LEICA M10

A review and Photo example of the LEICA M10.

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The lens for this photo example was a SUMMILUX M 50mm F1.4 ASPH.

Review

Usage
Overview
Rangefinders in the Digital Era.

M10とSUMMILUX35に使用 — SUMMILUX 35mm 2nd +LEICA M10

M10とNoctiluxに使用 — NOCTILUX 50/1 3rd +LEICA M10

1．Usage

The Leica M10 (hereafter referred to as M10) is the successor to the M typ240, and is a digital rangefinder camera called typ3656. I used to own one, but it is no longer available.

Due to the nature of the Leica M camera, it has not evolved much, but the details have been brushed up. This time, an ISO change dial has been newly installed on the left shoulder of the camera. Personally, I would prefer a ± dial for exposure compensation like Japanese cameras, but I understand that Leica means that the aperture ring on the lens is physical, so you should adjust the exposure with the shutter dial. In the first place, since A mode often does not reflect the photographer’s intentions, it would be better for M-type Leica users to get into the habit of shooting with the settings they prefer using manual settings.

Looking at the images taken with the Summilux 50mm to create this page, if you use a lens up to F1.4, you can take pictures with sufficient focus accuracy. However, it was difficult to reliably focus with the double image matching on the large aperture lens of the Noctilux and MS-ISM with the maximum aperture of F1, possibly due to the photographer’s lack of training.

In terms of focusing speed, the double image matching system of the rangefinder allows for quick focusing depending on the photographer’s skill, but if precise focus is required, the focusing accuracy of the double image matching is not sufficient. It may be possible to take pictures by shifting the focus as much as possible, but I do not want to actively use it that way as it would increase the amount of shooting data unnecessarily.

Because the looseness of the film feels just right for rangefinder cameras, I have decided to stop using digital rangefinder cameras with the Leica M10 for now, and I am enjoying film rangefinder cameras. I write about this in detail at the end of Rangefinders in the Digital Era.

2．Overview

The M10 is a model that inherits the Leica M number designation, and the major change from the M typ240 is that the body thickness is comparable to that of film cameras such as the M6, and the camera weight is slightly lighter.

The image sensor, the heart of the camera, has the same pixel count of 24 megapixels as the M typ240, but Leica calls it an improved new sensor. The sensor has been changed because the standard ISO sensitivity has been changed from ISO200 in the M typ240 to ISO100 in the M10.

Leica was open about sensor information up until the M typ240, but has stopped disclosing the names of companies involved in the design and manufacture of sensors installed in cameras from the M10 onwards.

The video recording function, which was said to be unnecessary in the M typ240, has been discontinued, but the live view function remains, and in addition to using the rear LCD, a 2.4 million dot electronic viewfinder called VISOFLEX (18767, typ020) is provided. This VISOFLEX can also be used with the Leica T series and the Leica X, a camera with a built-in lens. The 3.59 million dot VISOFLEX2, released at the same time as the M11, can also be used with the M10, but a firmware update is required, and you must accept the limitation that only the central 2.4 million dots of the VISOFLEX2 can be used when using it.

The viewfinder magnification, an important specification for the rangefinder, is 0.73x, which is the same as the 0.72x of the film M6. The bright frame LED viewfinder system is still used. It has been slightly increased from 0.68x of the previous model, the M typ240, to 0.73x, but there is no significant change in the way the viewfinder looks compared to the M typ240.

The battery of the Leica M10 is a thin battery called BP-SCL51, and the battery capacity is 1100 mAh, which is 2/3 of the battery capacity of the M typ240 and the M11, 1800mAh, so the battery life is not good. Although this battery has a small capacity, it was not adopted in the M11 series, which is almost the same size as the camera, and it was only adopted in the M10.

The M10 changed the way the camera bottom cover was operated, which was continued from the Leica M8, and the camera can now operate without the bottom cover. For this reason, some leather cases have a door that can be opened and closed at the bottom of the case, assuming that the bottom cover will not be used, so that the battery can be replaced. The M11, which pushed this idea, did away with the bottom cover, which was a tradition from the film era. The bottom cover, which was said to be a Leica’s unique feature, was abolished 16 years after the release of the M8 (2006). I think this gimmick could have been abolished earlier, but I feel that Leica is strange in dragging it out for so long.

