Is the M10 worth it if...

[Ronazle]

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17 minutes ago, Jeff S said:

I’ve owned the M8.2 (two), M(9)Monochrom, M240, M10, M10-R and M10 Monochrom. Zero issues with any, but I now use the latter two because  each is a better camera for me in useful respects than the one sold.  

The M240 was a capable camera, but the M10 was superior and more enjoyable for me. I always demo or rent in advance of purchase, and buy from reputable dealers with warranty and return policies.  To each his/her own.

I can duplicate and agree with almost everything said by Jeff and recently bought a late model silver m10 from a Leica dealer by mail.  It is to back up my 10R!  I wish all the modern Leicas had  easy to get batteries (a recent problem) but one selects from what is available and practical.  My M8s and M-9s had most of the known faults and I had long fix waits.  Leica gave me a new 240 loaner once which i used in rainstoms in the Carribean,....it worked flawlessly and was much more reliable than the others of its time.  My final configuration m9 and M8 are still working, but generally I dont use them seriously if I can avoid it.  The 10R is wonderful and the 10 is quite good.  I never use video functions so that attraction on some models is non-existent. Almost bought a monochrome, but didn't.  Regards, Ron

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[Jeff S]

6 minutes ago, Ronazle said:

I can duplicate and agree with almost everything said by Jeff and recently bought a late model silver m10 from a Leica dealer by mail.  It is to back up my 10R!  I wish all the modern Leicas had  easy to get batteries (a recent problem) but one selects from what is available and practical.  My M8s and M-9s had most of the known faults and I had long fix waits.  Leica gave me a new 240 loaner once which i used in rainstoms in the Carribean,....it worked flawlessly and was much more reliable than the others of its time.  My final configuration m9 and M8 are still working, but generally I dont use them seriously if I can avoid it.  The 10R is wonderful and the 10 is quite good.  I never use video functions so that attraction on some models is non-existent. Almost bought a monochrome, but didn't.  Regards, Ron

But I had no repair issues or wait times with any, and traded my older models (except the M Monochrom) for the newer model. No old backups needed. And unlike you, the Monochroms (M9/10) are my favorite cameras. The SL2 with 24-90 serves for everything that my M bodies don’t optimize, including weather sealing.

[Ronazle]

I owned my m8 and m9 during the various developmental and crisis periods.  Only once, other than the well known problems that were dealt with (m8 IR problems, m9 sensor problems) by Leica slowly,  I had no shutter or other problems, even rf alignment has held well.  When I need thru the lens accuracy i use the old mechanical Visos which work fine for my limited non RF use.  I almost, more than once, bought monos but couldn't afford borth at any one time and family photos are important  Probably the monos make the best Leica photos ever made.  My first Leica was a IIIC and I shot kodachrome when I could afford, but shot, developed, and printed (printon process) Ansco Color or for the most part B&W.  At that time there was only (in the US) Kodachrome and Ansco Color (circa 1952 or 1953) on a practical level. I am old, Regards, Ron

Edited May 16 by Ronazle
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[Jeff S]

I was never an early adopter.  Skipped M8 for M8.2, skipped M9 and bought Monochrom version used with new sensor and Leica warranty, etc.  At near 75 (and 4 darkrooms over 30 year period), not a spring chicken; just different purchase philosophy.

[Ronazle]

47 minutes ago, Jeff S said:

I was never an early adopter.  Skipped M8 for M8.2, skipped M9 and bought Monochrome version used with new sensor and Leica warranty, etc.  At near 75 (and 4 darkrooms over 30 year period), not a spring chicken; just different purchase philosophy.

Until the m8 neither was I an early adopter. The newest Leica bodies I had at that time were M-3s.  However, the attraction of a digital Leica (the M8) was too much. Quite honestly, I would have dropped out except for the lenses I already possessed and the inability of my astigmatism ravaged eyes to quickly focus through a pentaprism of any sort.....so I stuck with rfdr Leicas, etc, etc.,  I still have a fairly well equipped Hassy that I don't use. , regards, ron

Edited May 16 by Ronazle

[Patarei]

I bough a second hand M10 a couple of years ago, and it was a real lemon.

