Okay ... made my decision.
I stopped in at the camera shop and spent an hour and some with an M typ 240 and the three lenses that are the bulk of what I've been using on the M9—Summilux 35/1.4 v2, Nokton 50/1.5 (LTM), and Ultron 28/2. I set the 240 to JPEG+raw.
For each lens, I set the lens code to OFF and made twenty exposures are varying apertures, then set the lens code to the one I've been using on the M9 and made another 20 exposures. Then I made exposures to test all ISO settings with the Nokton 50. I turned on Live View and experimented with the focusing.
My impressions:
- The M 240 shutter and overall responsiveness is FAR better than the M9. Feels right, doesn't feel laggy or get blocked up with multiple single shots.
- The new viewfinder frame line illuminator is clean, crisp, and clear. Somehow, the view through viewfinder feels less cluttered. The rangefinder seemed about as crisp to align as with the M9, but overall the viewfinder experience is better.
- Now at home, I've imported all the exposures into Lightroom 5.7.1. Auto white balance in the JPEGs and raws is improved over the M9 in all the various shots, it's right on the money in most cases.
- All the shots where I was critically careful to set the focus and used ISO 1600 (high enough shutter speed) are bang on the money sharp, crisp, clean and noiseless. There is no banding apparent in any of the photos I made, even to the highest ISO setting.
- There's neither degradation nor loss in the rendering character of the 'Lux 35 v2 or Nokton 50. (They're no better than I see on film or on the M9, and no worse either.) Didn't really look hard for the Ultron, but it seems to be a less prone to color shifting.
- None of these three lenses, even with lens code set to OFF, show any color shifting. (The 28 and 35 show a very small amount with the M9.)
To me, this is a no-brainer. The M typ 240 is simply a better Leica M than the M9. As one ought to expect from an updated model ...
I've called Leica USA and confirmed that I'll take a black M-P on the exchange program. I'm mailing the check for it this afternoon ... They'll likely hold the check for two weeks or so, but eh? I don't use credit cards, and I'm not in a rush.
onwards!
G