Leica M Monochrom
The Leica M Monochrom is a digital rangefinder camera made by Leica Camera AG. It is mechanically similar to the Leica M9 , however it features a full-frame, 18MP monocrome sensor. This sensor is only sensitive to raw light, not colors, essentially making it a digital black&white 35mm film camera.
Sensor[]
As well as a modified Kodak monochrome sensor, the Monochrom actually excludes the anti-aliasing filter common in most digital cameras of today, similar to the Nikon D800e. The lack of the AA filter ultimately improves the sensor's sensitivity to light, increasing sensitivity by up to a 2 stops, therefore increasing low-light performance significantly. Another advantage of not having an AA filter is increased sharpness. The Monochrom surpasses the color-sensitive, anti-alias filter-toting Leica M9 in terms of sharpness because the light is hitting the sensor directly instead of having to pass through any kinds of filters etc.
Lenses[]
The Leica M Monochrom will be compatible with all Leica M lenses , both analog and 6-bit encoded ones for lens detection once mounted. This includes lenses made by Leica , Zeiss , Voigtländer , and even M39/LTM lenses with an M39/M-Mount adapter.
Tech Specs[]
Camera Type: Digital Compact Rangefinder Camera
Sensor: 5212 x 3268 (18MP) Kodak Monochrome Sensor
Lens Mount: Leica M Bayonet Mount
Image Foramt: 24 x 36mm / 'Full-Frame'
Data Format: DNG (Raw Data), JPEG Compressed
File Sizes: DNG Compressed - 18MB, DNG Uncompressed - 36MB, JPEG 2-10MB
Storgae Media: SD/SDHC Cards up to 32GB
Exposure Metering - TTL (Through-The-Lens) Metering
Light Sensitivity: ISO 160-10,000
Exposure Modes: Aperture Priority (A), Manual (M)
Shutter Speeds: 32s-1/4000s (A Mode), 8s-1/4000s (M Mode)
Continuous Shooting: 2fps (Frames-Per-Second) for 8 images
History[]
The Leica M Monochrom is essentially a descendant of the now legendary, 60 year-old Leica M3 , released in 1954. The Leica M5 was the first M camera to have an exposure meter built in, and the Leica M6 TTL was the first M camera to include TTL metering, as the name suggests. Aperture Priority Auto Exposure (AE) was not featured until the Leica M7 , released in 2002. The Leica M8 was the first Leica digital rengefingder camera, featuring a 10.1MP, APS-C 1.5X crop sensor. Later the M9 bumped up the sensor size to the standard '35mm' size of 24mm x 36mm. The M Monochrom is the first commercial monochrome rangefinder camera, and the first commercial 35mm digital monochrome camera.
References[]
Leica M Monochrom Official Site
Leica M Monochrom at DP Reviews
Leica M Monochrom at Wikipedia
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