I had to send it to Wetzlar for repair, two times, and it was still not working as it should. The problem was not with the iso dial. They repaired the main printed circuit. Anyway, I sold the M10 and of course told the buyer about the problem.

I did however liked the M10 very much, so last week I bought a "new" M10 with two year warranty from a Leica store in Denmark. 

Also had a Leica M240 which also was my first digital Leica. I really liked that camera. Regretted that I sold it. I now have a Leica M246 that most often works just fine.

 

[adan]

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On 5/15/2025 at 10:15 PM, mottykytu said:

Don't know if the M10 experience really worth a Summicron V5 more than the MP240?

I used M9s for 7.5 years.

I skipped the M240 series because I did not see any worthwhile performance improvements, and it had some undesirable characterisitics for me - lost the full-time natural-light illumination of the framelines, slightly bulkier, reddish color rendering.

I jumped on the M10 in 2017 as soon as it became available, because it improved on the M9 and/or M240 in these ways:

- revised viewfinder/rangefinder - more stable calibration, easier to users to adjust, higher magnification (0.73x vs 0.68x)
- ISO up to 10000 without banded noise (vs 1600 for the M9 and 2500 for the M240)
- less magenta-red native color rendering
- more compact size
- quieter, crisper shutter action
- ISO dial in addition to menu-diving
- lens menu that retains in memory any one (1) uncoded lens's ID permanently (or at least until the user chooses to change it)
- and of course the M9 sensor corrosion problem, which had become "public" by then

I don't pay much attention to "the experience" (except for the essential Leica M features of split-image manual focusing, and very compact, light-weight lenses - for my purposes,  the only reason to use any Leica products at all).

But those performance improvements, especially as they affected use of longer or faster lenses (135mm f/4 or 75mm f/1.4 in particular) finally made up for the loss of the M9s' natural-light framelines.

If few or none of those particular characteristics are important, then the M240 will probably serve just as well.

[mottykytu]

1 hour ago, adan said:

I used M9s for 7.5 years.

I skipped the M240 series because I did not see any worthwhile performance improvements, and it had some undesirable characterisitics for me - lost the full-time natural-light illumination of the framelines, slightly bulkier, reddish color rendering.

I jumped on the M10 in 2017 as soon as it became available, because it improved on the M9 and/or M240 in these ways:

- revised viewfinder/rangefinder - more stable calibration, easier to users to adjust, higher magnification (0.73x vs 0.68x)
- ISO up to 10000 without banded noise (vs 1600 for the M9 and 2500 for the M240)
- less magenta-red native color rendering
- more compact size
- quieter, crisper shutter action
- ISO dial in addition to menu-diving
- lens menu that retains in memory any one (1) uncoded lens's ID permanently (or at least until the user chooses to change it)
- and of course the M9 sensor corrosion problem, which had become "public" by then

I don't pay much attention to "the experience" (except for the essential Leica M features of split-image manual focusing, and very compact, light-weight lenses - for my purposes,  the only reason to use any Leica products at all).

But those performance improvements, especially as they affected use of longer or faster lenses (135mm f/4 or 75mm f/1.4 in particular) finally made up for the loss of the M9s' natural-light framelines.

If few or none of those particular characteristics are important, then the M240 will probably serve just as well.

Agree, but if you desire the Full-time natural-light framelines, The M10 also cannot bring it to you, they permanently (I think) remove it from M DIgital body after The M9

So if you really need it, M9 series and M films is the only choice !

BTW the M10 have one of the loudest Shutter action compare to other M digitals ( even MP240 more quiet than it) , it is not until the M10-P the Shutter become silent...

The best thing M10 surpass the MP240 it is the ISO performance in Low light and the great ergonomic experience !

Edited May 18 by mottykytu

[Helge]

vor 23 Minuten schrieb mottykytu:

…

So if you really need it, M9 series and M films is the only choice !

…

Who would „really need“ this? 😀😀😀

[mottykytu]

1 hour ago, Helge said:

Who would „really need“ this? 😀😀😀

The man him-self state he need it,

Didn't you read through ?

