The New Leica M Typ 246..or “The New Monochrom”

70 Comments

1. Hope they have tackled the issue with light leakage during long exposure using ND filters…
   Btw, still just 4 minutes maximum exposure time? (Bulb and self timer)

   Leica Monochrom was my first Leica, and after 10+ Canon SLR/DSLR bodies I was kind of shocked when I experienced light leakage on my New Leica Monochrom… The light leakage was worse using my Zeiss lens due to position of lens mounting screws, but even with my Summilux attached the mounting was not as light tight as expected(but ok in use). The biggest problem though was the light leakage from the viewfinder, especially from the frosted window. The main problem is poor light seal between viewfinder and sensor “box”… Leica was unable to correct the problem.
   I had to make my self a portable cover to attache to the camera during long exposures (ND10 or -13 during 4 minutes exp.), but the wind that day….! it’s gone, the cover that is!

   • Noise on the sensor doubles for about every 5degrees centigrade; how hot does the CCD get in 4 minutes? I would not be surprised if this buckles the coating on the cover glass and even cracks the sensor. You might want to consider a camera with a cooled sensor that exposures of that duration. Cameras made for astro-photography typically have a thermo-electric cooler (TEC).

     • Never thought about that since I’ve been doing long exposures for years without problem, longest above 40 minutes.

       So I had to check:
       The CCD in my Monochrom increase by 4°C in four minutes (camera temp inc. 1,5°C).
       My Canon EOS 5D mkII CMOS temp increased about 1°C in four minutes (camera temp inc. about 1°C).
       Tested in uncontrolled environment at room temp of 24°C, average of three tests.
       Simple test, but the temp do increase enough that it may be the reason for that time limit.
       The temp do not increase that fast, so that should not be a problem other than increased noise, but for astrophoto during long exposure of faint objects, you need cooling to avoid noise.

   • The light leakage does NOT come from the viewfinder but directly through the mount especially where the screws securing the mount on the camera or lens thin the depth of the mount. It is most prone to light leak at the flange below the viewfinder but not through the viewfinder.

     A simple black hair scrunchie of my daughters fitted around the base of the lens mount prevented long exposure llght leak on my digital M cameras. This should not happen but is easily fixed.

     This has been discussed extensively here and I’ve run a number of tests on it
     http://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/212964-monochrom-long-exposure-issue/
     http://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/218866-risked-life-and-limb-to-get-this-shot-and-the-7000-piece-of-crap-let-me-down-again/
     http://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/224551-lee-big-stopper-and-zeiss-21mm-light-leak/

     • MarkP, the leak is from both lens mount and viewfinder as first described, you might not have this problem, but I do. The leakage from the lens mount is not a problem when I use Summilux, the Zeiss lens mount on the other hand is bad due to positions of lens mount mounting screws (easily fixed by cover screw heads).
       As for the leakage between viewfinder (primarily from the frosted window), this is demonstrated on this video https://youtu.be/QONQaqVWX-0

2. M9, M240 and M246 are what the M5 was in the 1970s. Clunky attempts to incorporate mainstream technology (TTL meter, digital sensor) into the Leica M concept.

   I still wait for the “digital M6”, i.e. a digital sensor in a Leica M body with strictly “classic” dimensions and appearance.

   • The M5 is considered by many (Sherry Krauter for one) to be the best M body ever made. I agree with her.

3. 100% sharper? I don’t think so.
   Much better high ISO – YES (just like a7II).
   http://www.ultrasomething.com/photography/2015/04/sensors-and-sensibility/

4. I shall keep my original MM9!

5. So what you’re saying is once you have zoomed in using liveview, you can only zoom into the middle of the frame? and cannot move around to finefocus an off centre composition?

   • Correct, it should work like the Sonys…but doesn’t.

6. The camera is clearly better than the original, but it just doesnt raise the same “whoa, wanna have” reaction in me.

   I think Leica should really, urgently fix the sensor corrosion issue of the M9 and cameras relying on the same technology (M-E, original M Monochrom) and then publish a M-E Monochrom.

   Even better would be if they gave us the new M Typ 240 technology, but with the old CCD sensor. So no lifeview, no EVF, no video, no fast fps, “only” 18 instead of 24 Megapixels, and less battery life, but better monitor, more silent shutter, better controls, WiFi etc.

