FlorianM Posted January 3, 2012 Share #1 Posted January 3, 2012 Advertisement (gone after registration) I assume somebody at Leica reads at least some of these forums, so I figured I would start a thread with suggestions for the M10. I don't think major suggestions as to CCD vs. CMOS, or RF vs autofocus would, could or should be taken seriously. At the same time I hope small things that are easy to implement and might make a positive improvement without requiring a fundamental change in philosophy would be welcomed by Leica. Let's try to keep this thread clean, civilized and easy to read as I'm sure the people at Leica are busy enough as it is . So, here's what I would love to see, in no particular order: 1. Keep the lug mounts of the M9 (I haven't used the M9T, but I think I would not like it's one strap lug system). 2. When operating in manual mode and AUTO ISO, have the camera display the camera-chosen ISO speed in the viewfinder, along with the exposure meter indications (the dot and arrows). (this could be made an optional feature via firmware menu selections for those who prefer absolutely minimal viewfinder info). 3. I would like to see a small plastic (or chromed brass) guard as an accessory to be mounted (optionally glued with double sided tape?) around the RF window. I constantly put a finger there without realising it when grabbing the camera, and the fingerprints do have a small but noticeable negative impact in RF visibility. BTW, doesn't the M3 have some kind of raised edges around these windows for that purpose? 4. Remove the bottom cover. It no longer serves its original purpose of improving the rigidity of the film chamber, and removing it would gain valuable internal space which could be put to better use for something else. A simple hinged metal door would be plenty for access to the battery and SD card. I think this would make the camera a little bit lighter too, and it should make it easier to include a larger rear LCD. 5. Please, please, please keep the same battery! I'm going to keep my M8 for backup and IR photography. The M8 would make an awesome spare battery holder for the M10 6. My all-time favourite request: please introduce a 0.80 finder. Why 0.80? Higher magnification for the 50mm lens I use 99% of the time yet low enough for comfortable use with a 35mm. Best of all, it turns into a 1:1 finder with the 1.25 magnifier for focusing with both eyes open. Honestly, I would pay a 1,000 euro premium on top of a regular M10 for this. 7. This one is a bit out there, but here it goes anyway: Change the viewfinder frameline illumination to LED like the M9T, and have it illuminate only one at a time, with a user-selectable brightness relative to outside brightness. (possibly linked to the LCD brightness level). Retain the traditional frameline selector lever, and have it work so that pushing it once toward the lens selects the next longer frameline, and pushing it toward the outside goes toward the wide end. I.e. using a 50mm lens, if you want to see a 90mm fov, push it in twice and you're there (75-90). Conversely, from 50 to say 28, again you are 2 clicks away. Make this lever pusheable in toward the user to reset the framelines to the ones matching the mounted lens. (or, alternatively, have the camera auto-return to the mounted lens frameline after a preset period of time). If a frameline is displayed that does not correspond to the lens mounted, the frameline should flash as a reminder. You could use this lever to allow the user to choose between one of the pair of auto-selected frames, i.e. you mount a 90mm uncoded lens, the M9 would display both 28 and 90 frames, so the user would click one toward the lens to select just the 90mm frames. As the lever no longer needs to be mechanically linked to the frameline selector mechanism, it could be moved slightly toward the edge. As it is, it is sometimes a bit difficult to reach when certain lenses are mounted. 8. About the sensor that is used to guess the lens aperture on the M8/M9: you could use a small digital camera sensor with a 21mm field of view, the tiny kind used on mobile phones. The camera knows what lens is attached via the 6bit code, thus it can crop the field of view of the mini-digicam appropriately to have a much better idea of what the internal meter sensor actually sees. This should result in a more accurate calculation of the actual lens aperture. Also, this calculated aperture is not displayed on the info screen, or in Apple Aperture. It would be nice to have. Comments, other suggestions? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted January 3, 2012 Posted January 3, 2012 Hi FlorianM, Take a look here Open letter to Leica: M10 suggestions. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
bill Posted January 3, 2012 Share #2 Posted January 3, 2012 Ahhhh... So here is what I would love to see, in no particular order: Now you see, here is the problem. We have been here many, many, many times before. What you would "love" is fingernails on a blackboard to others, and vice-versa. Threads such as this always follow the same trajectory - and fortunately have no discernable influence upon the professional designers at Leica who, I would wager, have put the M10 to bed some time ago and are turning their attention to thinking about the M11 as I type. I would be further unsurprised to find that M10 mules are already in the hands of a select few, masquerading as M9s. I fear you have missed the boat on this one. Comments, other suggestions? The search function is your friend. Regards, Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashwinrao1 Posted January 4, 2012 Share #3 Posted January 4, 2012 1. CMOS sans anti-aliasing filter 2. 12-14 FPS burst modee 3. AF line of lenses 4. EVF, more than 2 MP 5. Focus peaking 6. Smaller, MP sized 7. Video option (1080 p, 20-60 FPS) 8. HDR mode 9. Film pack to emulate all of the classic B&W film stock 10. 16 bit files 11. 30 day battery life, like the kindle 12. Priced to sell at $6500 Totally Joking, but all joking aside, make a less glitchy M9, with a bigger buffer, and I'd be fine, but probably would simply keep the already wonderful M9....I worry that the M10 will try to hard and fall on its face doing so..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Studio58 Posted January 4, 2012 Share #4 Posted January 4, 2012 1. CMOS sans anti-aliasing filter 2. 12-14 FPS burst modee 3. AF line of lenses 6. Smaller, MP sized 7. Video option (1080 p, 20-60 FPS) you can leave these out of mine thanks... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
k-hawinkler Posted January 4, 2012 Share #5 Posted January 4, 2012 Additionally to the above suggestions in post #1 and #3: 1. Get memory cards working correctly from the get go. 2. Provide functionality similar to the Hawks Leica M Helicoid Adapter when in LiveView mode. This permits a much shorter minimum focus distance for existing M-lenses. K-H. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
