sillbeers15 Posted March 12, 2013 Share #1 Posted March 12, 2013 Advertisement (gone after registration) Allow me to contribute my 2 cents worth on thoughts on M240 after fiddling my M240 for 2 weeks since 28 Feb'13. Firstly, I gotten familar with it almost instantly after previous experiences of handling M8 & M9. The new manual is much better and self-thought understanding over setting up the camera (time, date, exposure meter, ISO, focusing aid,..). The first thing that impressed me is the much usable ISO range >1000. This allowed me to shoot handheld in the dark with my max ISO setting set at ISO3200. On one of my earlier test shots of a building in the evening 7:45pm local time, the result of a handheld at 1/12s at ISO3200 produced amazing clear and rich in colour result without any retouch in Lightroom. The overall colour is warmer due mainly to the white balance improvement with richer greens and reds off camera shots in RAW. I have not done any JPG shots directly out of camera, so no comments on that. And I do not see why I want to do JPG shots after paying for Leica glasses and a M240. The EV/LV saved me several time on focusing accuracy using M lens, especially over portrait shots ( I can now focus pin point accuracy on the subjects eyes as previously impossible due to too small to determine accuracy). Focus peaking together with magnification can be set to automatically pop up once the focusing dial is moved. Upon one light tap on the shutter button, the LV resume back to full frame and ready to shoot. Honestly I love the feature. With EVF, I tend not to want to take my eyes off the electronic finder. I have to conciously shut off the EV to force myself to use the OVF for most general shooting that do not require shallow DOF shots. My needs on general shooting do not make a difference in shutter lag over M9. LCD is clearer and faster to respond over M9. SD card capacity is no issues using a 128MB SDXC card for max, max storage capacity. Downloading now is still a pain to remove SD card each time now until the multifunctional handgrip with USB port arrives. I have no desire to use my 90mm APO Corn ASPH now before my handgrip arrive as the slight hump on the back of the camera housing the dial is no replacement for the thumps-up attachment. However with the handgrip, I believe it will be sufficient grip for one hand to grip the camera while the other to freely operate the camera with longer lens. I also need the R lens adapter to try out my R-lens on my M240 and I can only be more comfortable to have one more spare battery while I go shooting. The overall pics my M240 produces do not differ much from my M9 and M8 shots. The 3D Pop effect many talked about from digital Leica cameras are still clearly present. I do not notice the differences on M, M8 & M9 shots until I start looking for differences in details. I'm a colour pics person, so richer colour is a welcome feature for me. Besides I can more easier create more depth through more tone in post processing. I did nor encounter any bugs or hanging of my M240 till date and am truly happy with it. I will certainly say it is a improved M9 with more features than just M mounted lenses to apply. I can be happy with Sony RX1 if I only require 1 lens. I can be happy with Leica M9 if I ony need M lenses. But,...I wanted more. Therefore I've gotten the M240. L1006187-1 by sillbeers15, on Flickr L1006191-1 by sillbeers15, on Flickr Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted March 12, 2013 Posted March 12, 2013 Hi sillbeers15, Take a look here My private review of M240. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
vikasmg Posted March 12, 2013 Share #2 Posted March 12, 2013 Good to read this. Thank you. A good and succinct opinion :-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thighslapper Posted March 12, 2013 Share #3 Posted March 12, 2013 I agree completely. EVF is a great optional extra, not just a gimmick. You can set auto ISO to 3200 and know that whatever the situation you are going to get superb images. The default Auto WB is too warm for me - I tend to set to Daylight Not much more to add...... very happy and I feel its money well spent..... ..... but I will be keeping my old M9 as back up as it still produces super pictures too.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
firstlight Posted March 12, 2013 Share #4 Posted March 12, 2013 I really appreciated to read your review, very nice hands-on report! That's much more useful than some other reviews discussed these days *huff* steve...*huff* Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
krooj Posted March 12, 2013 Share #5 Posted March 12, 2013 Did you find the startup delay annoying? Did you end up simply leaving the camera on all the time, and if so, did this affect the battery life in any way? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sillbeers15 Posted March 12, 2013 Author Share #6 Posted March 12, 2013 Did you find the startup delay annoying? Did you end up simply leaving the camera on all the time, and if so, did this affect the battery life in any way? Yes, I've experienced slight delay a couple of times. Not to the extend of annoying. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
algrove Posted March 12, 2013 Share #7 Posted March 12, 2013 Advertisement (gone after registration) sillbeers15- Thanks for your insights. To me I just leave on the EVF always due to my magnification needs. Only complaint with that is that you cannot move the magnification around the frame without actually moving the camera. Certainly a FW update could handle that. I am talking landscapes so far. I think RX-1 for 33 lens street with its AF could win me over. Also find Horizon feature could be left to user to remove from LCD since it disappears when going to another setting or back to magnification. Shutter is a thing of beauty. On your images, did you use any sharpening when converting from DNG to jpeg? Also what do you find works in LR as far as tone changes. I was not entirely clear on your point. Also, do you find contrast or exposure changes are helping? Are you using a 128MB SD card or 128GB SD card? It seems you meant GB. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
