Still a 24MP sensor, 3 buttons instead of 5 for operation, still the same control dial on the back, no video option anymore, but an ISO dial instead – not much seems to have changed with the Leica M10 compared to the M (Type 240). But appearances can be deceiving! After about four weeks with the M10, I can say: for the first time, I have a genuinely modern camera – and it’s a Leica. And it’s exactly the ‘always-with-me camera’ I’ve been looking for for so long. But first things first…
Preliminary remarks:
- My M10 came with firmware version 1.0.2.0. Since the start of the week, version 1.3.4.0 has been available as the next firmware. (Leica certainly has an interesting way of numbering its versions…). Where this is relevant to the description of the Leica M10, I have indicated this in the text.
- I always find online camera reviews rather dubious – and that includes my own. I only use some of the available functions, so I can only write about those. I’m not a professional tester; I’m a user writing down his experiences. I’ve also got into the habit of not complaining about poor performance – I usually find workarounds if needed. That’s why I got on well with the M240 and can hold my own with analogue cameras too.
- Hardware reviews online are another matter entirely – they tend to be overwhelmingly positive. Suspiciously so. The reason isn’t hard to guess: affiliate links generate a tidy sum of money. Hence this note: I bought the camera myself, I have no ties to Leica, there are no affiliate links in this text, and I don’t need to sugar-coat my own spending.
TL;DR: The Leica M10 is Leica’s best rangefinder and is on a par with the latest models from other camera manufacturers. Its high ISO performance, built-in Wi-Fi and streamlined, intuitive control system are particularly impressive.
Comparison of the Leica M10 and M240 sensors:
The Leica M10’s sensor still has the same 24MP resolution as its predecessor. However, the colour rendering has changed. Here is an example of a direct comparison between the M10 and the M240. I have edited both images in Lightroom in exactly the same way (minimally). I set the white balance manually on both cameras. Both images have the same temperature and the same toning values, yet they still look different.
The Leica M10’s colour rendering has a slight greenish cast. On the one hand, this is easy to correct, and on the other, it works well for portraits. I was already impressed by the Leica’s much more nuanced handling of colours (compared to my Nikons, for example) back when I had the M240. That hasn’t changed, of course. And there’s something else you can see in this image comparison: at ISO 400, there’s no difference between the two cameras in terms of noise or dynamic range. Even at ISO 800, I couldn’t detect any significant differences. So if you mainly shoot at low ISO settings, there’s no need for an upgrade. That was also why I was initially a bit underwhelmed by my new Leica purchase. This impression was further reinforced by the sensor’s continued sensitivity to overexposure. You can cross the term ‘highlight recovery’ off a Leica user’s vocabulary.
However, my initial disillusionment gradually faded with each day I spent photographing with the Leica M10.
High ISO:
I very quickly noticed that the noise performance has improved significantly; this is particularly evident when the shadows are pushed up. The following example – admittedly not a particularly attractive one – clearly illustrates one of the weak points of the now four-year-old M (Model 240). Each shot was taken at ISO 1600, f/2 and a shutter speed of 1/12s. The first image shows the full shot as I took it. Next, you can see the versions from the M10 and the M240, edited in Lightroom solely for exposure – each brightened by 3 stops without any further adjustments. (Click to enlarge the images.) The M240’s characteristic banding is clearly visible in the bluish areas of the image – horizontal stripes across the frame. Naturally, the noise is also quite different.
If you look at the cable colours in the bottom right-hand corner, you’ll also see that Leica now reads the sensor data differently and apparently interpolates colour information differently in order to minimise colour noise. The red channel in particular suffers slightly as a result, and when shooting at high ISO, it makes sense to boost this channel during RAW processing.
How to get around the issue
Just so there’s no misunderstanding: if you’re familiar with the banding issue on the old M(240), you simply avoid it. When I used to take photos in the dark, I’d simply overexpose. At night, blown-out highlights reflect human perception of the scene more accurately than during the day. Of course, it’s a reassuring feeling when you suddenly have some leeway, and that’s exactly what the Leica M10 now offers.
High ISO settings have never been Leica’s strong point. But the M10 is just as groundbreaking as my Nikon D3 was back then! Now I can set the ISO to five figures and still get usable shots – the one below was taken at ISO 16,000. And that’s with a Leica. Unbelievable!
Even at ISO 6400, the details are rendered very well, as can be clearly seen in the hair of the young person in the foreground.
Viewfinder:
When the Leica M10 was unveiled, the viewfinder was touted as a significant improvement on the previous model. I can’t really confirm that. To my mind, the improvements in size and clarity are rather minimal. As a spectacle wearer, I still can’t see the 28mm framing lines. On that point, I clearly disagree with Leica’s marketing. But I don’t really care (see the preliminary remark above), the framing lines don’t define the composition with 100% accuracy. If it ever does matter to me, I’ll use Live View, the clip-on viewfinder, or crop the image afterwards in my chosen image-editing programme. Yes, it’s sacrilege – I crop! OneEleven. However, as I said two sentences ago, I usually don’t really care.
