LEICA M10 REVIEW: 6 MONTHS LATER!

Hi All,
In todays video we talk about the Leica M10 as I have now owned the camera for 6 months! We talk about both the good and bad! and as a spoiler.... I absolutely love it! its a camera that helped reignite my love of photography last year!
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[@Eclectachrome]

Thanks for another great video! I'm not a Leica person but I still love watching your videos, seeing your photos that you make with them, and hearing your experiences :) :)

[@luigimonaco7826]

Because of battery life the M10-D is so incredible. Maybe if you just leave the display off you can also go almost an entire day with one battery. I even do not switch the camera off at all, just goes to sleep after 3-5 minutes (I even do not know the settings, says it all about how much I´m forced to care about battery life). For everything else I completely agree with what you said.

[@Eliehbk]

I do agree with you between the look of pics from M10 and M11. I went from 10 to 11 and find myself always tweaking the WB towards warmer tones. Great review!

[@Deetroiter]

Your review makes sense to me. One of the things I miss most about when I started photography (long before digital cameras were the norm) is the feeling and excitement of waiting to get your results back from the lab. Of course I always paid extra for one hour processing because a few days would just kill me lol. Sometimes I’d be disappointed in what I got back and sometimes I’d be excited about 2-3 of them out of 24. Seems like this m10 offers that same excitement in the sense that you’re not looking at an EVF that sucks the soul out of it all. It’s cool to see exactly what your picture is going to be even if you apply the BW setting, but there’s also that feeling of the unknown with an OVF.

[@WesKriesel]

Great video, and I'm not even a Leica user. You were so thorough, that I feel like I have a very good sense of what this camera has to offer.

[@taneltinnuri8985]

Have had 2 M10,MP M6 and now M8.2. I have to say this camera gives me most relaxed feeling of taking pictures. I think i was always thinking and a bit worrying when i was out. Now i dont care anymore and hepls me to focus photography only without thinking my gear. But if money is not an issue then its amazing tool.

[@alanplatt888]

I have one...I Love it. Why ? for me it's a unique experience to shoot with. It's special, why ? It's different, mostly it's rewarding on a Leica level for me. M240, Q yes had them. My main all purpose workhorse camera now, X-T5. Great insight from you.

[@absonus]

Another nice review.Bought my first Voit 20 years ago but recently bought a 50/1 and the BP35 Nocton 1.5 .Massive improvement in build quality and feel over the earlier lenses and imo on par with my leica glass. I know what you mean about the barrel design but these two are conventional in that regard..

[@kristoffergo6294]

Beautiful photos man:)

[@derrenleepoole]

The Leica M9 did it for me. I love the camera and I wasn’t sure would if I’m honest. It really has helped get me out of a slump. I’m now saving up for the M262. I don’t miss live view with the M9, and it seems live the next logical step up. I’ve been uploading simple photo gallery videos up to my channel on here if you’re so inclined to have a look. Great video as always mate.

[@Goughie]

I’ll check them out!

[@alexc8512]

Omg. Those photos. Reminds me of my trip to Italy buying my M6. Im thinking of selling to a m10. Thank you for all the samples.

[@Goughie]

Thank you for the kind words! Oooo I’ve been considering selling my M6 for a M10M as I really don’t shoot much film at the moment

[@luxdalet]

Great video review! Even with the negatives you mentioned, every new video demoing a Leica just makes them even more fantastic. Those photos are amazing. Special kudos for enduring the weather to share with us such a beautiful scenery! Cheers and keep warm mate!

