M10 Base ISO

[AceVentura1986]

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Hello, all. As I stated in a separate thread, I just bought a used M10 from Leicastore Miami. I see that the ISO dial begins at 100 but I've read elsewhere that the true base ISO is 200. Is this correct? I don't really care one way or the other but I'd rather shoot at true base whenever possible.

Thanks in advance.

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[charlesphoto99]

4 minutes ago, AceVentura1986 said:

Hello, all. As I stated in a separate thread, I just bought a used M10 from Leicastore Miami. I see that the ISO dial begins at 100 but I've read elsewhere that the true base ISO is 200. Is this correct? I don't really care one way or the other but I'd rather shoot at true base whenever possible.

Thanks in advance.

Yes, correct, 100 is more of a pull if I recall. M10-R the true base iso is 100 (which is what I shoot now). 

[AceVentura1986]

5 minutes ago, charlesphoto99 said:

Yes, correct, 100 is more of a pull if I recall. M10-R the true base iso is 100 (which is what I shoot now). 

Great. Thanks.

[jdlaing]

1 hour ago, AceVentura1986 said:

Hello, all. As I stated in a separate thread, I just bought a used M10 from Leicastore Miami. I see that the ISO dial begins at 100 but I've read elsewhere that the true base ISO is 200. Is this correct? I don't really care one way or the other but I'd rather shoot at true base whenever possible.

Thanks in advance.

If memory serves it’s 160 but 200 is just about the same, if not a little better.

[M11 for me]

If I remember well the Auto ISO will set the M10 to the value 200 as the lowest ISO value. This has changed in some firmware update in the beginning of the M10. At the launch of the M10 the lowest value was 100 when in Auto ISO.

The true base ISO is actually around 160 . . .

Hope that I remember correctly.

[evikne]

When the M10 was new in the summer of 2017, I took most of my photos at ISO 100, because I thought that was the best. This led to a lot of burnt-out images. Later, I learned to avoid ISO 100 and use 200 instead, which was much better.

But even with ISO 200, I've learned from experience that you shouldn't overexpose with the M10. If an image is overexposed by 1 stop and I decrease the exposure in LR, it doesn't give the same result as if I increase the exposure on an image that is underexposed by 1 stop. If I decrease the exposure, the midtones will be darker, but the highlights will not follow. This could of course be an LR thing, I haven't tried with other software. But at least I get much more natural results when I increase the exposure, and it can be increased a lot.

[crons]

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On 6/28/2024 at 8:55 PM, AceVentura1986 said:

Hello, all. As I stated in a separate thread, I just bought a used M10 from Leicastore Miami. I see that the ISO dial begins at 100 but I've read elsewhere that the true base ISO is 200. Is this correct? I don't really care one way or the other but I'd rather shoot at true base whenever possible.

Thanks in advance.

The camera has a native base ISO of 200 and ISO100 is a pull setting. 

Even if I had a camera that went to ISO50 I still take most of my photos at ISO400. The king of all ISO'S. 

Edited June 29, 2024 by crons

[adan]

22 minutes ago, crons said:

The camera has a native base ISO of 200 and ISO100 is a pull setting. 

Actually, Leica's own Stefan Daniel said that the "base" ISO for the M10 is "somewhere between" 125 and 160 (maybe 133).

100 is (electronically) a slight pull, and 200 is a slight push.

.....................

All of this is "old news," having been discussed extensively seven years ago in 2017.

(But just as reminder, this is for the original M10/M10-P - the M10-R/M have a different sensor and firmware entirely).

Personally, I have used full-time exposure compensation of minus-0.7 or minus-0.3 with every single Leica M digital I have ever used.

Because there is far more leeway to recover shadow details than blown highlights.

The M10 in particular has huge latitude to open up dark shadows. A least a couple of stops worth. All of its DR is placed in the shadows.

M10 image (2017) straight out of camera.

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Same M10 image - what is actually there to see, with correct shadow recovery.

 

[crons]

3 hours ago, adan said:

Because there is far more leeway to recover shadow details than blown highlights.

100%  I've learned that slowly. 

[AceVentura1986]

Well, then it’ll shoot somewhat similar to my M10M. I tend to under expose with that camera in order to preserve the highlights. I’m very comfortable shooting that way.