   • Its clearly better than the original in terms of features, not necessarily in terms of output. Its only go 12 bit DNG files compared to 14 bit on the previous model. The CCD also has a different look. I’m sticking with the old model.

7. Just about every review forgets to mention an very important function of both Leica Monochrom cameras. That is that when shooting DNG (is there any other way?), the Monochrom displays the histogram in DNG. First it displays a jpeg rendition and after about 15 seconds it then switches to show the actual DNG histogram. The histogram is also divided into 11 sections a la Ansel Adams.

8. I wonder if the Leica Monochrom users and potential buyers of the M246 realise that with no bayer array present, filtration can’t be done later at post processing. So front of lens filters have to be used to darken skies etc or change color rendition into how you want ie lighten greens, darken blues. Would anyone who owns the M240 really swap the convenience of post processing to perform B&W conversion for the aggravation of using filters again with the M246.

   I believe Leica are going to introduce some filters in 39mm but probably you could get them on Ebay.

   I guess in some types of photography like street, nobody would care too much about how the colors are converted to gray in camera anyway, but I would be interested to know whether this is any kind of an issue with Leica Monochrom users.

   I guess Henri Cartier-Bresson never used a filter in his life!

   • We M Monochrom (and film) shooters have been doing that from day 1. I always use a yellow indoors and either yellow or orange outdoors.

     • Ya, we got that right away.

9. I wish that I could justify to myself such a purchase.

10. Hmm. What about the “highlights”? Is it the same as with the older model – do you need to expose very carefully or are the hightlights now more saveable?

    • Probably as it is also single channel.

11. Wow.
    It will be a wonderful camera: I may be looking for the second hand MM: but then I love my Bessa R and M6. If the MM lasts as well as the M8 has they should be around for a long, long time.

12. I like my MP better.

13. So, what do we know so far, Liveview again without moveable Focusloupe when zoomed in (so useless more or less in combination with a screen that has only 921K, BaseISO only 320 and 1/4000 shutter time, good luck when shooting wide open with your Summilux at day time, 12bit instead of 14bit like the M9/MM/M240, ok, kind of back to the roots, my 20 year old Kodak DCS had 12bit as well, no 4K video (don’t care here), and for those who own a 240, they can expect the same banding at HighISO, so no change here, same with the brick size of the body. What stays behind, a former wonderful system has been modernized until death without being up do date. Really sad Leica.

    • “For those who own a 240, they can expect the same banding at high ISO.”

      I’m not so sure. Be sure to scroll down to the bottom set of photos (ISO 6400) here:

      http://www.ultrasomething.com/photography/2015/04/sensors-and-sensibility/

    • So what you’re saying is once you have zoomed in using liveview, you can only zoom into the middle of the frame? and cannot move around to finefocus an off centre composition?

14. Looks really cool. I own a MM and a MP (film). Oddly, I prefer shooting in color on slide film and BW for digital. I feel digital hasn’t caught up to slide film for color, while the mm is on par with tmax 100. Love that Leica has the guts to keep pushing digital BW photography forward.

15. I’m surprised that the M246 uses 12-bit pixels; the M8, M9, M Monochrom, and M240 all use 14-bits. It will be interesting to get some DNG files to work with to see how they compare with the 14-bit images from the M Monochrom. The Kodak DCS760m used 12-bit monochrome images 15 years ago, was not a success.

    I hope this is just a limit of the early firmware, and that a 14-bit version of firmware is introduced. Having the extra depth to the M Monochrom image allows incredible detail to be pulled out of the image in post-processing. It would be difficult to step backwards like this.

16. It’s simple I would love one ! Hope it does well as it is a boon for black and white photography. I love film and black and white photography but digital has a major place in black and white as well as film even for luddites like me.

17. The world will perish in decadence.

18. I love the fact the Leica doesn’t put a “trash can” icon on the back of their cameras. I have always felt that this icon cheapens the look of every camera that has done so.

