Probably a bit of a strange question on the M240…

[Life By Stills]

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Hi all,

Hope everyone is doing well and looking forward to Christmas - one month to go until Christmas Eve!

I have been looking for an alternative to my M10-R as a cheaper body for when I’m stuck in the midst of protesters chucking things here and there, and was looking at getting an M240 / M262. I was wondering how the M240 performs and what ISO might I want to consider as my “maximum” for usable photos. I have seen some people say 800, some say 1600. But I’ve also seen some people mention here 6400. I know this will depend on use case / personal preference, but would like to gather as many opinions / as much intel as you lovely folks on here might have.

I know I could look to the M10 too which may be a better option as at least they share battery with my M10-R, but am not fussed about that as I can also share batters with my M246 if I get an M240. Also, there is something I like about the longer battery life of the M240 family.

Would love to hear your thoughts.

Many thanks, everyone!

[Al Brown]

Going from M10-R to M240 will be like moving from a Range Rover to a Defender.
The highest I did go on my M240 was 1600 ISO. Then it was 3200 ISO on the M10 and 6400 on M10-R.

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[lct]

Having both M11 and M240 bodies i would say that the latter is a 3200 iso camera if you don't underexpose too much. Otherwise it will become a 6400 or 12800 iso camera sort of and will suffer from banding you will not like. BTW 6400 iso is just considered a "push" setting in the M240 specs. Better avoid it if you can. Now i did not see much difference on the M10, reason why i did not buy one, but it does not suffer from banding at 6400 iso while being noisy there. Enough difference to prefer the M10 if you shoot often in low light though.

[jaeger]

This ISO6400 distortion on M240 is priceless.  

[robert_parker]

If it's any help, this is what ISO 2000 looks like in Piccadilly around midnight - Summilux pe-Asph at f2.0 1/125s

I've always been a fan of the M240 rendering but unless I had good light, as here, I'd feel a bit wobbly at anything over ISO1200 unless I had a Noctilux with me.

To be honest, the M10 is more flexible with ISO and has a much better viewfinder if you want an all-terrain camera.

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Edited November 25, 2022 by robert_parker

[robert_parker]

This is ISO 2000 again Exif says 1.4 at 1/125s but the aperture might be wider as this was a Noctilux shot

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[mort linder]

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i had been using an m8 , and purchased an m240 because it is full frame and i could use a higher iso . i have set the camera to auto iso with a top at 6400

and a 125s shutter speed . i am only an amateur hobbyist , but i have not been unhappy with images that were at 6400 , as long as i got the exposure pretty

close . i used the camera at an indoor craft show with a 35mm summicron at f2.8 and iso 6400 , and the photos were fine . 

[LocalHero1953]

ISO 3200 was my limit when I had a M240.

[SergioV]

I think with higher ISOs you must be very careful with the exposure to get correct results.

Here are some samples at ISOs from 800 to 6400 :

ISO 800

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ISO 1600

 

ISO 3200

 

ISO 6400

 

 

 

[tom.w.bn]

vor 47 Minuten schrieb SergioV:

I think with higher ISOs you must be very careful with the exposure to get correct results.

Here are some samples at ISOs from 800 to 6400 :

ISO 800

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ISO 1600

 

ISO 3200

 

ISO 6400

 

 

 

I personally think that tests like these are pointless because there is enought light in the scene. In such a situation the sensor/processor does not need to amplify the signals so much and does not need to "guess" information. It's a different game when it's really dark.

My experience with ISO6400 is: the image is directly for the bin. Never got an image I wanted to keep.

My limit is ISO1600. Most of the time you can push a bit in post processing if needed (up to 1 stop). With ISO3200 you can't push at all so 1600 is a usable upper limit for me.  A lot depends on how much digital noise you accept.

[SergioV]

1 hour ago, tom.w.bn said:

I personally think that tests like these are pointless because there is enought light in the scene. In such a situation the sensor/processor does not need to amplify the signals so much and does not need to "guess" information. It's a different game when it's really dark.

My experience with ISO6400 is: the image is directly for the bin. Never got an image I wanted to keep.

My limit is ISO1600. Most of the time you can push a bit in post processing if needed (up to 1 stop). With ISO3200 you can't push at all so 1600 is a usable upper limit for me.  A lot depends on how much digital noise you accept.

What is the limit for "enough light"? You need some light to get a photo whether it is ambient light or flash. If you have a look at EXIF data you see 1/60 second exposure at ISO 6400, that is pretty dark specially at the botton half of the photo.

Edited November 25, 2022 by SergioV

[RayD28]

For color, 1600 preferred max but would go to 3200 knowing it will require a lot of PP.  For B&W I had no hesitation going to 3200.  

[marchyman]

6 hours ago, RayD28 said:

For color, 1600 preferred max but would go to 3200 knowing it will require a lot of PP.  For B&W I had no hesitation going to 3200.  

I'd never thought of using a higher max ISO for B&W.  It makes sense as the objectionable part of the noise (to me, anyway) is the color noise..  Thank you.   I normally limit myself to 1600 on my M 262.

[tom.w.bn]

vor 22 Stunden schrieb SergioV:

What is the limit for "enough light"? You need some light to get a photo whether it is ambient light or flash. If you have a look at EXIF data you see 1/60 second exposure at ISO 6400, that is pretty dark specially at the botton half of the photo.

If you are happy with ISO6400 that's ok. But you see that most people here don't dare to touch ISO6400 with this camera.

[fotomas]

For me the limit is 3200 ASA. But then you have to get the exposure spot on. If you try to light this up in PP it's gone. So if possible I try to stay below 2500 ASA. Then there is some (small) room for adjustments left. Here some examples with situations on the egde:

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M 240, M-Elmarit 2,8/21mm ASPH, Full moon, 2000 ASA but shadows brighten up in PP, 1/6 second.

1250 ASA, 1/30 second.

Around midnight, 2000 ASA pushed afterwards, 1/6 second, M-Elmarit 2,8/21mm ASPH

1250 ASA, 1/60 second, M 240, M-Elmarit 2,8/21mm ASPH

No denoising software was used. Just plain C1.

And this is how the ooc version of this picture looked like befor PP, that you could imaging how much pushed it. Could be equal to 3200 ASA.

Would say the examples here are pretty much on the edge. The scene at midnight was near to pitch black in original. If there is some more light the results becomes much better. I could live with the color noise. Reminds me a bit on Autochromes, but the banding defines the limit. Would be nice to have a M 240 with an M10 chip. I prefere the concept of the M 240 over the other digital Ms, so I will stay with it. 😉 Because I like to have compact lenses I have only up to f 2.0. If you have Summiluxes or Noctiluxes the range of the camera of course becomes even much wider.

Edited November 26, 2022 by fotomas

[jaeger]

Nice shots.  you have very steady hands.  6400 ISO/ASA on black & white photos in the dark are very acceptable actually very cool, have you tried?😉  edit: (portraits & environmental portraits in high iso.)

Edited November 26, 2022 by jaeger

[fotomas]

vor 42 Minuten schrieb jaeger:

Nice shots.  you have very steady hands.  6400 ISO/ASA on black & white photos in the dark are very acceptable actually very cool, have you tried?😉  edit: (portraits & environmental portraits in high iso.)

Thanks!
I could imagine that. But on my M 240 chip you could see the banding rather clear above 3200 ASA (wonder if there might be differences between the chips in a series). Therefor I got a M 246 Monochrom for black & white in addition. There you could go up to 10.000 ASA.

Could you show us some examples?