michali Posted January 4, 2012 Share #6 Posted January 4, 2012 No thank you! While I always respect everyone's right to express their opinions on any subject, I simply cannot understand the obsession or desire to clutter up the camera with a host of superfluous features, which in the main do nothing to improve one's photographic skills. For many of us one of the attractions of an M Leica lies in the beauty of its simplicity. Call me an old stick in the mud, but I for one will stay with my M9, my analog Ms & LTM Leicas. That's just my take on things..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stunsworth Posted January 4, 2012 Share #7 Posted January 4, 2012 Advertisement (gone after registration) Probably pointless, I'd expect the feature set to have been decided upon by now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OwinThomas Posted January 4, 2012 Share #8 Posted January 4, 2012 No thank you! Have to agree, the main attraction of the Leica M, for me anyway, is it's back to basics simplicity, I'm switching from a overly complicated, overly heavy and overly specified with bells and whistles SLR. I don't need that anymore. If you do why not get one of these types of cameras? You want to use the Leica glass? Get an adapter. Just my 0.02 worth. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted January 4, 2012 Share #9 Posted January 4, 2012 Although Leica is of course interested in th wishes of their customers, they fortunately have a very strict minimalistic design concept for the M series. Wishing for a feature-laden M10 will fall on deaf ears. And why not? You can always wish for a full-frame all singin' all dancin' NEX 8. Much more likely to happen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lars_bergquist Posted January 4, 2012 Share #10 Posted January 4, 2012 The trouble with these speculations and wish lists is that they just try to 'improve' the existing product, mostly by adding this or that 'feature', rarely by removing one. Real progress is made when people get someting they never could imagine, even less ask for. Most people just accept what's on offer as a given. Some few people around 1953–54 were no doubt speculating about an incrementally improved Leica III. What they got was the M3. Some people were not even sure they liked what they got. When reviewing the M3 in LFI in 1954, Walter Benser admitted to being slightly shocked by the wind-on lever – even though the VP format Exakta had it (single-stroke!) already in 1934 ... the Rolleiflex had it in rudimentary form in 1933, and fully developed in 1937. Even Ernst Leitz II himself didn't really know what to think of the M3. If the company had been content to listening to the customers, we would have arrived at the Leica IIIq by now. I expect a surprise at this year's Photokina. Let's hope it will be a pleasant surprise. The old man from the Glass Plate Age Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ismon Posted January 4, 2012 Share #11 Posted January 4, 2012 How about a flash socket. Some of us like to trigger a flash while the shoe is occupied by an accessory viewfinder. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jankap Posted January 5, 2012 Share #12 Posted January 5, 2012 Isn't there an accessory for this common problem? Jan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted January 5, 2012 Share #13 Posted January 5, 2012 No Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucklik Posted January 5, 2012 Share #14 Posted January 5, 2012 No thank you! For many of us one of the attractions of an M Leica lies in the beauty of its simplicity. When everything stays the same there is no reason to upgrade my M6 & 7's to digital M's (which are my most used cameras beside my P.... K5 with limited edition primes and Dlux 5) I'm not getting younger and my hands are not as stable as they used to be. With both my Dlux 5 and K5 I can take pictures at much slower speeds as with my M's. So a VR reduction like in the Pentax is a deciding factor for me for a digital M or other Leica with which I can use my M lenses. It would not make the camera more complicated to use nor would it make the camera bigger and there is no need for other lenses. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlorianM Posted January 5, 2012 Author Share #15 Posted January 5, 2012 Totally Joking, It's too bad aswinrao1 decided to go ahead and mess up the thread with insane suggestions right off the bat, thus guaranteeing nobody at Leica will ever read this, much less take it seriously. It's also too bad some of you didn't get that he was joking (I joke I don't find funny anyway, but maybe I'm having an off day). What's wrong with having the AUTO-ISO speed optionally displayed in the finder? Or with a request to keep the same battery? I don't think anything I suggested is out of line with the Leica M philosophy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jankap Posted January 5, 2012 Share #16 Posted January 5, 2012 Isn't there an accessory for this common problem?Jan Enjoyyourcamera offers adapters for different brands. Like the Seagull SC-5 Blitzadapter (Blitzschuhadapter) für Sony Alpha/Minolta Jan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted January 5, 2012 Share #17 Posted January 5, 2012 Stronger glue to avoid peeling leatherette? That would be pretty impressive. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
k-hawinkler Posted January 6, 2012 Share #18 Posted January 6, 2012 That's the spirit! K-H. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OwinThomas Posted January 6, 2012 Share #19 Posted January 6, 2012 If you add VR to the M system that would mean upgrading the mount to to pass some of the camera's power to the lens to run the VR mechanism. New lenses would be required to contain the mechanics for the VR, making tham both heavier and bigger. An alternate way would be to put the VR mechanism in the camera body, in a similar way Sony do with their cameras. The VR mechanism would move the sensor around, requiring motors and more electronics, making the body possibly bigger and heavier. The added advantage to this would be the VR could be utilised with the exisiting lenses. Whichever route you choose, VR in lens, or VR in body, both options will require more power to be supplied, requiring a bigger heavier battery, possibly increasing the size of the body to contain it. How about a flash socket. Some of us like to trigger a flash while the shoe is occupied by an accessory viewfinder. I think this, along with an improvement of the in built software running the camera, faster processing and a bigger buffer would be my only requirements. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted January 6, 2012 Share #20 Posted January 6, 2012 What did you do to your font? Nearly impossible to read on this rather dodgy laptop... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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