3 months of M240 - am I keeping it?

[tashley]

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Having already published reviews of the camera itself and of its performance with a wide variety of M glass, the time has come to decide whether or not to keep the system.

 

I write up what I have decided and why here. You might be surprised - but then again you might not give a damn what I think!

 

Tim

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[Scotttokar]

Nice review, thank you.

[GMB]

Interesting write up. Thanks for that. A rangefinder that is perfectly calibrated is worth its weight in gold. If only one would know whether they really improved it or whether you were darned lucky. I know that you don't care (and neither would I if I were in your position) but others might do.

[Brett Cambern]

Given that Tim is not the only one reporting an improved rangefinder there might be something to it. I hope I have the same experience when mine finally arrives!

[01af]

"And that key is: you should nearly always focus using the rangefinder, rather than Live View, with nearly every lens.

[...] This startling fact is completely unexpected, utterly unintuitive, impossible to explain simply and absolutely vital."

Tim, I am seriously startled about how you find this a "startling fact," and "utterly unintuitive." To the contrary—it's exactly what's to be expected, totally intuitve, natural, and was obvious to me before I even started using this camera. It still is a Leica M rangefinder camera, after all. Live view is a welcome bonus which makes it possible to use all kinds of non-M lenses ... which I highly appreciate. Still, M lenses are best used via rangefinder (umm, with the possible exception of the 135 mm focal length).

Moreover, I really think you're way too much obsessed with the field curvature issue. With the exception of a few macro and repro lenses, all lenses meant for photography have (and always had) some field curvature. I'd say—get over it.

And by the way—yes, the new M's rangefinder's calibration is better than any other's digital M model so far.

[Peter Branch]

Stephan Daniel, in the interview he gave at the time of Photokina, clearly and explicitly stated that the rangefinder has been upgraded.

 

My experience, after 50 years of using M Leica cameras, is that the M240 does indeed have by far and away the best rangefinder of them all.

 

I've tried to analyse just what is different but can't pin it down. It seems to have zero free-play, (backlash), the image moves for the smallest of focus adjustments and is astonishingly repeatable. The two images are exactly the same size which makes exact coincidence easy to spot and the images are the same brightness which again helps.

[dwbell]

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Good post Tim, your writing style is "easy on the eye" yet accurate, good stuff.

 

Tell me, are there any 3D visualisations, or renders maybe of these fields of focus at various apertures etc?

[Rick]

Tim - unique perspective and thoughts. It sounds like you did "get over" the field curvature - you kept the camera. I get the fact that you traveled along a journey to understand the camera and the lenses and discovered some characteristics of the lenses and the RF. I enjoyed gaining a better understanding of these things that to some with more optics education than myself is obvious to them.

 

Thanks again for the nice articles,

 

Rick

[marknorton]

What is curious about Leica marketing is that they so often make lots of noise about something which turns out to be a damp squib yet when there really is something to shout about, they go all quiet on us.

 

I certainly agree the new rangefinder is a joy to use, so much better than the M8/M9; I cannot put my finger on why it is so but it is so. Like Tim, I had expected to use Liveview and an EVF most of the time yet for all but the widest lenses and most difficult focal length/focussing distance/lens aperture situations, I still love using the rangefinder.

 

It's a pity that Leica have not shouted from the roof-tops that the rangefinder has been refined and improved with perhaps even a hint of how and why. To my mind, the improvements are clear to see and I'm really pleased they are there.

[Rick]

Mark, I suppose it just makes sense that Leica took a new look at the RF because, they knew that the LV would highlight any deficit with it. Maybe, they even told their technicians to give a little extra grunt on those old worn screwdrivers when tightening down that RF adjustment screw.

[k-hawinkler]

That's indeed excellent news about the rangefinder - as mentioned before by others. Congratulations to Leica.

 

Question: What is the experience with the EVF and focusing R lenses? Any consensus there?

[tashley]

Thanks for all the kind comments guys! Answers to some questions coming up...

[tashley]

Good post Tim, your writing style is "easy on the eye" yet accurate, good stuff.

 

Tell me, are there any 3D visualisations, or renders maybe of these fields of focus at various apertures etc?

 

There aren't, anywhere as far as I can tell - manufacturers don't provide them. But I recently co-authored a piece with Roger Cicala of LensRentals.com and between us we managed to make some. There are some theoretical ones which make it easy to visualise the sort of thing that goes one generically, and how small adjustments to focus can make a serious difference - and there are some real world examples as well, showing two or three different types of field shape. I hope you find it useful:

 

Field-Curvature; a Practical Guide

[tashley]

That's indeed excellent news about the rangefinder - as mentioned before by others. Congratulations to Leica.

 

Question: What is the experience with the EVF and focusing R lenses? Any consensus there?

 

I adapted my only R lens to Nikon mount so I can't say but I know that Jono has been using some and he might have an opinion. If it were me trying an R lens for the first time I'd do some tests but if I had to use the lens in anger, I think it would be safest to focus wide open with the EVF then shoot at whatever aperture you need - unless you have particular reason to think the lens has focus shift in which case focus at the shooting aperture.

