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The little things we lose with the M10


ELAN

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I like the M10 and hope to get mine next week. I read the manual and the reviews posted and for the most part I really like what I see.  But there are at least four little things I know will drive me nuts with the M10.

1.  The on/off switch of the M240 with Single/Continuous mode is great.  I use Single shot 99% of the time, but when a scene evolves such that I want to capture three frames per second all it takes is a quick flip to C without my eye leaving the scene.  Unfortunately I can't do that anymore with the M10.

2.  The M10 apparently offers no aperture data in Exif. I know the M240 guesstimates the f-stop but I can always tell from the value if the shot was at f/1.4 or f/2.8 or f/8, the apertures I use most.  With the M10 there’s no clue of the aperture used and that will drive me nuts!  Leica, please restore this in the first firmware update.

3.  The M240 battery is great. I routinely get 1500 shots* on a single charge and I never have to worry about the battery. If it's charged when I walk out for the day it never runs out and I love that about my M.  I suspect that with the smaller battery of the M10 I will now have to worry about carrying a spare (especially if I want to transfer photos over wifi when I sit down for coffee). 

 

(*) I rarely use LV, don't have EVF, review is off and I rarely chimp.

4.  The level in LV of the M240 is very helpful on the few occasions I use a tripod. Why did Leica remove this?  Leveling the M10 is going to be a pain.

I know I will love the M10, but I will dearly miss these features that I liked on the M240.  I don't think any of them over-complicated the M240.
 

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The on/ off switch is a big improvement. I've lost count of the number of times I've accidentally been in the wrong mode and it can easily cost shots.

 

The aperture guess data was so unreliable as to be useless. In happy to see it go.

 

The battery is a loss, I agree. I'd much rather have kept to the same dimensions as the M240 and kept the same batteries. A bad case of style over function as far as I'm concerned.

 

Losing the level is a shame but no big deal, but I don't know why it's gone. Perhaps a case of saving battery drain on the new small batteries?

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None of these are negatives to me. I only use single shot, so getting the switch wrong was a nuisance. While the aperture estimate has been interesting, in general I don't care about exif data at all - I'm an old film shooter. Being used to 36 exposure rolls, the M9 battery life has seemed great. My legacy SLR lens solution is a Sony A7, and I don't mind the battery on it either.

So I see the M10 as all positive, except for trying to work it into my retirement cash flow. I guess Leica prices are a negative for me.

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I agree with all of these, except the continuous mode..  I've always felt it kind of useless.. I can press the shutter faster than 3 fps, or even the newer 5 fps..  if we were talking about a 14 fps DSLR then yes by all means, continuous mode. 

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The on/ off switch is a big improvement. I've lost count of the number of times I've accidentally been in the wrong mode and it can easily cost shots.

 

The aperture guess data was so unreliable as to be useless. In happy to see it go.

 

The battery is a loss, I agree. I'd much rather have kept to the same dimensions as the M240 and kept the same batteries. A bad case of style over function as far as I'm concerned.

 

Losing the level is a shame but no big deal, but I don't know why it's gone. Perhaps a case of saving battery drain on the new small batteries?

 

JaapV, if you had to guess, would you say that the M9 battery gives more life (photos) than the new M10, or roughly the same? Thanks, Mark

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...

 

4.  The level in LV of the M240 is very helpful on the few occasions I use a tripod. Why did Leica remove this?  Leveling the M10 is going to be a pain.

 

...

 

Just buy a spirit bubble for the accessory shoe, they do the same job. I have one from Cosina/Voigtlaender which is great.

 

Cheers, Andy

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I like the M10 and hope to get mine next week. I read the manual and the reviews posted and for the most part I really like what I see.  But there are at least four little things I know will drive me nuts with the M10.

 

1.  The on/off switch of the M240 with Single/Continuous mode is great.  I use Single shot 99% of the time, but when a scene evolves such that I want to capture three frames per second all it takes is a quick flip to C without my eye leaving the scene.  Unfortunately I can't do that anymore with the M10.

 

2.  The M10 apparently offers no aperture data in Exif. I know the M240 guesstimates the f-stop but I can always tell from the value if the shot was at f/1.4 or f/2.8 or f/8, the apertures I use most.  With the M10 there’s no clue of the aperture used and that will drive me nuts!  Leica, please restore this in the first firmware update.

 

3.  The M240 battery is great. I routinely get 1500 shots* on a single charge and I never have to worry about the battery. If it's charged when I walk out for the day it never runs out and I love that about my M.  I suspect that with the smaller battery of the M10 I will now have to worry about carrying a spare (especially if I want to transfer photos over wifi when I sit down for coffee). 

 

(*) I rarely use LV, don't have EVF, review is off and I rarely chimp.

 

4.  The level in LV of the M240 is very helpful on the few occasions I use a tripod. Why did Leica remove this?  Leveling the M10 is going to be a pain.

 

I know I will love the M10, but I will dearly miss these features that I liked on the M240.  I don't think any of them over-complicated the M240.