[@jacobh5817]

Nice review! Indeed the M11 is a bit different and lacks some of the quirks of the previous Ms. First, it meters of the sensor instead of the shutter curtain. So, you get all the different metering modes and behaviour that regular mirrorless cameras have (spot, multi-segment, centre-weighted, highlight-weighted…). Some of these modes are also possible with the M10, but only in LiveView mode. Whenever metering is critical, I use the histogram and make sure highlights are protected. Secondly, Leica has adjusted the colors of the M11 to more neutral. This isn’t so much because of the Sony sensor in the M11, but it’s an on-purpose software tweak to make it more aligned with the SL and Q series. It’s also easier to grade, which has always been one of the comments in the professional world re. the previous Ms. The battery life of the M10 can indeed be pretty short. You need a spare anyway. However, it is largely depending on the use of LiveView and LCD settings. My M10-R is a bit better than the M10 was, but nowhere near of that of the 240 or the M11. As for lenses, my absolute favourites are the 50 Summilux and the 90 APO-Summicron. I use these as well for professional work and they’re amazing. I hardly know M-photographers using more than 2-3 lenses. Combos of 35 and 75 or 28, 50 and 90 are most common. In general, Leica lenses hold their value even better than the cameras. I’ve bought them pre-owned and they’re today as much worth as what I paid for them years ago.

[@Goughie]

I have a review on the M11 on the channel! Covers much of what you say! Thank you for watching!

[@ankerwiedemann]

Regarding the battery life, you are definitely right about that. Unlike the way you shoot it, I have turned off just about everything and try to discipline myself not to constantly check my shots on the screen. I can do an entire day with just the one of two batteries in my pack. But I appreciate what you explained about difficult lighting situations and wanting to use the screen for correct exposure check. Compensating with minus two thirds does help, however. You can always bring the shadown back to life in post. Especially so with raw files. And yes, the colour palette is just gordious. My main attractor besides the rangefinder experience.

[@donnellyguitar]

Glad you’re enjoying the M10. I traded a few Canon and Fuji cameras/lenses for an M10 and 35 + 50 cron. Bar a trip to my local botanical gardens and weekend in Florence I actually haven’t had a chance to use it yet. Hoping to get out with it once days start getting longer. Still much prefer my Q tbh, and I may trade everything for a Q3 once it comes out.

[@Goughie]

I reaaaaaaaaaaally want to go to Florence! It’s very high up my list of places to go this year! A Q3 could be 👌🏻

[@mblasi]

Great review, I love my M10-D and am thinking of pulling the trigger on the M10-R. For the Leica batteries Nitecore makes a nice dual battery charger that I would recommend. It's also a USB charger so you can recharge the batteries anywhere you can get USB power. I am curious how much you use the screen, on a whole day shooting the M10-D I can keep to a single battery in a day but if I use the Visoflex the battery goes faster. I agree with the over exposure and tend to use the exposure compensation to knock it down as you mentioned. I had a Q and an X100F but sold it off after getting a Ricoh GR3, while a smaller sensor than the Q the GR3 just fit my use a little more being more pocketable and gets used often the same way you mentioned using your phone for the more close up shots.

[@christopherrodriguez7223]

Hey bud just wanted to share, you can use the sensor metering just turn live view on an still focus using the range finder patch. That’s what I do and when reviewing the images you seen the metering you selected.

[@Goughie]

Yes! I know! I still find I require the screen and tweaking the exposure comp to get it right! For a while I tried just letting the screen run all the time, and essentially ignore it! but the battery life drop was a little too much for me

[@2071photo]

as far as metering, my fix was to set it to spot and point the center towards the highlights to meter for highlights instead of letting the camera decide for me. otherwise exposure comp can be the alternative easy fix when you don't wanna think about it.

[@Goughie]

That’s a good way to counter it!

[@2071photo]

@@Goughie I’ve had my m10 for a year now but I did have to send it out to Leica in November due to the focus coupler being sticky, it just needed a drop of lubricant but I didn’t wanna do it myself. Something to look out for in case you ever run into that issue. Cheers.

[@PatrickColpron]

I never had any issues with the battery - I can do most full day (almost every day) with way less than a battery. I can count on the fingers of one hand how many times I had to use a second battery in the last 5 years with my M10 cameras. But then again I have been making photos with Leica cameras for years and seldom use live view to check my exposure. The in camera meter is great.

