Nice summary, Brad. I got to test the very same camera, but I was lucky that the battery was operational.
My very first impressions
1. Build is solid, incredibly solid. The Best I have held in many ways. Feels like a tank could run over it, and it would still work
2. EVF: Truly incredible. Close to viewing through a window finder, and about as good as it could get...most impressive, and the most notable "wow" feature of the camera"
2. The camera is bigger than I thought, but felt nice in my hands. That being said, when mounted with the Noctilux f/0.95, the camera/lens combo created some hand fatigue rather rapidly...
3. Like Brad, i mounted the 50 APO, which is a marvelous performed on the camera, but it looks funny, too small, yet the camera was much more easy to handle
4. I tested the 80-200 Vario-Elmar f/4 R lens on this camera. Several R users in the audience commented that the look and feel with this camera was R like. The lens was easy to focus and pleasant to use, but the whole thing was bulky (not a street shooter)
5. The 24-90 is very fast, and both AF-C and AF-S tracking was impressive. This camera will perform with that lens, but it does, as Brad said, make the camera an SLR sized rig...does not feel at all like the A7 series in its size, and Brad's A7RII and 24-70 lens looked small and cheap in comparison
6. Build is top notch...Maybe the best I have ever seen. Impressive, solid.
7. The user interface may drive some people crazy...the unmarked buttons and scrolling are not particularly intutive, so I'd want to set the camera's buttons to my needed pre-sets and be done with it
8. I am not sure i am huge fan of the focus peaking imprelemntation, as I was instructed to use it...Using one of the pre-set 4 buttons to magnify did not seem to be an elegant solution for M lenses, but with a VF that good, I am not sure that focus mag is really needed most of the time
9. Colors were Q like in some ways, M240 like in others....I need to get a better asssesment, as this was indoors in fluorescent light. Challenging for a camera to handle.
I am more conflicted than ever about the camera. While I appreciate the 24-90 zoom's performance, it is huge and makes the camera, to me, feel very bulky. I am used to the "M" style of shooting, and this lens makes the camera feel like an SLR. When using M lenses, the experience becomes more enjoyable, but there's no AF to take advantage of. I see future primes as a great step forward for this camera, as long as lens size can be managed. What I really want is an update of the M240, but this camera does many things right and is worthy of the Leica name. It just seems to tackle a different, "pro" audience, but I am not sure how well it will tackle it with 1 lens available....
Ultimately, more time is needed....until then, a few shots to share:, mainly with the Noct f/0.95, APO 50, or 80-200 f/4