 

 

So many changes I asked for years now with digital M bodies have been finally implemented.

To me the new M10 looks almost 100% an improvement.

There are a few niggles I wished would have been delivered but none of the ones mentioned above I see as negative changes - all of them I find to be improvements.

 

I wanted the digital M:

[√] back to film dimensions (I wish though the thumb rest and scroll wheel would have been removed too)

[√] better viewfinder (the improved eye relief is a wonderful surprise and REALLY helps for left eye shooters as myself and wide angle lenses - love it!)

[√] removal of the retarded EVF port outboard (making bulky covers or tape a necessity - not a bright spot in Leica design history with that M240 gen of cameras)

[√] mechanical, intuitive and fast to use ISO dial (after generations of digital M bodies trying different implementations finally we have a proper ISO dial as it should be - ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT)

[√] removal of nonsensical mode switch - implementation of Leica M7 on/off switch instead (well done, Leica S users will surely find right at home switching drive modes within the menu, where it belongs)

[√] smaller battery and video functionality removal (a feature I never ever once have used on a still camera and I prefer to carry a spare in the bag or a pocket rather than carrying the extra weight and bulk ALL the TIME in my right hand)

[√] menu system declutter and finally an introduction of a much needed custom menu (I wish we had even more freedom here and the customization would especially extend into the lens selection menu - I don't need ALL lenses within that menu to search through but only the few I own that are uncoded, making finding and selecting so much faster when changing lenses - we get some improvement over the old system though - I am not complaining)

 

[o] complete removal of the LCD screen out back and simplification of controls and buttons (we have to wait for the next screen less iteration to get there but the button clutter removal is highly welcome - less is more!)

 

[x] battery meter and shots left meter on top (see all film M bodies and Leica M8 where this was implemented very nicely already)

[x] viewfinder options - the choices between three finders are great, finder magnifiers and doodads are … meh

[x] digital Leicavit to expand battery life and add motor drive options (continuous shooting, Live view with expanded battery live, connectivity, …)

[x] free selectable finishes - there simply HAS TO BE a proper black paint on brass finish option and logo delete from the beginning - it is a joke that we always have to wait until the end of the product life to get a "Pro" (how laughable) option - why not an A la Carte program from the very beginning - charge the customers more who insist on certain options and have everyone happy the moment the product arrives.

I want black paint on brass, all blacked out, no logos, old fashioned very coarse Vulcanite leatherette (M8.2 style) and am willing to pay for this.

Too bad about the black chrome finish - I hated it on my film bodies, hated it on my first MM and hate it on the M246 - it's a pity the M10 is only offered in that finish if black is a must.

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Yes, the M10 ticks many of my boxes too, but not all of them.  Nonetheless, I like what we got, and I like the thinking at Leica. 

 

As for the on/off switch, I have never had mine preposition accidentally, but if it happens to others then I guess Leica did right by moving it elsewhere.  I just mourn the usefulness it provides me when a spontaneous need arises for continuous mode.  Just today I was composing a street shot when someone entered the frame doing back-flips... I instinctively switched to C and shot seven frames, one of which is great.  How do I do that with the M10?

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Yes, the M10 ticks many of my boxes too, but not all of them.  Nonetheless, I like what we got, and I like the thinking at Leica. 

 

As for the on/off switch, I have never had mine preposition accidentally, but if it happens to others then I guess Leica did right by moving it elsewhere.  I just mourn the usefulness it provides me when a spontaneous need arises for continuous mode.  Just today I was composing a street shot when someone entered the frame doing back-flips... I instinctively switched to C and shot seven frames, one of which is great.  How do I do that with the M10?

 

That is what the Leica M has its magnificent viewfinder for - you just time the shot and do instead of 7 shots simply 1 or 2 or maybe three.

You will find after a while that although sometimes you don't get anything most of the time you end up with more keepers then you did before when machine gunning.

 

The machine gun approach really works only with proper sports cameras that shoot 6 - 10 FPS as that is often the frequency to get enough shots in a critical sequence to select a few keepers.

With cameras that have measly FPS in continuous mode as the Leica M with 3 - 5 shots machine gunning very often turns out less keepers than timing selective single shots instead.

 

Shooting a Leica M for a while (or any manual film camera for that matter) really helps to anticipate and time your shots better.

 

I have never even tried to use the continuous mode on my Leica M bodies.

Lifting your finger and exposing a few shots netting you 2-3 shots a second is not that much slower than 3-5 shots after all and it is YOU who determines the moment you expose ;-)

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Option to shoot uncompressed files.

 

Please do not say "lossless = lossless", unless you have actually taken the time to test with 100s of files.

 

In the case of Sony, certainly lossless does not equal lossless, no matter the claims. I don't shoot the 240 so I can't compare.

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Level might get re-instated in a firmware fix?  It's such a basic thing these days and I find it really helpful.

 

If the camera hardware includes some sort of tilt measure component on the main board or elsewhere then it's indeed a matter of firmware fix.  If not then the GPS in the add-on EVF might provide such functionality.  

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