[@Goughie]

I guess there’s a chance I’ve got two awful batteries! I hardly use live view either

[@franciscosalas6779]

@@Goughie it’s because you live in a cold weather. The battery last less. When I travel to cold places my m10 batteries last less

[@jimleonardphotography1687]

I have an M10R and the battery life is incredibly good, whilst travelling I could get a full weekend, maybe three days, out of two batteries without having to recharge the second one. I don't use live view and rarely browse or chimp so my monitor is rarely used, I also have it set for no preview after taking a shot. Perhaps your monitor activity needs changing, or your batteries are worn out.

[@Goughie]

Starting to wonder if it’s the later, I haven’t personally purchased either battery so they could be pretty old!

[@Narsuitus]

Thanks for the video. The thing I did not like about the two M10 cameras I owned was their lack of reliability. Both cameras had defective sensors.

[@Goughie]

Oh no! I haven’t heard of too many M10 faults! What was wrong with them??

[@Narsuitus]

@@Goughie I purchased a new black M10 Leica body in 2017. It would work for about two dozen shots then it jammed. Had to take the back off and remove the battery to reset the camera. This pattern kept repeating. Leica gave me a complete refund. Later, I purchased a used chrome M10 Leica body. It developed a defective sensor. Leica quoted me a repair price that was too high and a repair time that was too long.

[@89Nathant]

Would love to see more of the Leica Q/Q2 on the channel. I’m considering my first Leica and leaning towards the Q2 due to its compact size and autofocus whilst maintaining excellent image quality. I’ve done a fair bit of travel and always come away satisfied with the images from my Sony gear but tired of carrying around all the gear. I tried the full frame rx1 and didn’t really like it. Do you find Q2 files similar in quality compared to the m10?

[@Goughie]

I haven’t used a Q2 only a Q. Image quality was awesome!!

[@vinylisland6386]

Own an M10 and an M10M and Leica lenses. No regrets. I have an early 50 cron with a finger tab, makes all the difference. Take pictures every day, nearly. For 6 years. And if you buy second hand Leica glass, no depreciation, in fact some lenses go up.

[@IDaumI]

I do miss how you hold the iso button and scroll through the options on the M240, hell they even brought that back on the M11. Hope Leica gives us a software update on the M10/P. And yea the M240 had amazing battery life. I also don't like how the colors are cooler on the M10/P compared to the M240.

[@crispin8888]

Ditto. The M10 seemed to me disappointing after the M240.

[@ItisBean]

M11 is metering based on the sensor so that may be something to think about to upgrade to

[@Goughie]

Yes! I’ve got a review of it on the channel! Enjoyed using it! And the metering is waaaay better

[@adynathaly3145]

Does the m10 give you a film look picture? At least that what I see compared to the others

[@streetphotojournalism]

Truly the last functioning non freezing Leica M camera produced.

[@Arcadia11201]

You mentioned the M11 sorta, maybe still tempts; why not the M10R? (Btw, just got an M240 and-having used an M3 several decades ago-am hooked again on the L shooting experience).

[@Goughie]

The bit that really tempts me about the M11 is all the little things, better battery, usb-c charging, better auto exposure etc, it’s not the MP so much! I did enjoy my M240! Hence owning it so long! Glad you’re enjoying it!

[@filterfreephotography]

What made you go with the M10 over the M10-P or M10-D? That is my dilemma right now. I have always dreamed of the M10-D, but worried I would regret no screen (although I only use my current screens for initial setup and random changes). I have not heard any difference in battery life between the M10 and M10-P, basically a touch screen and a cosmetic change of no red dot.

[@Goughie]

M10-P was mainly availability, M10D was price and lack of LCD I think would get in the way tbh, if I want that much of a film like experience I’d use my M6

[@ekonkante]

To casually talk of copping 7k bodies and 4k lenses. Must be nice. Keep the channel going strong sir.

