Leica M10 Summilux 35mm vs…

Today I got the chance to try out a new camera. The Leica M10. Last year I pre-ordered the Leica M10, but the frustration of waiting got the better of me and I cancelled my ordered and chose the Leica M-D instead. This was a great decision for me. Last year I got back into shooting 35mm film with a Leica M4-P. However the novelty of film soon worn off for me with the expense of processing film every 5 minutes.

With the Leica M-D you don’t get the LCD screen so in effect you are shooting film. I have a huge collection of presets in my Lightroom Library from VSCO and others. So I can apply a chosen film stock filter to the images as they import into Lightroom and tell myself Ive shot film. It’s perfect for me. In fact with the number of images I take I reckon the M-D has paid for itself is film development costs already.

Anyway, the Leica M10 is a camera I’ve been interested in trying out since its launch and now in February 2018 I get a chance. So I took the M10 with the Leica 35mm Summilux down to Crosby Beach with my Leica M-D with the old Voigtländer 35mm F2.5 from my M4-P and my Hasselblad X1D and 45mm lens, this giving a 35mm equivalent.

I’ve mentioned before I’m a self confessed pixel peeper and rightly so, I am all about capturing maximum detail so I can present my images in the best quality prints here on my online gallery.

The Leica M-D is the sort of camera I just point and shoot, I don’t see it as a technical camera, however it does produce really beautiful images. In fact I think it produces better colour than the Hasselblad and that is really saying something. So, where would an M10 fit in my system. It would have to replace the M-D.

Here are several images taken with all three systems and while the M10 images are slightly different to the M-D images for me there’s no real advantage to swapping. I won’t say upgrading as I don’t see the M10 as an upgrade to the M-D.

My observations are as follows. The shutter sounds better on the M-D. I don’t like the screen on the back of the M10. Nothing wrong with it, I worry I’ll scratch it or it’ll catch on the buttons on my coat and damage it. The images look good, I’d say cooler than the M-D images. Easy to fix though. The menu system and extra features over the M-D are great, however, I don’t need them. What I love about the M-D is its simplicity. That is why I use it so much. I sling it over my shoulder and go, no worries about bumping it, scratches etc. It’s solid and as I’ve already defaced it with wet and dry, which I regret now, I’m thinking what more could go wrong. I’d be too scared to treat an M10 like this.

For me, you just can’t beat the Leica M-D. It’s raw and simple. No distractions. Just take the shot and move on. If it works great, if not, so what. It’s film and as such you have to learn it. Know where the metering will be etc. I love that. You don’t look at the screen and say yes that will do, you compose the image and click. The resulting files from the M-D never fail to impress me and I’m just not ready to give it up, with owning the X1D I don’t see a place for the M10 in my bag. The X1D is my technical camera. It produces images like no other camera I’ve had and I love slowing down the process and being really technical about my approach when using the X1D. The Leica is a fun camera. It has a different use for me. Now if I didn’t have a Hasselblad X1D I would certainly have the Leica M10. My only complaint about it after 24 hours of use is the sound of the shutter. Everything else is fantastic as you’d expect from a Leica Rangefinder.

All of these images are available as gallery quality prints…

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