Buy M240 M-P or M262? [merged thread]

[photoray]

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I can buy a full 2 year warranty M240 M-P (Leica Certified), or full 2 year warranty new M262 from a Leica USA dealer.  The M-P is $450 more.  ($4200 vs $4650 with rebate applied).

 

Having briefly owned a M240 previously, I have an idea of what the M-P should be, but the M262 is a newer stripped down model, that I have only read about. I don't care about video capability, but I am not totally sure about LV.  Perhaps LV would be useful with a 75 lens I hope to get at some point.

 

I am a serious 67 year old traveler that digs the Leica lens color and like to keep things simple.  Getting back into Leica and have a new Q to play with and will keep for a point and shoot.

 

Which would you buy, M-P or M240 M-P?

 

Your opinions appreciated.

 

N

Edited August 19, 2016 by photoray

[ramarren]

Don't agree on "anything shorter than 28 is better done with another camera": few other cameras have WAs as good and well-corrected as Leica's.

The 'other camera' in my case is a Leica SL. It can use the same lenses and has a viewfinder more appropriate to the task, for me. :-)

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[Giulio Zanni]

I think that it all depends if you need the LV and the EVF and the kind of photography you. If you do landscape the LV is mandatory. If you do street or reportage you can well get away with a 262. 

[Steve McGarrett]

ramarren, on 19 Aug 2016 - 21:13, said:

The 'other camera' in my case is a Leica SL. It can use the same lenses and has a viewfinder more appropriate to the task, for me. :-)

 

Yeah, now with SL we have another interesting option, perhaps I'll buy one sooner or later.

 

Still, I find focusing with UWAs faster with rangefinder than with EVF.

 

I much prefer focusing a 90 on a EVF and a 21 on a rangefinder, and I have no problem using external viewfinder, so for me M is not an "ideal camera from 28 to 90" (...as a spectacles wearer I can't even see 28 framelines in internal finder, by the way), but a "ideal camera for wideangles".

 

It's a 90 or 135 that, in my opinion, is better used on other cameras, not a UWA.

Edited August 20, 2016 by Steve McGarrett

[ramarren]

Yeah, now with SL we have another interesting option, perhaps I'll buy one sooner or later.

 

Still, I find focusing with UWAs faster with rangefinder than with EVF.

 

I much prefer focusing a 90 on a EVF and a 21 on a rangefinder, and I have no problem using external viewfinder, so for me M is not an "ideal camera from 28 to 90" (...as a spectacles wearer I can't even see 28 framelines in internal finder, by the way), but a "ideal camera for wideangles".

 

It's a 90 or 135 that, in my opinion, is better used on other cameras, not a UWA.

 

 

It's in the realm of personal preferences. And it differs by lens too ...! 

 

I'm not so much concerned with how fast I can focus but with the accuracy of focus and framing. With the rangefinder, I can focus the WATE more quickly in the .7m to infinity range, but I can focus it more accurately from its minimum focus distance AND frame the image I want to make more accurately with the SL. Switch to the Super-Elmar-R 15mm, and I can focus it much faster with the SL and still get the benefit of the framing accuracy. (I tend to prefer working with the SER15 on the SL over the WATE ... the ergonomics are just nicer to work with for me.)

 

Longer lenses in general are much happier with the SL viewfinder, but I have to say that the 75 and 90 lenses I have are very easy to focus, both quickly and accurately, on the M as well. And framing seems nicely accurate too, although not perhaps as accurate as the SL. 

 

It's all good.   

[Steve McGarrett]

Yes, of course I was talking about rangefinder-coupled lenses

 

With SER15 (I own one me too) on M you need to use LV/EVF, or guess the distance and then set it on the focus ring. SL there is a more logical choice... (or Sony, but I found that SER15 is almost like M-wides, ie. it doesn't go very well in the corners on Sony)

Edited August 20, 2016 by Steve McGarrett

[Mark II]

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I have been debating this, unsuccessfully. I would really like the weight of the M262 with the ability to use live-view for critical focus or framing (landscape). With current rebates, the price for the M262 and M240 are almost the same here.

 

Very undecided as to whether to wait until the end of the year to see what Photokina brings, or to go ahead now before the UK exchange rate triggers a 10-20% price rise...