M10 ISO dial very difficult to raise

[lykaman]

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A plastic spoon handle (filed down) will give a little when used for the specific purpose we are discussing, bamboo will not give and might induce a bent carrier arrangement within the ISO adjustment unit..L

[MarkP]

It does loosen with use. Mine is much easier to use now than when new 

Fingernail till then or just leave it up

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[Cronilux]

I have an M10 and an M10-P and have no issue. I can lift it with one finger. I usually push it up with the fingernail of my left thumb. I hold my camera with the right hand on the body and my left normally supports the lens. I basically just twist my left hand flip the iso wheel up, turn and push it back in. It’s really fast for em. Even when the cameras have been new.

Edited July 13, 2019 by Cronilux

[russell]

Different thumbs? Different tolerances on the camera?

Mine is very difficult to raise and very easy to inadvertently push back down.  Hence it goes largely unused.  Which is in contrast to the M240 I had that was easy to adjust in 1/3 ISO steps quickly on the back screen.

[John Black]

On 7/11/2019 at 3:55 PM, pico said:

Can the complainers here submit their remedy?

Yep, totally ignore it...  Turned the ISO dial to M and set ISO via the menu.  I added ISO to my favorites list, so pressing the Menu button shows ISO on the first press.  ISO mostly set auto-ISO.

I've had the M10, M10-P and now Safari.  Dial has been difficult to raise on all of them.  Simple fix would be make the dial spin easily and have a center button that locks / unlocks some of the PASM dials on other cameras.  

[otto.f]

On 7/9/2019 at 5:40 PM, dlaugh said:

I cannot raise it with one finger or thumb

That’s normal and is addressed in the manual too: always raise it with two fingers. 

[ckuwajima]

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I use index and middle fingers to pull up the wheel using top plate to support my thumb.

[Patrick1955]

On 7/10/2019 at 1:40 AM, dlaugh said:

New Leica user here; first time post to this very helpful forum.  I just bought a used M10.  Evidence suggests light use; in any event, it would be hard to distinguish the unit from new on observation.  When I tested it out it I didn't have this difficulty, but as I use it I have found the ISO dial very, very difficult to raise.  I cannot raise it with one finger or thumb.  Sometimes I need to sort of grip it with a fabric in two fingers to push it up.  If I can get a fingernail underneath it, I can get it open, but it often closes tight enough to prevent that.  

I have normal size hands and normal dexterity, so this isn't an issue of huge thumbs or a shaky grip.  The rotation is fine; it is otherwise functional (i.e., it changes ISO); it doesn't appear to have substantial lateral play.  I've looked for other complaints here and mainly found issues with the dial not functioning.  (Plus a long thread complaining about the dial in general.).

Anyone have this problem?  Is it simply a matter of the unit being new-ish?  

When I first bought my M-10 in March 2018, I spent the first two weeks frustrated in exactly the same way you are.  When I took it back to the dealer (a dedicated Leica M user and Ambassador) the camera was swapped out as unusable for a new one as it was considered that the ISO dial "servo" (from memory) was defective.  The replacement camera's ISO dial can seem stiff at times (as noted by many a comment above) if fingers cold, or moist for example, but not so hard as to require extreme effort as you have described, and never more than firm.  I suggest that your's is as defective as mine was, and I can only hope it is fixed as easily as mine was.  Let us know the outcome!

[evikne]

I have never had any problems lifting my M10 ISO deal with my finger nail. On the other hand I've never understood why Leica obviously means it is more dangerous to inadvertently move this knob than the shutter speed dial or the aperture ring (which I constantly move accidentally). 😬

Edited July 24, 2019 by evikne

[KFo]

When purchasing my M10 one of the in stock cameras had an extremely difficult to pull out ISO dial.  Ultimately, I chose a Safari version that has a perfectly workable ISO dial.  The difference between the two was real and significant.

[pico]

3 minutes ago, KFo said:

When purchasing my M10 one of the in stock cameras had an extremely difficult to pull out ISO dial.  Ultimately, I chose a Safari version that has a perfectly workable ISO dial.  The difference between the two was real and significant.

How were they different, please?

 

[KFo]

Just now, pico said:

How were they different, please?

 

The up-pull on the ISO dials were quite different.  One very hard requiring either a strong pincher grip or finger to raise the dial, the other easily raised with fingernail.

[Peter Kilmister]

The more you raise and lower it the easier it becomes. I found it a struggle at first. After a few months it is easy.

[jplomley]

No problems with either my silver or black M10. ISO dial is as smooth as the day they were bought after several trips and thousands of actuations across the globe

 

[dlaugh]

FYI I went to the Leica SF store today. The salesperson there confirmed my dial is unusually hard to raise and brought out another M10 to show me, and it was indeed a fair bit easier to raise.  He also showed me a different way to position my fingers to raise the dial that seemed to work a bit better.  Basically instead of pushing upwards from bottom he came at it from the top, pinching the dial in between two fingers and sort of lifting upwards.  After some tries, that worked reasonably well for me, though jamming my thumbnail under the dial and popping it up still works best for me. 

To get it fixed I’d need to send it in for repairs and I I’ve got working well enough that I don’t think I will got that route. 

[sebben]

It is very stiff when new. I spent quite some time repeatedly pulling it and up and pushing it down and it became much smoother. Force also needs to be applied straight up, if there is some rotational force going on at the same time it can really lock up.

[pico]

Would something like this help?

[gwelland]

It’s been a long time since I sold off my M10 and just recently replaced it with a M10-R. One item of note is just how much easier the ISO dial is to lift on the M10-R vs the ridiculously tight M10. So much easier to use!!