Jono Slack: Leica M10 Monochrom Field Report

[Wyck]

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51 minutes ago, Jeff S said:

I wonder if the histogram is rendered and displayed as RAW (after a short delay) as in the MM1.  This feature helps control highlight exposure, which matters given the lack of color channel recovery in PP. I don’t know how the M246 operated. 

Jeff

The M246 didn’t have the RAW histogram like the MM1.  Hopefully the M10M has gone back to showing the RAW histogram like the MM1. I too found this very useful on the MM1. 

[T25UFO]

I’m intrigued by the 16 minutes maximum exposure time,  Leica must have improved the lens flange as I get light leak with long exposures on my MM1; by long I mean 1 minute and above.  Using black insulating tape works OK but shouldn’t have to tape up expensive Leica lenses!

[Jeff S]

4 minutes ago, Wyck said:

The M246 didn’t have the RAW histogram like the MM1.  Hopefully the M10M has gone back to showing the RAW histogram like the MM1. I too found this very useful on the MM1. 

That’s what I thought, but in another discussion this was debated and some said that the M246 added it via FW update. 

Jeff

[Wyck]

18 minutes ago, Jeff S said:

That’s what I thought, but in another discussion this was debated and some said that the M246 added it via FW update. 

Jeff

I traded my MM1for the M246 approximately 6 months after the 246 was released, I immediately noticed there was no RAW histogram.  Perhaps they did add it via a firmware update at a later date.  I only kept the 246 for 6 months and returned to the MM1.

Gary

[SrMi]

56 minutes ago, T25UFO said:

I’m intrigued by the 16 minutes maximum exposure time,  Leica must have improved the lens flange as I get light leak with long exposures on my MM1; by long I mean 1 minute and above.  Using black insulating tape works OK but shouldn’t have to tape up expensive Leica lenses!

In bright lights it is always a good idea to cover the camera for long exposure.

BTW, M10M has also mandatory LENR, which makes it a bit cumbersome for long exposures.

[SrMi]

1 hour ago, Wyck said:

The M246 didn’t have the RAW histogram like the MM1.  Hopefully the M10M has gone back to showing the RAW histogram like the MM1. I too found this very useful on the MM1. 

I wonder how useful such a small histogram display is at all.

Leica's manual says about it:

"...depending on the settings used, it may not represent the final exposure...."

"In picture mode, the histogram should be regarded as a "trend indicator”."

"The histogram during rendering may differ slightly from the one during exposure."

 

[Jeff S]

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1 hour ago, SrMi said:

I wonder how useful such a small histogram display is at all.

Leica's manual says about it:

"...depending on the settings used, it may not represent the final exposure...."

"In picture mode, the histogram should be regarded as a "trend indicator”."

"The histogram during rendering may differ slightly from the one during exposure."

 

And the bullet point that follows...

• Histogram is available only in full screen mode

Jeff

[Mark II]

13 hours ago, John Black said:

I found some raws here - https://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/leica_m10_monochrom_review/preview_images.  JPEGs first, scroll down for the DNGs.  

These are just terrible, and I do not mean just the compositions. Most are out of focus and with substantial motion blur. They look like something taken by someone who has never used a camera before and who does not understand even the basics. They are useless if you want to check sharpness or how the files respond to sharpening etc.

On the positive side, they do open in CO12. The RAW file maleability at ISO 2000 is extremely good. 

Edited January 18, 2020 by Mark II

[Mark II]

Did anyone get any sense of the battery life with the new camera?

Given that it has the same battery and pretty much the same electronics you might expect the larger images to take more power than the plain M10, and it would be interesting to understand if this is significant or not.

[abphoto]

Hi Jono,

 

Thanks so much for the review. I always find your reviews to be some of my favorites to read.

I still have the original MM and I still love it. But I think it is time to think about the new M 10 Mono. I have a couple of M 10s that i use for my pro work and the M 10 is just so much more responsive than the original MM. For me that reason alone I think it is worth the upgrade. The increase DR and better high ISO performance are just bonuses. I doubt I will do anything until very late this year or early next. I would guess the waiting list will be long.

Thanks again.

Allen 

Edited January 18, 2020 by abphoto

[elmars]

vor 28 Minuten schrieb Mark II:

Did anyone get any sense of the battery life with the new camera?

Given that it has the same battery and pretty much the same electronics you might expect the larger images to take more power than the plain M10, and it would be interesting to understand if this is significant or not.

In practice battery life is the same.

[thrid]

On 1/17/2020 at 8:27 AM, balooo said:

I know the pics files have been reduced for the post, but i'm sorry to say that it looks incredibly bad, and even worst, uninteresting... In addition, there is no way - except greed - that can justify a $8500 price tag for this camera, even with a 41MP sensor. I’ll give it $4000/4500 because, hey, it’s a Leica, but not more. It don't worth more, i'm sorry.