I still believe that a rangefinder’s viewfinder design is the best choice for well-composed photographs. The precision of a Leica viewfinder is unrivalled on the market.
User concept:
Three millimetres really can make a difference. Compared to the M240, the Leica M10 is 3 millimetres slimmer and 20g lighter. That doesn’t sound like a significant improvement, and yet the M10 sits wonderfully in the hand, whereas the M240 feels almost like Moby Dick. Apart from a few millimetres in height, Leica has truly succeeded in bringing the old analogue M-series cameras into the digital age. If you look at the differences between analogue and digital bodies from all other camera manufacturers, this is genuinely impressive. There is no smaller 35mm camera with interchangeable lenses. (Don’t give me any of that Sony stuff – the heading here is ‘user concept’.)
With just three buttons on the back of the camera, Leica has created a wonderfully minimalist control system – and I use the Live View button so rarely that I could easily do without it. The menu has also been streamlined. There isn’t even an option to select a colour space, as this doesn’t matter with RAW files anyway, and JPGs are embedded with sRGB, which can be displayed on any system without issue. In the new favourites menu, I can quickly access the options I use most frequently. It would be nice if I could also determine the order myself. But perhaps that’s still to come. With the new firmware, the number of selectable favourites in the menu has been doubled.
Monitor:
The monitor is slightly larger than the previous model. Image playback has been greatly simplified. There are now only two views: the full image or a display showing the key information, which I can customise in the menu.
I particularly like the playful touch in the way the image count is displayed: not only do I see the number of the image currently on screen (58 in the example above), but a small green dot on the white line shows the position of the displayed image within all the images on my memory card. It reminds me of the old film indicator on Hasselblad magazines.
By the way, the info screen now also shows how many images the memory card can probably hold. And I can zoom in really close on the image display using the thumb wheel without needing to shoot JPGs alongside the RAW files. Every DNG RAW file has a full-resolution JPG embedded in it – just like with all modern cameras (to my knowledge). This is actually a new feature for Leica and increases both the number of images that fit on the memory card and user convenience.
ISO wheel:
The standout hardware feature of the new M10 is, of course, the new ISO dial. It is modelled on the old film rewind button and makes it very quick to set the correct ISO.
The control dial is brilliantly secured against accidental adjustment, yet incredibly quick to use. This means that, even in the freezing temperatures of recent weeks, I can operate the Leica M10 entirely whilst wearing gloves. Brilliant!
Response times:
One welcome improvement is the M10’s significantly faster start-up time compared to the M240. I now wait around 50% less time before I can start shooting. That’s still almost a second longer than with my Nikons, but it’s fast enough that I don’t have to wait noticeably for the camera. Even though the M10 can now shoot 5 frames per second and has twice the buffer size (2GB instead of 1GB) of the M240, it still doesn’t support fast SD cards. Writing the burst images to the memory card simply takes too long. That’s not 2017-standard and urgently needs improving. Fortunately, this isn’t as noticeable in everyday photography as I initially thought. And it has the advantage that I can continue to buy the slow, inexpensive SD cards. With firmware 1.3.4.0, you can now even use 128GB cards, which I never do and wouldn’t recommend either.
The autofocus is still rubbish, but the shutter lag remains top-notch. Thanks to the viewfinder, I can keep a close eye on every situation in real time, and every shot records exactly what I see.
The benefits of the “optical viewfinder” are now gradually being incorporated into the electronic viewfinder. Live View response time has been significantly improved. The “blackout time” between two shots has been noticeably reduced once again in firmware version 1.3.4.0 and is now at a very usable level. With the clip-on viewfinder (Visioflex Type 20), it is now possible, for the first time, to adjust its magnification. This allows for focusing even with the Noctilux at the edges of the frame.
Although the batteries in the Leica M10 are smaller and using Wi-Fi requires extra power, I can still get through a full day of photography on a single battery.
Wi-Fi:
And no sooner have you caught your breath after the breathtaking high ISO performance than you realise that, with the built-in Wi-Fi and the accompanying app (currently only for Apple devices), you really do have a modern camera in your hands.OK, the current firmware version 1.0.2.0 still has a few minor bugs, but they’re nothing to worry about and don’t detract from the camera’s usability. The last bugs were ironed out with firmware version 1.3.4.0. Now I just hope that the EXIF data isn’t lost when transferring the image files. Because my name is in there. That’s definitely an important point when it comes to proving copyright later on – just in case something goes wrong on social media…
That way, I can post a photo on Twitter whilst I’m still on the plane.
Thicker than an iPhone 7+, but no bigger, and boasting all the features you’d expect from a proper camera, the Leica M10 really is the perfect “always-with-you camera”! Especially as it fits neatly into your wallet…
Conclusion:
With the Leica M10, Leica has created a camera that is virtually perfect. Combined with the best lenses of this size on the market, using the M10 is a joy every single day. It’s fantastic that, despite the 50-year-old design, they’ve managed to make the leap into new technology. I won’t be parting with the M10 any time soon…
