Leica M10 is my first Leica M camera. I didn’t know there was big performance jump from Leica M-P (typ240). Then one day, my Leica M10 had a problem with a ISO dial, so I had to ship it to Germany for repair. During this waiting period, luckily I was able to borrow Leica M-P. It didn’t take long that I realized how great Leica M10 is compared with Leica M-P. First off, Leica M10 is slimmer than typ240. Secondly, it performs better at higher ISO. In my case, I consider ISO6400 useable with Leica M10 while ISO 1600 is maximum usable ISO with typ240.
Above images might be quite challenging with typ246 but with Leica M10, it’s no problem at all.
Transparent color
I don’t know if this is just me but I feel M10 produces much clear, transparent look and feel color while typ240 produces more thick vibrant color. I like rich color but with M10, I have a choice whether I will make the image more transparent feeling or thick rich color feeling at the time of post-processing.
Overall, Leica M10 produces more neutral color in raw image.
Weeks ago, Leica M10-R came out. It has the same form factor but with more resolution. Leica M10 24MP(mega-pixel) vs Leica M10-R 40MP. From various reviews, it appears that not only it has more resolution, it produces better quality with high ISO environment. Well, in my usage, I consume my photos on my iPad and iPhone 80% and print in 11 x14 (inch). I didn’t feel like I needed more resolution.
Some say, more resolution means, you could cut a portion of the image yet still usable. It’s like a digital zoom feature. Well, it might be useful in some cases, but I try not to crop my image. Because once it’s cropped, most cases, it doesn’t represent my original intention very well.
Besides, I am quite ok with high ISO performance with my Leica M10.
If you plan to purchase your first Leica M camera, Leica M10-R might be interesting. But I am very happy with my Leica M10. I also believe it would probably be my last digital Leica M system because I don’t feel any more need. With this being said, I’d like to encourage you to try Leica M10 first before investing more.
