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Is the M10 the last “Real” Leica ?


Mike Hawley

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I can't get wrapped up in any of this; I bought the new M8 despite it being not full-frame and "thicker" than the M3 and M2.  I enjoyed it then, and I still enjoy it.  I had an opportunity to exchange it and some $$ for an M9, but I refused to give up my M8 - and still have it, and still love it.  Takes wonderful infrared photos effortlessly.

I thought about buying the M10 for ages, before B&H offered me an "open box sale" with full warranty for a reasonable price.  To my hands, and how I use it, other than a lesser viewfinder, I found the M10 to be perfection - and all the reviews I read agreed overwhelmingly.

 

I haven't taken many photos of anything over the past several weeks - too busy doing other things.  

Sorry for using the word "bloated".  I need to think up a better word. ......thicker???

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2 hours ago, MikeMyers said:

Sorry for using the word "bloated".  I need to think up a better word. ......thicker???

Lard-ass motherf**ker? 😇

(I felt so American not typing arse)

I think size is one thing.. but density and mass centralisation plays a big role in how it feels in the hand (well it does when we're only talking some millimetres, yeah the American stopped with millimetres!!!), the M9 feels nice in the hand, the 240 being fractionally bigger in size, but feels more hollow somehow, so the net result is that it feels bigger than it really is, because the impression of size doesn't tie in with the perception of the weight. The M10 is a little smaller and a little lighter, but it feels denser, so the perception is that it carries its weight better.

I'm explaining this poorly.. put a bag of flour in a big box and another (of the same weight) in a smaller box, carry both. They'll weigh basically the same but feel quite different

(I have a feeling not everyone will agree with this.... it might even be as simple as... you need a new pair of gloves... I'd buy small, never XS, occasionally medium. But if you buy large or XL or XXL.....)

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I bought my M8.2 around July 20, 2009, the date I signed up for this forum.  The M9 was released on 9/9/2009, and I. wondered if I had made a mistake buying an "instantly obsolete camera".  My M8.2 was a store demo, but in that short time I decided I was going to keep it.  I've never used an M9, so I don't know what they're like.  The infrared, which bothered so many other people, was why I wanted to keep it.  I had long forgotten what my Leica film cameras were like, and the M9 became my definition of "Leica".

In 2019, while I was overseas, I kept reading more and more about the M10.  I. came home in January, and Leica was having a price increase, but B&H gave me a good price on their "demo" camera, which came with a full new warranty.

Since then I've used this Leica half the time, and my Nikons half the time.  Using the Leica was more enjoyable, except around March or so, the virus showed up, and I stayed home most of the time.

 

Anyway, all my pleasant memories of my M2, then M3 cameras transferred to the M10.  Other than the viewfinder, it was just as nice.  It was comfortable to hold, fit me very well, and felt like it was a solid chunk of brass, steel, and glass.  Thanks mostly to this forum, I learned how to use it much better.

 

In my mind, the last "real" Leica M was the last camera that Leica still makes (I think) without a battery.  I was about to buy one of them, when people told me it would be smarter to just use my M3, which Don at Dag Cameras has made like new.

Back to this thread - I think the last Leica cameras were when they were still mechanical.  Since I used to use a Leicameter, I consider having one built into the camera body to be good.  Strangely, it doesn't bother me that I'm shooting electronic images rather than film.  I'm still creating negatives, and processing them - although now my darkroom has been replaced by my computer.

If the M10 is still a "real" Leica M, then so are the Leica M10 variants, especially the Leica without a rear display screen, but to me, that's impractical, as I want control over my settings.

 

 

For me, the M11 has gone a few steps too far.  I'm sure they are all for the better, but to me, it's not really an M.   It's still compact, uses the same lenses, and maybe I'll get used to thinking of it as an improved M, just as the M10 was an improved M.  If I wasn't retired, and was still getting a paycheck, it's very likely I would have my name on the waiting list.    I think I will be happier shooting my M10, but who knows.

To be honest, I guess I no longer care if something is a "real M" any more.  Leica is a rangefinder camera, and it's the only game in town.  Still, for better or worse, I most often pick up my D750 when I want to photograph something, but I pick up the M10 when I want to wander around looking for scenes waiting for me to capture.

 

Interesting reading:   https://www.wired.com/story/leica-m11-digital-rangefinder/

 

I wonder - am I still correct in thinking that the camera is just a tool, and it's the photographer who makes images?

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