[tashley]

Stephan Daniel, in the interview he gave at the time of Photokina, clearly and explicitly stated that the rangefinder has been upgraded.

 

My experience, after 50 years of using M Leica cameras, is that the M240 does indeed have by far and away the best rangefinder of them all.

 

I've tried to analyse just what is different but can't pin it down. It seems to have zero free-play, (backlash), the image moves for the smallest of focus adjustments and is astonishingly repeatable. The two images are exactly the same size which makes exact coincidence easy to spot and the images are the same brightness which again helps.

 

Thanks for that Peter - I hadn't seen it and it is gratifying to know...

[tashley]

In order to keep the piece short, I didn't go into the detail you might want in order to justify those statements. But here are some quotes from some very well known reviewers that might back up what I am saying:

 

1) An extremely competent and very, very well known chap who has yet to receive his M240 (I won't name him since I am not trying to shame him) currently says, on the front page of his site, "The EVF eliminates compositional and focus errors...."

 

This statement is absolutely where I was 'at' too, before I did my testing. Of course in hindsight is is quite clear why it is not true but it did seem to be the consensus view that this would be the benefit of the EVF. I know from a lot of correspondence that I have had with readers that pretty much everyone, yourself excepted, felt similarly. In my case this was backed up by the experience with several previous digital Ms that the RF was not a reliable or accurate way of focussing. Again, some people's experience differed but an awful lot agreed. Your statement 'It still is a Leica M rangefinder camera, after all' obviously means, to you, that it will focus M lenses very well. To me it meant "bring me an EVF because historically the digital M RFs have not worked well for me."

 

2) I quote from Roger Cicala in the piece he and I wrote together recently:

 

"the truth is that the majority of lenses these days exhibit very mild field curvature, if any. But there are certainly a few that do and those few tend to be superb wide-aperture prime lenses. If you have one or two of those, taking a few minutes to evaluate the pattern of its field curvature... can improve your photography."

 

and

 

"Anecdotal reports suggest that wide-angle rangefinder lenses exhibit more noticeable field curvature than SLR lenses."

 

As for whether I should 'get over it' well... for my style of photography, 'getting over it' would mean reducing the demands I make for the technical quality of some styles of work. For example, I often want distant landscape and cityscape images, and some architectural shots too, to have sharp edges at F5.6 if possible and F8 for sure. If a small change in focus technique can help me achieve that, then I quite certainly will learn that technique. Of course, for an awful lot of my work, it doesn't matter at all. But sometimes it really does. There's no link on your posts to your own galleries so I can't comment on whether it matters for your work!

 

But I am glad that we all seem to agree that the M240's RF is better than its predecessors'...

 

 

 

"And that key is: you should nearly always focus using the rangefinder, rather than Live View, with nearly every lens.

 

[...] This startling fact is completely unexpected, utterly unintuitive, impossible to explain simply and absolutely vital."

Tim, I am seriously startled about how you find this a "startling fact," and "utterly unintuitive." To the contrary—it's exactly what's to be expected, totally intuitve, natural, and was obvious to me before I even started using this camera. It still is a Leica M rangefinder camera, after all. Live view is a welcome bonus which makes it possible to use all kinds of non-M lenses ... which I highly appreciate. Still, M lenses are best used via rangefinder (umm, with the possible exception of the 135 mm focal length).

 

Moreover, I really think you're way too much obsessed with the field curvature issue. With the exception of a few macro and repro lenses, all lenses meant for photography have (and always had) some field curvature. I'd say—get over it.

 

And by the way—yes, the new M's rangefinder's calibration is better than any other's digital M model so far.

[zlatkob]

You write: "Terrible ergonomics of exposure compensation." Just wondering what the problem is. I don't have the new M. I recall that with the M9 using exposure comp. was pretty easy, at least if set up a certain way, so I'm wondering what has changed, if anything.

[UliWer]

Stephan Daniel, in the interview he gave at the time of Photokina, clearly and explicitly stated that the rangefinder has been upgraded.

 

...

 

Can you tell, which interview this was - if there is no link, perhaps who was ther interviewer or was it published anywhere?

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[dwbell]

There aren't, anywhere as far as I can tell - manufacturers don't provide them. But I recently co-authored a piece with Roger Cicala of LensRentals.com and between us we managed to make some. There are some theoretical ones which make it easy to visualise the sort of thing that goes one generically, and how small adjustments to focus can make a serious difference - and there are some real world examples as well, showing two or three different types of field shape. I hope you find it useful:

 

Field-Curvature; a Practical Guide

 

Thanks Tim, had already read that on my last all night er through your blog. I'm kinda interested in the relative size / scale in relation to various calibration objects at various distances. Cars, people, etc. 3D visualisation would help there.

[algrove]

Question: What is the experience with the EVF and focusing R lenses? Any consensus there?

 

I use R lenses on my M more than M lenses. What exactly do you want to know about their performance on the M?