[@quattro30]

I can see how battery life can be an issue if you are constantly using LV. For my experience, 1 battery lasts me all day shooting with the optical viewfinder.

[@Goughie]

I wish that was the case for me! I guess we all end up having very different requirements!

[@ericrjennings]

Would a Q2 be better for the macro mode? Worth it to lose the rangefinder patch?

[@Goughie]

Ah! Sorry! Poorly explained! M10 + Q2! Instead of just an M11

[@ericrjennings]

@@Goughie I wrote my comment before the ending. I got you. I’ve had this same debate many times. I love my M10 but it’s also inconvenient when I want to shoot video or close distance

[@lensman5762]

As regards to the lenses, the majority of Leica lenses follow in the footsteps of the originalSummars, Elmar, and Elmarit lenses designed for their Leica C and then for the M line of their film cameras. Some of their recent offerings are actually quite large compared to the older lenses. Still, they seem to be smaller and optically superior to anything that the competition has to offer, even for a manual focus lens, price not withstanding of course as Leica lenses are very very expensive.

[@prototek128]

Keep the ISO dial up while shooting 🔫

[@-grey]

Great images. You made me want to by a Ricoh GRIII now though. 😂

[@Goughie]

How have I managed that! 😂

[@-grey]

@@Goughie all that talk about compact cameras getting to go where the fuji won't. Plus, the 28 2.8 shots were nice with good context. And, I realised that I really don't go down to wide open apertures much, I mostly leave my Fujifilm on P and try to be more present - which is kind of like what you were saying you enjoyed the Range Finder for, I just do it with the back LCD and looking over the top of the camera to compare. On top of that, you still get your phone out for macro and things, and the Ricoh GR is basically built for that. You've made a few good points in favour of the Ricoh today. 😂

[@Goughie]

@@-grey I’m surprised at how much sense there is behind a Leica review tempting you towards Ricoh! 😂 sounds like good reasoning to me!

[@ProjectD00135]

I see all the photos of your girlfriend the skin tones have a lot of red undertone and this is prevelant across multiple videos is this a editing preference or more down to the lens and camera your 50mm sumilux video showed some significant red as well

[@Goughie]

Editing preference! I’ve actually tweaked that down a bit recently

[@petrnovak7942]

what is your camera strap please? :) looks good!

[@Goughie]

The leather one on the M10? It’s the original one that came with it

[@petrnovak7942]

@@Goughie thanks!

[@Thomas-Stein]

Hi, What thumb rest do you use? It's not original Leica, is it?

[@Goughie]

It came with my M10 when I bought it used, it’s not the legit one! It’s called Haoge THB-M10B It fits well; and I actually have that brand on my X100V and thats good too

[@Thomas-Stein]

@@Goughie Thank you!

[@bernardlesperance742]

What's your hit rate in terms of spot on focus?

[@Goughie]

Not sure if you mean focusing with the rangefinder or if you mean success rate with spot metering Focus must be basically 100% but I don’t really shot much that moves Spot metre, probably 95%

[@bernardlesperance742]

@@Goughie Sorry, the phrase "spot on" may be limited to North America. It means exact or perfect or very sharp (in photography). So, I was asking what percentage of your photos taken with the M10 are very sharp, well focused. (Of course "very sharp" means different things to different people - I've seen people say "sharp" or "very sharp" when it clearly was not, even though sharpness is a pretty objective thing. Either it's sharp/exactly focused or it's not). I ask because when looking at photos taken with rangefinders, more often than not they are not sharp, out of focus, compared to what I get with my autofocus pro Nikon cameras (which rarely give me not properly focused images).

