Leica is announcing a new type of M-mount camera, its first that’s not actually a rangefinder. The new M EV1 is based on the M11-P from 2023, but it strips out the traditional rangefinder in favor of a 5.76-million dot electronic viewfinder — hence the omitted viewfinder window on its front. The new camera is launching in Europe and other markets today for €7,950, and coming to the US at a later time due to an FCC delay, where it’s expected to run $8,995.
Since the M EV1 is based on the M11-P, it has the same processor, 60-megapixel full-frame sensor, 64GB of internal storage, and support for Content Credentials. That also means that, like other M11 cameras, the M EV1 does not record video at all. Without the rangefinder assembly, and with an aluminum construction like the black M11, the M EV1 weighs 484 grams (or 1.07 pounds) without a lens attached. That’s 46 grams lighter, about the weight of one golf ball.
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The M EV1 is still manual focus like a traditional rangefinder. However, instead of focusing by aligning images in a patch in the center of an optical viewfinder, you see and focus through the lens on the half-inch EVF or 2.95-inch rear LCD. And just like any other mirrorless camera, you can get a live exposure preview and use focusing aids like focus peaking and magnification.
A live view through the lens makes using ultrawide and telephoto lenses on a Leica M much easier. Any lens wider than 28mm (which Leica makes a variety of in M-mount) normally required some kind of external finder, and 90mm focal lengths or longer could be hard to accurately focus. Full-time live view also allows easier close-focusing for recent M lenses that go shorter than the traditional 0.7 meter minimum focus limitation — or when adapting a macro lens from another manufacturer.
M cameras could be used with live view since the M (Typ 240) of 2012, but they required focusing on the rear display or adding an accessory EVF. The built-in EVF of the M EV1 is similar to the one found in the fixed-lens Leica Q3, but it runs at a slower 60Hz instead of 120Hz. The M EV1 also borrows the diamond-patterned leatherette from the Q cameras, though that’s about where its Q similarities end. (Pour one out for the Leica fans hoping for an M EVF camera that’s Q-sized.)
One interesting spin on a classic rangefinder control is the M EV1’s new front lever. What was normally a preview lever on traditional M cameras, for changing framelines in the viewfinder before switching lenses, is now two new customizable function buttons. You can toggle the lever left or right to enable focus peaking and magnification, or you can long-push either direction to call up a menu that changes those custom functions. It’s a pretty clever take on what would otherwise be an anachronistic control. Another change to the M EV1’s control layout is that it drops the ISO dial first introduced in the M10, going back to menu-based ISO control you bring up with a function button.
I recently got to hold the Leica M EV1 and tinker with it for a few minutes in a very brief hands-on preview, and I found it to be exactly what I was expecting from a long-rumored “M EVF” camera — though not a modicum more. It’s the bare minimum of swapping the rangefinder for an EVF on an M11-based camera, especially considering Leica deleted the viewfinder window and left that area starkly blank, without even relocating the red dot logo. The window for the rangefinder patch is oddly still there, too, now housing an LED light for the timer. It all looks a little jarring and, frankly, ugly to me.
But that’s fine, I guess, as altering a long-established design sometimes just takes time to adjust to. While I expected Leica might do something a little more fresh here, I (and I’d wager others) was also hoping that subtracting the costly mechanical rangefinder would also mean subtracting a more significant amount off the price. The $845 delta between the M EV1 and M11-P isn’t an insignificant amount, but this remains a $9,000 camera, the same price the now-discontinued M11 first launched at in 2022. Perhaps it’s a little price protection for the traditional M cameras, in case Leica learns more of its fans than expected favor EVFs over a rangefinder.
Photography by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge