u/loganarowland

Lenses:
Voigtlander APO Lanthar 50mm f/2
Voigtlander APO Lanthar 28mm f/2

This was quite the adventure.

Family friends. Their photographer backed out on them last minute and they asked if I could step in.

All I own for photography right now is a Leica M11 and a Fujifilm X100VI. And there was no time to order a rental.

And I’ve never shot a wedding.

So, I dove in head first. I learned a lot. I was far more successful than I expected to be, and the client is over the moon about the gallery I delivered to them.

The Leica M as A-CAM on a wedding might not be the most conventional (or best) choice for a wedding, but it performed beautifully and I felt so connected to everything going on.

A little rehearsal before his sisters wedding.

This is from a rehearsal. These LED lights are not usually used for this event, but the lighting team introduced them. When I bring my corrections in to bring the dancers to a proper exposure, the LED lights create a crazy banding issue.

Any thoughts on how I can better expose in a situation like this? I'm limited to what they give me, and I'm just doing my best. It's also not a high paying job at all. Just providing a simple service for them.

Always surprised by how much I love the colors and rendering of this lens, even with a high sun.

I’m visiting my grandma in southeastern Oklahoma. Yesterday, I went for a little photo walk and captured all the remnants of my grandpa left scattered across his land.

I haven’t really ever explored this realm of photography before. Big fan of James Popsys, though, so it was fun to do a little “human nature”.

The quality of light was phenomenal as well.

Anyone left eye dominant that has managed to figure out the both eyes open technique?

I cannot seem to convince my left eye to pass the ball.

We arrived too late for the tour, and only had ten minutes to view the insides of the buildings at the Living History museum at Lyndon B. Johnson State Park.

The M11 is still fun in a hurry, and it’s fun to remember that f/2.8 is still plenty enough light to get something interesting in challengingly dark scenes.

I want to use this Clever Supply original strap (short version) on my M11, but when I put it on, the metal brads rub on the corners of the camera.

Anyone have experience with these causing damage?

If so, is there another short strap brand anyone recommends?

Some textures and details of a local community bank I was commissioned to capture using the Leica M11.

All photos were shot on the Voigtlander APO 50mm f/2.

Was hired to get some textures and architecture for a local community bank.

These are some of my favorites.

All shot on Voigtlander APO Lanthar 50mm f/2, except for the full building shot that was on my trusty Zeiss Biogon 35mm f/2.8

When I purchased my new-to-me Leica M11 for what seemed like an unmissable deal back in March 2026, I was extremely excited and equally nervous.

The Leica M rangefinder has long been (as it is for many), my dream camera, but it's only ever felt like a pipe dream at that. A pipe dream because of its price, but also its limitation of being a photo only camera, and a slow, manual focus only experience.

I was told by many that it would be a bad idea to purchase this camera for daily use with family, events, and the occasional paid gig.

And after 120+ days, I'd have to agree with them.

It's slow. The start up time gets in the way sometimes. Setting up a shot takes more time and intention.

When I use my Fujifilm X100VI, I take four times as many photos, and can grab a ton of shots that are near impossible on the M11, like blindly pointing my camera in odd angles and the autofocus grabbing a face in a pinch.

The Leica M system is definitely not the "right" tool for a lot of my use cases.

But it's been the most fun and rewarding three months of photography I have ever had. It turns out that manual focus is not only something I'm able to manage pretty well, it actually unlocks my brain when it comes to photography. Maybe I'm just not very spoiled by autofocus because I've spent most years using Fujifilm cameras? Manual focus never moves unless I tell it to when what I'm used to is focus jumping all over the place.

I also just love the way the camera feels in my hands, the process of the rangefinder, and the files that come out of it. Somehow, against all odds, this slow, manual focus camera has become my most faithful companion.

Above are 20 of my favorite images I've captured over my first 120 days with the camera. I only picked 20 because that's all Reddit allows uploaded at one time.

Passing through. Had to pull over. If I had more time, maybe they would have been better.

I can’t choose!

Shot on Voigtlander APO Lanthar 28mm f/2

Not my typical frames (I tend to be a dad cam guy, mostly) but these landscapes commanded attention.

Definitely a lot to learn with this style photography.

📷 Leica M11 + Voigtlander APO Lanthar 28 & 50 f/2.0