3．Rangefinders in the Digital Era.

Here, I write about my personal resignation to digital rangefinder cameras, which are representative of the digital M-type Leicas.

EVF advantages
- When checking the focus position with the focus magnification function of the EVF, you can feel that the focus plane changes with a slight angle movement of the focus lever. It is difficult to achieve this level of focus precision with double image matching.
Expensive
- Equipping a rangefinder mechanism is very costly, and it seems pointless to invest in a function that is rarely used. Also, since it is an extension of the technology used since the M3, there is no functional improvement.
Design problems of the external EVF
- It probably has the same feeling as the external viewfinders of the past that only determine the shooting range, but it is not beautiful in terms of the camera design.

The biggest reason for this feeling is that I used the Leica M10 in combination with cameras equipped with high-performance EVFs such as the Leica SL typ601 and HASSELBLAD X1D.
When using both cameras, I overwhelmingly choose cameras with EVFs for ease of use, and looking at the data folder from the time I used both cameras, I can’t see that the M10 was used very often.

Of course, I owned a VISOFLEX that could be retrofitted to the M10, but when I attached the VISOFLEX to the M10, the style of the camera deteriorated, and when using the retrofitted VISOFLEX, it had a negative effect on the camera response, and I felt uncomfortable with the shooting sensation being different from when using a rangefinder. Therefore, I stopped using the M10 with the VISOFLEX attached.

I sold the M10 and went back to the M-P, but that didn’t last long, and with the ever-increasing pixel count of the image sensors released after the M10, such as the M10-R: 40 million pixels and the M11: 60 million pixels, it was a problem that could not be solved by lack of training, as I could not reliably focus with double image matching with my weakened eyesight. Also, this is just a personal issue, but the price that rises in proportion to the number of pixels makes it difficult for me to invest in it as my income is dwindling.

However, if a breakthrough in optical technology makes it possible to create a viewfinder with better focusing accuracy using a double image overlap method, I would like to use a digital rangefinder again.

With the current rangefinder mechanism extended from the M3, even the 18 megapixels of the Leica M9 are excessive for a sensor to be used in a digital camera, and I think a sensor with about 12 to 15 megapixels would be sufficient.

I’ve been writing excuses, but the Leica M10 is a very impressive camera that made me put an end to using rangefinder digital cameras. After all, I think you can’t know the truth for yourself unless you actually use anything.

As of 2024, I don’t have an M-type digital camera, and the only M-type Leica camera I have is the film camera Hexar RF Limited. When shooting with this, I feel that it’s good to shoot M-type Leicas at a pace of about 24 or 36 sheets of film.

Specification

Model name	M typ240	M10	M10-R	M11
Camera effective pixel count	2400m	2400m	4089m	6030m
Number of recording pixels	5,976 x 3,992	5,976 x 3,992	7,864 × 5,200	9,528 x 6,328
Image sensor type	CMOS	←	←	←
Image sensor maker	CMOSIS	?	?	?
Sensor Size	35mm Full size 35.8 x 23.9mm	←	←	←
Lowest sensitivity	200	100	←	64
Back LCD	3.0 92m dots	3.0 104m dots	←	2.95 233m dots
ファインダー倍率	0.68	0.73	←	←
EVF	EVF2	VISOFLEX VISOFLEX2*1	←	VISOFLEX2
Max shutter speed	1/4000	←	←	←
Battery model	BP-SCL2 *2	BP-SCL5 *2	←	BP-SCL7 *2
Battery Capacity	1800mAh	1100mAh	←	1800mAh
Touch screen	None	←	Exist	←
Recorded media	SD,SDHC,SDXC	←	←	←
Release date	2013.3.20	2017.01.28	2020.7.24	2022.1.21
Size	142.0 x 88.5 ｘ 39.5	139×80×38.5	←	←
Weight(g)(with battery) Black model	680	660	←	530
Weight(g)(with battery) Silver model	↑	↑	←	640