Testbench
CAMERA TEST
At a glance
£7,250 body only ● 40.9MP monochrome full-frame CMOS sensor ● ISO 160-100,000 ● Optical viewfinder with rangefinder focusing ● Leica M mount ● 3-in 1.03m-dot touchscreen LCD
Leica M10 Monochrom
Andy Westlake takes a detailed look at Leica’s latest rangefinder that shoots only in black & white For and against Sensational image quality, combining fantastic detail with minimal noise Exceptional build quality Straightforward operation with traditional photographic controls Large, clear viewfinder and superb rangefinder for focusing Touchscreen could be better integrated into control system ALL PR CES ARE APPROX MATE STREET PR CES
28mm framelines are difficult to see Ludicrously expensive
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Data file Sensor
40.9MP monochrome CMOS, 36 x 24mm Output size 7864 x 5200 Focal length mag 1x Lens mount Leica M with 6-bit coding Shutter speeds 16min – 1/4000sec Sensitivity ISO 160-100,000 Exposure modes A, M Metering TTL average (with viewfinder); Spot, centre, multi (in live view) Exposure comp +/- 3EV in 0.3 EV steps Continuous 4.5 fps shooting Screen 3in, 1.03m-dot fixed touchscreen LCD Viewfinder Direct vision, 0.73x magnification AF points n/a Video n/a External mic No Memory card SD, SDXC, SDHC Power BP-SCL5 rechargeable Li-ion Battery life Not specified Dimensions 139x38.5x80mm Weight 660g with battery
L
eica is a company that plays by different rules to everyone else. By building cameras in low volumes and charging a premium for them, it’s able to pursue different avenues from the mainstream Japanese makers. It’s maintained a healthy market for its M-series rangefinders, despite this type of camera having generally fallen out of favour in the 1960s, and it also makes cameras dedicated to black & white shooting, with its M Monochrom series. So how, and why, would you do such a thing? The basic principle is simple: conventional cameras sense colour by arranging red, green and blue filters over the light-sensitive photodiodes of their sensors, with the recorded data being converted to a visually meaningful photograph through a complex process of demosaicing,
noise reduction and sharpening. While this works very well, it delivers less detail and introduces artefacts compared to recording full colour data for each pixel. To produce a black & white image, the colour has to be removed again, but you’re still stuck with the after-effects of the processing. In contrast, by doing without a colour filter array (CFA) over the sensor, the Monochrom cameras are capable of recording black & white images directly. This gives visibly superior tonality and detail, along with higher sensitivity and lower image noise. The latest M10 Monochrom is the third generation of this line, after the original M9-based version from 2012 with its 18MP CCD sensor, and the 2015 follow-up, the Typ 246 with its 24MP CMOS. However while these previous models used existing sensors without a CFA, the
22 February 2020 I www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I subscribe 0330 333 1113
