LEICA M10 Monochrom
41 MP, 4½ FPS B&W, ISO 100~100,000
Sample Images Intro Lens Compatibility
Specifications Recommendations
LEICA M10 Monochrom (23.3 oz./662g with battery and card, $8,295) and SUMMILUX-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH FLE. bigger. I'd get mine at Adorama or at B&H, or eventually used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
This all-content, junk-free website's biggest source of support is when you use those or any of these links to approved sources when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Thanks for helping me help you! Ken.
January 2020 Better Pictures LEICA Reviews LEICA Lenses All Reviews
Why Fixed Lenses Take Better Pictures
LEICA Filters for use with B&W cameras
LEICA M10 Monochrom. bigger.
LEICA B&W Images top
Sample Images Intro Lens Compatibility
Specifications Recommendations
(these are just snapshots; my real work is in my Gallery.)
Monolith, Yosemite National Park, 9:50 AM, Saturday, 26 February 2011. 1963 LEICA M3, LEICAMETER MR-4, 1957 LEICA SUMMICRON 50mm f/2 with close-focusing range, f/8 at 1/125, 39mm LEITZ Or orange filter, no tripod, frame 25 of roll 1 of Kodak T-Max 100. bigger.
Trees in front of a Mountain with Fog, 1:31 PM, Saturday, 26 February 2011. 1963 LEICA M3, LEICAMETER MR-4, 1960 LEICA ELMARIT 90mm f/2.8, 39mm LEICA GGr yellow-green filter, f/11 at 1/125, no tripod, frame 2 of roll 2 of Kodak T-Max 100. bigger.
Introduction top
Sample Images Intro Lens Compatibility
Specifications Recommendations
I buy only from these approved sources. I can't vouch for ads below. |
Exactly like the first miraculous LEICA cameras crafted over 100 years ago, this new LEICA M10 Monochrom shoots only in black-and-white.
Digital camera sensors are all actually only black-and-white. The only way we get color from digital cameras is because we put a colored-filter-dot array over the base monochrome sensor (most often an RGB "Bayer array"), and then interpolate the results from our sensor to simulate the color images we all take for granted today.
Using a color filter array in front of a sensor is the way all color digital cameras work, however if you make a B&W image simply by desaturating the color image, you've lost half your resolution, and over one-third of your light sensitivity compared to what you'd get by removing the color filter array and just shooting the base B&W sensor naked.
The color filter array loses most of the light that tries to come through it passing only one color out of three for each pixel, and loses resolution as any given color only can hit a fraction of the available pixels.
The reason I suggested this monochrome-only version to LEICA over 10 years ago is because when you take away the color filter array, you get over three times the light sensitivity (ISO speed) and twice the effective resolution over converting a color image back to B&W!
LEICA first did this in the old M9-based LEICA Monochrom, then the typ 246 Monochrom, and voilà, now today's M10 Monochrom.
LEICAs have had autofocus since at least the 1930s: simply turn the focus ring, and when the two superimposed finder images match, you're already in perfect focus. Earlier systems required you use a rangefinder or guess at the distance and then manually set that distance on a lens; this real-time zero-delay passive autofocus system is much faster and easier than any of the electronic systems from the Orient; there's nothing to set or hang-up and it works in any light in which you can see. Turning one focus ring is so much faster than setting seventeen menus and fumbling with 235 AF zones.
The LEICA, as all real LEICAs for over 100 years, has a real live-view optical finder. There is no electronic finder, but you can get electronic Live-View on the little rear LCD.
Just turn the focus ring at any time for instant focusing; no menus or electronics needed.
I'd get my M10 Monochrom at Adorama or at B&H, or eventually used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
New
LEICA's first Monochrom version of the LEICA M10-P.
LEICA's highest-resolution digital LEICA M ever.
Auto exposures to 16 minutes!
Slimmer body.
Dedicated ISO dial.
Touchscreen.
