'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean?
ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.
When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.
ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form.
This new camera embeds authenticity details in photos, but it doesn't come cheap
With the rise of AI-generated images, distinguishing between fabricated and authentic images is increasingly difficult. The camera manufacturer Leica is attempting to combat that issue with the release of its latest camera, the Leica M11-P.
On Thursday, Leica dropped the Leica M11-P, the world's first camera to have Content Credentials built in, which enables a picture to have detailed metadata included at the point of capture and essentially serves as a verification stamp for the image.
Also: The best AI art generators: DALL-E 2 and fun alternatives to try
The metadata includes details such as the camera make and model, who captured the image, and when and how the image was captured, as seen by the photo below.
Each image will have its own digital signature that can be easily used to verify the authenticity of the images on the Content Credentials site or the Leica FOTOS app, according to the release.
Also: How to become a content creator: Everything you need
"The Leica M11-P launch will advance the CAI's goal of empowering photographers everywhere to attach Content Credentials to their images at the point of capture, creating a chain of authenticity from camera to cloud and enabling photographers to maintain a degree of control over their art, story and context," said Santiago Lyon, head of advocacy and education at the Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI).
If a user does not want to participate and would rather use the camera like they would with any other device, the Content Credentials feature works on an opt-in basis.
The secure metadata meets the CoaliIon for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) standard, a Joint Development Foundation that combines the Adobe-led CAI and Project Origin, a Microsoft- and BBC-led initiative focused on tackling misinformation in digital news.
According to the C2PA site, the organization is dedicated to building "an end-to-end open technical standard to provide publishers, creators, and consumers with opt-in, flexible ways to understand the authenticity and provenance of different types of media."
Also: How to level up your iPhone photo skills
In addition to the Content Credentials feature, the camera comes with other specs that make it a compelling purchase, including a 60MP BSI CMOS sensor, Triple Resolution Technology, a Maestro-III processor, and 256GB of internal memory.
The Leica M11-P will retail for €8,950, roughly $9,461, and will be available globally at all Leica Stores online and authorized dealers, starting today.