"the camera doesn't make a bit of difference"

ernst haas

By 默默富酷

January 19^th, 2017

story fist published on my facebook on 19/1/2017

through a recommendation, i was offered to have a crack at the leica m10 for several days before its official announcement. i probably spent more time ogling at the camera than making images with it. this is my personal account of the initial impressions of the camera. i am not sponsored by or obligated to leica to write this post. whiskey and insomnia were responsible.

the naming of the camera finally eliminated years of numerology confusion for me. i had the m7, m8, m9 and suddenly came the m240. i had to apply the logarithmic curve to predict how the germans might name the next camera, and the answer was m73494. thankfully, it is named m10.

leica m10 - more delectable than huat kueh

Mesmerizing

remember your first leica? she was captivating and a sight to behold. she was like your first love. then she got pregnant (m240) - still very lovely but chunky (with the video function). the leica m10 is akin to the post-natal m240 - more elegant, simpler and slimmer. yet she still retained that familiar charm and has matured beautifully.

the leica m10 sheds 20 grams off her previous form, that is like 1 stone in human terms. she is thinner by around half a cm, that is akin to losing 3 sizes off the jeans. that said, all these enhancements might be superfluous for the leica collectors/connoisseurs vis-a-vis their heavy cognac leather bag loaded with chrome lenses.

what is important to me is that i felt the leica m10 handled better than her digital ancestors.

Minimalistic

the leica m10 is the zen garden of the camera world. the number of operation buttons halved from 6 to 3. the menu screens were simplified. the underused video function has been retired. the M inscription vanished. Even the file sizes remained small.

i almost had the urge to break out in meditative yoga poses when i am near this camera. it was that tranquil.

it is so simple to navigate and use that i don't need to refer to the manual. it was also because i wasn't given one.

Massive

the viewfinder is amazing. period. i felt like a flightless superman with good vision. i am cancelling my lasik appointment.

like my waistline, my choice of lenses are getting wider. so this higher magnification viewfinder might not work towards my favour in the long run.

Monochrome-able

i mainly make black and white images and i have the leica monochrom (mm). so i am curious how the new leica m10 might be used for that purpose. i cranked the machine to use dng+jpg and use the monochrome filter and voila, i have the mm's spirit in this new body. the leica m10 is capable of seeing and producing monochrome photos but i will be still keeping my mm for a while.

1/60s, iso 100, 28mm, processed with silver efex

1/90s, iso 1000, 28mm, processed with silver efex

1/60s, iso 400, 28mm, processed with silver efex

Magical (almost)

my mate once quipped about a camera he had "the iso is so good i don't need to change light bulbs anymore". the leica m10 can operate up to iso 50,000. fifty freaking thousand. i have this theory that leica should price their m's relative to the iso ability. the m240 is around usd 6,400. fortunately, the new leica m10 will be priced with sanity.

i reckon i can use iso 20,000 comfortably with this camera, that is a massive 3 stop gain over the iso 3200 i currently use with my m240. now i can make creepy photos at night.

there are some ongoing debates on what is usable iso. 20,000 isn't going to smooth (for that you have the freaky meitu app). i can live with the noise and color shift at iso 20,000. your mileage will differ.

the following image is one example of high iso. i have not converted it to black and white but i would imagine it being decent.

More specifications

the specifications read like curriculum vitaes i received at work - impressive and lengthy. unlike some of the cvs, the leica m10 technical specifications are mainly true.

Misses

A couple of quirks i experienced with the pre-production unit - several of my dng files were corrupted and cannot be imported into lightroom. on two occasions, i could not switch between live-view and non live-view (powering off solved the issue, just like conversations with some of my apparent bosses).

the dials are a little stiff too. i wished i wouldn't need to pull up the iso dial to change the settings.

and in case you are wondering, in true m legacy, the camera hung.

i would love the new camera to have in-built gps too.

M-app

i was excited when i first got the loaner leica m10, mainly because the marketing people i picked the camera from are generally cute and this - wifi connectivity between the camera and my iphone. finally, stealth shooting with the leica m series using the iphone and transfer of images. i commented during my leica q review i did some time back:

now not only i look creepy, i have the technology to match.

here's the bummer.

the connection between the camera and the ios app is painfully slow - 25 seconds for the camera to become wifi-able, another 10-15 seconds for my iphone to connect with the camera wirelessly, 5 seconds to go through a 3-tap sequence to get the app to start interacting with the camera. that is a 45 second cycle to set this up. i remember the leica q wireless setup to be a lot speedier and less clunky.

and if the camera goes into sleep mode, it is the same cycle all over again. occasionally, the camera asked for the same password again. i wonder if it because my password was "wifi2slow".

i need this for street (or voyeurism, they are the same), i'm not shooting flowers or gross collection of rare antique lenses/cameras (i am sure no leica users buy equipment for that purpose, right?).

45 seconds is the download speed for a movie these days. i hope this might be improved significantly with firmware upgrade.

the layout of the app is simple and well-laid out. this is my 2nd most favorite app this week- the first is using the meitu app to make freaky androgynic photos of people.

"the camera doesn't make a bit of difference"

More images

the following images were edited from dng for exposure and down-sized for internet use. i chose leave the colors "as-is" for this post. a quick processing with vsco yields rather remarkable results.