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Leica M10 Review (from M-9 to M240 to M10)


jffielde

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I've had the Leica M10 for a whopping 24 hours, but I wanted to share my initial impressions with my friends here.

 

Background and biases: I loved the M9 and still regard it as one of my favorite all time cameras.  I loved the IQ-to-size ratio, and the compromises bothered me little.  The relatively low dynamic range resulted in uniquely punchy photos in both black and white, and in color.  I thought the images were lovely through ISO 400, good at ISO 640 - 1250 and unusable thereafter (to my taste, of course).  I liked the cooler tones, but maybe a little too cool.

 

The M240 was heartbreakingly larger - I would never have imagined how annoying this would be to me.  I never used video once.  The warmer/greener tones were also quite annoying to me. I found myself white balancing every image, often endlessly.  Just never quite right.  Other than my color preference for the cooler tones of the M9, the IQ was still great.  The files were more malleable, the dynamic range was much improved, and I thought the images were lovely to ISO 800, good at 1600 and usable (barely) at 3200.  LV was useful.  This was a more complete camera, but I used it much less than the M9, mostly due to size and lessened simplicity.

 

The M10 so far is my favorite camera.  I love the return to simplicity.  I love the size.  I feel like I did about the M9 when it came out - love at first snap.  These files are malleable like other excellent, sensors (unlike the 240, which was good enough) - no need to grade the M10 on a curve any longer.  The ISO performance and dynamic range are now comparable to my other highest-end sensors, lovely through 1600-3200 (I honestly have taken several photos at 3200 that I would put solidly in lovely), good at 3200-6400, and usable at ISO 10,000.  The color fidelity at ISO 3200 is near-perfect and darn good at 6400.  The body is now about the size of the M9.  The viewfinder is brighter, and I think I could even use it to see the edges of a 24mm lens or close (by shifting my all to all extremes awkwardly, in a pinch).

 

Suggested improvements: I would like half-stop detents for the ISO dial. Also, I have had a situation where my camera kept on releasing the shutter but not writing an image to my 64GB Sandisk Extreme for about 20 clicks, until I removed the batter and reinserted it.  It's surprising that each new generation of these camera is still glitchy (with threads on which SD cards work best).  With any other brand, I would return the camera, but I've become accustomed to Leicas just not working right with various cards - how absurd to afford them that easy grading.

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I completely agree that the M10 is the best M digital yet.  I've only put about a thousand frames on it so far, but luckily have not had any glitches at all.  Love the feel in my hand.  And am VERY pleased with the sensor performance.  I agree that half stop detents for the ISO dial would have been welcome, but that is about the only thing that I've found lacking so far and it is not a big deal.  The other thing that I would like to see Leica do through a firmware update is to restore the "estimated" aperture in the EXIF data.  I think it is useful on occasion, but once again, a minor issue.

 

Last night had the M10 with me in local pub and shot the image below at ISO 10,000.  OK, maybe not a great composition, etc, but I think it illustrates just how usable the M10's sensor is in low light...

 

I don't miss my 262.

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Edited by tbonanno
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Much as I enjoyed your excitement over your recent M10, I think it only fair to point out a couple of things which, when read in isolation, are OK, but when read amongst other posts, similarly slanted, we end up with a kind of 'received wisdom' which is actually factually inaccurate.

 

The M240 compared to the M9 size wise? The bottom plates are interchangeable. The difference dimensionally as far as I am aware is negligible. Although there are some incredibly inaccurate drawings purporting to show measurements on the web... 

 

The actual overall dimensions are as follows:

 

Leica M240 138.6mm x 42 x 80

 

Leica M9 139 x 37 x 80

 

Leica M10 139 x 38.5 x 80

 

So what does that tell you? The M240 is 'fatter' than the other two, some 5mm fatter than the M9? Well, yes, but the actual body width is more or less the same. Change the baseplates over and see. The protrusions on the back for the thumb grip on the M adds a bit, so its not surprising that the overall outside dimensions are what they are. Which brings me on to the next point... and this is VERY interesting... :D

 

According to Leica, the overall depth of the M10 measures (they way they do it, all protrusions measured) is actually 1.5mm fatter than the M9! Only 3.5mm thinner than the M240. Thats because of the protrusions at the back and the lens mount protrudes a little so you can get the distance from the sensor in a thinner body.

 

None of this matters of course, because the dimension you actually want to know is how fat does it feel in use...?

 

Well, as I have said the M and the M9 are pretty much the same (as was the M8)... the M10 on the other hand, feels and looks considerably thinner than any of the previous M digitals because the body, the bit that actually matters IS thinner... by quite a margin.

 

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33.7mm to be accurate. 4.8mm of the difference is accounted for by the lens mount and the rear switches/thumb grip (which can be seen pretty clearly on the picture above... the M240 thumb grip is similar, the M9 has no thumb grip, which is why people reading specs assume there is a significant difference, and there really isn't...).

 

Of course Leica don't help... the picture above shows the dimensions of the top plate being 33.7mm... of course, they have ignored the thumb grip and the lens mount... so it could be considered misleading, but the 33.7 dimension is actually what matters... And thats my point about the M9 and the M240 (and the M8). They are pretty identical.

