Leica M typ 240 impressions...

[cookedart]

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After a week of ownership of an M typ 240 I've collected some random thoughts and impressions, particularly ones I haven't seen addressed before. Sorry if I'm doubling up.

 

- The camera feels exceptionally well made. I'm glad they went back to the silver chrome rather than steel grey paint as the silver chrome is the hardest wearing finish I've ever encountered on a camera. It feels identical to the finish on the M8. Every part of the rest of the camera feels better made than the m8 or m9.

 

- The camera is definitely heavier. I can feel the extra heft, to the point where holding the camera in portrait with a 35mm summilux ASPH with one hand is too heavy to handhold easily. Not that I do that often, but it's definitely a perceptible difference. The M240 is heavier than it needs to be to feel solid, for sure. I scanned and measured the baseplates.. the M typ 240's baseplate is at least 1.1mm thicker, for those who care. It doesn't feel appreciably thicker, the weight is the main difference to me.

 

- I contacted Leica regarding the weather sealing on the body with respect to the data port. Leica recommends using the hot shoe cover when not using the EVF for optimum moisture sealing. The hot shoe cover does have a rubber gasket, and I believe you can buy replacements/spares (for $55 a pop). They also mentioned that the EVF itself should provide enough sealing to prevent the port from being affected by moisture, despite the fact that it doesn't have any rubber sealing on its own. I'm sure the sealing is to protect against damage to the contacts.

 

- The camera definitely has banding, especially at higher ISOs (3200 or higher, I've seen it in lower occasionally). I've found it advantageous to not try to not underexpose in dark areas to save the hilights at these isos, as bringing the shadows back up in post will increase the chances of banding showing in those darkest of areas. With this technique I've been able to get acceptable photos with up to PUSH 5000. I do need to experiment with this more however. Banding occurs in areas that just have very little information left in them. I don't find this is a problem because of the large dynamic range the sensor seems to have - saving hilights in raw seems to be quite forgiving (I'd almost want to overexpose in seriously low light conditions).

 

- I've found advanced, evaluative metering handy for night scenes that often have point light sources that seem to trick the classic, center-weighted meter. Only downside is the continuous fire rate slows down since the shutter drops to take a meter reading.

 

- The continuous shot rate slows down at ISO 1250 and above. Iso 200-1000 has a faster frame per second rate as well as how many shots you can take before the buffer slows down. This is with a variety of cards, with the OVF (not in live view and with classic metering).

 

- The Olympus EVF sits quite tightly on the hot shoe. On olympus cameras it is quite easy to accidentally knock it off the camera. It seems a lot less so with the Leica. I'd still like a shoe lock for absolute security but it seems quite stable.

 

- The EVF gets in the way of the Optical Viewfinder for someone who wears glasses. The finder juts out from the hot shoe and is close enough to the OVF that it actually affects the placement of my eye. I cannot easily press my glasses all the way up to the finder like I normally can. This only matters of course for the widest framelines, seeing a 50 or longer is no trouble. Seeing the 35mm framelines in this instance is a little tough though.

 

- Because the EVF gets in the way I find I often do not have it mounted to the camera, and just use the LCD for live view purposes. I've found this actually quite fluid, despite the sacrilege of using an M like a point and shoot.

 

- Using Red text at all for the selected item is a bad decision. I know people have mentioned this for the selected ISO, but whenever it is used it is hard to read. A white outline around the selected item is a much better solution.

 

- I find I prefer the new thumb dial to the rear dial on the m8/m9. It's firmer and easier to use. The thumb grip isn't big enough, but making it too large would make it stick out of the body too much.

 

- The Auto ISO in Manual exposure mode is just silly, but they are fixing that already (can't wait).

 

- The focus button is silly, for a number of reasons. The placement mimics the rewind lever placement on old M's, but the function of the focus button is meant to be far more used since it controls exposure compensation. Comparing its placement with the lens release button shows that not only is that button better placed for the right hand to operate, but the fact that it has a longer travel also make it easier to press and hold down. On top of all that, the placement of the thumb dial make it so it is hard to accidentally change a setting. Going back to the M9 approach of allowing exposure compensation when you half press the shutter, or just spin the dial, would be more ideal. I would like to use the focus button only to bring up a focus assist mode.

 

-Entering Live View while the card is writing seems to be not very responsive, or downright slow. I'd ideally like the writing of the card to not have any influence on the operation of the camera other than saving more pictures.

 

-The focus peaking is a tad too subtle for my taste, allow this to be configurable would be a nice thing, since it is already something that can be toggled on and off (similar to the NEX approach). Longer lenses with shallower depth of field are obviously easier. Wider lenses are tougher - one can always use the rangefinder to focus and the EVF to frame, of course. I have been especially using the EVF with the 21mm Summilux.

 

- The OVF always shows framelines, and meter info, even when using the LCD or EVF in live view. This means you can easily shift between any of the additional screens and still have full shooting info. I like this a lot.

 

- The power switch is much firmer and better detented, with a somewhat smoother travel between detents. The shutter speed dial seems looser, but tight enough to prevent accidental changes vs my M8.