 

it's a limited production camera. Leica will be lucky if they break even given the expense of R&D and production.

Frankly $8500 is a steal for a proper BW 41MP digital camera. Aside from the older Leica Monochrome cameras your only other option is a Phase One back that costs $50,000. I would not be surprised if you see a few of these 10M bodies be used in film scanning rigs. At $8500 it's a bargain compared to the now discontinued Hasselblad X5. If you make three passes with  R, G, B filters you can even scan in color. This would result in a true pixel for pixel resolution of 41MP, not an interpolated 41MP, which really is only about a 1/3rd of that resolution, because of the Bayer Pattern interpolation process.

 

 

 

 

[snooper]

1 hour ago, Mark II said:

These are just terrible, and I do not mean just the compositions. Most are out of focus and with substantial motion blur.

Fully agreed. If they want people to run away from this camera, just go ahead and publish the "full review" 🙁

[ChicagoMatthew]

On 1/17/2020 at 7:03 AM, LUF Admin said:

Are the M lenses good enough to support such resolution?

Great review @jonoslack, thanks. 

I am was always interested in the resolution limit of M lenses... but the few times I brought it up... certain forum members jumped down my throat claiming the limit does not exist.

Apparently you are not subject to such ignorance. 

[jonoslack]

3 hours ago, Mark II said:

Did anyone get any sense of the battery life with the new camera?

Given that it has the same battery and pretty much the same electronics you might expect the larger images to take more power than the plain M10, and it would be interesting to understand if this is significant or not.

HI Mark

for a horrible moment I thought you were talking about my snaps in the previous post (glad you weren't).

My feeling is that the battery life hasn't changed significantly - I guess that logically it should be worse than the M10, but it doesn't feel like that. 

best

Jono

[jonoslack]

3 hours ago, abphoto said:

Hi Jono,

 

Thanks so much for the review. I always find your reviews to be some of my favorites to read.

I still have the original MM and I still love it. But I think it is time to think about the new M 10 Mono. I have a couple of M 10s that i use for my pro work and the M 10 is just so much more responsive than the original MM. For me that reason alone I think it is worth the upgrade. The increase DR and better high ISO performance are just bonuses. I doubt I will do anything until very late this year or early next. I would guess the waiting list will be long.

Thanks again.

Allen 

Hi There Allen

Thanks for the kind words - they really are supposed to be entertaining, but I'm not very confident about my writing style!

I've done some comparison shots with the MM (which I still have too). The difference is really pretty substantial, but the old camera is no slouch!

all the best

Jono

[jonoslack]

55 minutes ago, ChicagoMatthew said:

Great review @jonoslack, thanks. 

I am was always interested in the resolution limit of M lenses... but the few times I brought it up... certain forum members jumped down my throat claiming the limit does not exist.

Apparently you are not subject to such ignorance. 

Hi Matthew

Thanks for the kind words. I'm subject to a great deal of ignorance, but I'm interested in when the M lenses run out of steam (as it were). Also, I don't have any vintage lenses (sadly). But my instinct is that at the very worst the extra sampling is worthwhile, and I found that the modern summiluxes are really excellent. 

[jonoslack]

On 1/17/2020 at 7:35 PM, roma said:

Thanks for the post Jono! Will you please elaborate a bit on the speed of operation of the camera. I realize the card write speed is slower. 

How about turning on Live View and after taking a photo in Live View? Any delays or black-outs before you take the next shot in LV? 

Any noticeable shutter release delays between shots when not in Live View?

How fast does it wake up from the sleep/power-saving mode?

Thank you!

Roma

 

Hi there Roma

Right - my feeling is that if you shoot in single shot mode, and you aren't totally profligate, then you won't notice any difference.

I have shot a lot in live view, and I didn't notice any extra lag or black out. 

Wake up time seems to be equivalent to the M10 (I switch off sleep!). 

Really, unless you're shooting continuous mode I don't think it will impact on you, but if you're worried, take a fast SD card to a shop and give it a go!

all the best

[jonoslack]

22 hours ago, shirubadanieru said:

Great report! I was hoping to find out also how old lens work? The MM1 and old lens is such a great combo and to my eyes it’s the camera where vintage lens look the best. Given I only have lens from the 1950s it would be great to know if the m10M would be a good option for people like me:) thank you! 

I'm really sorry to disappoint (I don't have any old lenses), but I'd be astonished if they didn't look great - after all, the point of vintage lenses is the character, not the resolution, and I would think that extra sampling with the higher resolution sensor is only going to make this better.

All the best

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[jonoslack]

20 hours ago, Twasi said:

What is the effective dynamic range of this sensor? How much information can you recover from shadows that appear black? That would be the real appeal of a monochrome sensor.

Hi there

My feeling is that the new camera is much less prone to blown highlights, and you can go on recovering details from the shadows pretty much forever. It's startling!