Leica M11-P

AIl of Leica's cameras are iconic in their own right, but it's the M series that perhaps has the most fervent following.

Since last year’s reveal of the latest generation of the M-series with the M11, we have been waiting for Leica to unveil its usual collection of variations on that core camera. So far we have seen the black-and-white-sensor M11 Monochrom and now this generation’s M11-P variant.

The Leica M10-P was unique for its focus on a redeveloped silent shutter for quieter street photography or photojournalism, where discretion is paramount. The M11-P is also aimed at these audiences, but a quieter shutter is not the focus of the M11-P. Instead, the camera has a trick to combat the rise in photos being misappropriated by AI.

The Content Credentials initiative is the start of a real fightback by imaging companies (including Adobe, Leica and Nikon) and photographers to protect works from being misused by AI image generators while providing accreditation for photographers. The implementation of Content Credentials by Leica is hardware-based, with a dedicated chip in the M11-P that encodes the file with the photographer’s details. These credentials can then, in theory, travel across the internet with the image, so credit remains with the photographer, even if the image is manipulated using editing or AI. Unfortunately for anyone with previous Leica cameras, due to the hardware aspect, this won’t be coming in a future update to your camera.