The harder M240 vs. MM questions?

[gpwhite]

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Dante, I understand your query a little differently than the other members who have posted. I think you said you would choose either an M240 for use with a shift lens (PC control), or stick with an MM for its superior IQ.

 

Hmmm... I don't think we can really evaluate that trade off for you without testing the specific shift lens you like on an M240, plus understanding the amount of barrel distortion that is acceptable to you from a fixed image circle lens like the wide-angle Elmars.

 

My experience with MM and M240 so far says that a 10" x 15" print from either camera is quite small indeed. That said, as everyone agrees, the MM images will have even more bite and 3D effect than M240 with a lens like the Elmar 24mm.

 

The lag from shutter release to return of image in the EVF on the M240 seems quite long and irritating to me. Focus of normal and wide angle M lenses with RF, in my hands, is as good and much faster than with EVF. Whether you can judge the effective image distortion and very precise perspective control in the EVF so that you can make use of a shift lens is really something you should test. I rate the image quality visible in the EVF as barely sufficient. How the particular shift lens image circle you use interacts with the M240 sensor and its pixel lenses is something that you should test... those pixel lenses were designed for Leica M wide-angles and not retro-focus type shift lenses.

 

The 35 FLE is unpredictable for me, and I use it far less than my 24 Elmar. My 35 FLE results are good, and sometimes stunning, on the M240, but I cannot seem to solve focus shift on the MM. I presume there is some sort of focus shift/ spherical aberration with the 35 FLE (wide apertures and close focus) that are amplified by the nature of the monochrome sensor. But for architectural work, you would be using f/5.6 with the 35, so my difficulties should not arise.

 

All of the controls on my MM are noticeably stiffer than on my M240.

 

It will be interesting to read what you choose... I would like to know if wide-angle shift lenses work well on the M240.

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[gjames9142]

I'm not quite sure I buy into the notion that the latest technically superior lens is always the best. This certainly wasn't true when I shot 8x10, and the new, huge modern lenses tended to make everything look like a product shot -- I preferred American Dagors, which had a beautiful tonal quality as well as wild field curvature. I have an MM, and the version 4 Elmarit 28, my standard, is really good on the camera. I am also using a 28 cron, which I think may not be quite as good, although I won't know until I have made some 40-inch prints. (My initial reaction, though, is that the Cron may be better on my M9 than the V4. ) Was it Matisse who said "L'exactitude n'est pas la verite"?

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[2wk]

I hate to say it, but I'm kind of cooling off on the new M. It's great, don't get me wrong. Maybe I just over-hyped it in my head. I love the new features. But there was something special about the CCD in the M9 that I feel we lost with the M 240. The new M feels like a 5D sensor plopped into a great M body. Which is fine, I'd be happy with this camera as I'd be happy with the old M9.

 

I haven't shot much with the new M, or seen large prints. I remember seeing the first samples online and my first reaction was, "wow, these look like my 5d". Especially the colors. With the addition of live view / video modes, I felt like Leica was trying to compete with Canikon world. Which might make sense, from a CEO perspective. I wanted a digital M6. I went with the Monochrom. It is my first digital Leica, and I love it.

 

Also, and this is pure vanity...and I should be flamed. I could not make nice with the design of the new M. No frameline illumination window, HUGE red dot, Silver all over the back of a black camera. Did I mention the EVF? Blasphemy!

[johnbuckley]

In re: the shutter -- the M's shutter is a tactical delight. There is nothing wrong with my MM shutter, but it feels the same/sounds about the same as an M9 or M8. The M's shutter just sounds/feels... better. To me, and presumably to Lou (Algrove.)

 

Here's one byproduct of having both an M and an MM - I really haven't spent a lot of time converting M files to B&W. Why? Because I love the M's color performance -- yes, love it. And when I take it out, I am mostly thinking in terms of color. When I think of a project or an opportunity I'd like to see in monochrome, I take the Monochrom. I never regret having done so.

 

If you can only have one camera, buy the M. If you really only shoot monochrome, well, you know what to do. There are a range of excellent color compacts, from Fujis to Sonys to the D-Leicas to throw in the bag, and that way you are covered for color.

[Bill W]

If you shoot exclusively B&W, or feel you would benefit from doing so, there is no contest as long as you can live with the M9 derived nature of the MM.

 

+2

[Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS]

Get both.........the MM and the 240 then you are covered for every competition