Wi-Fi to talk to LEICA's apps.
Good
Immortal LEICA.
Hand-made in the High Holy City of Wetzlar, Germany.
Bad
Nothing; this is a LEICA.
Missing
Nothing needed is missing, but as for fluff:
Only one card slot, but LEICA men never make mistakes.
No Image Stabilization, but LEICA owners have nerves of steel; their grip never falters or shakes.
No red dot 🔴 on the front, enabling and entitling you to photograph anywhere, anytime, for any reason. Ownership of the LEICA M10 Monochrom the only permission you need.
No Continuous/Single/Self-Timer advance mode control; this is now hidden in a menu.
No built-in flash.
No intervalometer.
LCD doesn't move around; it's fixed in the perfect position forever.
No optional 0.85× or 0.91× optical finder magnifications.
No rear DELETE button, but with a LEICA nothing is ever deleted; you never make anything other than immortal prize-winning works of art. Delete buttons are for junk cameras.
Finder has parallax correction, but still no magnification correction for distance.
Lens Compatibility top
Sample Images Intro Lens Compatibility
Specifications Recommendations
I'd get my M10 Monochrom at Adorama or at B&H, or eventually used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
Ideally use 6-dot coded M lenses. Set Lens ID to AUTO and the M10 Monochrom reads the lens and sets EXIF and lens compensation automatically.
It also works flawlessly with all other uncoded LEICA M lenses made since 1954, but with no EXIF recording of lens focal length or automated lens corrections — unless you simply enter those manually as I do. Identify your lens manually, and the M10 Monochrom works just as well with my classic 1950s lenses as it does with the newest ones. (I'll have to check if it works well with the 50/2 Dual Range without interference.)
It also works equally well with all LEICA screw-mount lenses made since 1925 if you use a simple passive adapter ring and enter the lens information manually.
All of these lenses made since 1925 give perfect focusing and auto exposure with very few restrictions. Some of the early 21mm lenses before 1980 won't meter well if at all, but everything else is golden. I doubt it works at all with my classic 21/4 Super Angulon, but so what: my newest 21/3.4 ASPH is a much better lens for digital.
Leica R lenses can be used with an adapter, but why? They are big, clumsy SLR lenses with inferior performance compared to M lenses.
Specifications top
Sample Images Intro Lens Compatibility
Specifications Recommendations
I'd get my M10 Monochrom at Adorama or at B&H, or eventually used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
Image Sensor specifications top
41 MP.
24 × 36 mm.
3:2 aspect ratio.
1.0 × crop factor.
ISO specifications top
ISO 160 ～ 100,000.
Image Size specifications top
7,864 × 5,200 pixels native (40.89 MP).
Image Formats specifications top
JPG and/or DNG raw.
Autofocus specifications top
One central zone.
Turn the lens focus ring, and when the superimposed finder images match, you're in perfect focus. There's no need to set distances manually on the focus ring.
(There is no motor to focus the lens, LEICA men are perfectly able to turn a focus ring themselves.)
Light Meter & Exposure specifications top
Center-weighted meter.
Meter range: LV -2 ~ 19 (no lens specified).
Exposure modes: Aperture-preferred and Manual.
Finder specifications top
0.73 × magnification.
Shutter specifications top
1/4,000 ～ 8 seconds as set on top dial in Manual mode.
1/4,000 ～ 16 minutes in aperture-priority AUTO mode.
1/180 flash sync speed.
Bulb (only up to 16 minutes).
Time.
2s or 12s self timer.
Remote Release specifications top
Standard threaded cable release.
Frame Rate specifications top
4½ FPS.
Buffer (Burst) Sizes specifications top
10 frames.
Flash specifications top
1/180 sync speed.
LCD Monitor specifications top
3" (76 mm) diagonal.
1,036,800 dots.
Touchscreen.
Does not swivel.
Storage specifications top
One SD/SDHC/SDXC slot.
