My first day with a Leica M10 (pics inside)

[IamTheDistance]

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It happened. I finally bought a Leica M10 with a 35mm summarit. My English skills are really limited but I will try to explain my first impressions when using this camera in order to help some indecisive people like I was. Also I've uploaded some of my very first pics.

The first thing I noticed was it simplicity. No buttons or menus between you and your subject. Just the tool, which disappears and you can focus on photography. I also use a Fujifilm x100f and there are tons of buttons which I push accidentally sometimes with my thumb. But, I felt that choose the ISO and shutter speed is easier on the Fuji than the M10. The ISO dial is not confortable and being constantly changing your ISO is a nightmare: Pull (it's hard), select ISO and push down the dial. I ended up with Auto ISO. That was my first impression but at the end of the day I was used to it and all flooded very well. I was in the mood.

The first time I used a real rangefinder was at a Leica Store trying the M10 and the typ 240, but even it was the first time, nail the focus was easier than I expected. I like the feeling of looking through the viewfinder. I love how clear is. I shot at f/11, f/8 and f/2.4 and although some of my shots are blurred (not in focus) I'm impressed by how easy is focus using hyperfocal. I mean, a real hyperfocal. I was focusing like this on my Fuji but you know, not a real hyperfocal guide. Thanks to that, I used the M10 like a point and shoot. Shutter speed stopped at 1/250 all day long, auto ISO and just worried about hyperfocal. What a joy, guys. This way I could capture some good moments which happened in a fraction of a second.

I had another problem but I had to get used to. I was always shooting at 28mm (phone and Fuji with a wide adapter) and my first shoots with the 35mm were awful, but having in mind I have to do one step back to compose correctly that problem disappeared. Other problem is walking around with such an expensive piece of equipment, but yeah, you have to think it's just a tool and feel confortable with using it "hardcorely". So, if you're thinking about buying a Leica rangefinder, you want to have in mind that it's a different concept from shooting with a DSLR. Shooting with a Leica is a slowdown process for some people, but for others (and for me) is quick. You can enjoy both worlds.

I shot DNG + Jpeg so all the images are Jpegs straight out the camera. No post process. I will process the DNGs later!

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