Real-life limitations of the M (240/262) in low light

[Ewen]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Hello everyone,

It's my first time writing on this forum, and I'm probably going to ask questions that have been asked countless times before, but I'm looking for recent reviews.

I sold my SL2-S recently with the goal of buying my first digital rangefinder. As I mostly shoot on the streets, the SL2-S was great but is not exactly lightweight or discreet.
For creative and practical reasons, buying my first M camera is what I want right now.

Here's the issue, I love to shoot at night and I would even say, that's what I mainly do. The SL2-S had impressive results in very low light and even at very high ISO, but as I use fast lenses (f/1.4 - 1.8), I rarely need to go over 1600 ISO. 

I didn't want to spend much more than 3000-3500€ on my first M system, so I naturally thought of the M240/MP/M262 to get started, but I wonder how they actually behave at around 800-1600 ISO at night. I know they won't match the SL2-S in that regard, but that's not the goal.
Does noise actually look organic and random in darker areas or does it look like those repetitive lines and patterns you see in many digital cameras ? As I love to use Capture One for color-grading, is the older CMOS sensor actually good in dynamic range in those conditions ?

Is there any slight difference between the 240 and 262 ?

Or should I save a bit more and invest in an M10 ?

If some of you have actual examples of night shots taken with this generation of M cameras, I would be glad to see it, as I'm having a hard time finding recent, good quality low light shots from a Typ 240.

Thanks a lot guys !

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[John McMaster]

The night shots on this page were M(240) at 3200ISO (6400 usually gave banding)

https://johnmcmaster.com/PAW/2016/34/i

john

[fotomas]

Indeed this has been discussed before. For example here with some examples I have taken.
Unfortunately the side is broken and the pictures don't load correctly any more, but you can see them if you click on the link.

I also use C1 and all pictures was processed with it.

If you are fine with 800 - 1600 ASA the M 240 is OK for you. For me the limits is 3200 ASA, but then you have to expose spot on and can't light anything up in PP. With 2000 ASA you have some reserves.

[Luke_Miller]

I have no problem going up to ISO 6400 if I nail the exposure. Occassionally I will see banding at those levels, but Lightroom Denoise at about 35% cleans that up. At web sizes FF shots often require no noise processing.  If your tolerance for noise is "little to no observable noise at 100% view," then much lower ISOs are called for.  When I need noise processing Lightroom Denoise is excellent, but I dial it back to 30-35%.

Here is a download of an unedited M240 DNG shot at ISO 6400. You can see some slight banding in the upper right portion of the image. 

https://lukemiller.photos/photos/M240-6400.dng

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Luke_Miller