Mornnb

Handheld at F2, stunned by the sharpness. Sydney Skyline by mornnb, on Flickr

Apple has the thickness of the LCD assembly down to a mere 1mm. The challenge in making the M thinner will not be the LCD, it will be the Rangefinder and digital sensor assembly. For this reason I suspect the body will not become thinner, although we may expect a lighter body with alternative metals to brass such as titanium or aluminium. I expect the main improves going forward will be: Electronic RF. There may be numerous advantages to it, such as ability to compensate for focus shift and field curvature with awareness of the lens that is mounted via the barcode. A hybrid EVF/Optical viewfinder may even be possible as well, to avoid the requirement for an external EVF. Higher resolution, 36MP or 42MP would be my preference. The quality optics Leica produces deserve more than 24MP. Longer exposure times

Another point with the LCD, it is rather essential for shooting anything wider than 28mm. Live view I refer to, also the level tool is incredibly useful when shooting wide. This is a preferable option to using an external EVF that you need to carry around separately.

It is not a sports camera I do not see how the 2GB buffer will make any difference to photography. The sapphire screen however is a nice feature to have as is the lack of a red dot.

I see it as a 'feature' born out of nostalgia rather than technical or photographic merit. Indeed it is hurtful to photographic merit. It bothers me. But if it's your cup of tea....Personally I think it is better to know your mistakes before you leave the scene so you are able to correct them while there is still an opportunity to. This is the digital age there is no need to continue habits from film while digital offers useful new abilities.

And it enables experts to ensure the shot was perfect, in terms of focus and composition. It is more useful to experts than it is to beginners. When you walk away from the scene, it is too late to reshoot it. When you can check the LCD you can walk away with confidence you got the shot you needed. The camera is a tool to take photos, the LCD helps ensuring you nailed it and got the photo you require. I am not interested in having a carefree exciting experience with the camera, the end result trumps this in terms of importance. I want to get the shot and know that I got the right shot, the LCD assists one in this. It seems a lot of people purchase the M for the nostalgic factor. This doesn't interest me at all... I tend to the type who feels little nostalgia, I am interested in what is next not what has been. I am your typical forward looking futurist tech geek of the millennial generation. I am interested in the M for it's simplicity and compactness, while being without any compromises on engineering and image quality. I see it as not a camera of the past but a camera that is of the future, compact and mirrorless. Where the rest of the industry is catching up to (i.e., Sony A7). To me, the M240 is the perfect M. It has all the features that are standard and are to be taken for granted as a part of a digital camera. And nothing that isn't required. It is already is as minimal as a camera that I'd want to use can be. And in the future I hope to see its technological abilities improved with higher resolution sensors, more flexible live view, ability for the RF to compensate for field curvature and longer exposure times. I just hope it will not be adding features which are useless to photography, such as wifi.

Sorry, when I said focus shift, I actually meant field curvature. While I absolutely love the rendering of the 50mm Lux which is essentially perfect (IMHO it's better than the Noctilux at 1.4). The field curvature has meant I have missed a few shots at f1.4 when doing a focus and recompose. There's an article here that shows a clear example of it, note the comparison between centre focused and edge focused. http://3d-kraft.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=160%3Aadorable-50s-sigma-art-zeiss-otus-sonnar-leica-summilux-review&catid=40%3Acamerasandlenses&Itemid=2&limitstart=4

That looks more like an object in front of the lens...

Which is likely focus shift, the plane of focus of the lens bends towards the edges of the frame, the problem is the rangefinder does not account for this field curvature. It actual use situations this is an issue, for example consider taking portrait orientated photos of people. You focus in the centre with the rangefinder, recompose so that the persons face is near the lines of thirds and the focus is thrown slightly off by field curvature. To avoid this, one needs to go with the more corrected 50mm APO. It is a good argument in favour of the APO.

Anzac Day 2016 by mornnb, on Flickr

Anzac Day. M240+Summilux 50mm ASPH. [/url ]Anzac Day 2016 by mornnb, on Flickr Mandler 90mm Summicron. Anzac Day 2016 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/mornnb/]mornnb, on Flickr

Well, I have the normal M240. But I have an Apple Watch with a Sapphire screen. There are some scratches on the stainless steel of the watch but there is nothing on the sapphire, this should give some idea of how tough this substance is.

I completely agree. I tend to be some what of a perfectionist, and I will use the screen occasionally to ensure that perfect focus was hit. Or, to assist me to review and reconsider the composition. Also for landscape work on a tripod for long exposures, the screen is quite essential. The M240 is surprisingly great in this application given the sensors fantastic performance in handling of colours and high dynamic range at low ISO. I am of the younger generation and learned to shoot on digital cameras and smart phones. And besides that I am a person who rarely experiences nostalgia, I tend to be future focused and a technology geek. What interests me about the Leica is high engineering standards without compromise, technical perfection. And a very minimal and simple concept around with the camera is built that makes it a pleasure to use. And most importantly, that the rangefinder makes it easier to judge composition because of better awareness of the world outside your frame and as a result, it actually does make it easier to take a good photo.

I find I do have a lot of issues with focus shift on this lens. Being a 50mm I often use it for portraits, and when wide open precise focus at the centre can turn to smear towards the very important spot at the 1/3 to 1/4 of the frame height. Due to this, I am considering replacing it with the 50mm APO, My 35mm Summilux FLE on the other hand is outstanding, I never have any issues with it.

And that is the only reason live view is left out of the M262. Cannibalisation fears. Once you have a CMOS sensor and a CPU capable you essentially get live view for free, it is not saving them a lot of money to leave it out.