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Almost bought the M10 yesterday, however.......


jplomley

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Tried the M10 at my local dealer yesterday and just could not pull the trigger after having used the SL for the past 4 months. To my surprise, the accessory Visoflex was nowhere near the quality of the SL EVF, in fact it was like looking into a tunnel. The OVF RF of the M10 seemed moderately improved over my MM1, but again, with the beautifully large and crisp VF of the SL offering real-time visual feedback of the image attributes (exposure.DOF etc). Dare I say, it seemed like taking a huge step backwards! Until Leica are able to add an accessory EVF, or better yet, integrated EVF, of the same quality or better than the SL, I'm not sure I can return to the M.

 

All this to say, are there others whose M sit idle since using the SL, or have decided not to purchase any other M bodies until a better EVF experience is available?   

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Regardless, it's vastly superior to the Visoflex. I find it odd they offer a substandard EVF with the M10 given its premium stance in the product portfolio. If the EVF for the M10 was better aligned with the qualities offered by that of the SL, I'd have bought one on the spot for its lighter weight and smaller profile.

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Regardless, it's vastly superior to the Visoflex. I find it odd they offer a substandard EVF with the M10 given its premium stance in the product portfolio. If the EVF for the M10 was better aligned with the qualities offered by that of the SL, I'd have bought one on the spot for its lighter weight and smaller profile.

 

The Visoflex is manufactured by Epson, and it's 'old' technology compared to the EVF in the SL so it shouldn't be surprise that it's not as good.

 

I don't know if Epson also make the EVF in the SL (it won't be made by Leica).

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I love my M10, but I'm still using my A7RII and Rx1rII almost as much as I was before. 

 

The M10 just isn't the most capable one I own and I'll only be using it for select instances. I view them as complementary, but if I could only have one system it would be the Sony. I enjoy carrying the Leica around and shooting a lot of walk and explore type stuff with it, but the Sony are small enough for that as well and when I'm doing more serious shooting I'll bring the latter. EVF is great and I don't miss OVF when using it 9.5 times out of 10. Most times I prefer it. If you care about the end image the most, the visual aids it provides are a revolution in most instances. That and the 2 year old Sony sensors still outdo the M10 on image quality alone. That said, I'm not gonna buy a visoflex for the M10. I just shoot my Sony when I need that way of making pictures. 

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The Visoflex is manufactured by Epson, and it's 'old' technology compared to the EVF in the SL so it shouldn't be surprise that it's not as good.

 

I don't know if Epson also make the EVF in the SL (it won't be made by Leica).

When I compare the SL EVF to the Panasonic cameras I own, I suspect  that it comes from the Panasonic stable.

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Regardless, it's vastly superior to the Visoflex. I find it odd they offer a substandard EVF with the M10 given its premium stance in the product portfolio. If the EVF for the M10 was better aligned with the qualities offered by that of the SL, I'd have bought one on the spot for its lighter weight and smaller profile.

 

 

not sure why you are surprised considering the M10 is significantly smaller than the SL. If we had the SL evf in the M10...well we would have the SL.

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Tried the M10 at my local dealer yesterday and just could not pull the trigger after having used the SL for the past 4 months. To my surprise, the accessory Visoflex was nowhere near the quality of the SL EVF, in fact it was like looking into a tunnel. The OVF RF of the M10 seemed moderately improved over my MM1, but again, with the beautifully large and crisp VF of the SL offering real-time visual feedback of the image attributes (exposure.DOF etc). Dare I say, it seemed like taking a huge step backwards! Until Leica are able to add an accessory EVF, or better yet, integrated EVF, of the same quality or better than the SL, I'm not sure I can return to the M.

 

All this to say, are there others whose M sit idle since using the SL, or have decided not to purchase any other M bodies until a better EVF experience is available?


Well, as the M10 is conceived as the ultimate digital rangefinder camera up to now, with the EVF as an optional accessory for occasional use (basically exactly like the M240) it appears to me to be counterproductive to buy it as an EVF camera.
There are far better options out there in that case, ranging from the SL2 to the offerings by Sony and Fuji, even smaller sensored ones like Olympus and Panasonic.

 

 

So that begs the question, why did Leica offer such a substandard EVF for the M10 if they have a partner capable of development at the SL level? I would gladly pay double to cost of the Visoflex to get the SL quality EVF on the M10.


Because Panasonic does not offer accessory EVFs?
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The Visoflex is manufactured by Epson, and it's 'old' technology compared to the EVF in the SL so it shouldn't be surprise that it's not as good.

 

I don't know if Epson also make the EVF in the SL (it won't be made by Leica).

 

Apparently, Leica did start to develop a dedicated external 3.6mp EVF for the M10 but dropped it as being too expensive. Given the Visoflex, is old technology, partially obstructs the shutter dial, and was clearly never designed for the M, I'm in two minds as to whether it justifies its £490 price tag. I think I'll see how I get on without before deciding whether focusing with my old eyes or framing with my one 21mm lens makes it either an essential or, at the very least, a worthwhile accessory.

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Bottom line, Leica should have offered an accessory EVF equal in quality to that of the SL for the M10.

The TL EVF is a compromise solution based either on some technological shortcoming in the M10 or an inability to source a better spec'ed EVF at time of production.

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Apparently, Leica did start to develop a dedicated external 3.6mp EVF for the M10 but dropped it as being too expensive. Given the Visoflex, is old technology, partially obstructs the shutter dial, and was clearly never designed for the M, I'm in two minds as to whether it justifies its £490 price tag. I think I'll see how I get on without before deciding whether focusing with my old eyes or framing with my one 21mm lens makes it either an essential or, at the very least, a worthwhile accessory.

My gut feeling is " being too expensive" was not the reason for it being dropped.

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Bottom line, Leica should have offered an accessory EVF equal in quality to that of the SL for the M10.

The TL EVF is a compromise solution based either on some technological shortcoming in the M10 or an inability to source a better spec'ed EVF at time of production.

Why should they have done so? This is an auxiliary viewfinder on a camera that is built to offer the finest optical viewfinder possible. As long as it does the job, it is fine. If you want a beautiful picture, buy a Plasma TV set. :lol:  Actually Leica does offer a better specced EVF for the M10, you even get a camera body thrown in for free: The SL.

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Why should they have done so? This is an auxiliary viewfinder on a camera that is built to offer the finest optical viewfinder possible. As long as it does the job, it is fine. If you want a beautiful picture, buy a Plasma TV set. :lol:  Actually Leica does offer a better specced EVF for the M10, you even get a camera body thrown in for free: The SL.

Based on your argument, they should have just kept the EVF used for the M240.

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Precisely. Actually, the EVF2 is still good enough for my use, one of the  reasons I saw no advantage in upgrading to the M10.

I bought a non-Leica mirrorless for the times that I need something else than the M240 can offer.

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