Leica’s M Monochrom Typ 246 is their second black  and white only Leica M rangefinder camera. The first model featured a 18-million-pixel CCD full frame sensor with the colour filter array over the sensor removed. This meant it was only able to shoot images in Black & White.

It was a bold move from Leica but it proved to be a successful camera in their range.

Leica M Monochrom (Typ 246) Review – Features

The new M Monochrom Typ 246 features Leica’s newly developed 24-million-pixel full-frame CMOS sensor which is an improvement over the CCD used by the older M Monochrom. Like it’s predecessor, the Leica M Monochrom Typ 246 has no anti-aliasing filter or colour filter array over the sensor.

Their absence brings better image quality with sharper images, better dynamic range, improved high ISO performance and no colour noise artefacts.

An ISO range of 320-25,000 is offered by the M Monochrom Typ 246 which is an extensive range, although base ISO is rather high. This is due to the removal of the colour filters making the sensor more sensitive to light. However, without them, it gives less luminance noise at the respective ISO – so it’s a worthy trade-off.

Leica’s bespoke designed Maestro processor is used inside the camera which has a 2GB buffer. This allows 4 frames per second continuous shooting for a total of 30 frames in either JPEG, Raw, or both simultaneously.

Also, it’s possible to capture video in either 24 or 25 frames per second with either 1920×1080 or 1280×720 HD resolutions. Of course, this is also all in black and white.