Leica M (Type 240) Short Review

The new Leica M (Type 240)

It has been 3 weeks since the arrival of my Leica M (Type 240) which was ordered in late March this year and I have decided it is time to write up something on this. Over the past two weeks, I had opportunity to test the new M at night with a Noctilux 50mm f/1.0, Summilux 35mm ASPH (FLE) and Summilux 50mm ASPH.

Improvements over M9 / M9P, Ergonomics and Feel (9/10)

Although I have not had an opportunity to own one of the previous generation of Leica Ms, my friends (one with a M9 and the other with M9P) had kindly let me played around with their beloved Ms while I was still using Nikon D700 and a M6, waiting for the arrival of my new M.

The camera use and layout seemed more intuitive than those of M9s, especially the new thumb scroll wheel.

The shutter unit has been changed and improved over M9. It is now capable of faster continuous exposure, if one needs it, and much quieter shutter noise - although it is still no where as close to those of M3s, M6s and MPs.

Inclusions of Live View function had led to rearrangement of the buttons on the back panel of the Leica M and the first button on top left is now Live View instead of play. This will probably cause owners of M9s and M8s to hit Live View instinctively when reviewing their shots on the rear LCD. This should not pose a problem for users who do not frequently review their images on the LCD.

The new rear LCD is now a 3-inch T FT monitor (921,600 pixels) with scratch-resistant Corning® Gorilla® glass, offering higher resolution screen (compared to the M9). This allowed for more critical focus evaluation of images in the field. The screen also seemed more responsive, probably due to the new image processor used for the new M.

The rear selection thumb wheel has been redesigned and now similarly styled like most DSLRs with a slight bump allowing some form of support for your right thumb. This support unfortunately seemed to be insufficient for my case and I ended up purchasing Match Technical EP-10S for Leica M (http://www.matchtechnical.com/Pages/ThumbsUpEP10S.aspx). The additional support provided by the thumbs up was enough for me to justify the additional costs.

Powering the M is now a 7.4v 1800mAh battery upped from the previous 3.7v Li-ion battery. This is essentially two M9 batteries packed into one unit. The higher capacity and voltage coupled with the new CMOS sensor would theoretically give a higher image count per battery charge especially since the use of a CMOS sensor in place of a power hungry CCD sensor. Although there were claims of approximately 1000+ images per charge, with low usage of the rear monitor and live view function, I was only  able to take below 600 pictures before the battery ran out of juice but that was probably attributed to the fact that I left my camera around on the single charge over two weeks to accumulate 500 pictures.

Image Quality (10/10)

The image sensor used in the M is a new CMOS sensor developed by CMOSIS with microlenses specially designed for rangefinder lenses since they focus closer to the sensor compared with SLR lenses. CMOS sensors have several advantage over CCD sensors - power consumption, dynamic range and noise are some of these.

The new sensor seemed more tolerable to wrong exposure settings as it seemed to have an additional stop or two. It fairs well in low light with up to ISO3200 usable (easily). With such high ISO usable, one may not get Leica Noctiluxes for their low light shooting capability but more for its artistic values. With this in mind, I am considering Leica Super-Elmar 21mm f/3.4 M lens over the Summilux model since wide angle lenses generally give good depth of field unless the focus extremely near.

Below are some examples of images taken in low light condition with high ISO settings -

Noctilux 50mm, f/1, 1/250, ISO1600, Larry

Summilux 35mm ASPH FLE, f/1.4, 1/350, ISO800

Summilux 50mm ASPH, f/1.4, 1/500, ISO800

Summilux 35 ASPH FLE, f/1.4, 1/45, ISO1000

Summilux 35 ASPH FLE, f/1.4, 1/90, ISO1000

Summilux 35 ASPH FLE, f/1.4, 1/125, ISO1000

Summilux 35 ASPH FLE, f/1.4, 1/45, ISO1250

Summicron 50 APO ASPH, f/2, 1/350, ISO3200

 

The 50mm Summicron APO ASPH was technically flawless. But some people may actually like the flaws and character of lenses like the Noctilux f/1.0. I would think that having an album with all technically flawless image may be a little boring although I am in no position to say it would be! - since I could not afford a small f/2.0 prime lens that cost twice my 35mm FLE!

Built quality (10/10)

Unfortunately all this comes at SGD$10,800.00 (Body Only) in Singapore and had a relatively long waiting time (at the time of writing this, I waited for my unit for more than 5 months!). Compared to other similar systems (are there?) There seemed to be a lot of comparisons to Sony RX1 or other similar compacts which are actually not true rangefinders! Fujifilm X-Pro 1 or any of their X-series (at the moment of writing) are NOT rangefinder cameras - they do not focus by triangulation so there is no point in comparing against these.

Leica is currently the only manufacturer who does digital rangefinder systems so to be fair, I would give 10/10 considering the built quality and the new inclusive weather sealing but Leica did had some manufacturing issues during initial production and some cameras were recalled due to loosening lugs (BUT! Leica was willing to repair any damage that was caused from the lug failure - such as camera fall damage due to lug failure!).

Costs (4/10)

The only negative was the asking price of 10.8k. This was because the built quality and the rangefinder mechanism allows it to! The cost is a deterring factor to the mainstream users.

I believe most of us would like to see if Voigtlander (Bessa), Zeiss (Ikon) – actually both were manufactured by Cosina, or any other manufacturer introduce similar M-mount digital rangefinders in the future. Until then, Leica ask for such price because it can.

Conclusion

Overall, shooting experience with the new Leica M is best described by one word: addictive.

9.5 / 10