Battery specifications top
BP-SCL5 Rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery
7.4 VDC, 1300 mAh.
Size specifications top
3.15 × 5.47 × 1.52 inches HWD.
80 × 139 × 38.5 millimeters HWD.
Weight specifications top
23.3 oz./661.8 g with battery and card.
Announced specifications top
10 AM, Friday, 17 January 2020, NYC time.
Promised for specifications top
End of January, 2020.
Price, USA specifications top
January 2020
$8,295 at Adorama and at B&H.
Recommendations top
Sample Images Intro Lens Compatibility
Specifications Recommendations
I'd get my M10 Monochrom at Adorama or at B&H, or eventually used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
The LEICA Man owns the LEICA because of who he is; the LEICA Man doesn't need anything.
For others, the advantage of this camera is if you shoot B&W and want significant gains in sharpness and light sensitivity (less grain or noise at every ISO) compared to converting to B&W from a regular color camera image.
Converting to B&W from a color image offers significant artistic freedoms because we can choose our virtual color contrast filters after we make our shot by judicious use the RGB Channel Mixers during our color to B&W conversion. We even can use different virtual colored contrast filters in different regions of the same color image when converting to B&W, something that shooting B&W film or the Monochrom cannot do.
If you use this camera, remember that you can't effect virtual color contrast filters after shooting; you have to use colored filters over the lens when you shoot, exactly as if you were shooting B&W film.
You need to use colored filters over each lens when taking a b/w photo so that different colors in the scene come out as different levels of light and dark in your prints. Otherwise your prints will come out mostly gray and boring, and the skies will often be a washed-out cloudless white.
The standard filter for use on all outdoor photos is a yellow, also called a K2, Yellow 12 or Y48 filter. It makes shades of gray render about the same as they do to our eyes. Without a filter the blue of the sky looks about as bright as the white clouds! A yellow filter makes b/w photos look just about natural.
For a stronger effect I prefer an orange (O56) filter, or a red (R60 or 25A) filter. Red will darken a sky even more! For a really scary dark sky use a red filter and a polarizer at the same time.
I often use a deep green (#58) filter. It lightens trees a little and brings out contrasts inside orange sandstone rocks in the American Southwest. It also makes the sky look natural, without the green trees turning too dark.
A pro secret for the past 100 years is that a red filter helps hide pimples and skin blemishes.
More at LEICA Filters. Most LEICA M Lenses take 39mm or 46mm filters.
As Ansel Adams points out in his books, unless you are photographing very brightly colored things like fruit or flowers, there is not much difference in the effect from one filter to another. Yes, he used over a dozen different ones for b/w, but no, there wasn't that much difference from one to another. There is a huge difference between using even a mild yellow filter and using no filter at all because all the filters (except blue which I never use) remove all the ultraviolet light to which b/w film is very sensitive and which is invisible to our eyes.
I'd get my M10 Monochrom at Adorama or at B&H, or eventually used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
© Ken Rockwell. All rights reserved. Tous droits réservés. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.
Help Me Help You
I support my growing family through this website, as crazy as it might seem.
The biggest help is when you use any of these links when you get anything. It costs you nothing, and is this site's, and thus my family's, biggest source of support. These places always have the best prices and service, which is why I've used them since before this website existed. I recommend them all personally.
If you find this page as helpful as a book you might have had to buy or a workshop you may have had to take, feel free to help me continue helping everyone.
If you've gotten your gear through one of my links or helped otherwise, you're family. It's great people like you who allow me to keep adding to this site full-time. Thanks!
If you haven't helped yet, please do, and consider helping me with a gift of $5.00.
As this page is copyrighted and formally registered, it is unlawful to make copies, especially in the form of printouts for personal use. If you wish to make a printout for personal use, you are granted one-time permission only if you PayPal me $5.00 per printout or part thereof. Thank you!
Thanks for reading!
Mr. & Mrs. Ken Rockwell, Ryan and Katie.