Hands On With Leica's Black-and-White M10 Monochrom

Leica'south M cameras accept a rich heritage and scores of devotees who cling to their uncomplicated, manual functioning and brilliant optical viewfinders. Photographers with years of experience with the system can experience right at home picking up the latest digital model, or a film body that'due south been making images for decades. A big office of that is Leica's devotion to body pattern, which certainly classifies equally iconic later more than 60 years. Another is servicing photographers with specialized versions of its cameras, like variations of its digital M models devoted to blackness-and-white photography.

Past removing the color filter from the image sensor, these One thousand Monochroms—the start based on the M9 and the second on the 1000 (Typ 240)—net black-and-white images with crisper detail and smoother tones than color images from sensors of comparable size and resolution. Its latest Monochrom, based on the premium M10-P, shares much of its body design and mechanical components, including a touch LCD and serenity shutter mechanism. But information technology bucks the trend of simply removing the colour filter array from an existing sensor to brand a blackness-and-white camera.

M10 Monochrom

The M10 Monochrom sports a newly designed 40MP total-frame CMOS sensor. It has a lower base sensitivity, downwards to ISO 160 from the ISO 320 sensors used by the previous models, then you don't have to rely on neutral density filters to use a broad aperture nether bright light. And it can be set as high as ISO 100000, making photography possible in the dimmest of conditions.

The camera body is, aside from some artful differences, the same as the M10-P. It matches most 35mm M bodies in size, so it feels as comfortable in your easily as an M3 or M6. The viewfinder is a 0.72x magnification, with a bit improve eye relief than the previous-generation design, so eyeglass wearers will have an easier time seeing the 28mm frame lines.

You also get born Wi-Fi and support for the clip-on Visoflex EVF. The camera works with the Leica Fotos app to transfer images to your phone—a plus for social media posts while traveling. I didn't get a chance to set it upward and try it, but because the wireless system is the same as other M10 models, it's already supported by the app.

Aesthetically, the Monochrom is simply sold as a blackness chrome body. Leica has swapped out blood-red engraving in favor of greyness, giving the photographic camera an even more than understated expect than the M10-P. From the exterior, the only indication that it'due south a black-and-white camera is a Monochrom badge, engraved in small cake text on the top plate.

Why Non Catechumen?

Let's face it—a few clicks or taps is all it takes to alter a color image to a black-and-white one, and every digital camera with a colour sensor will let you make monochrome JPGs in-photographic camera. And so, to paraphrase Jerry Seinfeld, what's the deal with black-and-white sensors?

To start, understand that photographic camera sensors are black and white to begin with. The CMOS sensor inside your iPhone or dedicated digital photographic camera uses an additional filter to remove certain wavelengths of light at each pixel site. The almost typical design, named after inventor Bryce Bayer, uses a four-past-iv repeating pattern of green, blue, and red to add color to photos.

Because of this, there'south some interpolation—computational guesswork—required to fill in gaps. So far information technology'southward the all-time applied solution to making color images, only it does so at the toll of some resolution. Some colour cameras utilize multi-shot modes, coupled with sensor movement, to sample color at every pixel site to become around the need to interpolate. Leica has promised to add that function to its SL2 later this year via a firmware update.

Omitting the colour filter array entirely means that light is sampled at every pixel site, without the demand for multi-shot sampling techniques. You're not converting an interpolated image, but rather getting your monochrome image directly from the sensor. This nets shots with more detail and smoother transitions between tones.

There's also a psychological aspect. When you pick upwards a camera that'south incapable of color imaging, you look for photos that volition work well in black and white. Whether it exist the play between calorie-free and shadow, interesting bits of texture of contrast, or a moody portrait, yous're certain to look at the world with a different eye, just as you would with a 35mm camera loaded with Tri-X or HP5.

A Quick Test Drive

I've had a Leica within arm's reach, in 1 form or another, for close to fifteen years. I started with an M8, after moved to the Chiliad (Typ 240), and still utilise an M3 when I want the film experience. Needless to say, the M10 Monochrom felt right at home in my hands, and will in yours if yous've used the system earlier.

I was invited to try out the M10 Monochrom preceding its announcement. As much as I would accept loved to have it on hand for a few days to get a actually good experience for it, information technology wasn't in the cards this time. Instead, I was able to take the camera on a photograph walk through Manhattan.

A belatedly afternoon engagement dictated what blazon of shots I was able to brand. Past the fourth dimension I exposed the first frame the sun was already dipping below the horizon. Merely Manhattan is live afterwards dark, and streets wet from rainfall certainly brand shots popular with specular highlights.

Raw images loaded up in Lightroom without issue—Leica cameras utilise the standard Adobe DNG format, then you don't accept to wait for a software update to load them. Fifty-fifty though the software hasn't yet added a profile to fine-tune processing for the camera, I was very happy with how flexible the files are.

It'south like shooting fish in a barrel to tone shots to taste, whether it be a little bit of extra dissimilarity, opening upwardly details in the shadows, or saving a shot that I managed to underexpose past a few stops. I did find clipping in some instances—I used some longer exposures to add a flake of motion mistiness to shots, and didn't prepare my f-cease low enough to compensate.

Experience and Results

Leica devotees who have been waiting for a black-and-white M10 accept been rewarded for their patience. The M10 Monochrom offers several improvements over the Monochrom (Typ 246), including a slimmer body and improved optical viewfinder, Wi-Fi, and a much better add-on EVF. The rangefinder feel is there.

And while I'd similar more than time to use the camera to return a verdict on the sensor, my initial image quality impressions are positive too. The Raw output is quite malleable, the monochrome output has lovely tones, and there'south plenty of resolution. If yous adore blackness-and-white imaging, this camera will, at the very least, pique your interest.

At present for the bad news. If you want an M10 Monochrom, yous'll need to spend a sizable amount of coin. It'due south priced at $8,295, without a lens. We'll permit you know know if it's worth that hefty sum when we get to spend more time with one for a full review.

Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/leica-m10-p/35865/hands-on-with-leicas-black-and-white-m10-monochrom

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