[adan]

2 hours ago, mottykytu said:

Agree, but if you desire the Full-time natural-light framelines, The M10 also cannot bring it to you, they permanently (I think) remove it from M DIgital body after The M9

So if you really need it, M9 series and M films is the only choice !

The M9 frameline illumination was nice - and worth more to me than the M240 offered.

But it was not a necessity, and once the M10 offered a lot more in exchange for it, the M10 was easily worth the trade-off. 😁

[ELAN]

3 hours ago, mottykytu said:

BTW the M10 have one of the loudest Shutter action compare to other M digitals ( even MP240 more quiet than it) , it is not until the M10-P the Shutter become silent...

The shutter on my M10 is a little quieter than the shutter on my M240-P.  The shutter of the M10-P/R is indeed quieter than all other Ms, yet it is not silent.

[Helge]

vor 2 Stunden schrieb mottykytu:

The man him-self state he need it,

Didn't you read through ?

He doesn’t „need“ it, he only liked it 😃

[m-856]

I prefer the M240 series to the M10 for photos that should not look so "smoothly" calculated

[Elliot Harper]

20 hours ago, mottykytu said:

The man him-self state he need it,

Didn't you read through ?

Why are you here asking opinions then?

You seem to determine that m240 is better than m10. So keep it, it’s your money

Edited May 19 by Elliot Harper

[mottykytu]

3 hours ago, Elliot Harper said:

Why are you here asking opinions then?

You seem to determine that m240 is better than m10. So keep it, it’s your money

No I don't, I really like the M10 and looking to buy it, but I don't Sugar coat the M10 and say it is better in ANYWAY than the M240
 

[charlesphoto99]

10 minutes ago, mottykytu said:

No I don't, I really like the M10 and looking to buy it, but I don't Sugar coat the M10 and say it is better in ANYWAY than the M240
 

Get the 240 and be done with it as that is what you've convinced yourself is the 'best.' Esp as you seem to know nothing about the M10. I got over 93,000 pics taken with mine with nary an issue before trading it in for an M10-R black paint. Unfortunately that one has been back to Leica for repair (once for an rf calibration, and once for the back buttons not working above a certain temp). It also has about 90K files taken. Nearly 70K with my M9. Thing is, if you need absolute reliability, then look elsewhere than Leica, film or digital. It just goes with the territory of being a fairly bespoke, hand made item. Not an excuse that they shouldn't do better, just the reality, and reality can be frustrating at times. 

[Helge]

vor einer Stunde schrieb mottykytu:

No I don't, I really like the M10 and looking to buy it, but I don't Sugar coat the M10 and say it is better in ANYWAY than the M240
 

Nobody did sugar coat the M10, only facts and personal experienced have been told.

Nobody did say it is better in anyway. You need to really understand what people are telling you. Everything is said, @adan gave you a pretty comprehensive list.

Before you start now arguing again against things nobody said, go now and make your decision, you‘ve got really everything to make it.

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[pgh]

I’d rather sell all 4 of my various m10 series bodies than shoot 240 that worked perfectly.
“Better” is subjective, but to my mind the m10 is the one time Leica got it closest to the truth. It is absolutely better for my preferences. 

And no, m10s are not perfect nor perfectly reliable. No digital M ever been. Leica has the worst reliability out of every camera manufacturer probably, but the 240 isn’t exempt and the m10 is not demonstrably worse and a lot of complaints on a forum isn’t “data” in any useful sense - certainly not in the way you’re claiming.
 

My M8 came with problems and everything since then has but the m10s - including my early model one I’ve now had for 8 years and just was shooting with today - have been the most reliable over the longest time for me. And not a single issue with the ISO dial. 

[jakontil]

On 5/16/2025 at 8:57 PM, mottykytu said:

Which also show that the m10 ISO dial problems happen much more frequently than any MP240's problems, doesn't it ?

I had the m240 before getting the m10 on early release.. whilst i was concerned bout the iso dials back then, i managed to escape after 3 years owning it before getting the m10D and the safari.. then the black paint.. thankfully all were oke

besides the btter IQ on high iso, and lack of video, i found d nothing else what makes m10 better than m240.. however i feel that the M10 is what M digital should have been in terms of form factor

but if u r not sure bout its reliability, the m240 is a great camera with longer battery life