Note: Kevin and Doug recently made a trip to Chicago. While there, Kevin took advantage of the wonderful Chicago landscapes to test his new Leica M11. We are proud to share his insights and technical advice on the new camera.

I’ve been shooting with the new Leica M11 camera and loving it. Traditionally, Leica's M cameras have been the camera of choice for reportage and street photography. They are small and light, and have super sharp optics. But I'm excited about the camera for another application: landscape photography. 

 Whether I'm making landscape images in the middle of the city or the middle of nowhere, I'm  often literally chasing the light. For me, location and light are two sides of the same coin in landscape photography. A great image requires both to come together perfectly - or imperfectly, depending what I'm after. It's not always easy to know where that intersection of light and location are going to occur, especially when I'm shooting personal work where I often don't take the time to pre-scout the location like I would on a commercial job. When I'm shooting personal work, I like the excitement following the light and discovering images as they reveal themselves. 

 I also want my final images to be as good as they can be for printing - tack sharp, great color, tons of detail - and this isn't always an easy combo. The most straightforward way to achieve this is by sticking a high-resolution medium format camera on a tripod. But carrying around a heavy set-up like that sucks. In the backcountry it limits how far I can hike or bike, and in the city it's bulky and cumbersome. Until now, I haven't found a lighter weight solution that doesn't compromise my final images, but I may have found it in the new Leica M11.  

With post-pandemic supply issues, the M11 isn't an easy camera to get your hands on, so I feel pretty lucky to even have one. And I have to say that so far, the combination of the new 60-megapixel sensor and the Leica's famously sharp lenses might just be the ticket. Shooting with it still requires careful attention to technique because of the high-resolution, but it is ridiculously easy to bring along on any adventure. These images from Chicago are a great example of where it shines. The light was beautiful, but unexpected and fleeting. And the places I wanted to shoot were best accessed on foot. With this little beast in tow, I covered a ton of ground in two short shooting windows. The final images from the camera have three-dimensional detail and really beautiful color rendition, which had the unexpected bonus of making post-processing easier also. 

See more work from Kevin @kevinarnoldphoto. Follow us for more updates and stories here.