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Leica M EV1: The first M with EVF instead of Rangefinder ×

I have a Leica M 262 in my hands for the next week

jim0266

By jim0266
in Leica M (Type 240 / 262)

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Luke_Miller

Luke_Miller

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But anyway, here's a quick snap of my bride this past weekend with the M240 same sensor as the M262.  I've created a custom color profile using the Xrite Color Checker and the DNG file was edited in LR CC.

 

 Nice skin tones.  I create my own profiles as well using the same method.  Lightroom & ACR Leica M standard profiles never gave me skin tones I like.  

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Jeff S

Jeff S

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The thing is..the M-E files look great online..strong color and Leica pop..

The M240..well...more tepid..and blander..to my eye..

But the 262 is more current and has the quieter shutter..w/o the recock whine..

I have a bunch of M and R glass..but don't want the extra weight..of the 240..

I bought my 1st M3 & M6 in the late 80's..still have em..but they have been laying fallow..

I want to go back to the rangefinder soon...as I'm tired of looking at the a7 and Lumix screens...except for video..

There is no perfect cam..

But the 262 may well come close as an all rounder..just for photos..

Don't be swayed by online pics....far too many variables to consider between poster and viewer, and even then, these don't take advantage of the control and attributes one can obtain by making prints with a disciplined workflow, paper selection, lighting, etc.  For online pics, lots of less expensive cameras will suffice with good PP and a well calibrated screen.

 

But even if you don't make prints, the only way to adequately judge things like 'color' and 'pop' (as you put it) is to use the camera to take your own shots and process them using your own workflow.  There are myriad 'looks' one can obtain using the same camera....and that's not even considering different lens renderings.

 

I own an M8.2 and M240 and I bet you couldn't distinguish prints made from either in a blind test based on my desired renderings and chosen workflow/materials.

 

Jeff

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indergaard

indergaard

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The thing is..the M-E files look great online..strong color and Leica pop..

The M240..well...more tepid..and blander..to my eye..

But the 262 is more current and has the quieter shutter..w/o the recock whine..

I have a bunch of M and R glass..but don't want the extra weight..of the 240..

I bought my 1st M3 & M6 in the late 80's..still have em..but they have been laying fallow..

I want to go back to the rangefinder soon...as I'm tired of looking at the a7 and Lumix screens...except for video..

There is no perfect cam..

But the 262 may well come close as an all rounder..just for photos..

 

The "Leica pop" and color is user configurable with any raw converter on the market.

The only difference is that the M240/M242 files are more malleable, whereas the M-E files are more "cooked".

Having a malleable starting point is a good thing, as you can choose to NOT have the extra latitude/DR if you want to.

Having a cooked file is a bad starting point, as the DR and latitude is already partly gone!

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colonel

colonel

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The "Leica pop" and color is user configurable with any raw converter on the market.

The only difference is that the M240/M242 files are more malleable, whereas the M-E files are more "cooked".

Having a malleable starting point is a good thing, as you can choose to NOT have the extra latitude/DR if you want to.

Having a cooked file is a bad starting point, as the DR and latitude is already partly gone!

 

I used to think that but not anymore.

The CMOS output is typical CMOS. Excellent and sharp

But the M-E/M9 colours are not replicable completely and anyway the contrast rendering is quite unique.

Its personal taste but I do find the M-E combination of contrast and colour depth unique enough to keep one of these cameras around.

In terms of DR you are right, the M240 has at least another stop particularly in shadows, although the M-E is no slouch.

 

If course this is all at base ISO, hit highs, e.g. 3200 and the 240 sensor takes over in DR and "out of the sensor" ISO performance

 

rgds

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julianf73

julianf73

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My M262 should be here in a few days.

 

If I can I have to recommend Sean and the rest of the crew at the San Francisco Leica store. They responded to my queries very quickly and we were able to come to an agreement on this new camera.

 

"come to an agreement"...as in you were able to negotiate a better price? :-)

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LocalHero1953

LocalHero1953

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I'm not sure what you mean by how fast it goes?

 

The process is: press the button once to bring up a frame in the EVF. Point the frame at your reference grey, then press the button again, which takes a shot and stores the WB setting. It's very quick to do - but I find AWB good enough for most things so far.

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jack-tucker

jack-tucker

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Thanks Paul. What I meant was:

Will the WB button just bring up the menu for choosing the WB method, for what I would have to go to SET menu on the M240 or is it dedicated (or can the button be chosen to be dedicated) to manual WB. In my opinion, it would be perfect if I just would have to press the WB button, take a snap of my grey card.

So if the WB button just brings up the menu, it would not be any big difference to just go to WB in the SET menu.

 

Sorry, I didn't get what you meant. What has it all to do with the EVF which I don't have, never used and is not available for the 262 at all?

 

Florian

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jim0266

jim0266

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Florian,

 

It's pretty fast to set a custom white balance compared to the M9/M-E. Never used a 240 before this 262. These are the steps:

  • Press the WB Button
  • Press the up controller button twice or turn the scroll wheel two clicks left to reach the "Greycard" setting
  • Click the SET or INFO button. (Notice appears on LCD to take photo).
  • Take photo 
  • Photo appears on LCD along with small crosshairs in the middle. If what you want to be neutral is in the middle with the crosshairs, press the INFO button to measure it, then the SET button to save it. Or, use the controller buttons to find an area that is neutral and press the INFO button to measure again, then the SET button to save the measurement.
The screen confirms the setting then clears automatically and you are ready to shoot.

 

The next time you press the WB button it returns you to the Greycard setting. You can jump immediately to taking a new WB photo by first holding the right controller button THEN pressing the WB button. 