animefx Posted March 12, 2013 Share #8 Posted March 12, 2013 Yeah I really hope a future firmware update will allow us to move the focusing around with mangification. I see no reason at all why it should be limited to the center area. Please Leica? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thighslapper Posted March 12, 2013 Share #9 Posted March 12, 2013 Did you find the startup delay annoying? Did you end up simply leaving the camera on all the time, and if so, did this affect the battery life in any way? Not a problem in practice. I leave it on with standby set at 2 minutes. I've just taken my camer out of the safe and found it has been accidently left on since yesterday morning ..... battery is still on 75% .... so I think this is a non-issue.... I've found exposure behaviour very similar to the M9 ...... Auto Tone in LR4 can compensate for a mutitude of sins and is very useful.... Ditto with clarity and Auto WB ...... Ive found most of the Auto settings in LR4 do better than I can.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
krooj Posted March 12, 2013 Share #10 Posted March 12, 2013 Thanks for the clarification, guys. So it seems like Leica might intend to this camera to be always-on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonoslack Posted March 12, 2013 Share #11 Posted March 12, 2013 Yeah I really hope a future firmware update will allow us to move the focusing around with mangification. I see no reason at all why it should be limited to the center area. Please Leica? As I understand it this is really not possible - I think it's to do with processor power, but it was discussed at some length during the testing. Sadly it was made pretty clear that it wouldn't happen. all the best Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
algrove Posted March 12, 2013 Share #12 Posted March 12, 2013 As I understand it this is really not possible - I think it's to do with processor power, but it was discussed at some length during the testing. Sadly it was made pretty clear that it wouldn't happen. all the best That's sad news. How do they get it to work on the CCD, S,then? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithlaban.co.uk Posted March 12, 2013 Share #13 Posted March 12, 2013 That's sad news. How do they get it to work on the CCD, S,then? The Leica S has liveview??? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
farnz Posted March 12, 2013 Share #14 Posted March 12, 2013 As I understand it this is really not possible ... That's a shame because I find it very useful on my 5D MkII. Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaybob Posted March 12, 2013 Share #15 Posted March 12, 2013 And on the NEX. My theory on the scrolling focus confirmation is that it has something to do with AF sensors being present. No AF, no scrolling. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marknorton Posted March 12, 2013 Share #16 Posted March 12, 2013 We're quite used to focussing an M camera in the centre of the frame - we've been doing it for 50+ years - so it's no great hardship you can't scroll around the Live View window to take a peek. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bybrett Posted March 12, 2013 Share #17 Posted March 12, 2013 We're quite used to focussing an M camera in the centre of the frame - we've been doing it for 50+ years - so it's no great hardship you can't scroll around the Live View window to take a peek. Focussing yes, but we don't often put the point of focus in the centre? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sillbeers15 Posted March 13, 2013 Author Share #18 Posted March 13, 2013 sillbeers15- Thanks for your insights. To me I just leave on the EVF always due to my magnification needs. Only complaint with that is that you cannot move the magnification around the frame without actually moving the camera. Certainly a FW update could handle that. I am talking landscapes so far. I think RX-1 for 33 lens street with its AF could win me over. Also find Horizon feature could be left to user to remove from LCD since it disappears when going to another setting or back to magnification. Shutter is a thing of beauty. On your images, did you use any sharpening when converting from DNG to jpeg? Also what do you find works in LR as far as tone changes. I was not entirely clear on your point. Also, do you find contrast or exposure changes are helping? Are you using a 128MB SD card or 128GB SD card? It seems you meant GB. Yes. You are right, my mistake, it should 128GB SD Card. Other than my test shots earlier, most of my RAW pics convert to JPG I do push 20-30% on 'clarity' and some exposure changes on LR4. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
erlingmm Posted March 13, 2013 Share #19 Posted March 13, 2013 The Leica S has liveview??? No Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsy Posted March 13, 2013 Share #20 Posted March 13, 2013 so it's no great hardship you can't scroll around the Live View window to take a peek. The only potential benefit I can see offered by live view is to be able to obtain accurate focus off centre without doing the focus and recompose routine (an obvious example is if you are doing a portrait wide open and you want to absolutely nail the focus on the eyes). If you have to focus in the centre with LV you might as well use the RF patch. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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