “The Ultimate M” in our review last year—the Leica M11 Monochrom delivers resolution up to 60.4 megapixel and image quality that’s beyond human imagination. The launch included the unveiling of the new Leica Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 ASPH.