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Monochrom M246 Reviews


Petster

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Well I would too, but my god...for as long as I have been doing photography I never would have guessed that there would be such an explosion of the photo-cultural phenomena of gear reviews. 

 

Welcome to the internet!

 

That said, pre-internet there were some pretty crappy reviews in print!  and you had to pay for them!

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I find it odd that there are already so called "reviews" of this camera out when the camera it self has not been out.

 

One might consider the fact that true reviews of equipment like this can only be 100% relevant when someone has put thousands of frames through this equipment over the course of 3-6 months, preferably in a full time professional setting. 

 

I'll give an example of the value of "reviews" right out of the gate: 

 

I read about a half a dozen reviews of the Fuji X100T before buying mine in November of last year. Not one of those so called "reviews" mentioned the utter insanity that is the viewing of the menu or menu like items in that you either have to keep your eye glued to the VF to see them making it really interesting in making sure you press the right button for adjustments or essentially put the camera in live view to see them on the rear LCD from which 4 more button pushes are needed to bring the camera back to VF mode.

 

After the last firmware update did not fix it, I sold the damn camera...

 

Beware of the "Internet Gear Review Hero" is all I am saying....

Well, if you had actually read Jono's review you would have noticed that he mentioned that he had put about 5000 photo's through the camera before writng his review...

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I like it except for Leica decision to go with the ugly black chrome body again and I have to wait a year (?) for the silver chrome. 

While I would not call it ugly at all, I too would like a silver chrome version. With the original MM I had the black version which I sold to buy the silver chrome down the road. I guess I will be doing that number again this time around also, but I feel like I am going to keep my original silver MM as well because... Why not...

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Did you feel the same way about my images?

. here are some more: http://www.slack.co.uk/2015/monochrom/monochrom246/index.html

incidentally - I'm not asking for approval - I'm just interested to see whether you are seeing the same issues in my samples

Your images look much less digital than some others.

Great tonality and Very tasteful post production!!

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I like it except for Leica decision to go with the ugly black chrome body again and I have to wait a year (?) for the silver chrome. 

 

Each to their own.

I really like my M7 and Monochrom in flat black chrome (and it's very subtle silvering on worn edges).

However, my M240 is silver.

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Until very recently the M9 Monochrom was widely held to be the ultimate in B&W 35mm-format photography, praised in particular for its high-iso performance amongst other delicious qualities.

 

I'm not happy about the inevitability with which indisputably wonderful tools can so quickly become inadequate to the extent that many are prepared within a year or two to pay good money to replace them. I understand how it works and I'm as guilty of it as anyone so no criticism is intended, but it is an unhappy trap into which we are all tempted.

 

I suspect it does nothing whatsoever to improve our photography either.

 

Recently I made a very pragmatic decision to buy a 30 year old Minolta CLE and a few rolls of B/W film. After 1 year use total cost is about 600€, most of that was the camera ... so still looking good for around 7000€ ... and strange enough it did lots to improve my photography !

 

The new MM is very nice, but a roll of TriX is costing around 5€. Will wait for one without the rear screen, or that M-A  B)

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Personally I really enjoy the reviews and appreciate the time that Jono and David have taken to share them with us. Yes we all know that David sells Leica and I could by my Leica gear anywhere but I choose to buy exclusively from David and his crew because they have never pointed me in the wrong direction and sometimes saved me from making the wrong decision. So when David writes a review it carries weight with me. How many times have we all heard someone ask "Where's Jono?" because we all know that he is off testing something that most of us would love to be playing with. So again, Jono's opinion carries weight with me as well. So David and Jono - Thank you!

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Jono

 

On a more serious note, I now know how you can bang out the articles--with Calvados! I am going to have one tonight while contemplating when my new MM will arrive.

Calvados solves all known problems Lou - unfortunately my children have discovered this as well, so there's never any left for me!

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I'm sure I'll rent one when available, just as I did with the MM. But I liked (and still like) the bw conversions from the M-P better than the files of the MM which is merely personal taste (and possibly workflow). Jono has done his usually thorough job and produced some lovely images in the process, so thank you Jono. I think the most appealing thing about the new Monochrom is that it now has the advantages of the M240 - quiet shutter, better LCD, LV, better framelines, etc. And aren't we lucky that the current Euro exchange rate has held down the usual outrageous price increase associated with a new model?

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Well, if you had actually read Jono's review you would have noticed that he mentioned that he had put about 5000 photo's through the camera before writng his review...

I did read it. 

 

Post #113 on this thread pretty much nails it though in what I would rather see in actual reviews. 5K in a few weeks is still a preview in my experience. 20-50K over 6 months and a few burly assignments would be taken much more seriously by me personally. 

 

Not to slam the previewers like Jono or the career reviewer / tester like Reid but.....

 

RAX?

Gibson?

DAH?

Edited by KM-25
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Well, if the size of the buffer is your problem, both Sean and Jono mention that this camera has 2 GB...

 

And if you want a 60.000 file review, how long should prospective buyers wait? Bloggers will have written a load of baloney long before that.

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Well, if the size of the buffer is your problem, both Sean and Jono mention that this camera has 2 GB...

 

And if you want a 60.000 file review, how long should prospective buyers wait? AP will have written a load of baloney long before that.

 

That is not my point and you know that. My point is that these day of product announcement previews seem a lot more like well orchestrated press releases rather than an actual, pound it into the corners, tires squeeling in an actual race, checkered flag in sight review. 

 

To make the whole "Gear Review Hero" ethos even more comical is just how many "My M246 review" posts that will follow in some 3-9 months time.....hundreds...it's verging on *fully* retarded!

 

Logging off to celebrate my wife's birthday, feel free to do what you do best and that is take me to task.

Edited by KM-25
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I don't know Jonathan personally, but he states right on his webpage it's not meant to be a critical review, and his loyalty as a tester is to Leica.  Idk how much more honest and ingenuous he could be. 

 

I do know David personally for close to 10 years.  Despite being a Leica dealer he is not a "sell sell sell" pitchman by any means.  I've never found him to say or write anything deceptive or spin-doctored about a Leica product, and when questioned about anything, has always given a straight, honest answer even if it involved acknowledging a Leica product's shortcoming. 

 

When I used to buy camera magazines, it was for the technical articles, not the gear reviews. I do not subscribe to Sean's site nor have I ever read any of his reviews, because I don't feel inclined to pay to read someone's opinion on something I'm entirely capable of judging for myself. 

 

Which brings me to my point, that regardless of the veracity of a reviewer, there is no way in hell I'm going to plunk down seven grand on a camera without checking it out hands-on for myself.  Whether it's borrowing one from a friend, renting one from a dealer, or using a demo supplied as part of the Leica On Loan program at LHSA event/meetings. 

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Can someone state definitely whether or not the M246 has gone back to using 12-bits per sample pixels? The M Monochrom, M8, M9, M240 all use 14-bits per sample pixels. The Kodak DCS760m of 2001 used 12-bit samples. The 34.5MByte uncompressed DNG files used by the M246 seems to indicate 12-bit data. 

Edited by Lenshacker
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