19. If you go to Gregory Simpson’s excellent site, Ultrasomething dot com (the article is called Sensors and Sensibility) he does a fantastic comparison of the original Mono, the new one (M246) and the 240 files. He was a bona fide tester for the camera. It’s a real discussion and comparison and a very worthwhile read…not just for the content, but the way it’s done, both practical and quite rigorous. Jono Slack also has done an article, and talks about the way the sensor works. With the new (and old) Mono, it’s all about the sensor of course; not just that it’s black/white, but what that actually means. The M246 is simply an M-P (240) with the mono sensor…a lot of the other stuff that Leica talks about in their marketing (“larger buffer” “better screen” “live view”) is old news.

    • Very interesting article. Thanks for sharing it.

20. Not to sound too cynical, but $7,450 for something that only ‘gets us in the ball park of BW film’?

    Can you imagine how many rolls of real BW film you could shoot with that sort of cash…

21. Would be nice if they fixed the sensor corrosion issue on the current model 1st! My monochrome has been with Leica Australia for some months with no indication as to when replacement sensor will arrive…..Still it’s a beautiful thing I look forward to its return. Prefer the smaller lighter body compared with the Type 240 and can live with the wierd shutter noise and crappy monitor.

    • The CCD’s are still in production, currently sold out (guess who bought them), the next batch is ready in 12 weeks. CCD itself will for sure not die so fast, as they are used for medical stuff and they need the better contrast and color accuracy of the CCD’s. I try also to get an old MM, I like the CCD much more than the CMOS, need the screen only for settings (who buys an RF to use LV???)and the louder shutter was never an issue for me. I also prefer the smaller body which is much closer to the original M than the new 240 body.

22. major GAS coming on….

23. I’m not in the market for one, but I would be tempted to use it for three-shot colour. Perhaps not as practical as a 50Mpx colour digital back, but more fun. 🙂

24. I took my old M Monochrom out today and was shocked to find that it is every bit as incredible as it was yesterday.

    I think the original Monochrom and I will have a long and happy relationship. I know the first two years have been fantastic.

    • Thanks for informing us!

      • Your welcome.

        • Andrew, I think you mean “You’re welcome.”

          • Autocorrect sucks.

25. Very exciting,want one!

26. I’ll probably have to buy one, unfortunately. Damn you, Leica!

27. One reason more to buy the old MM. Smaller body, smoother look of the files, no stupid 3rd class video,and half the price. Steve, good luck with RF-focussing in conditions for ISO25600.

    Leica becomes more and more a brand for rich people only, no longer for photographers. It really make me sick as a loving Leica User since 30 years.

    • Seems rather unfair to me? I’m by no means rich, but have decided to stick with my old car, forego a newer/more exciting one and instead invest (the key word) in a new Monochrom, Noctilux and a Cone Ink equipped print system. I think that will enrich my life more than a sports car… we’ll see. Few other camera manufacturers could make me decide this way, barring perhaps Alpa or Linhof.

      • Some people would be surprised at how many Leica users are not ‘rich’. They are the only cameras which are both beautiful and workhorses at the same time. I wonder if that is allowed?

        I don’t own a Leica simply because they don’t suit the type of work I currently do. It has nothing to do with being rich or not rich.

        Great cars don’t necessarily cost a lot, so we can have both. 🙂

28. Nice! Will they continue to create the original M with CCD, like they’ve done with the M9 to the M-E? And give it a $1500 price drop? I hope so!

    • I suspect not with the corrosion issues?

29. Wow – they did everything I was hoping for (fixing the few things I didn’t like about the original MM: low-resolution LCD, clattering/noisy shutter, and no ability to use an EVF with my temperamental Noctilux). I’m waiting for the inevitable comparison between black and whites taken with the 246 and those taken with the 240. Will the differences be enough to justify owning both?

30. I didn’t see this page on Home page, but searched it through Google. But when I logged in, I could see pages posted after Apr 27. Interesting. It seems it’s not related with cookies in my computer, though.

    • I have the same issue in my computer since January. I have to go to the index and refresh it. Then I get it. Uncomfy.

      • Dear jp,
        I regularly remove cookies, so it’s not a cookie issue. Do you happen to use Firefox? I found the latest update has some conflicts with some info portals sites, but I never had any trouble with this site.

31. Wowee! But I love my old Monochrome so much, I have a hard time thinking of giving it up! 7450 makes my monochrome easy to keep!

