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Whenever the new M arrives, who's going to buy one?


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There seems to be an emerging consensus that there will be a new M some time in 2017, that it won't have many more (or any more?) pixels than the M-240, that it is bound to have a wider ISO range, and it may be slimmer and lighter.  It's also rumoured that it won't have video, though it will have live-view and a better EVF (like the current Visoflex?).

 

If this is the case, who's planning to get one?  

 

Me? I'm torn.  My current pair of M240's perform impeccably so long as I don't bother with the add-on EVF - which has always been a disappointment.  I've never had a real problem with the ISO range (though a base 50 like the SL would be attractive), I don't have a real problem with the size / weight, and I appreciate the video function for a small number of assignments where the client wants video interviews as part of the documentary process. Up until now I've found a matched pair of M's works best when I'm doing a job so I have wide / long focal lengths in play without having to swap lenses.  Could I live with an M10 alongside an M-240?

 

The questions pile up.  Keep one M-240 and get a single M10?  This could give me the best of both worlds, with the option to use a better EVF on one body for long/wide lenses if functionality is good.  If I can afford it keep an M-240 and get a pair of M10s?  As I've just decided I really don't like the SL and am selling the body + adaptors this may be financially possible... Skip the M10 all together and go on a long trip?

 

It's a bit of a challenge - and unless the M10 is a really compelling offer it's still an open question for me.  The transitions from M8 to M8.2 to M9 to M-240 offered real improvements on image quality and functionality.  The 240 is going to be a very hard act to follow!

 

Interested to hear how others plan to act.

Edited by chris_tribble
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Well if they only change the size and turn up ISO where the Q/SL is then I won't upgrade. The IQ of the Q is great and what I have seen from the SL is also great but it isn't a huge difference to the current M. In terms of ISO there is probably +1 EV difference max!

 

This wouldn't justify for me the purchase of a new M. 

 

I would expect a better viewfinder solution (hybrid, no external EVF) and/or a significantly improved sensor (not necessarily more MP, but increase DR and ISO) over the  current best Leica offer (so basically the SL). Then I am in the market...

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Time to drop the hot girlfriend who got needy, complacent, wasn't pulling her weight and had no real interest in the future. I loved her and I've really tried but I've got to move on. Her new dresses looked great but she's got too much old baggage she doesn't want to to deal with and she's not interested in expanding her consciousness, who know's if she's even has the capacity to do it. She kept talking about getting a boob job, like it was the only thing that matters, but I liked her the way she was...ugh, too bad. On top of that every time she loses her bundle her family don't do a great deal to help out and all her supporters are left to pick up the pieces, and left for months on end while she's "at the hospital". In our last attempt to make things right her only attempt to fix things was by telling me I had to buy her a new tiara for her head and that would help me to more easily access her sensitivity. That is not going to make an iota of difference and I think it would look ridiculous too. The last thing I need in her is more sensitivity, I just need her to do more in the normal light of day, not spend more time in a nightclub. The worst thing, there is always the hope of growth and she shows real potential but her parents just don't want to send her to college. In desperation she even asked me to spice things up with letting her friends join in! She was sort of hot and had the same sort of vision but at the end of the day, the same level of consciousness with not much else on offer that I could use, just a little quicker in operation, just a little more easier to get on with and a novelty of the experience. She talked about new eyes in the future that would bring her in line with the rest but, no, it looks like she's punching above her weight compared to what else is out there. The novelty of a newer package quickly wore off and there is nothing that inspires me to stay. Then there was her friend S, she was looking promising but she's even further into problems and, well that would just be a bad move on every level. So... It's not easy, and as much as I once loved her, I will have to move on and the old flame Hasselblad is really making big promises and improvements, some may not find interest in her bigger size but she really cares about what I need, she doesn't argue, she has a very high intellect, what she can do is really on another level and she cares about her work and she wants to contribute to our financial success, we have a long history together and her family really look after you when things go wrong. Most importantly she has a very big vision for the future and said she's open to change and is going to get fit and turn into a hot model the size of the M anyway. Bring it on.

Edited by Paul J
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As I've just decided I really don't like the SL and am selling the body + adaptors this may be financially possible... 