 

I did discover what I think is a bug when using Greycard balance:

 

How to reproduce:

 

1. Press WB Button

2. Choose Greycard

3. Press INFO or SET button.

4. Take image

5. DO NOT press any other button on camera EXCEPT lightly press the shutter button to clear image from LCD.

6. Press WB button again.

7. Press SET or INFO and try to take another photo

 

The camera will not take a photo you cannot use Greycard WB again until the camera is turned off and back on.

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LocalHero1953

LocalHero1953

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Thanks Paul. What I meant was:

Will the WB button just bring up the menu for choosing the WB method, for what I would have to go to SET menu on the M240 or is it dedicated (or can the button be chosen to be dedicated) to manual WB. In my opinion, it would be perfect if I just would have to press the WB button, take a snap of my grey card.

So if the WB button just brings up the menu, it would not be any big difference to just go to WB in the SET menu.

 

Sorry, I didn't get what you meant. What has it all to do with the EVF which I don't have, never used and is not available for the 262 at all?

 

Florian

D'oh! Sorry, somehow my mind associated your question with the SL. Ignore my post!

(Leica's brought out too many new cameras recently)

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Jed Orme

Jed Orme

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My M262 should be here in a few days.

 

If I can I have to recommend Sean and the rest of the crew at the San Francisco Leica store. They responded to my queries very quickly and we were able to come to an agreement on this new camera.

I also worked with Sean at their sister Rancho Mirage Leica store & can heartily recommend him.  I worked with him over the last four years while I was trying to replicate a rangefinder system with Fuji (came pretty close with the X-Pro1), so I went to see him about finally getting the new 262 or a used M9.  He ultimately recommended that I buy a lightly used M-240 instead & put the cost difference between it & a new 262 into a savings fund for a good condition new or used Leica lens (I have my eye on a 35mm Summicron or Summarit).  So in over a month I have never turned on live view or used the LCD to take a photo (though Sean suggested it might be very handy at times using my older Leica Tele-Elmarit 90mm f2.8 lens or my new Voigtlander 21mm f4 pancake, but so far I have been happy using the window finder for both of these lenses).  However, the new M-262 is a lovely camera & probably if I had more experience with the Leica M system would have also been an excellent choice for me as well.

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enboe

enboe

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A few observations to date from my 262:

 

1)  Using the light meter takes a bit of acclimation, especially in shots with widely-varying exposure ranges and wide (28mm) lenses.  I have known the meter on my other M's well enough that chimping was mostly optional, but not so on the 262.  Experience will fix this.

 

2)  The aluminum body equalizes in temperature much more quickly, something useful when doing between temperature and humidity extremes.  No more sweating camera bodies going from the AC hotel room out into the humid Florida air.

 

3)  Equipped with the tiny 28/2.8/ASPH, the camera feels as light as an M6, and is very quick to manipulate.  The torque required to switch between portrait and landscape is noticeably less than the M240.

 

4)  Extrapolated battery life is on track to deliver around 900 shots with the aforementioned 3 second auto-chimp.

 

I will add more as the week of shooting progresses.

 

Eric

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John Ricard

John Ricard

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The video you posted that shows when the ISO and framelines appear, but honestly, that happens pretty quickly on my M240.  That doesn't really tell us anything.  The issue is, how long does it take to actually take a photo. We need a video that shows you turning on the camera and pushing the shutter until the camera actually takes a picture.  On my M240 the frame lines appear long before the camera will actually take a photo.

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jim0266

jim0266

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John,

 

You are right. When I first recorded that video I had read the posts on the 240 and slow start times. I assumed people were having a delay just seeing the frame lines appear. 

 

A few days ago I ran a series of tests with various SD cards I had on hand to record turn on to shoot time:

8 and 16GB Panasonics, 16GB Samsungs and a 32GB Sandisk Extreme Pro.

 

In order to time the camera I took video with my iPhone from the back as I turned on the camera then held down the shutter button. Using Quicktime Pro 7 I was able to edit each video to start when I saw the "on" switch start moving and ended the video with the last sound of the recocking. I could not reliably determine the the start time by sound. Viewing the properties of the video file show the exact time of the video. I ran multiple tests on each card.

 

I also tried SDCard Formatter alone and in conjunction with formatting in the camera. The only cards where SDCard Formatter made a difference were the Panasonics. It dropped the turn on to shoot time from 5 seconds to 2.5 seconds. The SanDisk 32GB was the slowest card at three seconds from start to shooting. Where the SanDisk excelled was is sustained shooting. Instead of just holding the button down on "C" drive mode, I tried to simulate how I might photograph a scene where I shot many photos in one minute as if I were working a situation. The Sandisk allowed me to capture about 65 photos in a minute. The Samsung and Panasonic cards could only capture about 45 images in one minute. This is still much better than the M9. 

 

My takeaway was the fastest, smallest card may give the ultimate in performance. SDCard Formatter may or may not work, so it doesn't hurt to try. I also tested from sleep mode. I recorded the same time as from turning on.

 

It would be interesting to test the 16GB version of the SanDisk Extreme Pro (http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Extreme-UHS-I-Memory-SDSDXPA-016G-AFFP/dp/B007NDL56U) is the larger the card results is slower startup times.

 

Links to the cards tested

 

Pansonic

 
Sandisk

 

Samsung

This is one of the Samsungs I have - http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1181358-REG/samsung_mb_sg16e_am_sdhc_16gb_pro_memory.html 

My other Samsungs were the previous Pro generation (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IVPU6AA?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage) but they were just as fast as the newer Samsung.

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