 

- I have never accidentally started a movie. It's placement seems right to me. Easy enough to reach when you want to use that feature, but hard to accidentally hit.

 

- Battery life is great.

 

- Unfortunately ultra wide angles seem to be limited to just Leica's choices unless Lightrooms Flat Field Convertor or Cornerfix are your bag. Hopefully voigtlander can update their designs while still making them compact. Right now red corners are a problem on really wide lenses.

 

- It has been a reliable camera.

 

- The advanced metering/classic metering setup is very confusing as implemented. If you choose classic metering, it will always use a center weighted meter despite whatever you choose in the "set" menu. If you dive into live view it will then respect the choice you've made. Advanced metering will always respect the choice you've made in meter options whether or not you're using the OVF or EVF. Surely this can be better implemented?

 

Let me know if you have any questions I can answer!

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[Shade]

I have more or less the same thoughts, though I would add:

 

* Focus peaking works, but ON MY CASE, it's less precise than my RF patch (I have no idea why), but there are others saying the same.

 

* I still feel bummed that you need to open the entire baseplate to take the memory card out, I wish they would provide a solution for it.

 

* I had one or two freezes but nothing to be worried about.

 

* I also wish they put back that damn top LCD (albeit small) like the M8. I find it EXTREMELY useful especially when I shoot weddings as I know when to change my batteries and/or cards should it need replacement. Sure I can fiddle with it, but fiddling takes time and may make me miss moments.

 

* The Auto ISO on M is silly, yes.

 

* Stupid lug problem affected my serial number, but I couldn't care to send it back just yet, since I never dangle my M, and I plan to buy a grip anyway, and will always handhold it or settle it down. The lugs are for a handstrap for incase it "accidentally" slips from my hands.

[digitalfx]

I have more or less the same thoughts, though I would add:

 

* Focus peaking works, but ON MY CASE, it's less precise than my RF patch (I have no idea why), but there are others saying the same.

 

Operator error? LV is live view, you are seeing the actual image being recorded. Its either in focus or it isn't.

 

* I also wish they put back that damn top LCD (albeit small) like the M8. I find it EXTREMELY useful especially when I shoot weddings as I know when to change my batteries and/or cards should it need replacement. Sure I can fiddle with it, but fiddling takes time and may make me miss moments.

 

Its a single button push...what are you fiddling with?

 

* Stupid lug problem affected my serial number, but I couldn't care to send it back just yet, since I never dangle my M, and I plan to buy a grip anyway, and will always handhold it or settle it down. The lugs are for a handstrap for incase it "accidentally" slips from my hands.

 

how has it affected your serial number?

[cookedart]

I have more or less the same thoughts, though I would add:

 

* Focus peaking works, but ON MY CASE, it's less precise than my RF patch (I have no idea why), but there are others saying the same.

 

* I still feel bummed that you need to open the entire baseplate to take the memory card out, I wish they would provide a solution for it.

 

* I had one or two freezes but nothing to be worried about.

 

* I also wish they put back that damn top LCD (albeit small) like the M8. I find it EXTREMELY useful especially when I shoot weddings as I know when to change my batteries and/or cards should it need replacement. Sure I can fiddle with it, but fiddling takes time and may make me miss moments.

 

* The Auto ISO on M is silly, yes.

 

* Stupid lug problem affected my serial number, but I couldn't care to send it back just yet, since I never dangle my M, and I plan to buy a grip anyway, and will always handhold it or settle it down. The lugs are for a handstrap for incase it "accidentally" slips from my hands.

 

- Focus peaking takes some practice to master, just like the rangefinder patch. I think a rangefinder patch is very precise though, as it is more binary.. the line is either matching up or it's not. With focus peaking, it deals in the idea that an area is in acceptable focus, and shows you the whole focus gradient.

 

- I agree about the LCD, it was quite useful and something I kept my eye on. It reminded me of the old film counter too. But that's been gone since the m9 so I had little hope of it coming back.

 

- One note about how Leica handles the lug problem.. if you register your Leica in the owner's area online, they will automatically contact you to tell you whether or not your M is affected. I was impressed by this (they contacted me within 2 business days of registering the camera)

[cookedart]

Two more quick thoughts...

 

- I am not sure if it's possible to implement an electronic first curtain shutter in the typ 240, but it seems like something worth doing. The NEX series has a similar issue of needing to open the sensor for a light and color reading, then has to close and open twice for the exposures and to return to live view. But they do give an option to handle the first curtain electronically, and thus as a live view camera is quite responsive. I suppose it's technically not possible but this would go a long way into improving both using the advanced metering as well as the live view feature.

 

- The leatherette covering is quite flat and a little sticky.. it almost reminds of being more rubberised. I much prefer the more pronounced texture of vulcanite. But it isn't as bad as the M8/MP sharkskin covering.

[Jeffry Abt]

 

* I still feel bummed that you need to open the entire baseplate to take the memory card out, I wish they would provide a solution for it.

 

 

I like the baseplate.

[ananda]

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Yes, and I particularly like the RRS baseplate.