32. I’d love a b/w-only M body to shoot alongside my M240 but in the commercial world b/w is soooo specialized IMO, if I ever shot a job and the client said “let’s also see it in color”, I’d be sc – – – ed. I’m sure we’ll eventually see an identical scene side-by-side comparison from the “b/w M” vs ” b/w conversion from the color M” at base ISO, and at 3200 ISO. Will there be a huge difference in image quality to justify a camera this specialized, especially at this price point?

    • Good question. I guess the difference will be quite obvious both in more details and a better high iso performance compared to the M240. The “old” Monochrome (even though it is not a old camera) had its advantage over the M9 in both categories and it shure will be same with the new Monochrome.

33. Leice: “The result is 100% sharper images”
    24MP in color is still 24MP in black & white. Color interpolation does not reduce resolution IMHO.
    However, the M is attractive.

    • They will be sharper as you will not have the glass of the Bayer Filter in the lightpath. Removing that filter has already been shown to increase sharpness.

    • In my extensive experience with the M8, M9, M240 and Monochrom the Monochrom’s ability to render detail and dynamic range far exceed the other cameras. Call that resolution if you want, but it’s true.

      • That is because there is no colour filter and, thus, no interpolation. 1:1 will always be sharper than that from one that requires interpolation. That is why the DP Merrills are so impressive at lower ISO settings.

    • Yes, it will be sharper. Older MM at 18mp compared with A7r and D800e in resolution. Removing Bayer interpolation means more accurate raw data (of course without color). Therefore, No. 24mp without bayer is more that 24mp with bayer. Practically almost twice more.

    • It has been demonstrated that Bayer filters reduce resolution by quite a bit. That’s why the RED EPIC MX sensor is 5K, not 4K. 5K with a Bayer filter resolves as much as 4K without. The end result is a true 4K camera.

      The difference between 4K and 5K is almost twice the number of photosites.

34. even I will never own Leica …I read in 1 breath the M246 review …like the pics …just cannot judge if any other digital camera after PP can come enough close to it in B&W …maybe in one of next crazy comparison ? ..include m43 if you do it 🙂

35. Will the LiveView lag be improved? I’ve gotten the vibe that it is terrible on the M240… true? Is the Fuji X-T1 the leader in the EVF lag department? Will this new camera offer red peaking? (Stands out against B&W composition.) I assume that rangefinder focusing is a total loss in darkness? Those are my questions… 🙂

    • Apples are not Oranges, so compare do not compare pseudo rangefinders to real ones.

      • Live view on my M240 is a great tool. New Monochrom will have red as a choice for peaking. Just read what’s on Leica web site.

    • @John: I am pretty confident about RF focusing in the dim; i.e. with a wide open Summicron 90mm mounted and ISO 10k dialed into my oMM, I get not handholdable shutterspeeds but can makeout things in the RF patch well enough. – If you are determined to handhold a Nocti at 1/15sec & ISO 25k YMMV, but I wouldn’t know which camera or concept might work better under such conditions. RF usage is fine for 1/125 f0.95 at ISO 25k. – Since my lens line is slower and RF focusing independent of lens speed, I wouldn’t mind to see some next model going up to ISO 400k at the same IQ, to shoot Elmars on it.
      EVF: I don’t know Leica’s. – I hope that Fuji tossed something laggier into the (still available!) X-E1, but TBH: I don’t care. – EVF and RF have different drawbacks but the odds that they might cut your cake in combination seem high enough to me. – Everything more responsive than chimping test shots is an improvement.

      @Steve: could you kindly comment on the experience of editing a mix of files from both MM generations, like after taking them out as a pair?

      On the usual shopping decission: right now a demo 240 can be had for 2000 Euro less than a 246. Used oMM prices might drop nicely and Leica promised free corroded sensor replacement to owners, not just customers. – The rest boils down to “how to pacify my insane mind?” Avoiding a few lens changes is a sufficiently great reason to own a 2nd Leica. And need for ISO might be a personal taste question? – Both MMs seem having an edge over the 240 in that field. – I hope my next wealth peak meets a demo 246!
      My biggest question is about the future: will Leica ever offer color models & MMs in sync? Or continue trying to sell color by procrastinating MM releases?

36. Drool!

    • I drooled so much I bought one. Now I have the anxiety frenzy of waiting!

      • For shure still a happy time for you. Congrats.

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