Leica has spent the better part of a century answering one question two ways: black or silver. The safari green (which still remains our personal favorite) or burgundy special edition aside, that two-tone world has defined the brand for about as long as anyone reading this has been alive.
So a third color is a bigger deal than it might appear on the surface. Leica just rolled out Metal Gray, a new factory finish landing across four products at once, and unlike the platinum-dipped collector bait the company usually trades in, this one sticks around for good.
A Gray With Staying Power
The finish splits the difference between Leica’s two staples: darker and moodier than chrome, without vanishing into black-paint anonymity. The brand says it was cooked up in-house at the Wetzlar factory.
Leica being Leica, this isn’t just any order “paint job.” It’s hand-applied lacquer, the same process Leica uses on its glossy black paint bodies, which means it’ll brass and patina with use.
The M11-P Goes First
Leading the rollout is the M11-P, the stealthy rangefinder Leica builds without embedded metadata for shooters who’d rather not leave a trail. In gray, it wears metal top and bottom plates over diamond-patterned black leather, and true to the P badge, it swaps the famous red dot for a discreet gray screw cover.
It ships next to a color-matched APO-Summicron-M 50mm f/2 ASPH, arguably the finest fifty the company has ever ground, now flashing red engravings on its scales.
July Brings the Rest
The Q3 and D-Lux 8 follow on July 16th. The Q3 is the fun one in the lineup. Where the original paired a black body with a gray wrap, this version flips the recipe outright, gray body over a black wrap.
The D-Lux 8 shrinks the look into a pocketable shell, even carrying the gray onto its function buttons. Nothing mechanical changes across any of them.
Also, in an unexpected move, Leica has kept prices the same. Leica usually asks a premium for its silver chrome bodies, yet Metal Gray costs exactly what black does. The lens does run $45 more, which on a ten-grand optic feels more like a rounding error than a true price increase.
Spec Sheet
Finish: Metal Gray (hand-applied lacquer)
Origin: Wetzlar, Germany
Lineup: M11-P, Q3, D-Lux 8, APO-Summicron-M 50 f/2 ASPH
Leica M11-P: $10,400
APO-Summicron-M 50 f/2 ASPH: $9,990
Leica Q3: $7,350
Leica D-Lux 8: $1,915
Availability: M11-P + lens May 28; Q3 + D-Lux 8 July 16
Limited Edition?: No, permanent option
Pricing & Availability
The M11-P and its matching 50mm lens are available now, priced at $10,400 and $9,990 respectively. The Q3 ($7,350) and D-Lux 8 ($1,915) arrive July 16th, joined by a full spread of color-matched extras: a gray battery, dark brown leather protectors, even a cognac case for the little D-Lux. Head over to Leica’s website for the complete lineup.
Recap
Leica Metal Gray Collection
Leica adds its first new core finish in a century, a permanent Metal Gray that costs exactly what black does. No limited run, no upcharge, just gray.