 

 

What didn't you like about the SL, Chris? I seriously considered buying one recently as a digital body for my M lenses (I no longer own any M digitals). The flexibility of the camera – the ability to use virtually any lens from any system – appeals to me, especially as a digital body for macro use. I don't mind the size or the weight for the uses I have in mind but I have decided against it for now because I know I will not like using the viewfinder (which I have tried). It's not so much that it is an EVF (which I don't like, however good it is cracked up to be) but that it is a through the lens view. I simply don't like using a reflex camera which, for me, is a more claustrophobic, more intrusive, way of seeing than a rangefinder. I find that I need to be able to see everything in focus when I'm composing a photograph. A rangefinder, for me, is like holding up a cropping frame in front of my eyes which, in conjunction with my brain (where I subconsciously visualise whats in and out of focus), I can more quickly establish the relationship between elements and frame the photograph. A reflex view like that of the SL makes me feel like I'm squinting through a telescope. :)

Edited by wattsy
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I currently don't have any M cameras or lenses, and I'm waiting (impatiently) for the new M to be announced. If the new camera is the same size (or similar) to the film M cameras I'll buy one. The current digital Ms feel bloated to me. If I don't like the new M I'll probably buy an M-A, I just wish that Leica would announce the new M so that I can get on with photography!

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To me it depends on what is on offer.

 

The SL/Q sensor with better ISO/DR range is a minimum must.  If they put a better sensor in I would be happy, but they seem to be afraid to let the SL step on the M or the S, so I'd imagine a higher res sensor in the M starts to conflict with the S line (unless they up both at once).

 

Given that the SL is not going to be the compact/light interchangeable AF camera some of us hoped for...

 

From there I see two paths they might take:

1) Slim down the current M and keep it minimally featured, and hopefully knock some weight / thickness off the body.  Maybe even kill the video mode entirely.

2) M240 body size/weight and offer some enhancements like - SL quality external EVF, respectable 4K video mode, a touch screen that works like the Q (it stays out of the way, but is nice for image review).

 

 

If we get some muddled thing that's like $8000 for a slightly better sensor with a 2nd-rate EVF, continued junk video mode, and another 50g heavier.. I will not be pleased.

I'd have to re-evaluate a used SL again at that point, or holding onto the M240 another X years.

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Still using there M9 I bought 5 years ago. I've been able to hold off on the M240 so far. If I can get a bit better high ISO performance, an LCD that will let me check focus a little better, and at least a VF on par with Olympus VF4 I would upgrade today. The M240 would probably meet my needs in practice, but I've waited this long, what's a few more months. My M9 works, warts and all.

 

Maybe I'm just creating scenarios in my head that need an EVF, but the option for a reasonable modern version that will keep up for a few years would be really nice.

 

So to answer the question, if the rumours of an SL/Q sensor with the TL evf are accurate, yes I'll be buying the new M as soon as I can get my hands on it.

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Does my iPhone have 41 MP? ;)

Anyway, my point was that if I neeeded more than 24 MP for my photography I would not be happy with a 135 class sensor with a large number of small pixels, but would be looking at a medium format solution. The Hasselblad seems to be a good option.

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This is 2016, not 2006 or 2009. Back in those years it was worthwhile to follow closely what new digital cameras came out because the improvement curve in sensors and other features was steeper than it is now. Now, if you have a digital camera that satisfies you, there is little reason — consumerism aside — to be interested in what comes out, unless it is a game changer. And I'm talking about high-end cameras. Camera phones are another matter...

 

As for me, right now I'm shooting film with an M6 and an M3 that I just acquired from Japan. Not that I've given up digital: right now I use my M9 and MM to digitalize film, respectively, color and B&W using a Leitz BEOON copy stand and a Focotar 2 lens. And, I'm likely to go in "binges," switching between film and digital for 3, 6 or 9-month periods.

_______________

Alone in Bangkok essay on BURN Magazine

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Not really, but it doesn't change the argument - good sized pixels on a larger sensor will always beat smaller ones on a smaller sensor. Moving up in MP is best done by using a larger sensor.

I'm not saying that Leica will be able to avoid marketing pressure in upping the MP count, but from a photographic quality point of view it would make little sense.

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Not really, but it doesn't change the argument - good sized pixels on a larger sensor will always beat smaller ones on a smaller sensor. Moving up in MP is best done by using a larger sensor.

I'm not saying that Leica will be able to avoid marketing pressure in upping the MP count, but from a photographic quality point of view it would make little sense.

 

 

That is just a matter of opinion and one I can not agree or understand given the very adequate alternatives. If you need more resolution, then a good sensor with more resolution will always be better.

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