 

If we could all be sensible, we would recognise that the M8, M9 and M240 were all about the same size in terms of actual body thickness and the M10 is considerably slimmer.

 

I think people read specs and then maybe don't interpret them properly... :wacko:

 

Glad you like the M10... but no need to add confusion to a subject that has already been done to death so many times on here.

 

Only men would worry about size... Surely its how it feels is what matters!  :lol:

Edited by Bill Livingston
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Another pleasant surprise. I can't tell much, if any, difference in the number of shots I'm getting per battery. With no LV and no auto review (chimping maybe 1 out of ten photos), I'm on pace for almost 1,000 shots. One shot 325 shots and battery life is at 65%!

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Another pleasant surprise. I can't tell much, if any, difference in the number of shots I'm getting per battery. With no LV and no auto review (chimping maybe 1 out of ten photos), I'm on pace for almost 1,000 shots. One shot 325 shots and battery life is at 65%!

 

 

It's nice. I can not achieve such result. As I walk down the street and take 1-3 shots every 5 minutes, 300-400 shots is maximum, I almost do not use the review.  I have to test it in longer time period. Many factors affect the battery life, including the weather and our habits.

Edited by olgierdc
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It's nice. I can not achieve such result. As I walk down the street and take 1-3 shots every 5 minutes, 300-400 shots is maximum, I almost do not use the review.  I have to test it in longer time period. Many factors affect the battery life, including the weather and our habits.

 

 

 

Keep in mind the battery needs 3-4 full cycles before you will see maximum performance.

 

I too have never got anything remotely close to 1000 shots...but easily getting more than 300.

I cant see anyone getting 1000 shots in a real life use of the M10...even if you turned off the camera after every exposure.

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I just had a shooting for some private function with around 300 frames for the M10 - battery indicator showed 70% charge afterwards. Just the rangefinder and from time to time checked some critical exposes (when flash was involved).

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One more update:

 

I again shot over 200 photos with 75% battery life remaining.  It's certainly possible that the indicator is overly generous on the front-end and will decline more rapidly, but I honestly cannot tell a difference in battery life with versus the M240.  That said, I anticipated the lower battery life and disabled auto review (which was enabled on the M240).  Perhaps that alone was sufficient for me to "equalize" them for my use.

 

Also, my two fast SD cards (A Sandisk 64GB and a Lexar 64GB 2000x) continue to be mostly, kindof reliable, while slower 32GB cards seem (almost) completely reliable.  How's that for a ringing endorsement in 2017!  I did notice that LR6 imported all my photos properly from the Lexar 2000x, while Aperture left 1-6 impages "unrecognizable format" - maybe Aperture's lack of support (Apple abandoned it years ago) is the problem.  If so, and LR6 will always import the fiels reliably, it obviously isn't a camera issue.  I'll keep you posted.

 

Finally, I just noticed that the bottom 90mm frame line doesn't work right.  I hadn't noticed it until I used a 28mm or 90mm lens, but the line is about 10-15% as bright as all of the other lines, regardless of lighting and viewing angle.  That's probably something I will have them repair when it's convenient.  If anyone knows of anything to try at home, that would be great.  Thanks.

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One more update:

 

I again shot over 200 photos with 75% battery life remaining. It's certainly possible that the indicator is overly generous on the front-end and will decline more rapidly, but I honestly cannot tell a difference in battery life with versus the M240. That said, I anticipated the lower battery life and disabled auto review (which was enabled on the M240). Perhaps that alone was sufficient for me to "equalize" them for my use.

 

Also, my two fast SD cards (A Sandisk 64GB and a Lexar 64GB 2000x) continue to be mostly, kindof reliable, while slower 32GB cards seem (almost) completely reliable. How's that for a ringing endorsement in 2017! I did notice that LR6 imported all my photos properly from the Lexar 2000x, while Aperture left 1-6 impages "unrecognizable format" - maybe Aperture's lack of support (Apple abandoned it years ago) is the problem. If so, and LR6 will always import the fiels reliably, it obviously isn't a camera issue. I'll keep you posted.

 

Finally, I just noticed that the bottom 90mm frame line doesn't work right. I hadn't noticed it until I used a 28mm or 90mm lens, but the line is about 10-15% as bright as all of the other lines, regardless of lighting and viewing angle. That's probably something I will have them repair when it's convenient. If anyone knows of anything to try at home, that would be great. Thanks.

Are you sure not shooting with M240 by mistake. :D

 

Seriously, keep us updated. You seem to be getting the most images per charge on M10.

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Are you sure not shooting with M240 by mistake. :D

 

Seriously, keep us updated. You seem to be getting the most images per charge on M10.

 

Nah! I was testing high volume shooting, I took 2,400 shots (in a little over an hour) and still had 55 percent battery left! shooting DNG+JPG on one Sandisk pro extreme 64gb and one 16gb (both full). 

. . . but generally I get around 300 like everyone else . . unless using Live View in large amounts.

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