Amateur Photographer - UK (2020-02-22)

CAMERA TEST Testbench

subscribe 0330 333 1113I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI 22 February 2020 49

FEATURES 6/10

BUILD& HANDLING 9/10

METERING 7/10

AUTOFOCUS N/A

AWB& COLOUR N/A

DYNAMICRANGE 9/10

IMAGEQUALITY 10/10

VIEWFINDER/LCD 8/10

AtitslowestISO 160 setting,theM10Monochromcaptureslotsofdetail

withpracticallynovisiblenoise.Butit’sremarkablejusthowfaryoucan

raisetheISOwithoutanysignificantlossofdetail.Indeedit’sonlyatISO

3200 thatwestarttoseea littlenoisecreepingin,whenviewingat100%

onscreen.ButevenatISO12,500,theM Monochromis stillcapableof

describingthecanvasweaveconvincingly.ByISO50,000noiseis

swampingfinedetail,butthevisualeffectisn’tremotelyobjectionable,so

I’dhappilyusethissettingwhennecessary.NotsurprisinglyISO100,000is

probablya step too far, due to theappearanceofhorizontal banding.

Noise

RAWISO 160 RAW ISO 800 RAW ISO 3200

RAW ISO 12,500 RAW ISO 50,000 RAW ISO 100,000

Resolution

Withits40.9MPsensor,theM10Monochromshouldbe
abletorecordcloseto5,200linesperpictureheight.It
comesextraordinarilyclosetoachievingthis,notjust
atISO160,butalsomuchhighersettings.Withno
colour demosaicing required to developitsrawfiles,

thecameragivesanextremelycleanrenditionofour

testpatternatISO160,andit’sonlyatISO12,500that

noiseclearlyreducesresolution,toabout4,600l/ph.

EvenatISO50,000weregister4,000l/ph,whichis the

highesttheoretical resolutionof the Typ246.

Lookingat imagefilesfromLeica’s40.9MPmonochromesensoralmostrequiresa suspension
of disbelief.Thecameracanrecorda phenomenalamountof detail,withhigherpixel-level
definitionandfewerartefactsthanwe’vecometoacceptasnormalfromcoloursensors.Images
areexceptionallycleanat ISO160,andthepureluminancenoiserecordedat highISOsis
visuallyunobjectionable.Thisis a camerathatgivesfantastic images in bright conditions, while
still giving perfectly usable results in vanishingly low light.

Lab results

AndrewSydenham’slabtestsrevealjusthowthe camera performs

Ourcamerasandlensesaretestedusingtheindustry-

standardImageEngineeringIQ-Analysersoftware.

Visit http://www.image-engineering.de for more details

THERE’SreallynodenyingthattheLeica

M10Monochromis anabsolutelybeautiful

camera.Itsbuildqualityis stunning,andthe

pared-back,minimalistdesignallowsyouto

immerseyourselfcompletelyin theprocess

of takingpictures.Thenwhenyoucometo

lookat yourimagefiles,it’simmediately

obviousthatthenewsensoris veryspecial

indeed.Withstaggeringdetailrendition,low

noiseandvastdynamicrange,it’ssurelya

significantenoughadvancetotemptexisting

Monochromuserstoupgrade.I reallydon’t

believethatanyothercameraunder

£10,000couldmakebetterimages.

SotoaddressthequestionI posedat the

startof thisreview– cana camerathatcosts

over£7,000,butonlyshootsin black&

white,reallymakeanysense?Naturally,this

is anythingbuta mainstreamproduct,and

formostof usit makesaboutasmuchsense

asbuyinga supercar.Butforitsparticular

niche,it’sclosetoperfect.It wouldbeniceto

seedeeperintegrationof thetouchscreen

forchangingcamerasettings,butthat’sa

minorcriticism.

Forserious(andof course,well-heeled)

photographerswhoshootsubjectsat which

theM-seriesexcelssuchasstreetand

documentary,theM10Monochromis little

shortof a dream.Howeverblack& white

photographyisn’tlimitedtotheseareas,and

I’dlovetoseeLeicadropthissensorin the

Q2andSL2camerabodiestoo.

Moregenerally,Leicahasyetagainproven

therealvalueof monochromesensors.But

withthisnew40.9MPchip,it’sreacheda

newpinnaclein black& whiteimagequality:

I doubtanyothercameraonthemarket

canquitematchthiscombinationof

resolutionandlow-lightcapability.It’sa real

shamethemainstreamcameramakersdon’t

shareLeica’simagination in producing a

mono-only camera.

Verdict

Ontherightweshowdetails
fromourresolutioncharttest
pattern(above).Multiplythe
numberbeneaththelinesby
400 togivetheresolutionin
lines per picture height.

RAW

ISO 100,000

RAW

ISO 50,000

RAW

ISO 12,500

RAW

ISO 160

Thecropsshownbelowaretaken
from the area outlined above in red

GOLD