[@Goughie]

@@bernardlesperance742 I reckon I miss 1% of photos in terms of focus, but I don’t shoot moving people, so it’ll depend on what you shot! If I was taking photos of children I imagine my success rate wide open would be more like 50%

[@jorghahn2903]

I guess it all comes down to the question if you can or cannot afford a Leica camera system, but is it really worth spending so much money on a camera system if “only” used for travel photography, or do you make a living out of your travel photography?

[@Goughie]

How much we spend on our hobbies to some extent is up to us I guess! Photography is an expensive one for sure! But there are definitely more expensive one. If you’re curious, KZbin does now cover the cost of this hobby of mine Another side of it concerning Leica is the cost doesn’t really depreciate, over the last few years a lot of it’s gone up in value, I bought my Leica M6 for about £1500 and they now sell for £2800

[@jorghahn2903]

@@Goughie Fair enough, Goughie. It is was not my intention to criticize on what you in particular spend your money. I should have written “if one can or cannot afford” (no native speaker here 🙏). Photography is definitely an expensive hobby (other camera systems are not cheap neither), and if you can finance your hobby with the income from your YT channel then it sounds like really good deal. Btw, I would definitely like to try a Leica one day...

[@Goughie]

@@jorghahn2903 I wasn’t offended at all! Incredibly good English! I’d never have known

[@gohumberto]

The only thing that puts me off is the price. I'll never buy a Leica, because I know that I can buy so much high-quality gear for my current system instead. I have a Fuji X100V, which I thought was pricey at €1399. It gives me much of the Leica experience without needing to sell a kidney.

[@Goughie]

As an owner of both I’m not sure it really does give a similar experience! But I can definitely see why you’d spend money on other cameras first!!

[@williamgoss4691]

Really lovely images, plus some a great crit of the M10, good n bad points, (70cm doesn’t seem very helpful ..). What about the poss of cropping ? Is that an easy option, (or is that the preserve of 10r or a Q2 / Q3 ? ). Thks. (Hv Sub’d).

[@Goughie]

I guess it depends what you’re doing with your images, cropping for Instagram etc is fine! If you’re printing big then maybe you’ll get to the limits of the M10

[@kubowich]

ok...you do NOT need to shoot 500+ images in a single day. That's just madness. Enjoy the city/landscape, and be more picky on what you "spend" the click.

[@Goughie]

I’ve got my M6 to worry about spending my clicks 😂 I also started doing some portrait sessions for some brands, and I’ll happily click away to ensure I get what’s required for delivery. Regardless the point still stands, my M10 is considerably worse than the M240 and the M11 I’ve used

[@rg3412]

It doesn’t matter how many you take, as long as you throw away 99% and only keep the very few keepers. Keeping 490 out of 500 would be insane. Even the best photographers rarely have 10 world class pictures per day.

[@v_stands_for_value124]

If I had nothing to do but take random photos of buildings with 0 worries about working or stuff to do I'd go around with an X2D Hasselblad or GFX-100s Fujifilm, weight doesn't matter to me

[@Goughie]

The GFX100S is definitely worth the weight! Used it for a weekend and it was awesome

[@alhOOO2O]

The smaller size has got nothing to do with great design, it's just a lack of technology; there's no EVF, no IBIS, no tilting/rotating screen, no autofocus motors in the lenses, and no close focusing ability. Something like the Fujifilm X-E4 is far smaller and has four of those things. Every camera manufacturer could make a small camera if they gave it no modern features.

[@Goughie]

Isn’t the lack of features the part of the design? Xe4 is an awesome camera

[@Adrian-wd4rn]

I put a leica lens on my xpro3, I now have a leica for less.

[@Goughie]

Some might say you have a Leica lense and Fuji camera, missing the rangefinder is pretty big for me

[@Adrian-wd4rn]

@@Goughie eh, we have modern technologies to circumvent that.

[@Goughie]

@@Adrian-wd4rn that’s the point, I don’t want to circumvent that, the X-Pro3 isn’t a rangefinder. Great camera, and enjoyed mine! Just very different