Godfrey
Well-known member
I was in Leica Store - San Francisco yesterday to see the M10 in person. I had my M-D typ 262 with me to compare key differences.
The M10 is impressively slimmer in feel than the M-P but not so much slimmer in the hand compared to the M-D. A little bit, yes. The protrusion of the control bits and the LCD on the M-D is a little less intrusive than on the M-P but at least to my hands it has nowhere near the handling comfort of the M-D. Such is the price of having the display and buttons, I guess. It's not without merit but I still like the feel of the M-D more.
The viewfinder on the M10, however, is a revelation. Finally an M viewfinder that I can see all the frame lines from 28mm to 135 easily and comfortably, with my glasses on! The focusing patch is nicely a bit larger due to the magnification, making it easier to focus, and I can for the very first time see something outside of the 28mm frames. Frankly, when Leica introduces an "M-D10" model, it will be very difficult to resist it for this viewfinder alone.
I didn't spend too much time looking at the M10 ... the viewfinder difference was my biggest interest ... but the new, simpler menu structure and buttons are nice, the simplified on/off switch is much more to my liking than the off/single/continuous/self switch on the older models, and the M10's ISO dial is welcome but would take a little getting used to. I prefer the M-D's rear-mounted thumb dial for ISO setting, it works more ergonomically for my fingers, but of course is impossible with a big LCD on the back of the camera. I didn't make any exposures with the camera (no card in it...) but fired the shutter a few times: sounds almost identical to the M-D to my ears.
That's about it ... I liked the M10 very much, but will wait for Leica to produce an M-D version of it. I want that version of the optical viewfinder, but won't give up the handling feel and utter simplicity of the M-D for it.
G
The M10 is impressively slimmer in feel than the M-P but not so much slimmer in the hand compared to the M-D. A little bit, yes. The protrusion of the control bits and the LCD on the M-D is a little less intrusive than on the M-P but at least to my hands it has nowhere near the handling comfort of the M-D. Such is the price of having the display and buttons, I guess. It's not without merit but I still like the feel of the M-D more.
The viewfinder on the M10, however, is a revelation. Finally an M viewfinder that I can see all the frame lines from 28mm to 135 easily and comfortably, with my glasses on! The focusing patch is nicely a bit larger due to the magnification, making it easier to focus, and I can for the very first time see something outside of the 28mm frames. Frankly, when Leica introduces an "M-D10" model, it will be very difficult to resist it for this viewfinder alone.
I didn't spend too much time looking at the M10 ... the viewfinder difference was my biggest interest ... but the new, simpler menu structure and buttons are nice, the simplified on/off switch is much more to my liking than the off/single/continuous/self switch on the older models, and the M10's ISO dial is welcome but would take a little getting used to. I prefer the M-D's rear-mounted thumb dial for ISO setting, it works more ergonomically for my fingers, but of course is impossible with a big LCD on the back of the camera. I didn't make any exposures with the camera (no card in it...) but fired the shutter a few times: sounds almost identical to the M-D to my ears.
That's about it ... I liked the M10 very much, but will wait for Leica to produce an M-D version of it. I want that version of the optical viewfinder, but won't give up the handling feel and utter simplicity of the M-D for it.
G