I’m again and again overwhelmed by the low light abilities of the Leica M Monochrom.

These two pictures were taken at a birthday dinner of one of my best friends. The restaurant was very sparsely lit. Only a few chandeliers and candles.

Later during post in Lightroom I was amazed how well the raw images (DNG) of the Leica M Monochrom were performing.

ISO 3200 | 1/125s | f/1.4

Most of the pictures, in particular the first ones I took, were severely underexposed (like the picture above). Even when checking the images on the small monitor of the Leica during that evening I was a bit scared since it looked all too dark and underexposed.

ISO 6400 | 1/60s | f/1.4

Regardless, in Lightroom I was able to restore even fine detail in the shadows. The noise that of course comes in after you go above ISO 3200 is clearly present, but I do feel that it is a very natural looking noise, reminiscent of more classic film grain of the analog era which I grew up with.

For me I usually try and take pictures with as low ISO as possible to retain all the fine details in pictures and am somewhat hesitant to dial up ISO for that very reason. That being said, with the Monochrom that concern is gone. I’m happy to say that even with ISO 6400 and good post you get amazing pictures out of low light and available light scenarios that you would otherwise not be able to capture.